Thoughts on how people do the Grand Traverse

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I never did the traverse, but planned it and did set up dives leaving cookies and all. It was "several" years ago. And I remember that everyone was saying how they did it on back mounted doubles, no stages, by recalculating thirds along the way. So my buddy and I dove from Orange to Challenge and back. PI along peanut and back, making sure we could do it on doubles alone with the recalculation in the mix, but then our time was up and we drove home. My point is that back then it seemed everyone was doing it on thirds with doubles by recalculating at Challenge and/or Olsen, pretty much the way OP says.

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[Nitrogenius]

My point is that back then it seemed everyone was doing it on thirds with doubles by recalculating at Challenge and/or Olsen, pretty much the way OP says.

Which makes a lot of sense, because if you can do it that way why would you go through the hassle and added complexity of making it a complex traverse.. Obvioulsy in a full cave course you Need to do one of These and for that reason it sounds like a perfect place to do it because of the safety added by the "extra Exit".. once certified as Full Cave there is not much sense in diving an "artificial" complex traverse if you can dive it as a simple one unless you want to train to do it for purposes on doing one in "real life" conditions (i.e with continuous ceiling) and want to make your protocolls and approach double sure (i.e. because it had been a while since you did one or for whatever reason it would comfort you)
Not being familiar with the place yet a comment on the gap. If you dive it with surfacing as it had been described, depending whether you generally would need a Primary for the Connection if you started a dive at those Exits, I would assume it to be totally within protocolls if a Primary would not be needed there as well, because the gap Ends on bopth sides in OW..
You should place a gap line if you recalculate under water on the other Hand you should not recalculate under water if you are not familiar with the Exit.. if you place a line and you recalculate under water you should also place a coockie in the Center of the Exit marking that here would be your OW ascend in a no vis Scenario in emergency..

[Sludge]

My instructor used "The Mile Run" as a graduation dive for Full cave. He would drop a stage in Olson (that was legal back then - heck, you could begin and end a dive at Olson then) and if the student got to Olson without hitting thirds, they ignored the stage. If they had hit thirds they picked it up.

He knew his students' SAC rates, and he wouldn't have allowed them to do the dive if they couldn't make it at least near Olson before hitting thirds.

[WEPIV]

I usually carry a stage "just in case" but have never had to use it (or let a buddy use it) doing this dive.