ON VINE! Exploring Sison, Pangasinan caves

[pub]

Just wanted to share how the locals rig to go down pits.

Last weekend officials of Sison Town invited us to explore their caves to determine their potential as tourism destinations. Since this was a pilot trip we didn’t bring any vertical gear and sure enough the first cave our guides showed us was an 8 meter vertical pit.



Two of our guides disappeared and soon came back with fresh vines, which they normally use to enter the pit.



In no time they pre-twisted the vines to make them more pliable then rigged them around an exposed root and for safety they used three vines.



Two of us (NSS members) declined to do the drop but four of the locals went down. We were able to use our new phrases, “ON VINE!” and “OFF VINE!”



According to the locals there was another small drop then a horizontal section about 100 meter long with several side passages. They also found two separate colonies of bats.




We’ll explore this cave next time when we have proper vertical gear. We were able to explore three other horizontal caves that day.

[Phil Winkler]

A fascinating tale and pictures. I can attest to the strength of vines like that as I have some in my backyard I've been trying to kill/remove for years.

[Cheryl Jones]

Love it! How convenient not to have to carry rope to an entrance pit! Prusiks would work fine for the ascent, as would many mechanical ascenders, depending on the diameter of the vine. Heck, we used to use Goldlon, which was probably stiffer than that vine. But, what about rappelling? A very long rack? A forked tree branch?

Pub, how did the viners get down and back up? Hand over hand and using the wall?

[captnemo]

Interesting technique, reminds me of this picture I took in Botswana
Course we were using vertical gear, this shot was just posed for fun.

[pub]

Thanks Phil, have you found the root system of your vines? Seems like if you kill the roots, you kill the rest…

Cheryl, all 4 of the locals used the vines going down but only 2 used them coming up; the other two free-climbed up. It turns out the guides rigged the vines for us as support; there were enough foot and handholds to free climb but I was still unsure and Rawen (our grotto president is 6’2” & 200 pounds) felt they may not handle his weight, so a no-go for us… BTW, what’s a Goldlon?

Kool shot Captnemo! I guess those roots were rigged by Mother Nature herself and are probably very stable. Your photo in turn reminded me of one of the vertical entrances to the Cacupangan Cave System in our town:


Photo by Charles M. Nelson (SoCal Grotto)

Our locals free-climb using only the roots, anyway it’s ONLY 21 meters for the first drop and they can rest on the ledge at mid-height. Unfortunately some of the roots have died because they cut some of the footholds too deep with their machete.

Wheee… other new phrases: ON ROOTS! and OFF SHOOTS!

[Phil Winkler]

Jerry, I think Cheryl misspelled Goldline, a laid rope we used to use before braided was developed.

[Squirrel Girl]

Meghalaya, India

[JR-Orion]

This picture in particular made me realize that vine caving is not for me!

But that's a great story. :)

[bronzzhorse]

Not a "Vine" story, but there is a cave in our area Called "Pole Cave" that got its name from the big cedar poles that the old timers used back in the day to climb in and out.
They are OLD old old, so we obviously dont use them. They are also KIND OF in the way, so we had talked about removing them, but decided against it, since they ARE the name-sakes of the cave. We just moved the top end over out of the way and kept them in the cave.


IN this Pic you can see what is left of one of the old Cedar poles AFTER we moved them. (yeah, this was back in the days of using a hardhat... thank goodness ive upgraded to the Ecrin Roc since then) Its only a 20 ft. drop, but still... no pole (or vine) climbing for me... not today...


THIS is what we use the poles for now-a-days!! Now we call them "The Coat Racks"

[pub]

Jerry, I think Cheryl misspelled Goldline, a laid rope we used to use before braided was developed.

Thanks Phil, a websearch on "Goldline" gave better results...

Not a "Vine" story

No prob Josh, the purpose of this topic was to share low-tech, pre-rope climbing practices esp. in developing countries as Captnemo & Barbara showed. We run across bamboo poles and ladders still used in our caves and we too avoid them because of their apparent age.

This picture in particular made me realize that vine caving is not for me! But that's a great story. :)

I hear ya Jasen! Actually our cave guides related a story of a young man (early 20s) who fell just as he reached the top of a 60-foot vine climb (about the same height as the Cacupangan photo above). They reasoned he was probably tired and lost his grip. They were part of the recovery team. They'll be bringing us to that cave and 4 others on our next trip there.