Mailing List Archive Mailing List Archive
NEST TRIP REPORT
Indian Rockland Cave 2 Sep 2000
The Northeast Sump Exploration Team, NEST, conducted exploration efforts
In Indian Rockland Cave in West Virginia on 2 Sep 2000. NEST is a
formally recognized Project of the NSS and consists of a team of sump divers
and dedicated support personnel who are pursuing original exploration
efforts at several caves in the PA, Virginia and West Virginia areas. The
team surveys and further documents these sites through the use of still and
video techniques as well as engaging in biological surveys and water
sampling at these locations. NEST is also available to support the NCRC in
situations involving flooded passage and beyond sump rescues. Below is an
account of the Teams most recent explorations.
Traffic was heavy and 81 S was packed with the normal rush hour flow and
any number of holiday travelers speeding south at 65 miles an hour. As we
neared the Wood Stock it started to rain. Suddenly in front of us we could
see the glow of brake lights from both lanes, Jeff deftly pulled on to the
shoulder to provide room for a vehicle behind us that came to a stop in the
space he had opened up. After a moment the traffic started to roll again
but after a few hundred feet came to a complete halt. The rain cleared and
we soon found ourselves standing on the road with a collection of other
travelers as several pieces of emergency equipment passed by on the
shoulders to what we later learned was a 15 car pile up a mile ahead of us
and several additional wrecks behind us. An hour and a half later we
exercised the four wheel drive option and detoured around this massive plug
and continued our journey to Friars Hole.
Saturday a group of cavers who had driven down from OTR led by Doug
Eiche met us at Hank�s cabin and we began a trek south to Indian Rockland
Cave. It was a dreary rainy day and the three hundred foot walk to the cave
was oppressive. The entrance consisted of a reasonable size crawl followed
by over a 1300 feet of stream passage. We had been expecting a large
trunk, what we found instead was some crawling and quite a bit of stoopway.
Instead of packing the gear in separately Jeff wore it assembled to the
dive point, by the time we reached it we began to question the wisdom of
this decision. The sump instead of a fast flowing stream turned out to be
a shallow 15 foot wide and 30 foot long pool with no evidence of any flow.
After carefully looking over the site we decided to belay the line
with a Disler Spike in a mud bank that lay to the right of the pool. With
this accomplished I donned my gear 70 feet from the sump, in the only area
in which I could stand upright, and then crawled to the beginning of the
pool. At this point Jeff put on my fins for me and as gently as possible I
crawled into the pool and found a section deep enough where I could float
face down and perform my equipment checks. The vis was only a foot and
maintaining it was going to be a tough proposition without any flow. With
my gear checks complete I floated and crawled to the point below the bank
were the line was belayed and Mike Davis lowered a five hundred foot reel to
me. I attempted to do a second belay with a spike in the bottom of the head
pool but discovered that the sediment layer was as hard as concrete and
would not accept a placement. I tossed this spike ashore and then went to
my backup which was to use a five pound weight that I had brought for this
contingency. Normally when using a weight I will tie a figure eight in the
line and attach it at that point. In this case not knowing where the best
placement would be I clipped it on and moved it along with me. As I finned
forward the sump became deeper and in the glow of my HID I spotted a low
section that ducked under the far wall. It was only a few inched high so I
followed it to the right were it gradually opened up. I placed the weight
on the bottom and finned into the over head thinking that maybe this sump
had some potential anyway, It was low but reasonably sized and continued.
After several feet I tried to place another spike but once again the
floor resisted my best efforts. Just in front of me I spotted what appeared
to be a natural tie off so I moved forward and tried it but the line slipped
off. In the gloom in front of me I could see another piece of limestone
so I moved forward again and tried this spot with the same results. Unable
to determine the passage profile due to the poor vis and with no way to
belay the line I decided that it was time to turn and exit. I placed the
reel on the bottom and gently grasping the line began to follow it back the
way I had come.
As I moved forward I could gradually feel the ceiling and floor slowly
beginning to meet. The passage had not been this snug on my inward journey
but this was a new unfamiliar terrain and my options were limited so I
pressed on and continued to follow the line hoping that this was only a
short snug section. This unfortunately did not prove to be the case and I
soon found myself unable to make any further forward progress. At this
point I found myself pressed firmly against the bottom with my back in
contact against the ceiling. I waved my right hand to my front and
determined that the passage continued but if it did go it was going to be a
major restriction and definitely not the route I had taken on my inward
journey. The urge to continue following the line and push into the
restriction was very powerful, I was sure that I had to be close to exiting
the sump, only a few more feet and I would be out. After a moment I
realized that this option was the wrong one and I backed up into the wider
section behind me. As I floated there in essentially zero vis and collected
my thoughts the urge to push forward diminished and it occurred to me that I
had made a very poor judgment call in my line placement. Unless I figured a
way out of this mess I was not going to survive this experience. I
estimated that I was only a few feet from the surface and that I had some
how managed to pull the line into a line trap.
