I feel like I have posted this before, but can't remember. Back in 1995, caver's gathered in the Sierra Alvarez for the 3rd Mexpeleo.
There was a female on rope in and found her self upside-down in a tight vertical crevice. The cave was only about 1/4 mile from camp. Her husband rushed back to camp and found a group of about 7 cavers huddled around a campfire trying to stay warm. He was practically in tears begging for a cave rescue. We all just looked at him like a deer caught in headlights. But one caver stepped up and went and rescued her. I will let him tell the story as he is still an active caver in the U.T. Grotto, and probably on Cavetex. I stood outside the entrance trying to use my Spanish to help with the Red Cross Rescue Team that had showed up. I am not sure where they came from or why they were there so quickly. Maybe the were attending Mexpeleo ? Anyways, there were about 20 of them, but only one looked like he was prepared to go caving. They didn't go in the cave, but they did help on the surface, after she came out. My memory tells me, that had that caver not rescued her, I might have had to put on my gear and go down there. I think the reason I didn't gear up was that I heard there was some tight crawling to get to her. Factors affecting the rescue were the weather was miserable ( fog and cold, I think ), and all the experienced cavers were gone on the other side of the "cordillera", in a cave that had a 700 foot drop. They were not expected back for at least 10 hours. I only bring all this up, because it could have been bad. There was another accident the next day. A caver got lost in the fog in the middle of the night. A search team spent hours looking for him. I don't know the outcome of that, but I presume he was found. A person could easily step off into a pit up there in the fog. There were something like 80 pits within a mile of camp. I would love to go back up there someday. Feel free to correct any of this or to add to it. David Locklear --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
