Cave conservation

[MichaelAngelo]

There's a perfect handprint in the clay, I think between pothole and Nicholson on the right-hand side of the gold line as you're heading in from Peacock. My first thought when seeing it was, "I NEVER want to be the guy that does something like that".

I assume it's acceptable to remove trash (bottles, cans, plastic) if it's encountered in a cave?

If it ain't old enough to be historic it just garbage..

[TaylorP]

I think training has a lot to do with it. I'm seeing more instructors selling cards instead of making students earn it. If a lot of instructors actually cared about the cave instead of cash in their wallet you'd see a lot less of this. What ever happened to peak performance buoyancy in aow?

[nakatomi]

I think training has a lot to do with it. I'm seeing more instructors selling cards instead of making students earn it. If a lot of instructors actually cared about the cave instead of cash in their wallet you'd see a lot less of this. What ever happened to peak performance buoyancy in aow?

I am sorry but I disagree. Of all the beginners I have seen in the caves, none have shown a severe lack of skills or warped mindset that would explain the type of damage that can be seen. My take is, bad cave training is not the major reason and the majority of the new cave divers is doing not too bad at all.

In my opinion the reason is degradation of skills after training and certification. One explanation is people getting careless and sloppy over time. That would certainly explain the damage that can be seen in the back of the caves and in remote areas. maybe these people think they can do it unnoticed?
It is also very evident with more "advanced" forms of diving like multiple stages, scooters and rebreather diving. The top 10 list of bad divers I have encountered consists almost exclusively of bad rebreather divers. I've seen them use their scooters as a crutch and other crazy stuff.
Check out this video of the back of JB, about 3000' to 4000' in and off the main line, only experienced cave divers will (or should) be able to go there. This footage is from the passage to avalanche alley and then up crinoid glory. The passage there is huge, no flow whatsoever and no reason to bounce off the floor.
Nothing that would explain the damage. FYI, this is clay and it will look like that for the rest of our lifetimes.

[patpicos]

Oliver those are very sad prints and marks.

[Draker]

The backmount divers blame the sidemount divers.

The sidemount divers blame the rebreather divers.

The rebreather divers are too busy out laying line and exploring virgin cave to respond.

[PfcAJ]

The rebreather divers are too busy out laying line and exploring virgin cave to respond.

They're tinkering with cells, cleaning counterlungs, and packing sorb. No time for diving with all those tasks!

[Draker]

They're tinkering with cells, cleaning counterlungs, and packing sorb. No time for diving with all those tasks!

Quiet! That's supposed to be a secret.


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