My first trip to Coldwater Cave

[JR-Orion]

Sometimes the drive to the cave can be fun, too. A small town in Iowa. Thy sky was looking rather dramatic as a large storm had just passed-



Scenic overlook-



With a plaque nearby that mentioned caves-



Crops and gentle, rolling hills. Who would think that Iowa's largest cave (17 miles) was down below?



The only natural entrance to Coldwater requires scuba gear, so in the early 1970s the state drilled a 100 foot entrance tube. Going down it was a unique experience, that's for sure. When they opened the entrance shaft for me, cold air came rushing up the pipe and the sound of running water could easily be heard. The ladder disappeared into the darkness-



The first step onto the ladder was no treat, but the rest of the trip down was OK. The shaft is small enough that you can lean against the back of the tube if you need to take a break. Once at the bottom, just standing there on the wooden platform in the middle of the stream was a bit overwhelming, as the water was pretty high on the day I was there.



Loud rushing water and huge dark cave taking off upstream and down. I always run my light on normal mode but I flipped it to high for this one. Even then the cave just seemed to eat the light.

[JR-Orion]

We took off upstream. Having never worn a wetsuit, that tight feeling took some getting used to. Just walking in the brown water was an interesting experience, as the bottom of the stream varied from mud to gravel to large rocks. General nervousness kept me close to the edges and somewhat out of the water on the way upstream. On the way back I discovered that it's easier to just get out in the deep water in the middle of the stream and maybe even floating when you can.

There were all sorts of really nice things to see in this cave, but dealing with the waterproof box and wet hands made reaching for the camera kind of a hassle. Here's what I got. Sometimes the ceiling was flat, in other places it was full of formations, but the sides were wet, active, and decorated-







More pics on the way...

[Chads93GT]

The way you are describing the trip makes me think you were by yourself......................... were you?

[JR-Orion]

Nope, it was a grotto event. There were cavers going in and out most of the day. I was with two others going upstream. Didn't post any pics of them just yet as I wasn't sure if they wanted their pics on the web.

[Chads93GT]

I am really suprised they dont have people rappel down the culvert and climb out with a croll attached to the chest, aka frog system, for a belay. Free climbing a ladder 100 feet covered in mud with no safety doesnt sound like a very safe means of travel. Even though you can lean back to rest, your feet can still slip. With a chest croll it would eliminate that possibility of falling. Looks like an interesting cave. Why did the government drill the pit in the first place?

[John Lovaas]

Hi Chad-

We always clean our gear at the platform before we climb back up- we've got a bunch of scrub brushes there; so we- and the shaft and ladder- stay clean. And if anyone wants a belay, we have one available. And we have a Z-rig and Petzl 'bosun's chair' available, too, as well as a full vertical rescue cache, including stretchers. Way better than any silo I've ever entered!

OSHA rules may have changed in the last 10 years, but the steel plant I worked at(until 2000) had 80 foot ladders to access the overhead crane cabs. There were cages around the ladders, but the operator wasn't required at the time to clip into a running belay. The Flatland's ladder is 96 feet, I think.

Having rappelled and frogged drilled shafts, and having long legs, I hate ropework in shafts. I just ram my knees into the shaft wall a gazillion times ;-)

The state of Iowa drilled the shaft in the early 70s, after there was interest by the State in commercializing the cave. They soon realized that the cost of an elevator would have been around $1,000,000 at the time, and the State just didn't have the money at the time to do it. They let the leased drill site revert back to the owners, Kenny and Wanda Flatland, and gave them the option of having the shaft filled and buried, or to keep it intact. Luckily for cavers, the Flatlands chose to keep it intact- so cavers have been going there for 35 years. Third Saturday of every month since 1975- mark your calendar! Fun wetsuit caving.

[JR-Orion]

Not sure about the rappel / belay stuff. I know zip about vertical caving, but I am signed up for a two day class this October.

I think the state drilled the entrance for a few reasons- science (all sorts of studies were done down there in the 1970s), freaky size (I think the second largest cave in Iowa is 1.5 miles), and potential for commercialization.