After entering the sump I had moved slightly to the right, I guessed
that the line must have somehow taken an easier route into this low section.
Firmly grasping it and pulling the line with me as I went I move to the
right and then forward, the passage was low but felt like walking trunk
passage compared to the spot where I had been only moments before. As the
knots flowed smoothly passed my fingers I concentrated on maintaining my
composure. I passed through one more snug section and then hit the surface.
I soon found myself kneeling in head the pool and relating my experience to
my support team. I was not the happiest of campers.
At this point the thought of calling it for the day occurred to me. So
far this effort had failed to turn out as expected. Instead of a clear
flowing large sump I instead had a low vis pool and a tight sump that had
almost eaten me. After a few minutes I decided that their was no sense in
giving up yet. I had a pretty good idea of what I had done wrong on my
first dive and had plenty of gas left so I had Jeff toss me two screw
spikes, turned and followed the line to the beginning of the over head.
My weight was no where to be found and explained how the line had shifted
into the trap. I followed it back to the surface from this point and then
returned to this spot and after a brief struggle inserted the first screw
spike into the bottom belaying the line to this. After double checking my
belay I moved forward a few feet and tried to place the second spike. The
bottom resisted my efforts until I move a flat rock, found a softer spot and
was able to seat the second spike. After belaying the line to this I turned
and followed it back to the first spike verifying my route. Satisfied that
my way out was secure I headed back in. Out of spikes I move forward a few
feet and felt the limestone that I had attempted to belay the line to on the
first dive, no longer concerned over maintaining visibility I dug around
and pulled up a large long slab and used this as a bullet proof line belay.
A few feet further and I reached my reel. Deciding that a five hundred
foot reel was over kill for this site and with better uses for it I tied a
figure eight in the line, cut the reel free and exited.
So far it had been quite a weekend. Between the incident on 81 and now
the first dive I had certainly experience more excitement than I had planned
on. This dive had certainly been far from my finest moment. I had allowed
myself to make the cardinal error of pressing too far on the first dive
without insuring bomb proof line placements. The desire to stay ahead of
the silt cloud and previous expectations regarding this sump had led me to
make some really poor judgments. The second dive had proceeded smoothly
and demonstrated that the site still had some promise. Only time would tell
if it will go.
One of the lessons learned from this experience is that we will no
longer use the clip on drop weights as line attachment points, instead we
will use a continuous loop of cave line passing through the weight as the
attachment mechanism. This line will run through the weight and be attached
to it for transport with a piece of duct tape to prevent it from being a
snagging hazard. To deploy the line a loop protruding from the weight will
be pulled releasing the attachment line which will then be passed over the
primary line. The weight will then be passed through this loop cinching it
to the line. This will provide a more secure and long lasting attachment
system than the clip and eliminate the need to tie an eight in the primary
line.
After a pleasant evening at Friars Hole visiting with friends we swung
up to OTR on Sunday for a relaxing day with 2200 fellow cavers and an
adventure in auto motive repair. We also managed to resolve the age old
question of how many cavers it takes to fix a Ford. But that is another
story, it was just one of those weekends.
We would like to recognize our sponsors and all of the supporting
cavers who helped make our efforts possible. A special thanks to Arnold
Jackson Of American Underwater Lighting who supplied our exceptional
primary lights, Meteor 4�s and HIDs, as well as other critical gear and Tom
and Jon of the Fifth Dimension Dive Center who has provided us with other
vital support. We would also like to thank Terry Brady, of the Brass Anchor
who has provided us with generous audio visual support. Additional sponsors
include Lamar Hires of Dive Rite, , Alex Sproul of Inner Mountain
Outfitters, Adrew Kipe of Maryland Reproductions, and Robert Carmichael of
Brownies Third Lung and HALCYON, The Doing It Right Equipment Company, and
our most recent sponsor, DUI for our outstanding CF 200 series Dry Suits,
Tim Walker, Hank and Jane Anderson, and the Sovik and Mothes families
without whose support none of our efforts would have been possible.
Diver Explorer
Joseph Kaffl
Support Team Members
Jeff Mott On site Stand By Diver and Support
Doug Eiche
Mike Davis
Mike List
Al Majors
Wayne
Ted
"The Russian GUY"
Stand By on call Divers
Eric Tesnau
Dave Nicholas
..
JOSEPH
KAFFL
SUMPDIVER@MS*.CO*
NEST
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]