12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies
12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies 12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies
We had barely slept three hourswhen a flurry of activity eruptedover the camp. The other four werepacking up for a journey to the surface..And with good reason. Ourfood had already been stretched fourdays longer than intended. WhenSchreiber and I exited to the thunderof a violent tropical storm a daylater two weeks had passed since ourentry. It was the night of April 16.ACLIMB AT BB DOMEDuring the next few days theteam was in a state of transition.Steve and Dino returned to the States.Jerry Atkinson joined us, having justspent a month caving in northernMexico. Then, while returning fromtown on a resupply trip April 17,mishap number three struck. JimSmith fell from the roof, breakinghis ankle, when the truck cameto a rough stop. This reduced ourlead team to four and there was seriousspeculation that we might notbe able to pull everything out beforethe rainy season hit.The afternoon of April 21 sawRichard, Hal, Jerry and I againdropping toward Camp II. We intendedto break the derigging operationup into three phases -- CampIII to Camp II, Camp II to Camp 1/2,Camp 1/2 to the surface. It took usa long day to bring all the tackleout from Camp III to Camp II. Butafter that we were convinced thatwe would have the drive to get itout the rest of the way and thus focusedour attention back to the climbat BB Dome.Perspiring from the three hourrun I racked my climbing gear, thenclipped in and jumared up to wherethe line was anchored. Richard arrivedshortly with his antiquated56three knot prusik system and tiedhimself into the wall. With the belayready he gave a nod and I movedup to the roof. To the right was anoverhanging flows tone face that lookedlike a feasible route around theslab above me. Using a healthy numberof slings looped through shortcolumns I was able to aid across ituntil it gave out in a forty meterfree drop to the floor. In vain Ibolted up three meters to where Icould see that this route led to nothing.The wall went straight intothe ceiling. Reluctantly I resignedmyself to tackling the main roof direct.Schreiber called up in an impatientvoice, "Are you in a stablespot?" "Yes," I replied after clippingan etrier into the pins in theceiling. "OK. I'm going to changecarbide." This done he searched theoverhang looking for a weak point."Can you traverse out that buttressoverhead? It looks good from here."The look required a bolt and a fourpoint aid traverse but it was wellworth it. We had surmounted theoverhang. Six meters later I climbedover the head of the buttress.The triumph was short lived for insteadof a booming passage we wereleft staring up another 50 metershaft. And so it went. Finally,at a point 120 meters vertically above where we had begun we intersecteda low crawl and the climbs ceased.A hundred meters further on we crossedthe base of an immense dome --at least as high as what we had climbedalready -- and suddenly the windreversed direction. It had been atour backs through the crawl, urgingus on. Yet now, descending the opposingcorridor, it was in our face."Crossing the drainage divide," Richardsaid quietly. We felt a surge ofconnection fever coming on. Our forwarddrive was stopped short by afifteen meter pit just around thecorner. We had no more rope.
Two days later saw Hal, Richardand I back with 150 meters of linedetermined to make the connection.Seven drops later we ran out of ropeand began slogging along a low passagewith knee deep mud. Steamyand tired we hoped it would sump outsoon so we could finish the surveyand get out. Most of us were on ourlast burn and anticipated returningto camp on what dubious chargeremained in our Nicad packs. Twentytwohours had passed. There seemedno end to the mud. Suddenly, Halcalled back, "Hey, something big upahead. I hear a large stream.Really!" It was a big twenty-fiveby twenty-five meter borehole. Justlike the one in • . . a cold wave ofperspiration swept over me. Justlike the one in San Agust1n. It wasthe one in San Agust1n. Stunned silence.We had looped around. Wesat down on a rock to console ourselves.What a lousy quirk of fate.And worse, it wasn't over yet. Wewere now down to a half charge ofcarbide each and a swift retreat toCamp II was of paramount importancemeaning we would have to come backonce more to pull the ropes outlest they be blown to shreds when therainy season hit.Jerry and Hal left for the surfacethe following day with tightlystuffed duffels. Richard and I procrastinatedfor several hours, finallyovercoming our lassitude. Oncemore we slid into those wretchedneoprene skins and for the sixth timeheaded for that remote dome complex.Fifteen hours later the dour deed wasdone and following a relatively shortsleep we began cleaning camp up. Allwell and good I thought. We'd spent39 days at or below Camp II now anddiscovered nearly seven kilometersof new passage. To remain any longerwould be asking for a flood. Theever elusive connection was going tohave to wait again, until next year.Despite thre~sixty pound duf-Lloyd de-rigging above Camp I.(Bill Stone)fel bags of equipment between us, wemanaged to derig everything to the400 meter level that day. The effortleft us quite winded and wefound ourselves crawling meter bymeter, up the last drops to the SalaGrande. Had it been night, I wouldhave bivouacked right there on thetrail we'd worn into the hill fromcountless supply runs. Instead wewere greeted with a blazing sunriseand the brilliant onslaught of colorswas nearly too much for our dark adapted eyes. We climbed up the verdantslope toward the ochre sky. Itwas good to be back.57