There are some detailed articles about the cave here-

http://www.caves.org/project/coldwater/cwp1.htm

Here's a fun quote from the 2003 article:

"Mike’s method of dealing with low air was to lie on his back and cling to the ceiling, pulling himself along at a slow but steady pace so as not to make waves. It was an exercise in psychological control to not get unnerved by the cold water that encroaches on all parts of ones face. Panic would bring unsavory results."

[Chads93GT]

Hi Chad-

We always clean our gear at the platform before we climb back up- we've got a bunch of scrub brushes there; so we- and the shaft and ladder- stay clean. And if anyone wants a belay, we have one available. And we have a Z-rig and Petzl 'bosun's chair' available, too, as well as a full vertical rescue cache, including stretchers. Way better than any silo I've ever entered!

OSHA rules may have changed in the last 10 years, but the steel plant I worked at(until 2000) had 80 foot ladders to access the overhead crane cabs. There were cages around the ladders, but the operator wasn't required at the time to clip into a running belay. The Flatland's ladder is 96 feet, I think.

Having rappelled and frogged drilled shafts, and having long legs, I hate ropework in shafts. I just ram my knees into the shaft wall a gazillion times ;-)

The state of Iowa drilled the shaft in the early 70s, after there was interest by the State in commercializing the cave. They soon realized that the cost of an elevator would have been around $1,000,000 at the time, and the State just didn't have the money at the time to do it. They let the leased drill site revert back to the owners, Kenny and Wanda Flatland, and gave them the option of having the shaft filled and buried, or to keep it intact. Luckily for cavers, the Flatlands chose to keep it intact- so cavers have been going there for 35 years. Third Saturday of every month since 1975- mark your calendar! Fun wetsuit caving.

Wow, thats awesome. I know what you mean about ropework in shafts. The last 14' of echo pit in crevice cave is a 18 or 20" culvert. Coming out on a ropewalker isnt TOO bad, baby steps..........baby steps......frogging out I hate. I just figured the setup was sort of like Carrol cave with the drilled shaft and ladder and all. By belay i didnt mean actually climbing out with a rig, i meant to have the froggers chest croll clipped into the rope when climbing as a safety against slipping and falling. Amazing you guys are able to keep that ladder as clean as it is.

[Phil Winkler]

There is a popular video making the rounds on Facebook, etc. showing workers climbing the couple of hundred feet of a 1,640 ft antenna tower. The final 100+ feet is open, exposed rungs and they don't use a safety line although they do carry one to clip off and rest and to work. They call it free-climbing and it is certainly legal according to OSHA.

It is a tad disorienting to watch.

Here is a link to the video. The tower is 1768 ft tall!
http://www.artifacting.com/blog/2010/09/15/climbing-a-1768-foot-transmission-tower/

[Chads93GT]

Seen the video. I need one of those helmet cam's. That thing had a super wide angle lense, haha.

[JR-Orion]

More pics on the way. Still heading upstream from the ladder (Flatland Entrance)-

[JR-Orion]

Entrance to a side passage. It's called the North Snake, and was the first side passage we encountered-



Plenty of activity on the ceiling-



The Virgin Mary formation-

[JR-Orion]

It's not a very pretty picture, but check out that slab of rock in the center of the ceiling. I'm guessing that at some point in the future, cavers will be walking over that.



Looking up into a very wet, dripping dome-



And the base of the same dome-



I thought those round globular formations on the rear wall were interesting... is there a name for those?

The stalactite in the front left of the pic is about as thick around as a coffee can, and maybe five feet long-



Few more pics-

[JR-Orion]

OK, to wrap this one up... still headed upstream. This was as far as we made it going north. Me standing in front of the Rock River Formation-



This is where we turned around and headed back to the Flatland entrance. Then we went downstream for a while. The side of the passage is nicely decorated-





Downstream we turned around at Big Bertha, which is maybe 30 feet tall-





If you check the map here-
http://www.caves.org/project/coldwater/cwp3.htm
Our route was from the Flatland Entrance upstream, past the North Snake, past the right passage of the Upstream Loop, to our turnaround point at the Rock River Formation (not on the map, but I think it's near the Upstream Sump Series). Then back to the entrance and just a short walk past the ladder to Big Bertha. All in all, a very fun and exciting trip.