In fairness to all concerned with both the '94 expedition and the current one, I believe this thread needs to stop now, and should never actually have been started.
Since one of the main leaders of the '94 one is , I believe, deep underground on the current one and can not be reached for comment, the original post seemed almost a cheap and damaging shot at the amazing work of many people and a whole organization. Posting it without having a rebuttal comment to post with it seems irresponsible and very poor journalistic behavior. Besides that, no one I know who has ever had a life lost on a trip ever gets over it, nor would ever want that event to be repeated. With great respect to all involved, Mimi Jasek Sent from my iPhone On Mar 16, 2013, at 10:03 PM, freddie poer <[email protected]> wrote: > > It would be nice to hear some justification for the garbage left behind from > the previous trips. What ever happened to the "haul it it, haul it out" > philosophy? Maybe it was too much work? Maybe the pace just took too much out > of the participants? Possibly no one else would see it ever again. Any of the > 94 crew care to elaborate? Maybe it is okay to trash the cave for for the > immediate goals of the expedition? Is there any good explanation for this? > Maybe the approach of the almighty expedition cavers needs to be re-examined. > I personally know of several cavers who were "dropped" from the Texas based > expedition cave trips because they could not keep up with the pace set by a > select few individuals. Maybe the problem is with the leaders of such > expeditions. After all, when you are actually endangering the lives of the > people involved, or in some cases, having fatalities on your trips, it may be > time to re-evaluate your methods. It is not necessary to trash the cave or > kill people to conduct an exploration. Safety and conservation first. Egos > should come in a far second to anything else. Anyone care to comment? > > --- On Sat, 3/16/13, Mixon Bill <[email protected]> wrote: > > From: Mixon Bill <[email protected]> > Subject: [Texascavers] Huautla progress report > To: "Cavers Texas" <[email protected]> > Date: Saturday, March 16, 2013, 5:05 PM > > From a participant in the British cave-diving expedion to Huautla in Mexico: > > > I was with the advance team who were mainly tasked to get the cave rigged > > to the bottom. We rigged down to the 620 depot and then set up and moved > > into camp 3 for four days. We also had Jason Mallinson, the lead diver > > with us just itching to get in the sump. On the seventh day (from the > > start of the expedition) Jason and his gear arrived at the sump and he > > dived. He is a top diver and relined sumps 1&2 in a single dive lasting > > 1.5hours, his first dive. Since then the rest of the team have moved the > > other four divers gear to the sump in preparation for a week long camp > > beyond sump 2. There are five divers going through both to push sump 9 and > > to climb the Rio Inglesi falls. I think they went through on monday and > > tuesday this week gone, so expect to hear some news by next wednesday. > > > > The one thing that shocked me, in an otherwise fantastic cave, was all the > > trash and gear abandoned by the '94 team. At the sump was the remains of > > the dive platforms, much of which was washed into the sump. There were > > composite cylinders with the pillar valves removed and now full of silt, > > blatant abandonment. Nalgene bottles of batteries which had imploded due > > to flood pressure and now leaking acid. At Camp 3 there were around 30 > > nalgenes with all sorts of crap in them from minging sleeping bags to > > leaching Kodachrome film. There was also the rusting remains of the hydo > > generator, a huge cable drum of untouched fibre optic cable and rusting gas > > cans. Also, of course, were the rounds of rope, often knackered, piled > > high at pitch heads. We started pulling some of it out but don't know if > > the derig team will be strong enough to do it all. Until this trip to > > Mexico I had been impressed with the conservation ethics of the Americans > > who caved in Mexico, 'take nothing but photographs, leave nothing but > > footprints', now needs a little rephrasing! > > --Mixon > ---------------------------------------- > Don't be led astray into the paths of virtue. > ---------------------------------------- > You may "reply" to the address this message > came from, but for long-term use, save: > Personal: [email protected] > AMCS: [email protected] or [email protected] > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] >
