8MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

RETURN TO THE SOUTHWith our schedule shift, the surveytrips for the 16th of March soon turnedinto the 17th. After eight days undergroundit could perhaps be said that a slightdiminishment of enthusiasm was discernableamong some of the crew, but after a lengthysession of camp photography, three teamswere formed. Carol, Mauricio, and DavemapPed a crawl that I had noticed leadingoff of the northern Wind Tunnels thatseemed to be heading north under the Netherhall.They pushed it about 70 metersbefore it got grim, and named it SleazyDoes It. Then they returned to the TetricosTrunk area, mapping more side leads andloops to bring their total for the day to192 meters.Terri, Susie, and I put on wetsuitsand proceeded south to the Tex-Echo. Climbingup into Texas Avenue and down FlatrockChimney, we started to survey downstream(north) in Tex-Echo. We passed a deep lowairspacelake, and after 100 meters we tieddirectly into the upstream end of the TexasTunnel. Being done so soon, we set out foranother area to look for leads - the RedZinger. This was the downstream portion ofthe Texas River, and none of us had beenthere before, nor did we have notes on handfor it. The scalloped red limestone wallswere exceptionally beautiful. Past the endof the previous survey we looked at thedownstream portion of the river. Two downstreamleads and one going upstream allsurnpe~ Not completely certain of the surveystatus in this area, we retreated to adry side lead we were sure was unmappe~This we named the Green Zinger, due to itbeing St. Patrick's day. This looped backto the Texas River after 100 meters, via atight ripping crawl named Shredderdale.We had still not gotten our fill, soon the way back to camp we stopped at ahole in the floor in the Arctic Way. It ledto a small lower level tube with occasionalpools. The Uncle Arctic Tube, as we namedit, eventually looped into the SouthboundBorehole, giving us 340 meters for the day.While on our last survey, we were visitedby the third team, Bill, Jude, and Brad.They had made the long trip south to theRedrock Breakdown to try again to find away through. They were able to follow thePolished limestone and flowstone in a sidepassage off the Tetricos Trunk.(Dave Bunnell)wind for a ways, but finally could notproceed without explosives. Although theydidn't survey, the two teams that did got atotal of 636 meters, making the cave 67,160meters long.FINAL SURVEYSOn the evening of 17 March we dividedinto teams for the last surveys. Terri,Carol, and Dave returned to the TetricosTrunk area where they squeezed out another115 meters of survey, mapping more tubes toa lake. Jack, Susie, and I worked the southWind Tunnels area, mapping side leads andloops neglected since the first explorationsin 197& We got 213 meters of surveyand did not complete the area by any means.Dale and Bill bravely gave the "Hays" areain Goes 2 another push, gaining only 38meters, but - it still goes! Death coral85