One might also be able in the future to use short video clips and/or photos to help locate a terminal survey station.
Diana ************************************************** Diana R. Tomchick Professor Departments of Biophysics and Biochemistry University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Rm. ND10.214A Dallas, TX 75390-8816 diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu (214) 645-6383 (phone) (214) 645-6353 (fax) > On Aug 20, 2015, at 10:55 PM, Mark Minton via Texascavers > <texascavers@texascavers.com> wrote: > > Jim, > > I share your pain about recovering survey stations. I have been party to > several connections that relied on old stations, usually carbided, but > few people are equipped to mark such stations nowadays. As you pointed > out, flagging tape is obviously not secure due to mice, crickets, etc. > White-Out or nail polish seems to hold up well, but physical markers > like metal tags or stakes is best. Bolts or even just bolt holes are > also good, although the latter can be filled with mud after floods. It > will be interesting to see how connections made years or even decades > later are verified in the future. > > I also share your concern about retaining project members long enough to > preserve institutional memory. Not only are leads lost, but the route to > leads is also lost. Leads that are obscure or only marginally obvious > are especially difficult to relocate, since their significance may not > be apparent even after a resurvey. Long-term participation and detailed > survey notes and trip reports are key. > > Mark Minton > mmin...@caver.net > > On Thu, August 20, 2015 6:08 pm, Crash Kennedy via Texascavers wrote: >> A couple of weeks ago Yaz decided to visit her family in San Luis Potosi. >> I was between projects and had some time on my hands. So I got the wild >> idea to head to Carta Valley for a week and survey as much of Punkin Cave >> as I could. I talked to Ben Hutchins, who said he and Carrie were >> interested, and he had some time available. At the UT Grotto meeting I >> got a few more hits, so the expedition was on! >> >> David Ochel said he could make it for the first part of the week. We >> both drove up Monday, got settled in to the cabin, worked on the outhouse >> for a bit, and planned our strategy for the next day. On Tuesday 4 >> August, David and I rigged the small entrance and were in the cave >> relatively early. We headed directly to some leads I had left from my >> survey with Tone and Chains in June. We quickly mopped up some leads, >> determined that a few more needed a little shaving, and moved some rocks >> so that I could retrieve the hammer I dropped in June. We found several >> more good leads that need additional work. We also mapped the Neglected >> Room that we (re-) found in June. It had been previously discovered by >> ZA survey team (G. Schindel, A. Schindel, and A. Croskrey) in March 2014, >> but not surveyed. We left a few hairy leads that were heading into blank >> spots on the map, since there were just two of us and we had no backup. >> All told, in 7 hours we made 19 shot for a total of 43.68m (or 2.30m per >> shot). We got out in time for an awesome dinner, movie, and gin & tonics. >> >> The next day, Wednesday, David had to leave, so I had the place to myself >> until the next wave arrived that evening. I worked on the outhouse some >> more, repaired the two broken benches, and generally tidied up the cabin. >> I took a nice walk, had a nap, and just generally read and relaxed. After >> a while Ben, Carrie, and Hazel Hutchins arrived from San Marcos, bringing >> Ron Rutherford with them. Dinner and drinks again ensued, and some more >> incredible stargazing tool place, before everyone got settled into their >> respective rooms. >> >> Thursday morning, 6 August, dawned bright and early, as it is wont to do >> in August. Ben, Ron, and I headed back to the Neglected Room to mop up >> some more remaining leads, while Carrie stayed cool in the cabin and >> watched Hazel. We first went to a lead off QB2 that looked like it >> should connect to ZA8, which I enlarged on Tuesday. Sure enough, we >> found the awkward climb, shot three shots, and tied in to the 2014 >> station. We were on a roll. Next we mapped the obvious connection from >> ZA6 to our AF50 from Tuesday. 13 more meters in the bag. I talked Ben >> into climbing up into a small lead that David and I passed on, and we got >> another 5m. Meanwhile, Ron was working on some good breakdown leads at >> the edge of the known map, but couldn't quite make them go. Ben and I >> mapped another short connection, QB6 to ZA5. We then surveyed down into >> a big hall at the end of Matt and Saj's survey from June. This room >> (Refrigerator Room) was super cold, with a very strong breeze blowing out >> of a too-tight hole through which we could see big blackness. We'll have >> to come back with better tools, as this goes off the map in a very good >> direction. One short side passage off the Refrigerator Room was >> completed, then we packed up and headed down to Windy City. There, off >> of WM28, David and I found some unsurveyed leads that we tackled to >> finish out our day. Ron got excluded from part of the passage, but we >> eventually mapped 24m in this area before everything got too tight. When >> we got back and plotted out surveys, it was clear that we were heading >> south along the western flank of the cave, towards the Mortuary Room >> surveys. Could we possibly attack it from that side as well? We ended >> the 8-hour day after 36 shots, having put 79.43m in the survey book >> (2.21m per shot). >> >> On Friday 7 August our ranks were reinforced by the arrival of Tom Rogers >> and Amy Morton. Carrie once again baby-sat while the five remaining went >> back in the cave. This time we headed towards the Mortuary Room, but >> somehow got off the Z survey (which we wanted) and onto the original R >> survey by way of some unmapped connections. I guess we'll have to mop up >> those one day. We were looking for a lead marked on the survey notes at >> Z6. But instead, I found an obvious lead at R9. R9 was from a survey I >> did in March of 2005, and I marked the station with soot from my carbide >> lamp. Good thing, since it lasted all these years and we could relocate >> it. The