asscciation for mexican cave studies box 7672 ut station austin ...
asscciation for mexican cave studies box 7672 ut station austin ... asscciation for mexican cave studies box 7672 ut station austin ...
14struggle and the key hold we had missed before put me at the top. rtried to haul my companion up behind me, but the force of the water wastoo much. TCere seems to be much more water here than at the upperentrance.r managed another 100' over yet another falls, but was then facedwith a l2-footer that was too much. Bolts would be the only way. r amconvinced that the best way through this cave is from the top, with a lotof rope. Downstream was a cinch! The falls on the way in were chutes, likea sliding board, on the way out.Back out in the sunlight r soon found out my new friends name wasMarc Antonio Narro and that he could speak a fair amount of English,although he was somewhat hesitant about it. He is a butterfly collector,mainly, and caves only on occasion. He knew of the Mexico City cavingclubs, but was not a member. He did not think they knew of this cave.A week or so of basking in the sun at Acapulco was next in or~er.The sun and waves seemed to put caving a long way from anybody's mind.I soon lost all support for a return trip to the river cave. Diana andr burned out (literally) before the others and decided to head for GrutaCacahuamilpa and the mountains. We did a side trip to Grutas de Juxtlahuacaand met the others a couple of days later.r had been hearing persistant rumors for some time about an exter.sionthrough a hole in the flowstone wall at the end of the commercial route.One of the guides assured me that it was there, pointed out the way andsaid there would be no problem in going any time we wanted. The Revengeand a bright sunny day took their toll on the others, but Skip and rdecided to go.We were soon at the end of the trail, took our leave of the tourists,and climbed up into the formations. r had looked for this hole the yearbefore and so was somewhat embarassed at what we found. There were threeholes, includin~ one large enough to walk through. Ahem, how well did youcheck that lead? The way opened into a breakdown jumble just behind theflowstone. A little poking got us up and into a room about 75' in diameterand nearly as high, but from there every hole seemed to choke within 50'.Finally the only way left was up. The wall was guano covered breakdown,but looked like it might be just climbable. Besides there was a notewritten in carbide on the wall of the room that read '~s nombres quincemetros mas ariba" with an arrow pointed up. We had been following arrowsand names most of the way so this seemed to be the place.r started the climb, but was a little hesitant. We had not brought arope so there was no belay. It turned out not to be as bad as r thought.There was one exposed move near the top with 50' of fall below, but it wassoon over. From a ledge I could see Skip below and what was more interesting,on the wall beside me were the "nombres mas arriba~ There was a cast ironpiton rusting in the wall with a loop of manilla line throu~h it. r had norope to belay with even if I had trusted the protection point. The only wayon was up a ~uano slippery overhangin~ chimney. It is climbable with a littlemore security and above I could see onlv blackness. (It wouldn't be a goodcaving story without that now would it.)I guess there's always next year. Both these areas seem to have ~oodpotential. If anyone is interested in trying them I would be glad to helpwith more information. I might even be convinced to act as a personal guidewith a little arm twisting. Drop me a line.Don Coons
15Trip Report, Christmas-New Years 1975-76Harold Goldstein, Cady Soukup, John Ferguson, Ron Tilkens, Neal Morris,Barb Vinson, Richard Minton, Mark Minton, Lew Fischer, and LindaBy Mark MintonOur diverse group met in Austin on Dec. 21 and proceeded to the border,where for the first time in several years we had hassles with long hair. Alittle waiting and a tip or two and we were on our way, unshorn. After theusual car trouble (a fire), we arrived in Valles where we took on supplies,and then headed for Mina Otate. The permission we had obtained at the collectivewas not checked (nor was anyone else's this time), contrary to reportsfrom earlier in the year. Our main