That's pretty cool, Bill. I read "The Darkness Beckons" years ago, but forgot a lot of the stories in it unfortunately. Most of the hair-raising tales seemed to concern Sheck Exley, like the lava tube dive in Hawaii.
On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 9:12 AM, Mixon Bill <[email protected]> wrote: > Here's another link: > > http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2011/s3127282.htm > > I think I quoted something about the true story some months ago. Here it is > again, from Martyn Farr's The Darkness Beckons: > > The expedition was a major success, but undoubtedly the most exciting event > took place during the final retreat from the cave. It was 4:30 pm in the > afternoon when virtually the full team assembled on the subterranean > lakeside and started unloading the equipment which had just arrived from the > depths of the system. On the surface a freak cyclone hit the area, > destroying the camp and, within a period of twenty-five minutes, depositing > more than twice the area's annual rainfall. Before those underground became > aware of the event a torrent of water poured into the vertical shaft, > causing a massive landslide and collapse. Miraculously, despite a hail of > boulders crasing into the chamber at the bottom, no one was injured. The > exit route was completely blocked and thirteen of the team were effecively > entombed. With an air of quiet resignation, they set about organizing > themselves for survival for an unknown length of time. [Doesn't sound much > like that awful new movie, does it?] > Fortunately radio communication was established within hours of the > disaster. An escape route through the chaos of boulders was pioneered the > next day, and all arrived safely on the sufrace bu 8 pm on Saturday. Their > equipment, valued at over Australian $200,000, had to be left where it lay, > to await retrieval after a suitable period of natural stabilization. > > I know I've got something more about this, including some article that > shows the approaching storm, but I can't turn it up right now. There was a > documentary film made of the expedition, for which the late Wes Skiles was a > cinematographer (trivia: "megachiropteran,"" an old-world fruit bat, is an > anagram of "cinematographer"). The film is called "Nullarbor Dreaming." > Somebody who is hooked up on one of the "torrent" outfits can probably > download it. Don't know how much of the film concerns the final incident of > the long project. > > The NYT review of Sanctum is at > http://movies.nytimes.com/2011/02/04/movies/04sanctum.html > Reviewers bottom line: The director Alister Grierson, not grasping that bad > dialogue is sometimes best delivered quietly, encourages his actors to shout > and thrash about, and so they do, like fish out of water and performers out > of their depth. > > --Mixon > ---------------------------------------- > A fearless man cannot be brave. > ---------------------------------------- > 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] > >
