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You wrote........
Are you *sure* you're not in some of the Ozark sumps?? <VBG>
Sounds very familiar, but without the soda straws... Must have been a
super sight! Have you been back yet?
harve
Yes, we have an ongoing project with plans to work the other two reported
sumps on the other side of sump 2.
ALEXANDERS TRIP 2 By Joseph Kaffl
I felt my right fin slip from my grasp and disappear into the river.
Instinctively I jammed a regulator into my mouth and dumped gas from my BC and
pursued the fin into the swirling water. By good luck or instinctive skill I
intercepted my fin fifteen feet down stream and five feet under water. After
providing this entertaining show for my Sherpa team I returned to the side of
the mud bar to attached the errant fin.
It was the 2nd of November 1996 and I was about to do my second dive into
the upstream Sumps in Alexander's Cave. On my first dive on 5 October 1996 I
had run a new line through Sump 1 and familiarized myself with the passage up
to the beginning of Sump 2. On my second attempt on the 19 October 1996 we
had found the river to be in full flood and I opted not to do a dive on that
occasion. Today I was prepared to carry a camera through sump 1 to document
some of the formations on the other side and to attempt to pass sump number 2.
My Sherpa team on this occasion consisted of David Hollick, Elisa Weisheit
and Jody . Brad Bason had been unable to join us. With my fin firmly in
place I verified my exploration plan with Dave and floated face down next to
the line and conducted a final gear test. With everything in order I began
my journey through the sump.
I entered with my right hand on the line and held a small pack containing
a dry box with a 35mm camera and slave in my left. My drop weights and line
were as I had left them and the line did not seem to have been effected by the
recent floods. The visibility in the sump was noticeably better than on my
first dive, almost three feet in spots. When I surface on the other side of
the sump I discovered that the water level was definitely up. I was able to
accurately gauge this because I had tied my line off on a formation at water
level on the first dive and the tie off was now a few inches under water. As
I turned to my left and proceeded up stream it became apparent that with the
increase in water levels had come a faster current. After swimming 20 feet I
was able to stand and remove my fins and begin the task of following the
passage to the next sump. My decision to remove my fins early proved to a
wise one in that I would rapidly have worn myself out if I had tried to swim
against this swift flow. After wading a few hundred feet I reached a section
where the water was over my head. Without having my fins on I was forced to
claw my way along one of the banks to make any progress. Fortunately this was
a short section and I was soon able to return to wading up the passage. The
exertion of moving through the passage with my gear on was counterbalance by
the 48 degree water and with the exception of my feet I was almost
comfortable. After 30 minutes I reached the terminal room at the beginning of
the second sump.
I placed the pack with my camera gear on a ledge out of the flow and after
completing an equipment check and cleaning and defogging my mask I began the
second dive.
The line ran from a tie off just outside the sump on the right into a low
wide passage. Keeping the line on my right I proceeded to a pinnacle of
limestone to which the line was belayed. It then took off at a right angle to
the left. After visually referencing the tie off I turned to my left and
continued to follow the line until I reached a point where the passage became
too tight to proceed any further. I carefully crossed over the line and
continued on with the line now on my left. Once again the passage became too
snug to easily continue. I paused for a moment and noticed that the line was
also now well buried in the sediment. I pulled up ward on it to see if I
could free it with out any success and off course wiped out the visibility.
Having reached my level of comfort on this penetration I decided to turn
the dive and in zero vis I began the trip out. I reached a point once again
when the passage became too snug so I crossed over the line taking great care
not to get tangled in it in this tight section. I continued and to my
surprise moved out of my silt cloud only to find myself staring at a flat wall
with the line running underneath it.
This was definitely not what I was expecting to see and it puzzled me for a
few seconds. I suddenly realized that I was in a small alcove in the ceiling
and that at this point the line was laying flush against the top of the
passage. I had not noticed this on my inward journey because I had pulled the
line away from the ceiling as I passed this section. With this small problem
sorted out I continued and exited the sump.
I now moved on to the second goal of the trip and retrieved my pack and
carefully removed the small dry box that held my camera. This was a fairly
difficult task in that I was floating next to a small shelf fighting the ever
present current. During the delicate task of removing my camera, a slave and
a micro tripod the tripod got away and dove out of sight. Fortunately it had
not been the camera or the slave. I then proceed to gingerly take 20 photos
of the beautiful formations that inhabited this section of the passage as well
as one or two self portraits. I packed my gear up and did the almost duck
back to the main passage and floated and waded a few hundred feet downstream
where I took several more photos of some impressive draperies. My cold toes
told me it was time to leave so I packed my gear, attached my fins and began
the float down stream looking for possible high leads without any success.
After reaching my tie off I checked my gear and exited the sump to find
my support team still on a dry caving trip. I gave two yells and after
getting no response decided to check the passage above the sump. During our
trip here during the flood it seemed like a considerable flow had been
emanating from this location. A careful examination showed no flow of any
kind at this time so I exited and returned to the mud bar. Since my Sherpa
team had still not returned I checked my gas and did Sump 1 again for
practice. As I exited I was greeted by my support team and we broke the
gear down and exited into a cold day full of snow flurries. Another excellent
trip into Alexander's.
The long term goals of the project are to pushed the two sumps that lie on
the other side of Sump 2, resurveyed the known passages and to document this
new section on Hi 8 video as well as with high quality still Photos.
Joseph Kaffl c 96
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