MACaver

[MA-Caver]

Recent caving trip... a hydro-thermal cave (one that is created by hot rising waters). Ceicei's kid Byron who is soon to become a (Jr.) Black-belt in EPAK went on this one... found this to be probably his most physically challenging one yet.

Enjoy! Part 1 of 2
1. Coming down partway in the cave -120 feet

2. All smiles, Kilie a deaf girl that's loving it!

3. Tight passage? What tight passage?

4. Byron coming back down from an exploratory jaunt into the fossil passage.

 

[MA-Caver]

Blowhole Cave trip... continued.

1. At a tricky spot during the rappel. -175 feet beneath the earth

2. All smiles as Kilie descends down Miner's Pit located -215 feet

3. Byron's turn, just picture perfect in his technique. Mom should be proud. (and she is! )

4. Does this kid have a great smile or what?

 

[Flatlander]

Sweet! A revival of the MACaver thread!

 

[MA-Caver]

Sweet! A revival of the MACaver thread!

Well... (blush) I try.

 

[MA-Caver]

Here is something that I would like to share with you all.
Recently my caving group got together to celebrate a great friend and caver who was killed ten years ago in a motorcycle accident. One of us made a complilation of a series of videos of our friend before he died. The videographer didn't just specifcally focus on this guy, it just happened that he was around most of the time when the videographer was filming. I make appearances here and there as well... of course my hair was longer then than it is now.
The video can be found here http://www.megaupload.com/?d=K3CQ8E7O
You'll have to be quick and hit the "click here to proceed" button before ads start popping up all over the place, then it'll ask you to wait 45 seconds; another ad pops just hit X and then click download (it's SAFE!), be sure that it reads Dan Clyde Tribute (somewhere on the page near the bottom) to ensure you have the right one. It's formatted for DivX player which you might have to download to view if you don't already have it. The original video is 5 GB which is compressed to 205 mb. Runs about 20 minutes long. There is no dialogue but accompanying music.
Hopefully ya'll can see it and enjoy it.
His name is Dan Clyde, he was my friend, my brother, my kindred spirit. After 10 years; my heart still breaks at his loss.

 

[MA-Caver]

Not all caving involves having lots of fun and exploring new places and seeing beautiful formations. Sometimes it's projects. In this case placing a gate at the behest of the land-owners who are nervous about liability issues. They called upon my grotto/group to help out and we did. Rawther nicely too I might say.
For this particular project the gate was placed some 10 feet down inside the entrance (see pics below). Mainly so that disrespectful idjits with their 4X4 trucks and winches can't get a good purchase on it and yank it right off/out.
The whole project took two days to complete. It was done discreetly and when another nearby cave gets it's gate placed on it then it'll be announced in the media and hopefully the public will accept this alternative to permanently closing the cave(s) which the land owners wanted to do in the first place. Thankfully my group managed to intervene with the alternative so that future generations can still enjoy these natural resources while they are being protected and protect the public.
I still havent' figured out how to post pics and have captions underneath to help better explain what's going on. Since only 5 are allowed at a time it'll have to do. Enjoy.

1. Preprations include drilling holes for inch thick rebar to be inserted and be the base to which the steel plates are welded to.

2. Cutting the Steel ... not as easy as it looks as it's 3/4 inch thick. (That's me on the saw)

3. The steel is lowered down while the guy is trying to rappel at the same time. Clumsy but safe enough that it works.

4. Parts being welded while inside the cave. Thankfully the cave was "blowing-out" and all the fumes were carried upon the wind outside.

5. The completed gate (with door opened). Note the bat welded on the left side. The bars on the gate are designed to keep people out... but should any bats wish to roost they can fly between the bars. But in-so-far this cave hasn't a history of bats roosting so that's not a big deal. But since it does blow copious amounts of air (barometric pressure) a solid door wouldn't be a good idea.

Since the cave itself is vertical in nature (sloping 75 to 80 degrees) a rope is needed. As the door is opened the rope will go down and immediately to the left (of the picture #5). This will make it easier for people to get out.

If I'm lucky I'll be notified of the other cave gating and be able to take pics of that and post 'em here.

 

[MA-Caver]

