What's your most technical Vertical cave?

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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby fuzzy-hair-man » Mar 31, 2009 8:08 pm

Ralph E. Powers wrote:Utah has numerous technical vertical caves, requiring some skill with tranversing, crossing rebelays or knots, and doing other various technical rope stuff. Hard to name just one.
One of my favorites would have to be Boomerang which is technically all vertical...


Boomerang does sound like fun! (and an Aussie name too!) traverses is something we don't get here :sad: which is sad cause they are so much fun at SRT practice. :woohoo:
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby Stridergdm » Apr 1, 2009 10:55 am

Ralph E. Powers wrote:
junkman wrote:
Vertigo wrote:Ralph should lead a trip to Boomerang...that sounds pretty cool! :kewl:

Road trip :banana_yay:

Be happy to do it... lead many a successful trip there... everyone had a blast.
Here is the entrance... :big grin:


Hmm, next time I'm down that way, I may take you up on it!
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby CaverScott » Apr 1, 2009 11:11 am

Most technical?

How about Gaping Ghyll. :kewl: Man the work I had to go through to get to the bottom of that thing. Redirects, Rebelays, etc. :yikes: I would have much rather just rappelled through the waterfall! :big grin:

Most Vertical Fun? McBrides Cave, 9 Drop Pull-Down, Come out less than 500 feet from your car! :bananabat:

http://www.dudleycavingclub.org.uk/2007/Jul-Sep07/Derek_Robertson_Gaping_Gill_Main_Chamber_190807.jpg
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby Carl Amundson » Apr 1, 2009 11:16 am

CaverScott wrote:Most technical?

How about Gaping Ghyll. :kewl: Man the work I had to go through to get to the bottom of that thing. Redirects, Rebelays, etc. :yikes: I would have much rather just rappelled through the waterfall! :big grin:

Most Vertical Fun? McBrides Cave, 9 Drop Pull-Down, Come out less than 500 feet from your car! :bananabat:

http://www.dudleycavingclub.org.uk/2007/Jul-Sep07/Derek_Robertson_Gaping_Gill_Main_Chamber_190807.jpg

That is a beautiful hole in the ground.
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby Tubo Longo » Apr 1, 2009 6:29 pm

Two and both Italian caves:

1- Abisso di Mt. Novegno, in the mountains right N of Vicenza. Basically 2 huge drop of about 250 m each: you move horizontally in the cave 30' at the most (atop the first main drop).

2- Abisso Roversi, in the Apuane Alps (better known as the marble district may be) in Tuscany. It's now over 1000 m deep but when I bottomed it was about 800 m deep. Until the last drop (some 300m deep...) basically you are never out of the rope, if not for a few feet at time: I don'r remember a plan of the cave, just the section....
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby Ralph E. Powers » Apr 2, 2009 11:13 am

fuzzy-hair-man wrote:
Ralph E. Powers wrote:Utah has numerous technical vertical caves, requiring some skill with tranversing, crossing rebelays or knots, and doing other various technical rope stuff. Hard to name just one.
One of my favorites would have to be Boomerang which is technically all vertical...


Boomerang does sound like fun! (and an Aussie name too!) traverses is something we don't get here :sad: which is sad cause they are so much fun at SRT practice. :woohoo:

The traverse was created by a caver not liking how the straight drop was done, felt there were too many rub points along the pit... so he rigged it as a traverse to a more caver-friendly drop... knowing that caver personally... I think he also likes a challenge and so do I. :kewl:

Neilsens runs an awful close second as far as most technical favorite cave. Numerous traverses and numerous drops and crawls with wearing your gear in them... not for the timid.
Without the possibility of death, adventure is not possible. ~ Reinhold Messner


http://ralph.rigidtech.com/albums.php
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby bronzzhorse » Apr 2, 2009 2:45 pm

Viper Pit Cave. Easily.....

Redirects-6
Re-belays-5
Pitches- 5
Traverses- at LEAST 2... still more cave to explore
Total depth...Really Friggin deep... never been surveyed.
My cave organization, Team ETCCO, was the first to enter the cave. VIRGIN TURF BABY!!!! We haven't gotten around to the survey yet (PATIENCE young Grasshopper), but we do know that the vertical section is only about 100ft +/- a few :roll: , but it is by FAR the most technical 100 feet I have EVER SEEN.
It is not a deep cave by ANY means. The main problem to this pit is the fact that you have all that "pro" to deal with installing, and you have VERRRY little room to work in. The shaft is only a couple feet around at its largest point. It just meanders in a general straight downward direction, twisting and turning the whole way. Cool cave, but TIRING.... almost the whole, none-the-less short, trip is spent on rope. I like being on rope, but SHEEESH....The COOLEST thing about this pit is the very first time we bounced it, I found a genuine, authentic Confederate Cannonball at the bottom. Apparently it was shot from the battle on the ridge behind the hill the cave is in, and somehow rolled into the culvert that leads to the cave, then got washed on into the cave by flooding. (At least thats OUR hypothesis :big grin: )
Here's a couple pics.

