By C.G. Anderson:
Nine cavers met at the Webster Field House on Saturday, with the goal of
another Mulu Sump breakthrough and mapping in the Upper East Bore
section. We divided up into three teams: Team One consisted of Pat
"Muddman" Mud, Ty Spatta, and Sean Lewis. They headed to the northern
section of Holmes Hall to pick up survey from station UE16, last visited
in October 2005. This was virgin cave. Team two, Dave Everton and Jeff
Gillette, went in to map from the Corkscrew into southern parts of Upper
East Bore. This, too was virgin survey. Team three, of which I was a
part, also included Ben Hutchins and Brandon Jackson. We tackled the
western (?) continuance of Holmes Hall. This section had previously been
explored by the mysterious "Scoopie" and was not so virgin;-). We also
surveyed the lower terminus of East Bore up to the siphon there.
The ninth member of our team, Pat Brian, was forced to abort the cave
today to tend to his ill father. Pat, we missed you and hope you can
return soon! The eight of us entered the cave staggered at around 9AM
EST, and made our way to the Sump. I think a few experienced some
confusion during passage of the low air spaces here, but (most) everyone
made it through generally unscathed. The Sump consists of about a 100
foot section of very low air separated by short "head spaces" and
channels. To safely negotiate, one caver 'jumps' to a high spot, then
spots the next caver through. Never more than two cavers occupy one
high spot so as to prevent "bunching". The Sump level had dropped about
1/4" since last weeks trip.
One the back side, we placed a cave register for explorers to sign in.
Then we proceeded to the Corkscrew and Upper East Bore. From there, we
broke up into teams and spread out in the cave. In all, over 1700 feet
was mapped. This should add a good amount of character to this section,
and give us a better idea of trend and association.
After our survey, I escorted Brandon out a bit early as he was feeling a
bit cold. We exited around 6PM. The other two teams were reportedly out
by about 930PM. I'll leave the rest of the report to respective team
members and their trips reports.
I do want to comment on one peculiar thing I noticed: airflow. The Sump
was blowing a tremendous amount of air, enough so as to ripple the water
in places. I would have expected the Corkscrew (which leads into the
upper passageways of the cave) to be blowing air as well. It was taking
air, however. Also, air seemed to be flowing into western Holmes Hall to
points unknown. At least one small sidelead located there also appeared
to be blowing air. I can only assume the source of most of the air
beyond the sump is Mulu Passage itself. Some (most of it) flows out the
Sump, and some "back floods" up the Corkscrew and out western Holmes
Hall. Does it then lead to the surface? I would expect any potential
entrance to be drawing in air, not blowing, but who knows? Anyway, it
seemed odd to me, but not much of the cave makes sense!
CG
By Ben Hutchins:
Holmes Hall – West
August 18, 2007 trip report.
As part of the 8 person, push into the Holmes Hall area, Chris Anderson, Webster newcomer Brandon Jackson, and myself, Ben Hutchins tackled Holmes Hall beginning past the breakdown above the Corkscrew and heading west. I entered the cave around 9:20 AM. We made good time to Parks Avenue and were at the sumpface in about an hour. Of note, Brandon and I made a quick, obligatory hajj to Parks Grotto where a dead crayfish on the bank was stinking things up nicely. The smell was good enough to attract a previously unrecorded beetle species (likely Ptomophagus sp.) which I interpreted as a good omen. 8 people passing through the sump took some time. The water level was higher than during my previous trips through. Brandon had a large air-filled pack that had to be deflated to pass through. There were also a few moments going in and out where people either became nervous, lost, cramped, choked, or a combination. But everyone remained calm and there were no accidents. I think the best advice is to give people room and encouragement. There are a number of bells which make good stopping points. After a brief rest beyond the sump, we began to trudge through East Bore which begins nice enough and eventually deteriorates into crawl. Finally, we all congregated at the base of the Corkscrew and divided into teams. On the surface and at this point, we wasted a lot of time deciding who would go where. We should devise a method for assigning teams in advance. Any suggestions? Team Chris, Ben, and Brandon (in alphabetical order by last name) were to finish off lower East Bore from the Corkscrew to the sump, and then head up the Corkscrew and through the breakdown crawl to Holmes Hall where we would survey west into the unknown (aka known to Scoopie). The survey of lower Eastbore was uneventful. 