IRAP Administrator
08-03-2007, 09:39 PM
I was trying to connect two "dry" caves, through a "sump" (a water filled passage).
The first restriction I encountered was still in the dry section. You had to push your gear through first, then wiggle in arms first. At least you could breathe. The height was such that it compressed your wetsuit and your chest. The big guys in the group couldn't even get through. I left them there chipping away at the limestone.
The underwater part was much larger, two feet or so high, and five feet wide. Vis was only five feet, on a good day, and went to zero if you kicked up any silt. It was hard to avoid silt, so the vis was closing down behind me.
I turned around when I ran out of line (still had plenty of air). I tied off the line, and started feeling my way out. After about 20-30 feet, my hand hit limestone. I moved the line right, left, up, and down, but it was going into solid rock. I had been able to see when I passed this area, and it wasn't that small. I put my other hand on the wall to feel around the line. The line was in a vertical slit, about an inch wide. By now I had to put my light up to my mask to see it. I am far sighted, and I couldn't read the SPG with it that close. I knew I had plenty of air, but I still was getting nervous.
Keeping one hand on the line, I felt as far as I could reach in every direction. The only place there wasn't rock was behind me! After a long self discussion about my ever increasing breathing rate, I tried a different tact.
With my free hand, I began to follow the crack the line was coming out of. It went up about 2 feet, got narrower, and hit the ceiling. I tried following it down. It got a little wider, still less than 2 inches. Then about 3 feet down, the crack abruptly stopped, and the passage opened up. Where I turned around was shallower than the rest of the passage. The crack was in a "curtain" of limestone hanging from the ceiling.
The term "line trap" came from this incident.
The first restriction I encountered was still in the dry section. You had to push your gear through first, then wiggle in arms first. At least you could breathe. The height was such that it compressed your wetsuit and your chest. The big guys in the group couldn't even get through. I left them there chipping away at the limestone.
The underwater part was much larger, two feet or so high, and five feet wide. Vis was only five feet, on a good day, and went to zero if you kicked up any silt. It was hard to avoid silt, so the vis was closing down behind me.
I turned around when I ran out of line (still had plenty of air). I tied off the line, and started feeling my way out. After about 20-30 feet, my hand hit limestone. I moved the line right, left, up, and down, but it was going into solid rock. I had been able to see when I passed this area, and it wasn't that small. I put my other hand on the wall to feel around the line. The line was in a vertical slit, about an inch wide. By now I had to put my light up to my mask to see it. I am far sighted, and I couldn't read the SPG with it that close. I knew I had plenty of air, but I still was getting nervous.
Keeping one hand on the line, I felt as far as I could reach in every direction. The only place there wasn't rock was behind me! After a long self discussion about my ever increasing breathing rate, I tried a different tact.
With my free hand, I began to follow the crack the line was coming out of. It went up about 2 feet, got narrower, and hit the ceiling. I tried following it down. It got a little wider, still less than 2 inches. Then about 3 feet down, the crack abruptly stopped, and the passage opened up. Where I turned around was shallower than the rest of the passage. The crack was in a "curtain" of limestone hanging from the ceiling.
The term "line trap" came from this incident.