Aye...a blast from years ago...NO.....I cannot recall being on a dig at
Strantom....but looking back years ago on a trip report bywhom???dealing with a
dig....Thinlking names of Skinner and Rhodes were mentioned.
Dealing with a coleman stoive took a breaK AND SUPPOSEDLY HOOKED UP with a
groupm going to Lincoln cavers///in the long ru8n the names involved where
some where else that weekend....
Maybe??????if Belski would stay home some day he may perhaps chase down that
trip report hell maybe Harington might help.
Cave hooooooooooo,
Andy
________________________________
From: Harvey DuChene <[email protected]>
To: 'Ken Harrington' <[email protected]>; 'Michael Lorimer'
<[email protected]>; 'Steve Peerman' <[email protected]>
Cc: 'SWR Cavers' <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 1:38 PM
Subject: Re: [SWR] A New Thread: Crawlways
Sometime around 1966, I was on a trip in Fort Stanton and we were digging at
the end of Hell Hole II (I think it was Hell Hole II, anyway). I remember the
passage as low and wide with a flat rock floor and a ceiling like a ratchet.
The space between floor and ceiling was just large enough for me to fit
through, with spots where my chest rubbed on the floor and shoulders rubbed on
the ceiling. It was fairly easy crawling INTO the passage because the ceiling
gradually sloped downward to a ratchet point, then repeated, and repeated. The
trip back out was a different matter, however. At each of those ratchet points,
the ceiling sharply dropped about an inch, and it took some effort to work
through the spots where the ceiling was lowest. When we finished digging for
the day, our group headed out of the cave to make supper. I was last in the
queue. I was working my way through a low spot when a small pebble on the rock
floor got caught under my sternum,
just as I went under one of those inconvenient low ratchets on the ceiling.
The pebble was no more that ½ inch in diameter, but it was big enough to trap
me beneath floor and ceiling. There was not much purchase on the floor, which
was quite flat, had a thin coating of silt and sand, and lacked nubbins to grab
so I could pull myself over the pebble. The passage was 8 or 10 feet wide, so I
couldn’t reach the walls. I couldn’t push with my toes because of the sand on
the floor, and there was nothing on the ceiling to grab. I was stuck, Just like
a bug fastened to a piece of cardboard with a pin. I could flop and flail
around, but I could not escape the pebble that was under my sternum. So I laid
there, figuring (hoping) that someone would notice that I had not shown up for
supper and come looking for me. I recall thinking about Floyd Collins and
wondering how long it would take for me to lose enough weight to escape. After
a while, I heard scraping
up ahead, and a few moments later, Doug Rhodes appeared. I explained what had
happened and Doug thought it was really funny. He told me to wait there (as if
I was going anywhere), and that he would be back in a few minutes. Sure enough,
a few minutes later he was back and hauling an army entrenching tool (folding
shovel, to the rest of us). Doug moved closer to me so he could hold the shovel
by the handle with both hands at arm’s length in front of him. The shovel was
at a right angle to the length of both of us. I then grabbed the handle with
both hands, and Doug inflated himself while I deflated myself. I pulled on the
shovel handle and dragged myself over the offending pebble, which carved a
groove down my sternum and left a nasty linear bruise. But I was freed from the
trap and left the cave with no more incidents.
Harvey DuChene
From:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Ken
Harrington
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 9:37 AM
To: Michael Lorimer; Steve Peerman
Cc: SWR Cavers
Subject: Re: [SWR] A New Thread: Crawlways
In 1966 or 1967 four of us set off for a two day dig in Russell's Crawl.
Members of the party as I remember were Gary Davis, Ed Glenn, Ed Snyder and
myself. We entered the cave on Friday evening and proceeded to the dig face at
the end of Russell's Crawl. At that time the Hoeman's Passage had not been
started and we were following the air straight ahead in Russell's Crawl. We
took turns digging and had been digging for about 24 hours so it was late
Saturday night or early Sunday morning when Ed Glenn returned from his stint at
the dig face. He proceeded to tell us about the lovely young girl that he had
met and how enchanting she was. At that point in time the rest of us
determined that he was hallucinating and it was time to get out of there. We
exited the cave with no further problems except that Ed was firmly convinced
that he had actually met the young lady and that he was not hallucinating. On
another dig trip with Ed Snyder, Gary
Davis, John King and myself we were digging in Russell's Crawl when we all
heard a dog barking. It was strange because at first none of us wanted to
admit that he had heard a dog barking. The source of the dog barking was never
determined.
I believe that the folding shovel with Gary Davis's name on it may have been
left there on one of these digging adventures.
