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NEST TRIP REPORT
Buchanan Cave 7 July 2001
The Northeast Sump Exploration Team, NEST, conducted exploration efforts
In the Buchanan Cave Resurgence in Virginia on 7 July 2001. 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.
Jeff finally had some time off and conditions looked good so we set our
for Virginia on Friday and arrived at Paul's after a reasonably uneventful 7
hour drive. After a good nights rest we got a relatively early start and
were in the water at the entrance pool just before 10:00 AM beating most of
the summer heat.
The entrance pool is in an air filled room about 20 feet in diameter
with a dry wide 3 foot high entrance. The pool covers the floor and is 6
inches deep over most of its area with the limestone ceiling about 5 to 6
feet above the water level. It is in the day light zone so it is well lit.
The entrance to the sump is at the far end opposite the entrance and the
water at this point is just deep enough for you to do an equipment check
before you enter the over head. Jeff lit of his AUL HID light and slid
into the pool to begin his regulator check while I knelt in the shallows
waiting my turn. After a few minutes he backed out and told me he did not
feel comfortable with the dive. This was the first time he had dove the
site with a double stage unit and we talked this over. The double stage
can be a handful, in Jeff's case he was carrying a OMS 45 equipped with
three inch PVC tubes attached to each side with stainless hose clamps. The
back ends of the tubes were sealed with Nielson clamps with o rings seals.
The tubes allow for the transport of items through the sump as well as the
adjustment of the buoyancy of the cylinder to make it almost neutral and
properly trimmed. Clipped off on top of this was a Alum 30 stage also
modified with floodable buoyancy chambers to allow it to be trimmed as it
was used. The nested stages are carried in the right hand. By being
transported in this way they do not increase the divers profile, and can
also be ditched easily in an emergency or passed to an other diver. Since
they are not attached to the diver they greatly reduce the entanglement or
wedging hazard. Because their buoyancy and trim is almost perfect they are
relatively easy to swim but like everything else this requires practice.
Our original dive plan called for Jeff to pass the first sump breathing
the 30 and to drop it 400 feet in and continue on through the 2nd ,3rd and
4th sumps on the 45 stage saving his sidemount gas, OMS 45s for the 5th sump
and emergencies. After reconsidering our situation Jeff decided to try the
dive with just the 45 stage which he had used on several occasions in the
past. He would still have ample gas supplies to safely traverse the first
four sumps which was still a worthwhile objective since his furthest
penetration in the system so far had been the second sump.
It was a good call on his part and the dive went smoothly. We
surfaced 32 minutes latter 1200 feet in after having passed through the
first four sumps. Jeff particularly enjoyed the vertical shaft that marks
the end of the second sump and goes from 57 to 0 feet straight up and the
corresponding dome pit that marks the end the third sump in which you free
fall 27 feet straight down. These features alone make Buchannan an
incredibly enjoyable dive.
After surfacing on the other side of sump 4 we beached our stages, I
was using a buoyancy compensated 80 with a thirty attached that I would
leave in the cave for a future push. I gave Jeff a brief tour of the dry
passage separating the sump 4 and 5 head pools. A significant amount of dry
cave takes off from this point some of it quite beautifully decorated with
spelothems and crystals. Jeff became the third person to ever see it.
For our exploration efforts today we were not wearing helmets. In
addition to our AUL HID primary lights we also had 2 Princeton Tech 40s
attached to inner tube bands that we wore on our heads. In the water we
would run one as a backup light and use both at the same time in the
sections of dry cave. A spare set was worn hanging from our necks. With
one light always lit we would still have useable light if our primary
failed and not lose the precious time required to turn on a backup.
The use of helmets in dry caving is considered a must by the organized
dry caving community. The helmet serves several purposes, it provides
protection from dropped items or small rocks, protects the head when the
wearer miscalculates the position of their head and the ceiling, provides
protection in the case of a fall and also a location for mounting a light so
that ones hands remain free for crawling or climbing.
A good caving helmet is one engineered to provide maximum protection while
at the same time having a reasonable weight and is equipped with at least a
four point suspension system. The cheap fiber metal helmets similar to
those worn by construction workers and some dry cavers that have a single
elastic strap are almost useless. I was wearing one of these early in my
dry caving career in Mammoth Cave when I slip on some mud covered breakdown
and fell. The helmet not only detached from my head because of this
inferior strap but also was waiting to meet me when I landed on it further
adding to my discomfort. The suspension system although designed to keep
the helmet on the wearer should also be designed to fail under load if one
finds ones head wedged in a crack. Although this scenario seems unlikely
it has happen. A death in Friars Hole in the Canadian Hole entrance was
caused when a caver had his wind pipe crushed because the suspension system
had a metal buckle. His helmet became wedged in a crack and when he cut
himself lose from his climbing rig he fell just far enough to hang himself
from his chin strap.