goal was to map and finish exploringCueva de Diamante, first entered the previous Christmas and subsequentlyshown to be a major cave. Trips went into the cave almost every day for aweek. The route down from the Crystal Room as followed by A. Grubbs et al.last March could not be pushed further without blasting -- all leads downpinched out too tight, although definitely not at the "bottom" of the cave.The lead just above the Crystal Room noted by Minton turned out to be analternate route down, intersecting the Grubbs route two or three hundredfeet below. This route now carries all of the water entering this side ofthe cave, leaving the Crystal Room dry •. This area of the cave is extremelysharp and ja~ged -- gloves are mandatory.The tight canyon, the other major passages in the cave, turned outto be more exciting. The pit which halted last year's exploration was an87 foot drop which led in about a hundred feet to a 70 foot pit (which isdifficult to reach due to the necessity of changing levels in the canyon).Contrary to anything else in the cave, this drop was covered with a layerof mud. Scarcely fifty feet further a four second pit again halted exploration.On the way out of the canyon several Pleistocene remains were discoveredin an eroding gravel fill. Bone fragments, horse-like teeth, and amammoth molar were found, and samples were taken back to the University ofTexas in Austin.. All known passage in the cave waS mapped. The Crystal Room routebottomed out at about -900 feet; several hundred feet short of potential.The Canyonlands route remains to be explored: the top of the four second dropis about -500 feet, blows air, and takes water. In all we spent 289 man-hoursin the cave, and had 1450 feet of rope rigged in the cave at one time.Although trips went into Diamante nearly every day (and night:), mostpeople layed out every other day to rest. During these rests Barb and Nealdid a surface survey tying in the mine, Sotano de Otate, Cueva de los Indios,Cueva de Diamante, and Casi Mil. We also chopped around the Diamante sinknear the crest, but found only one small, blind 60 foot pit. Most significantly,we visited Sotano de los Bozos (alias Casi Mil) and decided a resurveywas in order. Total depth is actually less than 500 feet (Casi MedioMil?). Durin~ the time this cave was rigged, our total amount of rope underthe sink came to 2250 feet: (out of about 3500 we had along). Some photographywas also done in Indios. Althou~h we had intended to chop around the
- Page 31: 19in a 90 meter pit could collect d
- Page 35 and 36: AMCSACTIVITIES LETTEREdited by Bill
- Page 37 and 38: 3After leaving Valladolid we went t
- Page 39 and 40: CASI UlL 5By Bill Stone as told to
- Page 41 and 42: June 97Dear AMCSRE:Diamond CaveAfte
- Page 43 and 44: Anyways we speleo-boppedEstrella an
- Page 45 and 46: The adrenelin still pumping through
- Page 47 and 48: 13Sotano Hondo de Pina1itoBy Steven
- Page 49 and 50: CAVE MAP SYMBOLS(continued)15The AM
- Page 51 and 52: mechanical shading -- the dots, con
- Page 53 and 54: morphogenetic feature involving gra
- Page 55 and 56: height variation, say. across the w
- Page 57 and 58: 23that list to include a broader se
- Page 59 and 60: 25be represented by rigidly p,eomet
- Page 61 and 62: 27..• D. 0. ȯGravelFEATURENOTESS
- Page 63: ASSOCIATION FOR MEXICAN CAVEUAP Snm
- Page 67 and 68: AlfCSACTIVITIES LETTEREdited by Bil
- Page 69 and 70: 35. I personally had the following
- Page 71 and 72: volunteered to rescue the bag. They
- Page 73 and 74: one large black hole near the top o
- Page 75 and 76: The next day we left camp at dawn a
- Page 77 and 78: 11First Exploration of NogalThursda
- Page 79 and 80: '"entire passage has·solutional ro
- Page 81: 13Date: January, 1975Destination: A
- Page 85 and 86: THEOTATES MINE AREA17SIERRA DE EL A
- Page 87: large storms, this arroyo sends flo
- Page 90 and 91: 20but the handholds are unstable re
- Page 92 and 93: 22Diamante received its name from t
- Page 94: jer_I') CIRCLE ROOW•LA CUEVA DE J
- Page 97 and 98: elev 1310mmeters 0Hoya de las Conch
- Page 100 and 101: AMCS ACTIVITIES LETTEREdited by Bil
- Page 102 and 103: 3View across the botto~ of Hoya de
- Page 104: dubbed "The 170" quickly led to ano
- Page 107 and 108: Roy dropped 3 pits an'i :l cave nea
- Page 109 and 110: which would have been hazardous hol