Ken
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass - It's about dancing in the
rain.
________________________________
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 09:51:38 -0500
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
CC: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [SWR] A New Thread: Crawlways
I remember my first trip through the infamous Russell's Crawl. It was in 1971
or there about. The sand siphon is only 6 inches high and it descends at a 15%
angle. One has to dig the sand out, push the sand behind you and literally
bury yourself as you worm your way in. I was new to caving and didn't like
tight crawls. By the time that I was through, I was in a near panic. I wanted
out of there. About 10 or 15 from the siphon, I tried to turnaround. Too
tight. When it opened up after another few feet, I was like Curly of the Three
Stooges lying on the floor and trying to walk myself in a circle. "Whew, whew,
whew!" I could have gone another 10 feet, where the passage opened up, but
noooooooo. Fortunately, the sand siphon is much easier to exit than enter. I
went there a couple of years later, but never went much farther than the twin
rooms.
Steve, you want to do Fool's Crawl? I am sure that we can get some poor fool
to push a camera ahead of him or her and we can watch it from the comfort of
our respective living rooms.
Mike
On 3/11/2014 8:39 AM, Steve Peerman wrote:
Mike,
> An interesting topic, and it brings back memories -- but not of Fool's Crawl,
>because I wasn't on any of those trips. I've never been through Fool's Crawl
>-- it had to have been someone else.
>
>One interesting crawlway memory that I have involves Russell's Crawl, not far
>from the entrance of Fort Stanton Cave. Russell's Crawl is not muddy like
>Fool's Crawl, but does have a section where one has to "swim" through the sand
>that almost fills the crawlway. At any rate, I was in Russell's Crawl during
>an SWR regional many years ago, when a desperate need to visit the rest room
>hit me (take a dump; pinch a log; drop a load; i.e., defecate). I did not
>have a burrito bag with me.
>I faced the choice of using my pack as a toilet or attempting to make it to
>the surface to the one-holer that used to be just downhill from the fence
>gate. A number of issues were on my mind. #1 -- I had to swim through the
>sand crawl -- not an easy task, even when you don't have something else
>"pressing". #2, there is a substantial amount of vertical relief between
>Russell's Crawl and the surface. Exercise generally acts as a stimulant for a
>bowel movement. #3 -- the main and fence gates would likely be open,
>considering that this was a regional, but perhaps not. Any unnecessary delays
>could be messy. #4 -- (my worst fear) the toilet might be occupied.
>I told my companions about my dilemma, and they did not see using my pack as a
>toilet as a viable option in the small passage. So I began the journey to the
>surface. You know how everything seems to take longer when you are in a
>hurry? The swim through the sand crawl seemed to take forever. Even though
>it was only maybe 10 or 15 feet long, progress seemed to go by fractions of an
>inch. Once out of the crawlway, I was on a dead run for the surface. The
>main gate was fortunately open. I recall passing another group in the
>entrance sink. I didn't pause for conversation, but said, "you didn't lock
>the gate did you?" "Ah no, what's the hurry?" Perhaps they saw the
>desperation in my countenance. I don't know, I didn't wait around to discuss
>the matter. I flew out the gate and headed down the hill, yelling, "anyone in
>there?" as I approached. The gods were smiling. It was unoccupied.
>Relief. I made it.
>Moral of the story -- always have a burrito bag. Or better yet, visit the
>bathroom before the caving trip.
>
>On Mar 10, 2014, at 7:00 PM, Michael Lorimer wrote:
>
>>I would like open up a new discussion thread. We have all had many wonderful
>>caving experiences, some of them bordering on the fantastic. I would like to
>>start the ball rolling with crawlways. How about writing something about
>>your best or worst crawlway experience? The good, the bad, the muddiest, the
>>most horrible, the funniest. You name it.
>>Fool’s Crawl, Fort Stanton Cave, New Mexico
>>
>> I first ‘heard’ of Fool’s Crawl when I saw it in 1970 on the
>>standard map that the BLM handed out with its permits. While I was
>>interested, I was too busy digging with Lee Skinner and “super digger” Dennis
>>Engle to check it out. It was around the spring of 1974 that I made my first
>>attempt to worm my way through what was rumored to be a rather tight and
>>nasty crawl. Now my memory isn’t good enough to recall those who accompanied
>>me on these trips, but I believe that Steve Peerman was on every trip. As we
>>entered the Sewer Pipe, almost immediately we encountered water. At first,
>>it was only a little soupy mud. Then it became water-filled footprints. As
>>we traveled farther into the Sewer Pipe, we sloshed through 3 inch deep
>>water. The water became deeper as we progressed. Soon we were sliding over
>>slick mounds of clay as the ceiling lowered and the water deepened to a
>>couple of feet. Our little
adventure was halted when we came to where the cave siphoned. I crawled to
where theceiling met that water and looked to see if I could spot the infamous
crawl. Nope. From hindsight, I estimate that we were some ten to twenty feet
from the actual Fool’s Crawl. As a side note, there were many little irregular
shaped rafts that were some 3 or 4 inches in diameter and composed some sort of
calcareous material floating on the water near the siphon. It reminded me of
the snowflakes in Snowflake Passage.
