asscciation for mexican cave studies box 7672 ut station austin ...

Bill Steele, Jean JanceWicz, Joe Lieberz, llike Boon, !lill Howie,~~ureen Cavanaugh, and Carmen Soileau were exiting from the terminal roomin Sumadero Yochib. Jean was leading, next was Bill Steele, and followinghim was Carmen Soileau. As Bill reached the upstream end of the Canalbelow the Stinger, he yelled back, "No carabiners. :Io carabiners." to tellCarmen not to clip into the line, as was done on the other canals. It wasnot possible to use a carabiner as two ropes had been used to rig thecanal and they were tied in the middle with a knot too large to passthrough a carabiner. Ibis knot was located in a swift section of the canalwhere the flow of the current produced foot high standing waves. Carmenfailed to hear 3il1's warning due to the noise of the water and when shereached the knot she was unable to pass and was washed back. She movedforward again and was again.forced back and under the water and came uptangled in the rope with her hard hat turned sideways. As she appearedto be tiring, Bill Steele jumped in and followed the line -to Carmen. Hetalked her into releasing her carabiner and by breaking the force of thewater was able to lead her past the knot. Carmen was weakened by the struggleand would have been in serious trouble if Bill had not been able toassist. After falling on the next ladder, she was belayed to Camp I whereshe rested for 24 hours.Analysis: The rigging could have been improved so as not to use a knot,but the rigging team used the ropes they had. Perhaps a briefing beforedifferent sections would help, and the necessity of close attention tothe problems of other cavers is pointed out by the incident.35Carmen Soileau, Cris Alvers, Warren Anderson, and Norm Pace wereon a trip to lay a phone line to Camp I in Sumadero Yochib. ~orm Pacehad climbed down a ladder and was reeling out the phone wire whileclipped into a canal rope. This rope was strung between the end of thecable ladder and a bolt above a waterfall at the downstream end of thecanal. The bottom of the cable ladder was held in place by passingthe ladder through an unlocking carabiner attached to a bolt at thebottom of the ladder. As Norm Pace strung the line the buffetting forceof the water popped the rope out of the carabiner, giving enough slackto drop Pace over the lip of the next falls where the force of thewater held him against the end of the rope beneath the water. At firstup-side down and unable to breathe, he was able to right himself andin the process created .a, breathing space where the water arched overhis hard hat. The people at the end of the rope tried to free him butwere unable to budge him against the force of the water. ne was heldbelow the surface of the water and the team above could see only hiselectric light glowing beneath the water. Pace hung in this position for15-20 minutes. They finally considered him dead. The rope was thenloosened from the top bolt. This additional slack enabled &orm toescape from the water. His calls were heard from above and first thoughtto be another party coming out of the cave.Analysis: Locking carabiners should be used on all rigging where thereis any possibility of the rope being popped through the gate of thecarabiner by intermittent loads.