23We retraced our steps to the new pit (I carried the rope) andsurveyed down it. I was first down, followed by Bill, Richard,and Jean. It was quite wet and was followed 40' later by aslope (rope needed) to a second 40' pit. In between watergushed from a 6" diameter hole in the wall like a fire hydrant.Steele, by clever use of his slings, got to the opposite sideof the pit. He rigged the rope and after getting me to tyroleanacross, dropped the pit, staying pretty much o<strong>ut</strong> of the water.The rope was 5' off the bottom. Ten horizontal feet later hefound an estimated 20' pit. This was ofcourse as far as wecould go. The second 40' drop actually measured 13 metersand had water pouring into it from two or three ways, one wayfrom down a flowstone area above.This twenty hour trip brought us back to a camp that had notchanged. Broussard had remained as inactive as could be to maintain hisenergy. In his journal he had written o<strong>ut</strong> details in<strong>for</strong>ming us what to doin case he was unconscious when someone finally came in from the surface.I was taught how to give a shot and tried once giving Don 7cc of insulinhe had managed to suck into a syringe. I gave it into his abdomen. The daywas spent in speculation abo<strong>ut</strong> the surface folks and in whether or not anattempt should be made to scale the 318 in search of the rope somewhereaboveṪhe next day was Sunday, 3 April. It had been six days witho<strong>ut</strong> wordfrom the surface. We had been trapped <strong>for</strong> four days. This was the day totry the 318. Broussard helped me set up a sling of j~ry-rigged climbingaids <strong>for</strong> the attempt. ';ole had eight bolts. !iarion's journal reads:Bill went around camp collecting slings, carabiners, and anythingthat could be used <strong>for</strong> chocks. Those who were going got asubstantial ration of hot food -- potatoes and some kind ofmeat, I think. Finally, at 11:25 A.M. Bill, Gerald, and Ileft. Bill went up the 60' and 180' drops first. I followed.Near the bottom of the 180' Bill tied another rope to themain line because the main line had a bad fray in it. OnceBill was up the 180' and while I was on rope I heard a commotionat the top of the 180'. Soon I heard Bill sho<strong>ut</strong>ing,"People! People! ~fuoever you are I love you!" which causedgreat excitement <strong>for</strong> me and I too joined in the sho<strong>ut</strong>ing andtold Gerald at the bottom of the 180' to go back to camp andtell the others. When I reached the top of the 180' I learnedit was Joe Lieberz who had shown up -- alone••••This reunionwith Joe was GREAT as of course it meant we were no longertrapped! Jean later said when Gerald walked back into campeveryone stood up and silently waited to see who it was andwhat he wanted. She thought someone had <strong>for</strong>gotten something.B<strong>ut</strong> then Gerald said that there was good news, the rope wasdown.Everyone b<strong>ut</strong> Jean, Joe, and I left the <strong>cave</strong>. Joe climbed back up the318 to bring down some of the food that had been there. Broussard, contraryto what he had anticipated his condition would be after three daysof no insulin, packed up and headed o<strong>ut</strong>. A discussion ensued between ~funi
24and myself abo<strong>ut</strong> trash and abandoned gear. It was evident that more thanfootprints were going to be left behind. l~OW that the rope was down andan exit was possible, somewhat of a ro<strong>ut</strong> happened. These fellows were allleaving. They'd had enough. Though when our group first arrived they saiethey could stay three weeks or until the <strong>cave</strong> ~ias done, they were going.1~e had vowed to clean San Agustin as was known by the entire group, yetstill, articles were left lying around Camp II as these <strong>cave</strong>rs headed o<strong>ut</strong>.tfuni stated that he had buried his trash b<strong>ut</strong> refused to tell us where itwas so it could be dug up and hauled o<strong>ut</strong> of the <strong>cave</strong>. l~<strong>ut</strong>son had broughtin a $10 sleeping bag so he could leave it in the <strong>cave</strong>. This amazed us assome of us had believed in the "nothing b<strong>ut</strong> footprints" slogan. Nothingb<strong>ut</strong> footprints, sleeping bags, clothes, canteens, insulite pads, dufflebags, crushed cans, ropes not used, batteries, 25 cans of food not opened,and medicine was left. It was a ro<strong>ut</strong>.Jean and I moved do~~ passage to the quieter location of Camp IIA.I 3ad sent a note o<strong>ut</strong> with l~rion asking Jim Smith and Van ~ote to comein <strong>for</strong> a push. We waited, our spirits high. After a period of sleeping,we awoke to the first day of our second week underground. Several hourslater a holler was heard proving to be Kim Hastings and Van ~ote. Kimhad only done a 120 foot deep <strong>cave</strong> in New Enrland be<strong>for</strong>e and was hereat Camp II at -536m. They brought bad news. Due to the triangle that hadbeen an issue the whole expedition of Smith, Dornan, and Harrison, thevehicle was leaving. ~o support now existed to carry on exploration orde-rigging or hauling back anythinE to Austin. After much deliberation~e decided to leave camp intact and go to the surface to arrange <strong>for</strong>unneeded gear to be taken in the truck. He then would continue in thegoing lead below and survey it. If we found it to keep going, we wouldleave the <strong>cave</strong> rigged and wait <strong>for</strong> Bill Stone's group coming down in onemonth. If an end was found then we would atteopt to de-rig to the baseof the entrance pit, ride buses back to Austin, and have Stone bring gearback in Y.ay. The prospects didn't seem appealing b<strong>ut</strong> Van ~~ote had saidthe truck was certain to be leaving, giving no recourse.Our exit only happened to the base of the 318 where Van Note yelleddown <strong>for</strong> us to remain; someone was coming in. My feeling was that some ofthe previous day's ro<strong>ut</strong>ers had succumbed to guilt and were returning <strong>for</strong>their articles littering the <strong>cave</strong>. I'd just found Schreiber's sleepingbag, clothes, foamy and duffle bag at the base of the 318. IVhen the descending<strong>for</strong>m of someone reached the base of the drop, it was Steve Zeman.He and Dino Lowry had flown to 11exico DF, bused to San Agustin, and hadbeen hastened by Broussard to get down to us and save the expedition. Wewere overjoyed. ~le didn't need to leave. They brought both news that theHog of Steel vehicle wasn't leaving and luxury food stuffs of cheese andsweets. Once again. the 3l~ had been the location of a chan~e.Our five descended to ~amp II and settled. ~y this time everyonecamping was coug3ing with ~hat was later diagnosed as bronchitis. Zemanand Lowry were worn o<strong>ut</strong> from a non-stop trip from Austin so were contentto han~ in ca~p, resting. ~~en we awoke the next day, we readied <strong>for</strong> a longtrip. I ~yas the last to don !!IY wetsuit b<strong>ut</strong> found the zipper to be broken.An operation follOtled that cancelled the trip. The final product of ourlabors was a corset-like wetsuit top, laced and looking ~edieval. Itbecame a pull-over top.~e waited one more day to optimize our energy and psyches. The tripto the going lead would be long. All seemed right so on 6 April we beganthe trip downward fron Camp IrA to the goinr, do~mstream lead. The tripthrough t~e gorge area was smooth. Behind could be heard the delight ofthe newcomers at the bea<strong>ut</strong>y of the banded marble appearing walls. It was
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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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jer_I') CIRCLE ROOW•LA CUEVA DE J
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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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Back tothe Bird PitsbyBill StoneSum
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'Getting Down in Peiiaby Bill Stone
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CUEVADELAPENAPROFI LEmetersoRanc ho