- Page 111 and 112: \I0YA DE LA LUZProfile B-B'Located
- Page 113 and 114: 12hotic DiseasesThe August 1976 iss
- Page 115 and 116: 14San Juan Area Nov 1976"eo?le: Tr~
- Page 117 and 118: 16Caving in Puebla, Vera Cruz, and
- Page 119 and 120: RETURN TO HUAUTLA~Jith t~e 1976-77
- Page 121: 20SCHOOL BUS SCOOPSZOaUITLAN AREA~)
- Page 124: enU~«
- Page 127 and 128: 2April 1, 1977, marks the 10th anni
- Page 129 and 130: TRIP REPORTSDestination: Cueva del
- Page 131 and 132: 5uestination: Sierra las Alazanas a
15Trip Report, Christmas-New Years 1975-76Harold Goldstein, Cady Soukup, John Ferguson, Ron Tilkens, Neal Morris,Barb Vinson, Richard Minton, Mark Minton, Lew Fischer, and LindaBy Mark MintonOur diverse group met in Austin on Dec. 21 and proceeded to the border,where <strong>for</strong> the first time in several years we had hassles with long hair. Alittle waiting and a tip or two and we were on our way, unshorn. After theusual car trouble (a fire), we arrived in Valles where we took on supplies,and then headed <strong>for</strong> Mina Otate. The permission we had obtained at the collectivewas not checked (nor was anyone else's this time), contrary to reportsfrom earlier in the year. Our main goal was to map and finish exploringCueva de Diamante, first entered the previous Christmas and subsequentlyshown to be a major <strong>cave</strong>. Trips went into the <strong>cave</strong> almost every day <strong>for</strong> aweek. The ro<strong>ut</strong>e down from the Crystal Room as followed by A. Grubbs et al.last March could not be pushed further witho<strong>ut</strong> blasting -- all leads downpinched o<strong>ut</strong> too tight, although definitely not at the "bottom" of the <strong>cave</strong>.The lead just above the Crystal Room noted by Minton turned o<strong>ut</strong> to be analternate ro<strong>ut</strong>e down, intersecting the Grubbs ro<strong>ut</strong>e two or three hundredfeet below. This ro<strong>ut</strong>e now carries all of the water entering this side ofthe <strong>cave</strong>, leaving the Crystal Room dry •. This area of the <strong>cave</strong> is extremelysharp and ja~ged -- gloves are mandatory.The tight canyon, the other major passages in the <strong>cave</strong>, turned o<strong>ut</strong>to be more exciting. The pit which halted last year's exploration was an87 foot drop which led in abo<strong>ut</strong> a hundred feet to a 70 foot pit (which isdifficult to reach due to the necessity of changing levels in the canyon).Contrary to anything else in the <strong>cave</strong>, this drop was covered with a layerof mud. Scarcely fifty feet further a four second pit again halted exploration.On the way o<strong>ut</strong> of the canyon several Pleistocene remains were discoveredin an eroding gravel fill. Bone fragments, horse-like teeth, and amammoth molar were found, and samples were taken back to the University ofTexas in Austin.. All known passage in the <strong>cave</strong> waS mapped. The Crystal Room ro<strong>ut</strong>ebottomed o<strong>ut</strong> at abo<strong>ut</strong> -900 feet; several hundred feet short of potential.The Canyonlands ro<strong>ut</strong>e remains to be explored: the top of the four second dropis abo<strong>ut</strong> -500 feet, blows air, and takes water. In all we spent 289 man-hoursin the <strong>cave</strong>, and had 1450 feet of rope rigged in the <strong>cave</strong> at one time.Although trips went into Diamante nearly every day (and night:), mostpeople layed o<strong>ut</strong> every other day to rest. During these rests Barb and Nealdid a surface survey tying in the mine, Sotano de Otate, Cueva de los Indios,Cueva de Diamante, and Casi Mil. We also chopped around the Diamante sinknear the crest, b<strong>ut</strong> found only one small, blind 60 foot pit. Most significantly,we visited Sotano de los Bozos (alias Casi Mil) and decided a resurveywas in order. Total depth is actually less than 500 feet (Casi MedioMil?). Durin~ the time this <strong>cave</strong> was rigged, our total amount of rope underthe sink came to 2250 feet: (o<strong>ut</strong> of abo<strong>ut</strong> 3500 we had along). Some photographywas also done in Indios. Althou~h we had intended to chop around the
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