Review of Disto A3 & Trip Report

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Review of Disto A3 & Trip Report

Postby cavescom » Jul 12, 2006 1:39 pm

Trip Date: 5-20-2006
Trip Participants: Mark Passerby, Bob Kirk, Keith Sweeney
Disto A3 photos: http://www.caves.com/DistoA3

New Map Book Pages
http://www.caves.com/PAGE18.pdf
http://www.caves.com/PAGE20.pdf
http://www.caves.com/IndexGrid792006.pdf
Updated Map Book: http://www.caves.com/zicmap.pdf

Disto A3:
As many of us know.....laser measures are a huge jump in cave surveying efficiency and accuracy....this can be especially noted in narrow twisty passages where a laser line can show you a straight path through...which is a far more efficient method than trying to find that path with a traditional survey tape etc.
The Disto A3 takes laser measures one big step forward because it gives all the advantages of a tough, water resistant kickass Disto and combines it all in a very small unit. I was surprised at how much the smaller size really made a difference. With the A3 I can now fit everything neatly in the Howie's Harnesses survey pouch that I wear around my neck and simply pluck out each instrument as needed to make the shot.
A quick note about the A3 as it compares to say a cheap Stanley...is....you get what you pay for! The A3 is by far a better investment for the serious cave survey team.....the A3 unit is small, light, tough and very water/dust resistant with sealed buttons that can be used effectively even with gloves. We purchased ours from http://www.laserstreet.com/disto_A3.htm Anyone considering purchasing an A3 should contact Mark Kliewer at LaserStreet....he is quite caver friendly and I know in our case he threw in a nice Pelican case with foam, and I think he has more of these cases left.
Another thing on the A3 that is handy is a display of the last few shot measurements on screen. This allows you to very easily double or triple check a measurement(this wasn't a feature on our previous very early big sized Disto Basic).
All in all if you survey regularly the Disto A3 is a rock solid investment that will serve you well. You will be impressed!

Trip Report:
The purpose of this trip was to mop up several leads in the AL section beyond the gallery and tie it in with Gollums Crack to the south. We headed in around 10:30 and started surveying a couple hours later. The trip to this section was made significantly faster by the installation of permanent ladders, and steel pegs in the walls at two of the traverses. These modifications allow us to now travel through Zicafoose with nothing more than a safety, and have alleviated all the prior bottleneck spots.
We mopped up a side passage first on Page 18 of the map book which basically just crossed above other lower passages and looped back. Then headed to the front of the AL Survey and surveyed our way toward Gollums Crack. Keith Sweeney eventually found the connection point to GC4(Gollums Crack). This allowed us to complete a nice missing piece of the map(See pages 18 & 20)! We then were able to exit via the GC survey just North of the old Camp 1 and head out. Total survey was over 700' which pushed Zic to 3.589 miles long and #220 on the U.S. long cave list.

We are heading in again on July 22 for a gear haul to Camp 3 to position bolts, hangers, rope etc. there for a bolt climb soon.

Mark Passerby, Caves.com
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