Another cave, another gate. This time Nutty Putty Cave. One of the most popular caves in the state of Utah. At one time it has been estimated that over 4900 people visit this cave a year. Unfortunately that amount of visitation increases the odds of someone getting hurt in the cave. Several rescues have occurred here (of myself I participated in two of them), which has led the Sheriff's department to raise some questions. The owner of the cave is actually The State of Utah School and Institutional Trust Land Administration which lease the land to ranchers and other interested parties as part of fund raising in addtion to funds administred by the state.
I'm not sure how exactly all that works out but only know that the land-owners had been increasingly concerned that eventually a liablity lawsuit would come down upon them as a result of an injury in the cave. Thus after much deliberation and discussion and proposing they turned over management and the building of the gate to a (non-profit) group also known as a Grotto of which I've been a member for the past 15 years.
Materials were provided by the land-owners and other items such as equiptment and man power were loaned by the USFS and members of the Grotto.
It was a lot of work to get the gate built in one day and 15 hours and 9 cavers later it was finished. As you can see from the photos (below) the labor wasn't easy, engineering was likewise difficult as there are no flat, smooth, straight surfaces in a cave environment. All measurements, cutting and welding of the steel was to be done on the spot. Pre-measured/cutting and building are not always possible nor practical. Fortunately caving attracts the attention of a wide variety of people with a wide variety of skills that helps the volunteer effort go smoothly.
One of us brought a large camp stove and bought (at his expense) several pounds of a variety of Bratwurst to keep us going for lunch and eventually dinner. Naturally one would think that beer being the better beverage to be served with Brats would be on the menu, but in the interest of safety all volunteers needed to be (completely) sober at all times when doing this type of work, thus cold sodas and poweraids drinks and water were the day's staple drinks.
The small confines of the cave's entrance was chosen for the gate's location rather the outer surface due to the fact that there is opposition to the idea of gating the cave and restricting access. Before one would simply just drive to the cave and go on in. Now they will have to fill out a form and pass certian criterias (i.e. properly equippted and experienced). The gate's location makes it difficult for someone with a 4X4 truck/SUV equippted with a winch to pull the gate apart. The weakest link will be the combination lock, which is easier and cheaper to replace should anyone with a small pair of bolt cutters cut it apart.
Building it on site was a lot of work, mainly because several folks played gopher and communication relay between the surface and underground. Radios don't work too well in some caves... like this one due to mineralogical interference.
One of the biggest surprises was that two 80 inch pieces of 4 inch wide 1/2 inch thick steel angle irons needed to be brought inside... to everyone's amazement they fit and just barely past the entrance crawl. One goes straight down about 6 feet before having to turn a full 90 degrees into an opening roughly 2 feet wide by 8 inches tall. It was fortunate that the bottom portion widened sufficently enough to allow the turning of the heavy steel beam. What was unfortunate was having to take the same beam in and out of the cave several times to cut small pieces out of the ends to better fit.
At one point we were delayed by an hour after a drill bit got stuck in the limestone wall. Then... the generator ran out of gas after the 3rd filling. One of us decided to siphon the gas from his SUV to keep the generator going. Sacrifices... for the love of caving. (grins)
It's regrettable that this measure of gating the cave had to be taken, but necessary for the safety of those untrained and inexperienced to enter this cave. For someone like myself this cave is very easy to negotiate, but no less dangerous should I ever become careless. For someone who does not it is simply dangerous, as several people can attest after having been rescued.
Think of it as in martial arts terms; a green belt going full tilt up against a first degree black belt. They may do alright at first but sooner or later they'll get hurt.
Anyway it was a good project to be involved in and I was glad to deepen the already strong bonds of friendship with other cavers even further. Having shared this experience together helps.
Time will tell of the public's overall reaction to this new change. We are anticipating a remarkable decrease in visitation regardless. There will be some resentment towards the grotto(s) and outcries to the land-owners and damages to the lock and gate.
But it only takes one person to screw it up for the rest of us. The last rescue was the last straw for the land-owners and the county SAR group. Better a gate than the other option they were seriously considering... cementing the entrance shut completely.
Anyway enjoy the photos.

1. Cami gives a smile as she helps guide the electrical extension cord to provide power for the welder and lights into the cave.

2. Looking down into the entrance of the cave, as you can see petite Cami manages to fill up the opening, imagine getting all that steel down in there.

3. Justin, pausing to cook those wonderful Bratwursts for lunch. Mmmm yeah!

4. Jon and Tim setting up the uprights for the main doorway. Note the confines of the crawl. There's no standing, kneeling or sitting room here at all... the rest of the cave does "open up" to various heights between hands and knee crawling to walking passages.

5. Jon welding the first of many parts. Lying on one's side and wearing that welding mask, gotta admire the guy.

 

[Carol]

Holy Cow!

This is an amazing thread, Ralph. I'm totally amazed. And it's not just the espresso, either. :rofl:

 

[MA-Caver]

Nutty Putty cave gating project part 2:

1. Jon taking measurements for the second upright.

2. Yours truly giving Jon a hand

3. The completed door, still a lot more work left to do.

4. On the surface Justin and Cami continue cutting pieces. It's getting dark outside now.

5. Part of the locking mechanism. The lettering done by MA-Caver (g'wan... check out the website...it's way cool! :uhyeah: )

 

[MA-Caver]

Nutty Putty Gate part 3.

1. A few more holes left to drill... oh no! It's stuck!

2. Justin comes into the cave to give a hand with pulling the drill out. Turns out they had to remove the drill and leave the (steel) bit and weld right on to it. Ah well it was a bad bit anyway. A tight fit for Justin. Hard to find the right leverage.

