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

'International NewsTHE SIERRA DE GUATEMALA :aves havebeen closed, report the personnelat the Rancho del Cielo BiologicalStation. !he newly formed ejidos onthe mountain delivered a letter tothe station last fall protestingvisits by cavers in the last severalyears who had not secured permissionin the villages. !he biologists suggestthat permission might still beobtained to cave by requesting suchfrom the proper officials and carefullyexplaining the purpose of thevisits, which has apparently beenmisunderstood. This does B.2! affectJoya de Salas where arrangements arethe same as always. All this suggeststhat caves could be closed in even thefriendliest areas if your presence andpurposes are not explained to the localofficials. It is likely, however,that this incident is in part relatedto the recent formation of the ejidosand their corresponding assertion ofpower.THE ITALIANS have surpassed Mexico indepth. A new upper extension in Antrode la Corchia pushed it to a depthof 935 m.(Paul Courbon)BRAZIL'S LONGEST CAVE, Gruta de' SaoMateus, is now 20.5 km in length.(Paul Courbon)WHERE DOES SAN AGUSTIN STAND: PaulCourbon writes that Sotano de SanAgustin, -859 m, is probably the 14thdeepest cave in the world. Apparentlythere are some problems with the surveyswith other deep systems. TheSima GESM, Spain, is reputed to be900 m deep but has only been surveyedto -415 m. In the Garma Ciega - Sumiderode Cellagua system (also Spain)the bottom survey at -970 m is lowerthan the known resurgence and an errorof 40 m has been discovered by Polishcavers in the first 500 m ofdepth. And finally the depth ofAustria's Hochlecken-Grosshohle,-877 m, is in question by a 20 mdifference in two surveys in thefirst 150 m. So, amongst all thatis where San Agustin stands.A NEW U. S. DEPTH RECORD has supposedly.been established by a connectionbetween California's Bigfoot andMeatgrinder caves, combined to be363 m deep (Neff's Canyon cave,which has held the record for over20 years, is 357 m deep). Hopefully,we will have a verification of thisin our next issue.IT WAS A GOOD TRY, but members ofthe Independent Grotto of Arkansas(non-NSS) "fell" somewhat short intrying, to show a writer/photographerfor Outside magazine the proper techniquesof caving. Outside is a newmagazine by Rolling Stone whose purposeis to purvey outdoor activitiesto the mass public. As the grottowas leading the writer through RorieCave, lGA member David Smith attemptedto climb to a high lead above apit without a belay and accidentlypeeled off, hitting two l~dges beforelanding 40 feet below (suffering badcuts and bruises). Oh well •••CB RADIOS, which have been illegal touse in Mexico, (see ActivitiesNewsletter #5) are now permissible.The change of policy came about inNovember 1976 - apparently the governmentdecided that tourists neededCB's to summon the "Green Fleet"(tourist patrol) when in trouble.FOOTPRINT CAVE is now Belize's longestat 4 km. The survey is part of2