8MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

Meanwhile Peter, Terri, Rich, and PaulF. followed the other lead to a muddy canyonbearing northwest, just the right directiontoward S6tano de Las Calenturas.But soon a series of blind pits in thefloor hampered progress. The other teamcame up to help scout leads. Mark rapelledthe first one and found that it ended in asump, while Rich reported that the secondhole in the floor got too tight. The surveyteam continued across the second pit andthe canyon was followed to where it got tootight, then a squeeze to a higher level ledto a continuation to a short pitch. Unfortunately,they had no rope, but Peter managedto get down using his seat sling webbing.He was stopped shortly by a drop heestimated to be 15 meters deep. This areawas now the deepest portion of the cave at-398 meters. On the way out, Peter andTerri mentioned that it was their anniversary.Paul whipped out a candle and passedaround some beef jerky - a true caver-stylecelebration.This expedition brought the length ofCueva de la Llorona to 2,256 meters.THIRD EXPEDITION, 1986The most recent expedition occurred11-17 October 1986. Along this time wereDave Bunnell, David Dodge, Paul Fambro,Bill Farr, Bill Mixon, Dale Pate, PeterQuick, Susie Raines, Terry Raines, PeterSprouse, Terri Sprouse, Mary Standifer,Carol Vesely, and Cyndie Walck.Three teams entered the cave on 12October to continue the exploration andsurvey. A team consisting of Peter S.,Terri, Terry, Susie, Paul, and Peter Q.headed to the virgin drop at the bottom ofthe cave. This turned out to be yet anotherblind well, but a traverse partway down ledto another horizontal continuation. Theywere able to map another 70 meters beforebogging down in a maze of crawls that allpinched hopelessly. Although there wasairflow, a lot of effort produced no wayon.The second team, Carol, David, BillF., and Bill M., began their survey at theupper end of Ragtime Boulevard at a climbthat Mark Minton had checked on an earliertrip. Their passage went up 20 meters, thenturned and dropped 30 meters down a seriesCavers illuminate the expanse of Llorona'sCalifornia Chamber. (Peter Sprouse)of parallel pits and canyons that theynamed the Jumble Jungle. At the same time,Dale, Cyndie, Mary, and Dave went to lookat side leads off the east wall of theCalifornia Chamber. One small lead, calledthe Maybe Yes, Maybe No Passage broke outinto several nice rooms, the largest being8 meters by 18 meters with a drain in theflowstone-covered floor.After a day of rest, three teams wentback into Llorona. Carol, Dave, and Cyndiemapped the drain off the Maybe Yes, MaybeNo Passage. It eventually closed down to7.5 centimeters with lots of air going intoit. Dale, Terry, and Susie were nearby, inanother lead off the far end of the CaliforniaChamber. A crawl was pushed in thatarea which led to a small room with airflow.Beyond was a short climb to asqueeze over a large breakdown block. Aftera little bashing with a rock, Susie slidpast the constriction to find goingpassage. She explored further to see thatthe lead continued, and then returned.Peter, Peter, and Bill F. returned tothe Blast Room area below the CaliforniaChamber. They mapped a side lead throughvarious squeezes to a constricted drop theynamed Sick Well. It opened up immediatelyand dropped 7 meters into a stream passage,Hooter Canyon. Downstream soon pinched,while upstream led to a confusing beddingplanemaze. Beyond that was a squeeze thathad to be hammered open, giving access to a92