The Helmet that we prefer for dry caving and sump diving when we use a
helmet is the early Petzel Ecrin, unfortunately it is no longer made in
this version. It is designed as a climbing helmet, has the proper
suspension system with a plastic buckle, is fairly light weight and is
modified for cave diving by drilling two small holes in the top to vent
exhaled air. Two Princeton tech 40s are attached on either side with wire
ties with the bulb units replaced by custom LED arrays.
The decision to wear or not wear a helmet is determined by the nature of
the cave that we are conducting operations in. Although a helmet provides
many benefits it also has several liabilities associated with it. Among
these is that even a compact helmet significantly increases your profile
and drag making it more difficult or in some cases impossible to pass
through tight spots. It also can create problems with over heating when
moving gear through the dry cave between sumps. A further liability is that
it reduces your situational awareness by interfering with your field of
vision and range of motion as well as requiring you to remove it if you
should need to don your backup mask underwater.
In general when the cave involves diving with little dry cave we opt not
to wear helmets beyond the entry point because of the significant
performance liabilities associated with their use. Wearing a helmet while
trying to push an under water restriction can be down right dangerous. In
the case of a project like Locust Creek that involves crossing large areas
of slippery breakdown and vertical caving on the other side of the sumps a
helmet is an absolute must and we wear it throughout the trip including the
dives. Although Buchanan involves significant amounts of dry cave the
spring side does not involve any significant breakdown thus far so we opt to
assume the risk of not wearing helmets because of the impact on our
performance. In doing this we realize we are assuming a bit of risk and
also the need to always fully alert and aware of our moments before we make
them since our margin of error has been dramatically reduced.
After a 40 minute surface interval and a snack I set off in to sump 5 and
proceed to the deepest point, 51 ft. I had ended my survey at this spot and
picked it up surveying the deep section and up the slope for 162 feet to a
depth of 25 feet where I place a Disler spike angled across the line to
mark this point and turned to exit. I joined Jeff and after unpacking
supplies from the stage transport tubes we did some more dry caving before
packing up for our exit.
We passed sump 4 and 3 and surfaced at this point so Jeff could take a
look at the room that is at the top of the second sump. It starts out as a
20 foot diameter dome with a dry passage tantalizingly out of reach entering
the cave at the top of the dome. The water is fairly deep with no dry cave
and only one spot where you can stand. We floated in the middle of the room
for a while enjoying the interplay of the light from our AUL HIDs as they
projected the ripples from the surface on the walls in a surrealistic light
show. Beyond this room lies a long deep canyon about 70 feet long with
about 6 to 8 feet of air space between the ceiling and the water level. At
water level the walls are about 10 feet apart. The line is tied off on one
of the few natural points in the cave about 40 feet into the canyon on the
left wall and drops straight down to the bottom where it makes a dog leg
into a restriction that leads out from this point. It is probably the
trickiest part of the dive in this first section of cave.
Following the line down is like free falling in a sky dive. Jeff led
off and I followed, he got ahead of me so I used his bubbles as a reference
for his location as I free fell next to the line. At a depth of 40 feet I
pushed my inflator on my dry suit and was rewarded with a short hiss and no
more gas delivery.
I had inadvertently used up all of the gas from my argon bottle. I now had
two options, I could surface and hook up my backup inflator from my right
tank or push on. Doing so in the pit was not an option unless I was willing
to damage the fragile ledges that lined the drop. Since this was Jeff's
first dive past this point and his passage through the restriction would
wipe out the vis I decided to continue and maintain team integrity. If I
did not show up on the other side of the restriction he would come looking
for me and be forced to navigate the area in zero vis. This could put him
in a precarious situation due to his lack of familiarity with the passage.
Even worse we might meet at the tight point. Unlike my normal graceful
descents in the past I impacted into the bottom and found myself exiting
using a bit more of crawling than swimming technique. The squeeze on my
DUI CF 200 was also a bit uncomfortable and once I reached the restriction
with nothing left to loose I rested on the bottom and hooked up my backup
inflator hose. This only took a moment and I was back in proper trim
shortly thereafter and Jeff barely realized I had been delayed. Our swim
out went smoothly and we exited after a three and half hour trip. Another
successful effort for the team with the cave survey pushed almost to the end
of the fifth sump, a lesson learned on inflation gas use and Jeff now being
familiar with the first section of the cave. My argon inflator reg now has
a small screw in pressure gauge. This allows me to track my inflation gas
reserve before entering a sump and allows better planning on gas use.
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
Jeff Mott
Stand By on call Divers and Support Team
Paul Montgomery Virginia Area Coordinator
Eric Tesnau
Dave Nicholas
Laura Kraus
JOSEPH
KAFFL
SUMPDIVER@MS*.CO*
NEST
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