13I climbed up to the left. coating my soaked wetsuit with fine sand.The others took to the right wall. ~ie walked away from each other <strong>for</strong>moments. then followed a curving wall downstream. The passage was atleast 80m wide and certainly half as high. High on the walls we couldsee large white columns standing like supports. The room was silent. Forthe first time in Yochib there was no sho<strong>ut</strong>ing <strong>for</strong> the least communication.The river calmed and ran level amidst large breakdown in the middle of thechamber. We walked the perimeter of the room and curved around to joineach other at the far end. The river ended here at a rather large, 10mwide, deep sump; Yochib's end. Logs were all abo<strong>ut</strong> on the shore of thesump. The water idled, benighly moving toward the wall with motion hardto detect. I climbed around to look along the wall the water ran benaathand spotted my canteen that had avoided my grasp a year be<strong>for</strong>e. It bobbedin the slight current here at the sump end of the <strong>cave</strong>.Boon's feeling had been that convection currents brought rains inlate afternoon aaking that period one to avoid <strong>for</strong> caving. We had plannedon heading back to Camp I by IlA.M. b<strong>ut</strong> given the final room had stretchedthis time to 1 P.M. be<strong>for</strong>e we headed back up. The poing was s~ooth thoughquite wearisome to pull oneself up against the fierce currerits and acrossthe tyrolean traverse. .Jean had been occupying Camp I during our absence. On my advice, shehad not joined us exploring into Yochib. Instead, she had spent nearlyfifteen hours in camp alone, feeling o<strong>ut</strong> the darkness. For hours on endduring this time her ear had been against the receiver of the Camp Iphone in hopes of voices from the entrance. Times had been scheduled <strong>for</strong>phone transmission b<strong>ut</strong> all failed due to the one underground wrist watchhaving not been wound by the first camping crew and the light bulb pageron the phone line not working.Smith and Van Note exited in a procession that was an entertainingshow to view from the elevated perch of Camp 1. First, they scamperedfar below across breakdown to the shore of the lake. Crossing this, theyclimbed a ladder on the far side, 70m away, and then lit a throbbingwaterfall going upstream. For a half hour their lights rhythmically recededupstream, climbing, swi1llllling, leaping -- then the two of US werealone.lnthe course of the following 24 hour period we were visited bytwo pairs of <strong>cave</strong>rs passing through trying their hand at seeing a bit ofYochib, now that it.was rigged. Both of these pairs made it only to BadDreams below Camp I and decided independently that a guide was a necessity,even given a rigged <strong>cave</strong>.Word was sent o<strong>ut</strong> <strong>for</strong> surveying equipment to be brought in and thoseinterested in photographing below to come in as well. The following.dayour camp solitude was pierced by the calls of several approaching <strong>cave</strong>rs.It turned o<strong>ut</strong> to be all those from the surface that felt they wanted tosee the whole <strong>cave</strong>. As the group filed into our flowstone home, I sawLiebera, Boon, Howie, Soileau, and Cavanagh. We joined them in wetsuits,gave them a headstart, then traversed downstream to catch them. Coming upbehind them right be<strong>for</strong>e Froth Pot, I was able to explain the riggingand necessary moves coming up in the <strong>cave</strong> only three of us had seen be<strong>for</strong>e.Fairly smoothly, the 250 meters of recently explored <strong>cave</strong> was traversedby our party'of seven, to the large sump chamber. Here we spreado<strong>ut</strong> and thoroughly checked o<strong>ut</strong> the final grandeur of Sumidero Yochib,converging on the sump. The idea was to survey the perimeter of the largesala. beginning at the sump, circling to the sump, then ~eading up river.
