12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

consisted of a dusty dry corridorbombing down 19 drops into a massiveterminal room. In T-shirts we movedfast. Some of the others had expresseda desire to do it the f~llowingday so the ropes were left ~nplace.April first saw Tommy and theMexicans pack up and drive off forD.F. Tommy had to return to tendto personal matters and we were tomiss him greatly. During the restof the morning people straggled offtoward the Cueva for the derigging.Well into the afternoon I pored overthe survey notes wlth a calculatortrying to figure out just where wehad been down there. Pablo steppedin, asking where the others had gone."Over to the Cueva," I told him,not elaborating. "La Cueva de SanAgust~n. .. S~. .. S~. .. S"" ~. he rep 1" ~edin acknowledgement. Which remindedme that I had best be on my way tohelp with the derig. I descended tothe 300 meter level and sacked outin the sand. Shortly I saw a lightflicker in the distance and heardRichard's voice. After thinkingabout it a while, I could no longerresist playing a practical joke.I pulled up the rope without furtherhesitation and scuttled backaround the corner, watching as thelight drew near. "What the hell?"He paced back into the other cornerlooking somewhat stunned,then returnedconvinced of his memory."It has to be here. Damn, Where'sthe rope? It was here when I camein. Oh, you've got to be kidding."Pause. "Wait a minute... Guillermo.GUILLERMO ~ " I clicked on my electric."April Fool, Richard."The following day was chaotic.There was gear scattered from endto end in the house with people runningabout in a frenzy of activity.The menu was planned for a ten daystay at Camp II. With the -food packedI made a list of coordinates from50the master printout on the system ofvarious stations in the neighboringcaves which we might be likely toconnect with. There was a generalair that we were finally onto somethingbig.RETURNTO CAMP IIThe afternoon of April thirdfound us once again on that familiarsand pile at -536 meters. Schreiberwaxed eloquent on the virtues. ofthe various underground camps he'dbeen in. Some had waterfalls roaringin the distance. Some had horriblesmells from the latrine. CampIII below us had a long run to thewaterhole. At Camp II in La Grietayou could fallout of your hammockinto the waterho1e. Indeed thecamps were as varied as the cavesthemselves.Our first foray into the newgallery netted a rather unexpectedconnection. At the junction chamberwe split into two parties: Hal,Steve and Jim to the south; Richard,Jill and I to the north. The northerntrunk, never less than 20 by 30meters, shot up a steep talus pilefor 300 meters to where it appearedto "T." To the left Richard pointedout a fault where the passage terminated.High and to the right awaterfall was audible. Upon climbingthe hill toward the falls, wefound ourselves confronted not withan unclimbable dome but a gapingpit with water fluted walls. Wetossed a rock in and counted while ithissed into the blackness. Four secondslater the impact echoed from below.I'd say we better tie theseropes together," Richard said with agrin. We had around sixty meterswhen that was done, but a good bitwas used up in the rigging. He puta figure eight knot in the end,