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There was some airflow, but it looked grim.Surely there must be a better way on.The third team, Terri, Jim, Cyndie,and Susie, decided to push the continuationof the camp passage across Flamingo Lake,which served as the camp drinking watersource. On the far side, the passageopened into a large south-trending borehole.Excitedly they raced down the passage,stretching the tape to almost fulllength on each shot. The passage made al80-degree left turn to the north, and soonthe sound of a small stream could be heard.Then Terri had to stop to change carbide.In her hurry and excitement, she picked upher bottle of gorp and dumped some into hercarbide lamp, then tried to swallow somecarbide from her other bottle. Hence thepassage was christened the Flaming NoseRiver. Emerging from bedrock, the streamsumped 50 meters downstream. Between thethree teams, another 905 meters had beenmapped in the cave.MEDUSA'S MAZECarol Vesely admires the numerous helictitesthat adorn Medusa's Maze.(Phil Deacon)Lead, which rejoined the Southbound Boreholesouth of the camp latrine. A bit fartherto the north, a lead in Fantasia developedinto some interesting tubes that,if pushed farther, probably would haveconnected back into the Southbound Boreholealso. Bill, Carol, Dale, Marcus, andTerry headed to the Redrock Breakdown, ablowing boulder choke at the southernmostpoint of the system. This had been discoveredin 1982 during a surface push andhad been given only a cursory look. Afterpersistent searching on the part of Billand Marcus, Bill eventually made his wayinto a fair-sized room and the others surveyed32 meters into it. At the base of theroom was a tight phreatic tube with waterin the bottom; it obviously served as adrain. It led to about 10 meters of tightbelly-crawl, and then filled with water towithin a centimeter or two of the ceiling.With the southern effort seemingly runup against an impenetrable wall, the nextday attention turned elsewhere. The mapshowed dozens of unchecked leads off theMedusa's Maze section of the cave. The areawas named for a fantastic helictite formation(Medusa's Head) that had been seen ona recon trip into the maze in 1978, butnever relocated since. Only one routethrough the maze had been surveyed. Whichof these many leads went to the Medusawas anyone's guess. So Bill, Jim, and Carolformed one team, and Terri, Dale, Mauricio,and Marcus formed a second team to thisarea.The two Maze teams had dozens ofleads, but not surprisingly, most of theseformed loops rejoining other sections ofthe maze. One lead near the upper sectionwent for about 100 meters through a seriesof crawlways and tight squeezes, with a fewbranches and small rooms. In search ofbigger passage, Jim, Carol, and Bill decidedto survey a walking-height tube thatthey suspected was just another loop. However,in addition to looping back, thepassage continued as a nice phreatic tubeheading steeply down-dip. A few surveyshots later the group came to some 150-76
Cavers traverse the spacious Texas Tunnel.(Peter Sprouse)centimeter soda straws and a massive helictitebush! Surely this was the long-lostMedusa's head. After a few photos theyresumed surveying, noting numerous smallside leads as they headed down, down, down.Eventually the passage leveled, branched,and got smaller, but there was airflow. Thegroup turned around in some low, branchingmud crawls after 550 meters of survey.Meanwhile Peter, Phil, and Cyndiemapped into a lead off the Southbound Boreholethat climbed up into the dipping faultmaze to the south of the Medusa section.The Mashed Potato Tubes, which zig-zaggedup into the mushy, weathered rock, becametoo steep to climb just shy of a probableconnection to the Callisto Borehole, anupper-level passage that comes off of the10 Way closer to Brinco. After 310 metersof survey, Cyndie, Peter, and Phil wereback in camp early, as were Terry andSusie, who had been shooting photos nearcamp.A MAJOR MALFUNCTIONAs Cyndie was changing butane canisterson her stove, she got her carbide lamptoo close and KaBCXJM! - a tower of flameshot to the ceiling. A classic O-ringfailure - Camp Challenger lived up to itsname! Miraculously, Cyndie emerged totallyunscathed. Probably the worst part for herwas the teasing she had to put up withafterwards. When someone mentioned that theday was Sunday the jokes really began.Before the trip, Cyndie had helped shuttlethe trucks down to Infiernillo. When facedwith a long, hot hike back up to town,Cyndie had pleaded, "God, please send me alogging truck to carry us up the hill and Ipromise I'll go to church on Sunday." Toeveryone's amazement, a truck appeared fromaround the bend and gave everyone a lift.Well, now it was Sunday and Cyndie hadn'tkept her promise.77
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 68 and 69: Mauricio Tapie on the Overhung Clim
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 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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