3 shots and about 80 feet put us to the large and very deep, very terminal siphon. After lower Eastbore, it was off to our main objective. The breakdown crawl is getting very trashed. I think this is inevitable because you come through the sloppy Corkscrew soaking wet and then wiggle through breakdown. There are a few, unimpressive stals that I think have been damaged. Past the breakdown, we easily located UE1: our tie in station. We designated our survey as the UW survey for Upper West. Our survey began in a large room (70 foot long and 40 feet wide) with a lot of large breakdown (some of this breakdown is the same breakdown that you have to crawl through above the Corkscrew to get into Holmes Hall). After this initial section, the passage became easier to sketch. The passage was typically 8 to 10 feet wide and about 6 feet high. Mud floors and not much detail and no leads. One side alcove contained a little pile of very dry calcite rafts. Eventually we reached a drain which was very similar to drains in the floor in Holmes Hall East. After about 450 feet of West, southwest trending passage, Holmes Hall was intersected by a large canyon maybe 15 feet deep and creating an X with Holmes Hall. Getting into this canyon was easy, but a very steep, slick muddy slope prevented us from getting up the other side where Holmes Hall continued. The canyon deteriorated rapidly in both directions. Heading north in the canyon, a tight squeeze is encountered. I was able to squeeze through and found that this passage led around to the other side of Holmes Hall. I had bypassed the canyon and was confronted with virgin walking passage. Unfortunately, my other team members could not fit through. South in the canyon also became very tight and would require digging or a small team (Chris, correct me if this is not true). So, we turned around. To continue survey in Holmes Hall West will require digging steps and installing a handline. One feature caused us much vexation. We encountered footsteps all the way to the canyon. Whose were they? Was some unknown party entering Webster? Must we keep our surveys a secret from now on? To our relief, the footprints belonged to Pat Mudd (aka Scoopie) from a quick jaunt during the previous survey trip. On the way back, we surveyed a small side lead at station UW4. 3 shots lead through a squeeze that would require digging, and allowed us to tie into UE5. Unfortunately, I think the loop error is bad. In all, we shot 15 shots in Holmes Hall for a length of 451.1 feet (excluding 16 feet). The passage goes.
by Dave Everton:
Brandon Jackson and Sean Lewis met at my house around 5:30 am on Saturday morning and we drove down to Webster, KY in Sean’s vehicle, stopping briefly in Corydon for take-out at America’s golden arches. It was around 8:15 when we arrived at the Field House parking area, which was buzzing with activity of cavers getting ready. Today was a special day for all of us; it was expected to be the first trip through the sump for several of us, including all of the Hoosiers on the trip, comprised of the group with me and Ty Spatta, who’d arrived the night before. Those who’d already lost their sump virginity were eager to return.
The entire group consisted of 8 cavers, and everyone soon geared up and filtered into the cave. I was one of the last, and those of us who did the death march together were Ty, Brandon, Ben Hutchins, and me. We made it to Parks Junction in 30 minutes or so, and in about another 30 minutes arrived at the sump face. We all eventually made it through, and then after the entire group of 8 met once again a short way past the normally-sumped area, we regrouped at the bottom of the corkscrew in the East Bore survey. There, we divided into two 3-man teams and one 2-man team. Not having a preference for assignment, I requested to be given one, and was therefore asked to start at UA5 at the top of the corkscrew, and proceed into the passage which trended west at that point. Jeff Gillette went with me, and we started surveying at 12:15 p.m.
Although he’d done some surveying, Jeff had not yet read instruments, but we proceeded to dive right into it. Conditions were perfect for learning: the passage was easy to navigate and dry, although going through the corkscrew had regrettably been messy. We were told of a problem with the clinometer of the Suunto tandem unit we were using, which Sean Lewis had provided. However, although at the time I thought I understood how to compensate for it, I was wrong, and therefore we had some difficulty. Regardless, we managed to proceed, and set several stations. Eventually, Chris Anderson and Ben Hutchins caught up with us, and after giving us an update on their progress (which was stopped; not due to the passage ending, but an obstacle), Chris left to help a shivering Brandon exit the cave, and Ben joined our survey, which then greatly expedited the survey process. (I believe a three person survey is nearly always more productive than with two, regardless of experience levels.)
The UB survey started out in standing size passage at the first shot, but the floor rose quickly due to clay fill, and continued as mainly 3 to 4 feet high and approximately 10 feet wide in character, and typically meandering. At one point, a funnel appeared in the floor, with no apparent hole at the bottom, but the passage resumed the former amount of clay, and passage dimensions continued as they’d been on the other side. Soon, a wider spot and larger funnel was reached, which contained a small hole at the bottom, although not large enough for exploration. Up the other side, more clay fill forced one to belly crawl in order to continue, and remained 1 to 1.5 feet high and about 6 feet wide for several more stations until once again, the clay floor sloped down and a short standing height section of passage was reached, with a mud floor and small pool of standing water that looked 2 or 3 feet deep, although nobody wanted or had a reason to step inside. On the other side of the pool, the clay fill sloped up, and the passage continued at the top, a foot high or less. Ben crawled in a short distance and reported the floor to drop back down, but more clay fill was ahead. The last station was placed on the clay bank in the vicinity of some small, unimpressive soda straw stalactites. No discernable airflow was noticed in the area, and it didn’t look appealing to dig in order to continue exploration and survey.