- Page 8 and 9: Long Caves of MexicoPeter S. Sprous
- Page 10 and 11: ,/
- Page 12 and 13: hole with a 3 meter cave entrance.I
- Page 14 and 15: Interestingly enough, the majorpass
- Page 16 and 17: proceeded to find 78 ticks on mybod
- Page 19 and 20: The Sierra de Guatemala mountain ra
- Page 21 and 22: meter long, 9 meter deep, slopingdr
- Page 25 and 26: Diving the big springs of the Sierr
- Page 27 and 28: Aerial view of Nacimiento del R10 M
- Page 29 and 30: Nacimiento del Rio CoyOn Monday, 26
- Page 31 and 32: Entrance chamber, Nacimiento del Rl
- Page 33: We discovered a source of compresse
- Page 36 and 37: Steve Zeman rappels into the SalaGr
- Page 38 and 39: no problem and we were soon fourwhe
- Page 40 and 41: event that the dive panned out andw
- Page 42 and 43: keep an accurate fix on whether itw
- Page 44 and 45: we had finished the last of the rop
- Page 46 and 47: tance. This continued for some 280m
- Page 48 and 49: Talus summit at the beginning of An
- Page 50 and 51: source, a kilometer and a half upst
- Page 52 and 53: consisted of a dusty dry corridorbo
- Page 54 and 55: There was much speculation aboutthe
- Page 56 and 57: turning to Camp II we found Richard
- Page 60 and 61: POSTEXPEDITION NOTESBill Steele and
- Page 63: -f//'~:;San,Agustin,,~~~:= ']--="~-
- Page 67: translated from the Mazatecby Cathy
- Page 70 and 71: Ateschalla Norte ySurThe following
- Page 73: CUEVA DE TASALOLPANcuetzalan, puebl
- Page 76 and 77: CuetzalanSteve KnutsonSpring 1979Ma
- Page 78: Thirty meter pitch into canal secti
- Page 81: ENTRADACANONACUEVATECOLOESTADA DE P
- Page 85 and 86: S6tano del BuqueRobert JefferysSota
- Page 87 and 88: the rope. What John had been trying
- Page 89: METERSo50NmICEBERG ROOM100-506500
- Page 92 and 93: CUEVA DE XOCOTLATintroduction by Ge
- Page 94: was a sizable horizontal sectionwhi
- Page 97: Cueva de XocotlatMunicipio de San P
- Page 101 and 102: 1979 SPRINGDale PatePROJECTPlans we
- Page 103 and 104: were the only ones left at the fiel
- Page 105 and 106: to 4 hours exploring and sketchingv
- Page 107 and 108: persons working on this mapping tea
Two days later saw Hal, Richardand I back with 150 meters of linedetermined to make the connection.Seven drops later we ran out of ropeand began slogging along a low passagewith knee deep mud. Steamyand tired we hoped it would sump outsoon so we could finish the surveyand get out. Most of us were on ourlast burn and anticipated returningto camp on what dubious chargeremained in our Nicad packs. Twentytwohours had passed. There seemedno end to the mud. Suddenly, Halcalled back, "Hey, something big upahead. I hear a large stream.Really!" It was a big twenty-fiveby twenty-five meter borehole. Justlike the one in • . . a cold wave ofperspiration swept over me. Justlike the one in San Agust1n. It wasthe one in San Agust1n. Stunned silence.We had looped around. Wesat down on a rock to console ourselves.What a lousy quirk of fate.And worse, it wasn't over yet. Wewere now down to a half charge ofcarbide each and a swift retreat toCamp II was of paramount importancemeaning we would have to come backonce more to pull the ropes outlest they be blown to shreds when therainy season hit.Jerry and Hal left <strong>for</strong> the surfacethe following day with tightlystuffed duffels. Richard and I procrastinated<strong>for</strong> several hours, finallyovercoming our lassitude. Oncemore we slid into those wretchedneoprene skins and <strong>for</strong> the sixth timeheaded <strong>for</strong> that remote dome complex.Fifteen hours later the dour deed wasdone and following a relatively shortsleep we began cleaning camp up. Allwell and good I thought. We'd spent39 days at or below Camp II now anddiscovered nearly seven kilometersof new passage. To remain any longerwould be asking <strong>for</strong> a flood. Theever elusive connection was going tohave to wait again, until next year.Despite thre~sixty pound duf-Lloyd de-rigging above Camp I.(Bill Stone)fel bags of equipment between us, wemanaged to derig everything to the400 meter level that day. The ef<strong>for</strong>tleft us quite winded and wefound ourselves crawling meter bymeter, up the last drops to the SalaGrande. Had it been night, I wouldhave bivouacked right there on thetrail we'd worn into the hill fromcountless supply runs. Instead wewere greeted with a blazing sunriseand the brilliant onslaught of colorswas nearly too much <strong>for</strong> our dark adapted eyes. We climbed up the verdantslope toward the ochre sky. Itwas good to be back.57
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