12MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

Jocie's footboard fell apart and shehad to jerry-rig a Texas system toclimb the 65 meter pitch.Peter Strick1and t Andy Grubbs tBill Cobb t Bob West t and Marcia Cosseyheaded off to the Sumidero delRio Xocot1at on the morning of the28th. They got down only threedropst due to having to rig out ofthe force of the 15 to 20 cusecstream. At the bottom of the lastpitch a short swim led to the topof another 10+ meter waterfall thatwould need bolting. On the hikeback to camp, Bob and Marcia founda small sotano which was later discoveredto contain an intact pot,probably of ancient age.Pushing the TurbineThe next day Mark Minton, BillCobb, Andy Grubbs and Tommy Shiflettentered Cueva de Xocot1at armed withsurvey book and rope. It had beena dry year and the Turbine that hadstopped Preston and crew was foundto be quite negotiable. They soonrigged down several more dropsthrough scoured marble-like bedrockand f10wstone passage. Like mostof the cave t this section was notoverly large, averaging 3 meters wideby 15 meters high. The last pitchlanded ~~rk and Tommy in a slow movingstreamway curving out of sight.Rounding the corner the water wasseen to be flowing 1 meter deep andtwice as wide under a protrudingflows tone curtain. Tommy kicked a­round in the sump, hearing waterslap against the ceiling somewhereout of reach. At -339 meters Cuevade Xocot1at was finished . • . forthe time being.80Treasure?Trouble was happening upstairs.A delegation composed of the presidenteand his officials arrivedfrom Zoquit1an in the early afternoon.Everyone in camp was immediatelyconcerned as the presidente'snervousness and embarrassment wereplain to see. He told us that thelocals believed we were taking goldand silver from the caves. Okay,we've heard this one before - what'sthe problem? The problem was that ifwe were allowed to stay it would appearthat the presidente and his compadreswere getting kickbacks from ourmining operation. "So you see myfriends t you will have to leave immediately."At this point I was afraid wewere going to lose the 700 meters ofrope that was still in the cave.Mark and crew were down there stillrigging! Bad scene.Reticent at first, the presidentefinally allowed us a graceperiod of two days to clear out.We would have to derig two caves trent mu1es t up-camp, haul everything4 kilometers to Zoquit1an and loadthe vehicles by the 31st. Busy,busy!The final tripThe next couple of days werehectic to say the least, quite depressingat the most. No one likesto cave under a deadline. Amidstall the frenzy, Peter Strickland,Mike McKee and Marcia Cossey pushedSumidero del Rio Xocotlat down twomore pitches before derigging. They