3. It's about 11 pm and Cami takes a quick cat nap on the trailer. The generator is going the whole time, but she didn't care... was way tired.

4. The 80" long angle irons in place. The space between them is 5 inches wide.

5. Completed gate, a tired but happy Cami smiles from within. We started at 10 AM and got finished by 1 AM.

 

[MA-Caver]

Holy Cow!

This is an amazing thread, Ralph. I'm totally amazed. And it's not just the espresso, either. :rofl:

Thanks to Flatlander who got interested enough in my non-martial activities to start a thread for me to write about this stuff. :asian:

 

[Carol]

Thanks to Flatlander who got interested enough in my non-martial activities to start a thread for me to write about this stuff. :asian:

I hope you keep posting and keep writing about it. This is absolutely fascinating. You're taking me in to a world that I have never seen before and I absolutely love it.

I'm sure the pictures are nothing compared to what it must be like to see and experience but......wow.......to even see a little piece through your pictures and engaging descriptions is truly amazing

Fabulous, fabulous work. :asian:

 

[MA-Caver]

Last saturday I took a small group of deaf people caving. Among them our very own and honorable Ceicei. This would make it her 7th or 8th cave. Compared to the others this one was relatively easy. I chose this particular cave, Oak City Cave, because the other young lady has a lung defect which only permits them to operate at 40% efficiency, thus one of the caves that requires long hikes with 1000 foot elevation gains wouldn't be good for her. Found out later that it was merely her (over-protective) boyfriend misaligning the facts. She could do it... if we took it easy... she says.

Anyway. Oak City is known as a "sacrifice cave". Meaning that it's already been damaged and vandalized to the point that restoration would take hundreds of hours and many more hundreds of dollars and while it's a cave that people can trash (as much as we would prefer them NOT to) it's better than losing the comparative beauty of some of the other caves we have... (see previous posts).
A scout-clean-up project does occur here from time to time, removing bits of debris and trash left behind by the callous and uncaring. There is one section of the cave where graffiti removal was done. Other sections require more work and still other sections of this cave the graffiti overlaps delicate calcite formations and any aggressive (or even mild) clean up attempt would result in the formation's destruction.
My caving group (aka Grotto) now use this cave as a teaching resource. To show "why we gate caves" or "why we prefer to keep many locations secret".
We realize that not everyone is a vandal... but then not everyone is mindful of the irreplacable resource that caves are.
Everyone had a good time and enjoyed themselves (as evident from the photos). For two of our group it was their first time underground. They're the "loving" couple that you'll see (below). They had the wonderful fortune of seeing their first live bat in the wild (asleep), Ceicei I believe has seen bats before but never in a cave. It was a treat for them to say the least.
I was pleasantly surprised when exiting a room to find my old caving mentor/teacher/friend sitting in the main passage with his oldest son and (of all things) their dog. They just happened to select the same cave we did on the same day out of sheer boredom, that and the fact they haven't been to this cave in roughly 10 years. The two of them are credited with helping discover and map Utah's deepest cave "Main Drain" which presently extends some 1230 feet beneath the surface.
It was a good trip and everyone had fun.
Enjoy the pics.

1. Group photo (taken by MA-Caver)

2. In one of the larger rooms of the cave. Maggie playfully tells me what she thinks... nyahh back to you hunny!

3. Ceicei in a tight spot... not for claustrophobics to be sure.

4. Danny thinks this spot is going to eat him alive... NOT!

5. Awww true love! Not the first time either... caught them making out in an obscure corner of the cave... Hey guys.. get a roo... oh wait ya'll did.

 

[MA-Caver]

Oak City Cave pics part two:

1. This spot is not as tight as it looks... yeah that's Ceicei bringing up the rear... (in a manner of speaking of course). :lol:

2. Everyone trying to scare me as I came in... yah yah whatever!

3. Maggie trying her best impersonation of a... wildcat I guess... MMRREEOOWWWLLL !!

4 Group photo after the cave... Damian and Danny show off their torn pants while Maggie and I just ... chill! (photo by Ceicei)

Ceicei took her own photos and we'll see when she gets them downloaded to her HD.

 

[Ceicei]

This is the picture of the sleeping bat we saw in the Oak City Cave.

 

[Ceicei]

This is the tree where I wanted to "do my business" before going into the cave, but the two cows and their calves weren't too happy. They finally mooooved...

 

[Ceicei]

Entrance to the cave....

 

[Ceicei]

Some interesting formations found inside. (Hand belongs to MA-Caver).

 

[Ceicei]

A very tight spot in the cave.... It is not really as small as it seems, as shown by Maggie sitting inside this spot. The foot in the lower right corner of the first picture belongs to MA-Caver.

 

[Ceicei]

Met two other friends (Ryan and Brian) and their cave dog... (you can see a bit of the graffiti in the background mentioned by MA-Caver).