Mailing List Archive

Mailing List: cavers

Message Display

on 3/11/00 5:15 PM, Trey at trey@ne*.co* wrote:

> Gaps where you can not get on them inadvertantly are fine, but the
> problem then becomes what if you got onto the gapped line from the other
> end and you are arrowed to another gap while having an emergency.
> 
> Look at James Henerdson ( RIP ) in Ginnie Springs, for example <>
> harmless enough , Ginnie, right?  Not so. You get into that maze of
> goobery in the middle and it is arrowed all over the freaking place
> without regard for the small size of some of the passages that you could
> get sent onto, or that gaps everywhere. The gaps to the room may be too
> far to even see the line or the line is above you on the roof and you
> can not see it. 

Trey,

This is the problem as I see it. Inconsistent lining practices. Line & arrow
wars. Hidden cave. Distant cut-backs at entrances. These are all indications
of a muddled system that really isn't a system, but a collection of
individually-lined caves that the diver must then try to figure, at a given
point, which exit arrow really leads to a close, gap-free exit.

Over time the entrance lines have been brought closer to air and light and
in individual caves the gaps have been improved, but overall the reaction
is, "I can handle it, so why change it?" Sure, I can handle it, but couldn't
it be better done?

Once again, the ego and distrust that exists in cave diving today helps to
perpetuate an unsafe system. It's inconceivable to imagine a congress of
interested cave divers meeting to bring order to the chaos that had any real
representation in all segments of the cave diving society.

Last trip I sat and listened to an hour-long soliloquy about the latest "who
hates who" in cave diving and this didn't even include the WKP! It was
mostly between N. Fla cavers. Add feelings about the WKP and you get the
true picture, a Balkanized landscape of petty hates, jealousies, distrust,
revenge, ignorance and long-held grudges.

Because of this it will be individuals who continue to make the changes,
slowly and sometimes done, then redone by someone with a different view.

It wouldn't take an especially large intelligence to change things, but just
will to do it and the consensus of enough divers who think it matters--fat
chance.

Later,

JoeL

Navigate by Author: [Previous] [Next] [Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject: [Previous] [Next] [Subject Search Index]

[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]

[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]