Looking Down "The Drop to The Abyss" (Yes, I know.... we needed another redirect-rebelay.. we were OUT of bolts/camz/nutz)
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Looking up from "The Last Ledge" (this 25 footer is the LONGEST uninterupted drop in the pit.)
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby justinmiller » Jul 12, 2009 4:02 pm

I still prefer Ellison's cave in northern GA.
pits' are 130, 596,450, 130,90,60
the 450 is a waterfall climb out depending on which way you come into the cave system.
I enjoy this cave very much
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby Knockroe » Jul 19, 2009 3:34 pm

Hi guys,

my best 2 verticals in the peak district, UK are:

James Halls Over Engine Mine (JH)

165 foot pitch, sling & Krab
144 foot pitch 10 Karbs, 2 deviations
150 foot pitch 3 krabs, 1 deviation if wet
120 foot pitch 7 krabs, 1 deviation
105 foot pitch 4 Krabs
105 pitch 3 krabs

Last Pitch can be done as 330 foot pitch

Next vertaical beauty is

Maskill Mine:

195 pitch 9 Krabs, 2 deviations
165 pitch 9 krabs, 1 deviation
114 ptch 3 krabs 1 deviation
141 pitch 8 krabs
120 pitch 2 krabs , 1 deviation if water is too much
54 pitch 3 krabs
120 pitch 6 krabs
15 pitch

Last is Nettle:

Dropping to a total of 549 feet in 3 pitches.

All the above pitches done on 9 ml rope. Makes it an interesting descent.

Now this baby is tight. Gravity takes you down but some serious slowly frogging with foot pant take you painfully to the top.
Some of the side passages off caused a mate to totally disrobe inorder to see what lay beyond in an area called the flats.
Thats a bit too tight for me. the pitches beyong where tempting though.

In the peak district these are large caves but in the Yorkshire Dales (N England) these sorts of holes are classed as the norm. The Yorkshire men of England sure know how to bolt a good route. You feel as if your life is in your hands on each and every occasion when trying to rig them....:kewl:
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby ian mckenzie » Jul 19, 2009 10:51 pm

Undoubtedly ours is Close To The Edge, at 472m the second deepest in Canada. Shafts of 255m, 32m, 17m, 7m, 10m, 10m, 8m, 9m, 68m, 9m. Discovered in 1985, bottomed in 2001 and no one has been in it since. I haven't been past the dynamited squeeze at the base of the second pitch.

BTW a Canadian deep pitch list appears in The Canadian Caver #70.
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby Vertigo » Jul 31, 2009 3:44 pm

ian mckenzie wrote:Undoubtedly ours is Close To The Edge, at 472m the second deepest in Canada. Shafts of 255m, 32m, 17m, 7m, 10m, 10m, 8m, 9m, 68m, 9m. Discovered in 1985, bottomed in 2001 and no one has been in it since. I haven't been past the dynamited squeeze at the base of the second pitch.

BTW a Canadian deep pitch list appears in The Canadian Caver #70.


Has it been surveyed? That 255m shaft sounds nice... :kewl:
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby ian mckenzie » Aug 3, 2009 6:17 pm

The latest survey appears in The Canadian Caver #58. No one I know has described the shaft as "nice"...
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby Vertigo » Aug 4, 2009 9:04 am

How would one describe it then? Is it a death shaft? :duck!:
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby ian mckenzie » Aug 4, 2009 2:51 pm

It usually has a 20m long icicle overhanging the pitch all summer (once a piece silently detached and struck the rope while someone was on it) and there is occasional spontaneous small rockfall due to freeze/thaw that you can hear coming at you. Some pumpkin-sized rocks are perched on little ledges partway up. The pitch is at about 0 or 1 degree C and very damp, usually a spray (slowing to a trickle by September) coming down, so you dress so that you freeze while you're waiting to ascend and boil as you're coming up. It's freehanging except for a rebelay at the very top and one big rebelay at the middle (can get off rope there).
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Re: What's your most technical Vertical cave?

Postby Vertigo » Aug 4, 2009 10:00 pm

Hmmm...I guess it would be too difficult to clear the pitch...a 20m icy would be hard to knock down! :yikes:
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