19THE FORBIDDEN LAND RETURN TO HUAUTlAby Bill SteeleThe revisit to San Agustin at Christmas time by ~~S'ers and othersfrom the USA showed that indeed the deepest known <strong>cave</strong> in the Western Hemispherewas deeper. Georgia's Richard Schreiber had in mind ever since the1968 survey party he was on. the lead high at the end of the large walkingpassage taking off at -536 meters. vllien his team once again enteredthe Hua<strong>ut</strong>la area. rigged down to this lead and began poking around. theyfound going <strong>cave</strong> dropping mas abajo. Schreiber's Christmas crew was replacedupon leaving by Stone and company from Austin. This crew camped in Camp IIat -536 meters. exploring downward through a gorge named the Cascada Grande.They found some large chambers going off at -750 meters. These leads remainedas well as the enticing downstream pit lead that they gazed dO~Jnbeyond these side leads in the main stream passage. •The Chancho de Acero's (Hog of Steel) crew consisted of Blake Harrison,Mike Van Note. Jean Jancewicz, Bill Steele. Jill Dorman. and Jim Smith whenwe arrived at San Agustin one day prior to our rendez-vous date of 25 t~rch.Our meeting was to be with Richard Schreiber's crew consisting of he, }~rionSmith. Steve Kn<strong>ut</strong>son, Gerald }funi. Warren Heller. and Don Broussard. Thisgroup had arrived ~vo days earlier. 22 March.On the evening we arrived, only Kn<strong>ut</strong>son and Gerald Moni were at therented house standing on the so<strong>ut</strong>h edge of the large doline of San Agustin.The others were underground, rigging and hauling in camping and foodsupplies <strong>for</strong> a planned five day stay at Camp II. They all exited mideveningafter having gotten their things to the -400m level.Early next day found those of our crew that haa never be<strong>for</strong>e seenthe Hua<strong>ut</strong>la area in astonishment at the scenery. Dolines couldn't be thatbig. The only flatness to be found were the floors indoors. Water? Oh. justgo by the church and take the trail dO~Jn to the entrance of Rio Iglesia,only 175m vertically downhill.Schreiber and Reller entered San Agustin late in the day of March 25planning on taking their food on down to Camp II, beginning the camp stay.After nightfall they returned to camp stating their psyche's hadn't beenready so they exited to try again another day.The six of us from the Hog were as a majority feeling ill. Three weeksinto high powered caving, we were suffering from far reaching ail~ents ofc<strong>ut</strong>s and abrasions. sore throats. TP consumption, trashed gear, lovetriangles. and road weariness. Slowly we sewed up packs and wetsuits. bootsandharnesses, charged up batteries, packed up food, and attached shoulderpads to duffle bags. The earlier arrivals were ready to go so on 26 March.a Saturday. Marion Smith, C~rald Moni, and Warren Heller entered to carryon down to Camp II. The following day. 27 Ma~h, saw Schreiber. Kn<strong>ut</strong>son,and Broussard enter.The Hog crew was alone. All were ready to go in as well on the 27thexcept <strong>for</strong> Van Note. He had injured his ankle while swimming in some rapidsand asked <strong>for</strong> an additional day <strong>for</strong> re8rowth. Early on 28 ~~rch the sixof us that had come from Chiapas were ready to go into San Agustin. A notewas left inside the window of the Hog <strong>for</strong> Liebman's truckload coming inan unknown numbers of days. It stipulated how to enter the rented abode,what we were up to, and that they should prepare their gear <strong>for</strong> an undergroundstay. The note was left on a '10nday stating we would e~it at lateston Friday and they should ~vait <strong>for</strong> word on ~"rhat ~7as happening exploration~yise.
20Our group of six intended on rappelling down with canping provisions<strong>for</strong> five days, going past Camp II, and establishing a Camp III in theSala Grande de la Sierra }~zateca at -75Om. This was quite an undertakingconsidering that this was much deeper than any of us besides Jim Smithhad ever be<strong>for</strong>e been. Things went smoothly, descending. Jim Smith ledthe way following by Jancewicz, Steele, Dorman, Harrison, and Van Note.At -40')m we encountered a tricky maneuver at the base of the lastdrop in the fissure series. Smith stayed to advise all what to do soSteele led on dOTHO the 318' to keep momentum flowing. ifuile Jancewiczwas coming down the 318, aarrison suffered an injurious fall at thetricky ~aneuver preceding the drop. Confusion ensued due to the impossibilityof communicating up and down the pit. Not realizing anything otherthan a delay was happening, Steele and Jancewicz went on down to Camp IIto wait there <strong>for</strong> the other four. Up top at the 318, things were hectic.Harrison's fall dropped him to eight meters. At first diagnosis it wasfelt he had a possibly fractured collar bone, pelvis, fingers, and skull.He was given to bo<strong>ut</strong>s of delirium. Seeing his condition, Dorman becamehysterical and the decision was made <strong>for</strong> Smith to ac company her topsideand return ~vith a packfrarne to support the injured Harrison. Thosebelow had no idea of these incidents.Upon reaching the surface, Smith found that Liebman's truck hadarrived giving enough personnel to manage a rescue. In the ensuing 31hours, Lieberz, Liebman, Cavanaugh, Smith, and Van Note rescued Harrisonfrom -40Om and got him to the hospital in Hua<strong>ut</strong>la. It turned o<strong>ut</strong> he.hadonly a broken finger, cracked rib, and general soreness. This is thedeepest rescue accomplished o<strong>ut</strong>side Europe.~.fuen Jancewicz and I arrived at Camp II we found it empty of<strong>cave</strong>rs. All were on a trip deeper. We waited beneath a space blanketfour hours <strong>for</strong> our teammates, finally assuming a minor accident hadoccurred and they were assisting someone. It seemed minor because therewere only four of them, no one on the surface, and eight of us below <strong>for</strong>assistance. We bedded down in Camp II, anticipating the others to comeback the following day.Hell into a night's sleep, Schreiber's crew returned from below. Hyquestion as to what they found netted only a sump <strong>for</strong> reply. They'd gonetwo additional drops and had hit deep water with no o<strong>ut</strong>let. Schreiber,Moni, and H. Smith had done this while Kn<strong>ut</strong>son, Broussard, and Heller hadsurveyed in another area near the bottom. There were still leads b<strong>ut</strong> thereport was that the <strong>cave</strong> appeared to be bottomed. On the day be<strong>for</strong>e thistrip, Sunday, Heller had led the climb at the end of Camino '68 and thecrew had found three drops and a long breakdown slope led to the lakeleading on below. The torturous breakdown down-crawl that ~lark Stock hadpioneered and had led to the lake area at Christmas time had been bypassed.This good news was greatly o<strong>ut</strong>weighed by the sump news.Still, no one from the surface. A full day had passed. Jancewicz andI decided to head up the 175 meters to the top of the 318 <strong>for</strong> provisionsfrom the others' packs, if there, and perhaps to piece together what hadhappened. I arrived there first and began to notice clues. First, Smith'spack lay there with items on the ground as if he'd dup, into it swiftly_Do~an's pack was unopened. Climbing along the traverse to the bottom ofthe next pitch, I saw a spent carbide trail. It wasn't a powder streak,b<strong>ut</strong> spots here and there, good carbide that had been spent from moisture;
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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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large storms, this arroyo sends flo
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20but the handholds are unstable re
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22Diamante received its name from t
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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