If the passage had been minus clay, I believe it would have been walking height, averaging 8-10 feet. I couldn’t tell which direction the water had flowed in the past, although I speculate we were heading in the former downstream direction. There were very few speleothems in the passage, and nothing of note at that. The only cave life noticed was a couple of crickets, which I thought was kind of interesting (don’t they prefer areas closer to entrances?). For the most part, airflow wasn’t noticed, and in some places even seemed very stagnant. A total of 18 stations were set, and a cyalume stick was deposited into the clay bank at the last one, with the passage beyond trending at 313 degrees. The survey wrapped up for the day at 6:30 p.m.
After a couple of failed attempts of mine to take a few for-the-record photos, Ben and I headed out, and when we reached the Mulu junction, went upstream as far as the Watcher, before returning to catch up with Jeff before going back through the low airspace section. Ben and I split at Parks Junction, and when Jeff arrived back at Webster Avenue not too long afterward, he lazily floated out, often waiting for me as I took my time on the march out. We exited the cave at 10:00 p.m., completing about a 12.5 hour trip.
After Ben later plotted the data, he reported the UB survey basically did a big U, while heading toward the end of Holmes Hall west, taping out to a distance of 506.3 feet. It had been another successful trip into Webster Cave.
By Ty Spatta:
Saturday August 18, 2007
Notice: The information presented in this report may or may not be accurate to the best of my knowledge.
I arrived to meet Pat Mudd at the field house two hours after our set rendezvous time. It was 10:30 Central Time on Saturday the 18th of August 2007. He was waiting on the front porch with a beer in his hand. He was rocking back in forth in his chair mumbling something about a scoop trip. The glare from the headlights off the truck revealed his wild eyes. I unpacked my gear and made my bed for the night. I wondered out loud where he was going to sleep, since I knew that Troutman’s four-wheeled hostel was not taking reservations. It was just me and Mudd for the night. I slept with one eye open out of fear of the “Scoopie One”.
Morning came early. I awoke to Pat lairing over my cot ordering me to hurry if I wanted to eat before the trip. We jumped in my cave wagon and headed towards The Edible Emporium. Loading up on fried baloney and eye candy, we were well nourished for the day’s events.
Back from breakfast and at the Fieldhouse we met the rest of the clan consisting of Sean Lewis, Dave Everton, Chris Anderson, Brandon Jackson, Ben Hutchins, and Pat Brian. Chris gave a short briefing and we headed for the cave. We all made our own pace through the lakes and past the sump to the bottom of the corkscrew. >From there we split into three teams.
It was Pat Mudd, Sean Lewis and myself on team one. Our assignment was to head into Holmes Hall and report to station UE16. From here we would push and survey two possible leads. On the way to our starting point we encountered plenty of nice formations decorating the passage. Arguably this is the prettiest section of Webster Cave.
We arrived in short order and Sean started taking notes. Pat jumped down in one of the leads and set a point. While Sean schetched, Pat and I worked on a dig that would move the survey forward. It was a 10 feet wide passage with a thick mud floor. There were soda straws lining the ceiling. Big passage could be seen beyond. We made quick time with Pat’s M16 Assault Shovel. I finished the final digging and next thing I know Scoopie appears out of nowhere! He pushed me out of the way and knocked me in the head with what I think was the shovel.
Next thing I know I’m at station UE 46. Sean was wrapping up the book. I looked at my surroundings and we were in a 15-foot wide by 4-foot tall room that “ended in breakdown”. Pat was there and said there was a very dangerous looking way on through it that required digging.
On our way back through the freshly surveyed passage I noted a side lead that was in the wall on the floor. Pat tried to fit in to see if it “went”. Needing more of a commitment than he was willing to give, we left it unpushed. It did not seem to have any airflow. I also noted many nice formations including one sparkling flowstone that had flowing fingers. They were running all the way down the mud bank that sloped across the whole passage. (Please note that I believe that this area needs a flagging tape or rock trail installed to keep people off this truly awesome formation.) Most of the passage average dimensions we encountered were around 15 feet wide and 12 feet high. It was mostly damp but not wet. It seems there where plenty of drains in the floor along the way. There were some short low areas and one more lead in mud that was close to the station UE 18. After about 700 feet from the terminal breakdown room Sean pushed a loop that resulted in being on the other side of the second lead in the UE16 room. We were back at the start of the survey.
While making our long trip back to the entrance, Sean decided to route on out by himself. Pat and I more leisurely exited.
I’m not sure what happened during the time I blacked out in Webster. Scoopie was apparently was not kind. I was all sorts of rammed when I hit the beautiful night sky above Webster, Kentucky! I slept like a little baby beneath the twinkling stars on my anti-roach cot. I was dreaming of my next chance to Scoop Away…...
Ty Spatta
Fellow Websterer...[/u]
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