lead trended north along the west wall, right towards where we >> left off the day before. The lower level eventually died, but we started >> working on an upper lead that needed some rock removal. Eventually Ben, >> Amy, and Tom slid through. I hurt a rib while hammering, and never was >> able to push through. I turned over the survey book to Ben. Meanwhile, >> Amy found a tube heading up, and could see daylight. I retreated back to >> the Entrance Room, and eventually found Amy's tube by calling back and >> forth. It was full of old sticks, which acted like a dam, holding back >> bushels and bushels of guano. I removed the sticks, choking and swearing. >> The turned into a really easy bypass to the crawl at which Ron was still >> hammering. I slid down, Amy climbed up, and Ron hauled all the remaining >> packs back to the Entrance Room. Tom, Ben, and I finished the survey of >> the lower passages and then up Guano Falls, as we named the tube. It was >> early, but we were trashed from all the pounding, climbing, and guano, so >> we left after only 7 hours. We surveyed 77.36m in 31 shots that day, >> averaging 2.50m per shot. A very good day. >> >> The Hays County crew packed up and left, so there were only three of us >> left. On Saturday 8 August we decided to go back to the Z survey again, >> armed with the old survey notes. But first we detoured to the Mortuary >> Room, so Tom and Amy could check on any leads left. They decided, like >> we did once or twice before, that there really are none. We climbed up >> into the Z survey this time, instead of down like we did on Friday. We >> had a really hard time finding the survey stations, because the crew that >> surveyed the Trick or Treat Climb (Z survey) in March of 2007 only put >> very small marks on the walls and no labels. They probably wrote labels >> on flagging tape and put it near the stations, but all that remained >> after the cave crickets chewed it up was tiny little orange plastic >> fragments. This really was a good lesson about how to mark and not mark >> stations for a long-term survey project like this. We mapped some >> branching tubes in the boneyard maze off Z3, but never really figured out >> where Z6 was. We'll probably have to re-create a part of the Z survey >> to relocate that station on a future survey. We poked around the top of >> the Z survey seeing a bunch of (apparently) unsurveyed stuff, and wrapped >> up by shooting two shots into a previously-overlooked hole in the wall of >> the Entrance Room. I had offered to lead the twosome through the Western >> Maze, into Area 51, and back out through Superstition, but none of us >> were really feeling it. So after only 4.5 hours, we exited, derigged the >> cave, had a celebratory beer, and headed back to the cabin. We only >> added another 13 shots and 26.83m (2.06m per shot). >> >> So this was an experiment of sorts for me. The last expedition, in June, >> had 22 surveyors on 5 teams, and added 115.01m to the cave's length. >> Coordinating that many people and teams is a lot of effort. In contrast, >> we had 6 people this time on 4 teams, and added 219.52m Obviously, it was >> much more efficient. There are still a lot of leads left in the cave, but >> it will take meticulous surveyors to check and map every one, and not just >> go charging off in the most obvious ones. We never did connect the West >> Maze with Mortuary. The cave just seems to fill with tiny cemented >> breakdown in that area. But we certainly filled in a big gap on the map >> there, from both directions. Right now the cave stands at 4967.1m, with >> only 33m more necessary to break the 5km threshold. And we are only 48m >> from regaining a spot back on list of the the top 10 longest caves in >> Texas (bumping off Longhorn). Two great milestones for the next trip! >> >> Here are some more statistics that I just worked up. There have been 104 >> individual cavers participating in the 24 survey expeditions to date. >> Four of those did not enter the cave and survey, so there are 100 cavers >> so far contributing to what we know of the cave. Out of those, I have >> been on the most trips (23), followed by Don Arburn (14), Lee Jay Graves >> (14), Matt Zappitello (10), Arron Wertheim (8), Saj Zappitello (8), Ann >> Scott (7), Chris Vreeland (7), Geary Schindel (7), Tone Garot (6), Bonnie >> Longley (6), Galen Falgout (6), Lydia Hernandez (6), Gary Franklin (6), >> David Ochel (6), Matt Turner (5), Yazmin Avila (5), Dale Barnard (5), >> Matt Zaldivar (4), and Wes Schumacher (4). That means that only 20% of >> all the surveyors in Punkin have been there 4 or more times, which isn't >> enough to really get to know an area and what has been surveyed and what >> hasn't. AND to know where that part of the cave is in relation to the >> rest of the cave. We have no end of enthusiastic volunteers eager to >> sign up for trips, but damn few trip leaders that can get their team to >> their objectives. So it is clear that we need more people to take on >> parts of the cave, learn them well, and push the hell out of them. It is >> also pretty close to the time when we will have to go into certain leads >> and shave them to see where they go. Before, there was always the hope >> that another passage would just bypass a restriction, and get at it from >> another direction. Now, it appears that there are certain stratigraphic >> and structural controls that "box in" the cave in certain directions. >> There is still tremendous airflow, so we know we haven't see all the cave >> has to offer. (FYI, I estimate probably at least another kilometer of >> just mop-up survey in known passage.) There are huge lift tubes coming >> in to the cave from below, but they all get too tight or are cemented >> with calcite, but still blow air. The cave has been a fascinating puzzle >> to try to unravel, and I'm not done with it yet. > > _______________________________________________ > Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com > Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: > http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ > http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers ________________________________ UT Southwestern Medical Center The future of medicine, today. _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
