12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

pile to the depot to pick up bolts,rope and vertical gear for the climbup the wall. We stopped briefly incamp to pick up our standard kitsand were off. We had a forty-fivemeter Goldline with uS as well as agood variety of pins, mudtons -- 60cm aluminum angle spikes -- bolts andslings; plenty for any good solidwall. But everything seemed to beheld together with mud. We locateda narrow chute along the left walland keyed this out as our route.Tommy found a tie off for the rope,clipped in and fed the line throughhis belay plate.ANTHODITEHALLTwo solid pins and twenty meterslater our auspicious "chute route"hit a bad overhang and I was forcedout onto the face. This was considerablymore exposed and I used up allmy protection in gaining a stancethat was still ten meters from thetop. I called out for ten meters ofslack. "Not enough rope," echoedthe reply from below. "How aboutuntying the line?" "I'm doing thatnow, don't move," was the reply.By the time I had yanked up ten metersof line -- the friction was badbetween the runners -- Tommy calledout that it was off the floor and upthe chute. He tried climbing to itbut slipped, banging his elbow.Cursing softly he called out, "Weneed another rope. Hey, could somebodydown in camp bring uS a longerrope? " No reply . Again. Hal seemedto be walking down to get one.In the interim I had grown restlesswaiting. The summit was only ashort, but exposed, scramble away.I went for it. After pulling theline up through the protectionand coiling it, I moved back on topof the chute and tied it off. Tommyprusiked up with all the gear and wemade tracks upward following a changeLloyd on the Grand Cascade Traverse.(Bill Stone)of carbide. The ceiling was festoonedwith crystal white helictites. Itwas very dry here, very quiet. Thepassage led steeply upward, gettingsmaller as we went. I was just aboutto say, "Well, this looks like it,"when my Wheat lamp picked out a blacknessahead through a low arch. Wehad been moving fast already, but forthe next five minutes it was a maddash for the top of this talus pileinto an incredibly immense room.Blackness everywhere. Echoes justwent and went. I started up a thirtymeter high ridge of talus which boreto the left. Tommy descended right,to a flat paleo lake bed which stretchedout of sight. Great plates ofdried cracked clay paved the floor.At the widest point Tommy was but aspeck of light 140 meters in the dis-43