7MB PDF - Association for Mexican Cave Studies

(Arizona), Doug Powell (Arizona), and
Rick Rigg (Idaho) were to join us in
the field a few weeks later.
Only twenty-four hours south of
Austin, just past San Luis Potosi,
site of another Huautla expedition
mishap (see AMCS Activities Newsletter
no. 10), a loud knocking sound and
loss of power signaled trouble with
the bus. After an exciting tow back
to town, complete with three-way
passes on hills and other thrills of
Mexican driving, a mechanic delivered
the verdict: blown engine. We watched
in awe as the engine was removed from
the bus and completely disassembled
on the spot. To make a long story
short, it could not be rebuilt, and
used engines were not available. We
decided half of the team would go
ahead to Huautla as an advance crew
to obtain permission, set up a field
house, and begin rigging. The rest
of us would obtain a new engine in
the U.S. and bring it down for installation.
Remarkably, this plan
proceeded relatively smoothly, and
the bus was rolling again with only
eight days lost. The advance crew
found local relations quite good,
but was shocked to find that an equipment
cache that had been safely left
in a local cave several prior years
had now been vandalized and completely
destroyed. They were thus unable
to rig, and we were faced with critical
shortages of carbide, rope, and
bolts. A phone call back to the
states caught the second crew in time
for them to bring replacements for
some of the lost gear. They arrived,
conveniently, one day after the bus.
The Kaliman Wall
With the bad luck behind us, cave
exploration got under way quickly.
Nita Nanta was top priority. Familiarization
trips were made to rig and
stock provisions for a camp in the
large chamber known as the Football
Stadium at the end of the Naranja
Passage, at -635 meters. An ideal
campsite was found next to a large
cave-pearl deposit high on one end of
the room. Standing in camp, one had
a tremendous vista of blackness,
Mark Minton
punctuated by the mist and dull thunder
of waterfalls pouring in from
over 50 meters above. The camp crew
consisted of Bill, Doug, Ed, Lisa,
Richard, and me. The best lead was
a climb up the far wall of the room,
where a balcony could be seen receding
into darkness. A similar lead in
San Agustin had led to the enormous
Anthodite Hall in 1979 (AMCS Activities
Newsletter no. 10). Doug, alias
Kaliman, led the ascent easily.
After several meters requiring aid,
it became a scramble up an angle-ofrepose
boulder slope. "Booty," we
heard in the distance. It was spectacular.
Another waterfall fell
from the blackness. We had ascended
45 meters from the bottom of the
Football Stadium and still we could
not see the ceiling using several
Wheat lamps in unison. Unfortunately,
we had found a continuation of the
big room, rather than going passage.
Again Doug took to the walls, headed
for a passage 10 meters up. He disappeared,
then returned with a no-go
verdict. Disappointed, we decided to
call it quits for the day.
The next day, while Bill, Doug,
and Ed checked another climb in the
pit below the Football Stadium, Lisa,
Richard, and I went up to map the
previous day's find. As soon as we
entered the passage above the second
climb we felt good about it. It was
very well decorated, and there was
air flow. Richard smelled going cave
beyond a breakdown pile and began to
dig, following the air. It shortly
opened into a down-trending tube.
After a few climbdowns, we were looking
down a pit. We surveyed out and
contacted the other party, which had
just returned to camp empty-handed.
They surveyed up the Kaliman Wall and
brought the large cache of PMI rope
from camp. After a couple of short
drops, the passage enlarged and became
well decorated. Most importantly, it
was heading south--right for Li Nita.
Alas, our revelry ended abruptly at
a flowstone near blockade. The wind
howled through a crawl, and larger
passage was visible only a meter away,
but even the smallest person, working
with a rock hammer, could not quite
squeeze through. We had lost our
Opposite: Jeb Blakeley negotiating Schreiber's dig. (Ron Simmons)
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