>>
>> Later that year or the next year, we tried it again. I must
>>confess that I hate tight crawlways as I am a bit claustrophobic. With that
>>in mind, I ‘researched’ the crawl by talking to veteran cavers. What I heard
>>was basically, “It is tight, but it opens up rather quickly.” Because of my
>>fear of tight spaces, I led. If I can keep moving, if only inch by painful
>>inch then my mind isn’t occupied by thoughts of where I am, which is entombed
>>by millions of tons of unescapable rock. I hate moving forward and seeing a
>>pair of boots blocking my way and having to wait for someone or many someones
>>to slither their way through a tight spot. When I came to the crawlway, the
>>water level was down and only a puddle remained at the tightest and lowest
>>spot of the crawl. The crawlway is roughly 15 inches wide and perhaps a foot
>>tall. I tried to go through with my belly down and my shoulders parallel,
>>but my shoulders
were too wide. I wiggled in on my back with my right arm extended over my
head, pushing my pack and my carbide light-equipped helmet ahead of me. My
left arm hung uselessly down at my side. At the tightest spot, I discovered
that the puddle was some 6 inches deep and, with my body displacing most of the
water, the level rose. Now I was in a passage with water filling it to about 2
or 3 inches from the ceiling. I remember the water lapping at my face. It was
very slippery and I wiggled like an eel to squeeze my body through that tight,
water-soaked mud hole. Relief flooded through me when I finally exited from
the fool’s part of the crawl. Now the passage had risen to a whole 14 or 15
inches and was about 3 feet wide. The ceiling, walls and floor were coated
with wet slippery mud and so was I. It might as well have had ice for all the
progress I was making, but make progress I made, a half inch at a time. After
about 2 or 3 body
lengths of slowly working my way forward, I was able to crawl on hands and
knees into Snowflake Passage. I knew that I could and would take the easy exit
via the Skyscraper Domes. One of the advantages of being first is that you can
listen to the complaints and swearing coming from deep within the passage that
you just vacated and greet your muddy friends as they exit.
>>
>> A year later, I tried the crawl again. I had a fresh crop of
>>novice cavers who were willing to try something challenging. This time
>>Fool’s Crawl was dry. Fort Stanton Cave never quite dries out though. Now,
>>instead of being super slippery, the walls, floor, ceiling and I were coated
>>with sticky mud. It was like I was wearing a Velcro suit and the cave was
>>wearing the hooks. As before, I went first as I pushed my pack and helmet
>>ahead of me. I couldn't drag myself forward as the floor acted like glue. I
>>had to lift my body up a half inch, push forward and come down. Repeat.
>>Repeat. I can’t remember how many times I did that simple action. Once I
>>was past the tight spot, I discovered that if I lifted myself a little too
>>high, I stuck to the ceiling. I was also sticking to the floor. Lift, move
>>forward a 1/2 inch. Down. And repeat. Progress was made a slow half inch
>>at a time. By comparison,
being a wet muddy fish in that wet muddy crawl was easier (but not by much),
than being a caving "tar baby" in a tight passage coated with the sticky
equivalent of caver tar. That was the last time I went through Fool’s Crawl.
I imagine that the crawl hasn’t changed since Steve and I crawled through it
some 30 years ago. If you are inclined to brave the tight stuff and would like
to sample a bit of claustrophobia, you might give Fool’s Crawl a try. I am too
old and too fat to do it again. Thank goodness.
>>
>>
>>--
>>Michael D. Lorimer
>>1826 Mount Joy Dr.
>>San Antonio, TX 78232
>>575 644-1763
>>_______________________________________________
>>SWR mailing list
>>[email protected]
>>http://lists.caver.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/swr
>>_______________________________________________
>>This list is provided free as a courtesy of CAVERNET
>
>Steve Peerman
>
>
> "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by
>the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines,
>Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
>Dream. Discover."
> attributed to Mark Twain, but no record exists of his having written this.
>
--
Michael D. Lorimer
1826 Mount Joy Dr.
San Antonio, TX 78232
575 644-1763
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