14This idea was thwarted given an undamped Suuanto. Jean and I began the leado<strong>ut</strong> while Lieberz, dowie, and Boon slowed themselves by photographing alongthe way. All went smoothly through the new <strong>cave</strong> b<strong>ut</strong> concern was in the airabo<strong>ut</strong> the violent canals still above us, both be<strong>for</strong>e and after the dropnamed "the Stinger.;1 \fuile moving one at a time upstream tm..ard the baseof "the Stinger," Soileau ran into difficulty with the rigging, catchingher gear at a most inopportune spot. Standing waves threw her abo<strong>ut</strong>, knockingher helmet back, cowboy riding style. With one inhalation of water,she began to sink with the look of drowning on her face. She was givenenough assistance to make it on through the canal. The call was too closeto accept and had left Carmen fatigued. On upwards to Camp I, she wasbelayed in any tight spot as our tattered crew gained in elevation. Camp Istill had plenty of provisions so Carmen chose to hold up there, watchingall the rest of us leave the <strong>cave</strong> in procession.The following day Boon and Gareth Davis entered on a "mission ofmercy," bringing the over-extended Soileau to the surface. "tie ~.yere alltogether now, the <strong>cave</strong> was rigged all the way to the sump, and a largeportion still remained to be surveyed. Smith, Van Note, and Harrison spokeup and headed in. In the course of an 18 hour trip they surveyed all thenew <strong>cave</strong> of 1977, finishing the survey~f Sumidero Yochib. They also derig~edall the way to Parach<strong>ut</strong>e Corner.Derigging remained. Two teams were decided upon, entering the <strong>cave</strong>hours apart. Lieberz volunteered to be independent, derigging the phoneline from Camp lo<strong>ut</strong> the entrance. Pace, Van Note, Howie, Jancewicz, andI headed in first to derig below Camp I. Two duffles awaited us where webegan up~o1ards movement. It to()l\.us five hours to get our accumulating gearand rope coils up to Camp I. Here, we weren't met by the second group sowe broke and cleaned up Camp I, then continued. Be<strong>for</strong>e reaching Fool'sFalls, ~o1e were met by the second group of Dorman, Harrison, Liebman, andWes Davis. Efficiently and safely we derigged o<strong>ut</strong> from there, ending atthe entrance with five full duffle bags of equipment. Yochib had beenexplored to the end, ending five separate expeditions to explore the <strong>cave</strong>.TIle survey was completed and the <strong>cave</strong> derigged. No one had suffered anyinjuries b<strong>ut</strong> not to say scares hadn't been experienced.EPTI.OGUE Rigging Sumidero Yochib in 1977, we had 27 vertical ropepitches, 23 rigged canal lines, and 11 ladder pitches. Ladders wereused with ropes alongside <strong>for</strong> self-belay or no rope in the case ofladder pitches where pools below eliminated the danger of falling. Wehad no ladder mishaps b<strong>ut</strong> did have tYO ladder peels due to fatiguedarms. ~iichael Boon, a <strong>cave</strong>r of international experience, twenty someodd years of caving, and a veteran of every trip to Yochib, announcedthat he never wanted to tackle another like it. His feeling was thatit ~o1as the most technical <strong>cave</strong>, requiring the most ca<strong>ut</strong>ion and thoughtof any <strong>cave</strong> in his repertoire. The Canadian Caver has published accountsof the exploration of Yochib as it has happened, and will be publishingthe completed ~ap in the near f<strong>ut</strong>ure.
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ASSCCIATION FOR MEXICAN CAVE STUDIE
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3So the large-entranced sotano whic
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5MINA OTATES, T&~.: DSC. 25, 1974,
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MERIDA, YUC.: OCT. 1974, David McKe
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AMCSMEMBERSHIP ACTIVITIES LETTEREdi
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3Michael Schulte has been working o
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5To the right of the partition in t
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7Diamond Cave RevisitedAndy Grubbs,
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9CHE~-VEN-SIL-MUTSYSTEM\+--1000 ft.
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Cave Map Symbols11On the following
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13I NATIONAL SPELEOLOGICAL ISOCIETY
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ASSOCIATION FOR MEXIC&~ CAVE STUDIE
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17Discussion of Map Symbolsby Bill
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19in a 90 meter pit could collect d
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AMCSACTIVITIES LETTEREdited by Bill
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3After leaving Valladolid we went t
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CASI UlL 5By Bill Stone as told to
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June 97Dear AMCSRE:Diamond CaveAfte
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Anyways we speleo-boppedEstrella an
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The adrenelin still pumping through
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13Sotano Hondo de Pina1itoBy Steven
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CAVE MAP SYMBOLS(continued)15The AM
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mechanical shading -- the dots, con
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morphogenetic feature involving gra
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height variation, say. across the w
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23that list to include a broader se
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25be represented by rigidly p,eomet
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27..• D. 0. ȯGravelFEATURENOTESS
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ASSOCIATION FOR MEXICAN CAVEUAP Snm
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AlfCSACTIVITIES LETTEREdited by Bil
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35. I personally had the following
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volunteered to rescue the bag. They
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one large black hole near the top o
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The next day we left camp at dawn a
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11First Exploration of NogalThursda
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'"entire passage has·solutional ro
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13Date: January, 1975Destination: A
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15Trip Report, Christmas-New Years
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THEOTATES MINE AREA17SIERRA DE EL A
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- Page 102 and 103: 3View across the botto~ of Hoya de
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- Page 119 and 120: RETURN TO HUAUTLA~Jith t~e 1976-77
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- Page 133 and 134: The Fissure t..as located by T.P.
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- Page 155 and 156: 30Medical Report On The April 1977
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- Page 159 and 160: 34considered normal. The diabetic d
- Page 161 and 162: 36Jim Smit~ Has followinp, Blake Ha
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the cave. We pulled our rope down b
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increased the cave's depth to -197
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series of parallel ascending (+30 0
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La Sistema Purificacidn: a theory a
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Between the Cold and the" GlorybyTe
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Back tothe Bird PitsbyBill StoneSum
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'Getting Down in Peiiaby Bill Stone
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CUEVADELAPENAPROFI LEmetersoRanc ho