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Mauricio Tapie on the Overhung Climb.(Terry Raines)brought with us. Marion descended to thebottom, and I to a ledge part way down tohelp get the measurement. This drop provedto be 63 meters, and our total depthreached below the surface was 647 meters.This time we were at the end of our rope,so we left the cave and headed for home,once again planning a return trip.This time the earliest we could planand organize the return was for the firstweek of May, and indeed on 4 May we were inAlcomunga once again. We arrived late atnight, and early the next morning our oldfriends from town greeted us. We arrangedfor six beasts of burden to carry our 23duffel bags, and off we went to the cave.This time there were ten of us: Brian Burton,Dave Doolin, Ray Gregory, GregMcNamara, Susie Raines, Terry Raines,Marion Smith, Paul Smith, Mauricio Tapie,and Marc Tremblay.Late on 4 May the first of our groupentered the cave to begin rigging and lateon 9 May the last of us left the cave.During this time we accomplished greatexplorations and left greater leads undone.First, Marion and Ray rigged the two entrancedrops and left ropes at the top ofthe Wind Drop. The next day another riggingcrew consisting of Marion, Marc, Greg, andPaul entered the cave and went deep. Pastthe Split Drop, which was the furthestpoint of exploration in February, theyfollowed a fissure gently downward untilthe bottom dropped out. They rappelled 35meters into the Junction Room, where severalgreat infeeders converged. On the farside of this room they continued a shortdistance before finding themselves at thetop of yet another drop. Out of energy,they returned to the surface. What a greatday of exploration.Now it was our turn to survey what hadbeen discovered. Brian, Dave, SUsie, and Ientered the cave just after noon on 6 Mayand headed toward the bottom. At the SplitDrop the surveying began, and it endedseveral hours later at the top of the dropwhere the rig group had called it quits.It was late for us, but we went ahead andrigged it, discovering a three part dropleading to a permanent streamway. Itseemed that we were now in a major system,with the passage continuing in both directions.We headed out, but instead ofreturning all the way to the surface we seta camp at the bottom of the second drop.Marion, Marc, Greg, and Paul returnedto the cave as we slept and reported thatit was raining outside. After a short restthey continued on into the cave to continueexploration. It was a damp trip down tothe new streamway. They were wet by thetime they got there, and wetter on the wayout because of the continuing rain. However,they did discover new and excitingwaterways. Upstream from the drop, alittle more than one hundred meters wasexplored to a climb-up. Downstream aboutthe same horizontal distance was explored,but in the process several downclimbs weremade that got wetter and wetter until itwas impossible to see or hear down the lastdrop reached. With a premature rainy seasonupon us, derigging was begun, and we allmade it out.With the 1987 caving season at an end,66
we said goodbye to all of our friends ofOcotempa, promising to return just as soonas the rains stop to continue explorationin this new cave system. The surveyeddepth of S6tano de Ocotempa is -763.2meters, however, an additional 100 metersof depth has been explored Horizontally,the end of the survey is 108 meters southand 108 rreters west fran the entrance.Terry Raines found and photographed thiscarbide dump (left) and food wrapper withFrench writing (above) in S6tano deOcotempa. Since only one other group ofcavers has ever visited this cave, theorigin of this trash seems obvious. Thepoint here, though, is not to pointfingers, but to urge everyone to keep thecaves of Me xico in their pristinecondition.PACKIT IN • • • •PACK IT OUTI67
Page 4 and 5:
PLACES INTHIS ISSUELORETO\- II PURI
Page 8:
Bot Roost10ometers5I1mprojected pro
Page 16:
The large entrance chamber to Cueva
Page 20: Long Caves of Mexicocompiled by Pet
Page 24: Chilchotla is a newly discovered ca
Page 29 and 30: GUIXANI NDIA GUINJAOZONGOLlCA-CHILC
Page 31 and 32: GUINJAOTHI GUINJAOCrystalCylinderSS
Page 33 and 34: GRUTAS DEL COCONAFinding a cave to
Page 35 and 36: GRUTASTDEL COCONAeapa, Tabasco~ c:W
Page 37 and 38: Themilky-white sulpher river that f
Page 39 and 40: cne of the many skylight entrances
Page 41 and 42: mer rainy season and vegetation tha
Page 43 and 44: Looking up towards the entrance ofS
Page 45 and 46: CHIAPASThe Dutch Expeditionby Laure
Page 47 and 48: Jl:SRTUCDCCHIAPAS.EL ZAPOTAL.MEXICO
Page 49 and 50: ELEVATIONPLANI '1 11 JI .,.-,. mete
Page 51 and 52: \9}"CAVES OF FRONTERA COMALAPA~CUEV
Page 53 and 54: BELGIAN EXPLORATIONSAT ZOQUITLANMEX
Page 55 and 56: AVCOUPES TRANSVERSALES I t 15MG~MON
Page 58 and 59: w'"ill~0'" a:w
Page 60 and 61: eakdown collapse and a 2~meter pit.
Page 62 and 63: CENOTE NAHARONTULUM. QUINTANA ROOCo
Page 64 and 65: REM:J1'E CENCYI'ECenote Dos Ojos is
Page 66 and 67: 50taoo de Ocotempaby Terry RainesMa
Page 70 and 71: SEA CAVES OF LORETOby Dave BunnellO
Page 72 and 73: CUEVAS DE NOPOLOESTADO DE BAJA CALI
Page 74 and 75: SISTEMA PURIFICACION 198672by Peter
Page 76 and 77: slipped on a down climb and twisted
Page 78 and 79: There was some airflow, but it look
Page 80 and 81: Low displacement fault in scalloped
Page 82 and 83: SISTEMA PURIFICACION 198780by Peter
Page 84 and 85: the right side that was left unpush
Page 86 and 87: Dale Pate crawling over SOIre of th
Page 88 and 89: eeze, only seven hours. So it was s
Page 90 and 91: of the Dragon River, high over Infi
Page 92 and 93: named after a ghost of popular Mexi
Page 94 and 95: Meanwhile Peter, Terri, Rich, and P
Page 96 and 97: CUEVA DELTECOLOTEby Terri Sprousewi
Page 98 and 99: tions that covered the brittle rock
Page 100 and 101: A surprise continuation of the Fant
Page 102 and 103: ReviewsLas Cavernas de la Sierra Go
Page 104 and 105: Bill Steele labored on the story of
Page 106: Chiapas in 1981 and 1984. This we1l
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