[Texascavers] WWBRD? [Texascavers] The alter-Epic at Honey Creek Cave
For the record, since I failed to?include one of?the?funniest moments in my alter-epic story of hypothermia in Honey creek, less than an hour into my ordeal a catch phrase popped into my head and I actually said it out loud and laughed pretty hard because well I didn't actually know, except that he probably wouldn't have gotten himself into this situation in the first place.?I'm actually quite surprised WWBRD? wasn't flashing on my?hallucinated computer screen. WWBRD - What would Bill Russell Do? Puppy =:-)
Re: Re: [Texascavers] The alter-Epic at Honey Creek Cave
Made me cold reading it! On Feb 4, 2009 11:07am, Thomas Sitch wrote: An excellent and suspenseful telling, Puppy! I feel like it needs to be bound and placed on the shelf next to "Into Thin Air." 'Glad you made it out in one piece :) Best Regards, ~~Thomas --- On Wed, 2/4/09, wwildch...@aol.com wwildch...@aol.com> wrote: From: wwildch...@aol.com wwildch...@aol.com> Subject: [Texascavers] The alter-Epic at Honey Creek Cave To: Texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 10:42 AM Puppy here. I haven't opened my texas cavers mail folder in a long time (1,236 unread messages) since topics tend to vary way off of caving at times but I saw the epic Honey Creek title and couldn't help jumping back in to tell my long winded epic. So delete now if you've already seen the movie. Yes I had a bit more of an adventure than everyone else (well except for that lucky Ninja brown, but his adventure was fun). Diana isn't to blame and neither is Bill (although I won't ever let him forget he forgot me). I pushed myself too far by attempting HC 6 days after running a marathon. My feeble attempt to help Creature carry a tank back out made me realize just how far gone my body was and I should have stuck closer to someone. And by the way Creature is one of the most incredible super human cavers I have ever known. I watched her grab a tank and practically run when I could barely carry my pack and her Tang at a slow crawl. This is a bit long but it was my way to document for myself my experience so I thought i would share it as well. I remember passing the water well and yelling a good "yahoo" knowing the exit was near. plus at this point the water is deeper and much easier to float on my pack and rest my body with minimal effort of just moving with my toes. then came the cold and fog and I thought wow I didn't know there was another air access point (hhmmnn wonder if bill knows about this). so I kept going enjoying my easy float. then the fog cleared and after a few minutes I realized I apparently just had never looked up from following the crowds because this part of the cave is quite nice. rock bottom, nice and clear and quite pretty. I wondered if somehow I had taken a wrong turn so I stopped, listened and heard bill and several others splashing and talking still coming in my direction thus i must be going the right way still. I went on about 10 more minutes (I didn't have a watch) when I came across a very low ceiling and I knew I had never been here before. For the first time in hours my brain actually sparked and said oh shit. suddenly all the pieces: fog, cold, etc clicked.I turned back but I wasn't panicked because I would run into everyone in 10-15 min I was sure. It took about 10min to make my way back to the entrance going at a fast pace only to find three harnesses (two extras and my own) hanging but no cable. Not a problem they are just in the middle of un hooking people so I put my harness on, shined my light up a few times and waited, 5 min later nothing. I shined my brightest pelican light up the shaft and yelled for a minute or two but I knew that was useless if no one was actually looking down. I've been through this exit twice before so I knew it was a mad dash from the shaft to your tent to get dry and warm and shove something in your mouth then pass out. I was getting very cold very fast so I set a timeline of yelling for a few more minutes then I would focus on sheltering in place for the night. The low was around 35 that night and a strong wind comes straight down that shaft but I rationalized I couldn't ri sk moving farther back into the cave for fear someone would come back for the gear. Then my light died and I messed around with an alternate light and switching out another light out of creatures bag to make sure I had plenty of backup. I still had two long sleeve thermal shirts and two pairs of running tights and dry thermal socks that I had in my dry bag for the wait at the end. Creatures bag I just found a skimpy pair of spandex hotpants (sorry creature, but I got the biggest laugh out of that at that moment since there wasn't enough material to keep one nugget warm) The shaft area is all standing water, but through a crack near the floor where I could see a shelf of rock just above water level in the adjoining room. I put the gear bags against the crack to block the wind and went to the other side and moved lots of rock to make a bed. It was equivalent to climbing under a standard 2'x5' coffee table. once i was situated out of the water I attempted to exchange my boots and neoprene socks for a pair of nice dry thermal socks (not easily done with an 18" ceiling) along with the two pairs of tights (over my harness of course). my feet were alrea
Re: [Texascavers] The alter-Epic at Honey Creek Cave
An excellent and suspenseful telling, Puppy! I feel like it needs to be bound and placed on the shelf next to "Into Thin Air." 'Glad you made it out in one piece :) Best Regards, ~~Thomas --- On Wed, 2/4/09, wwildch...@aol.com wrote: From: wwildch...@aol.com Subject: [Texascavers] The alter-Epic at Honey Creek Cave To: Texascavers@texascavers.com List-Post: texascavers@texascavers.com Date: Wednesday, February 4, 2009, 10:42 AM Puppy here. I haven't opened my texas cavers mail folder in a long time (1,236 unread messages) since topics tend to vary way off of caving at times but I saw the epic Honey Creek title and couldn't help jumping back in to tell my long winded epic. So delete now if you've already seen the movie. Yes I had a bit more of an adventure than everyone else (well except for that lucky Ninja brown, but his adventure was fun). Diana isn't to blame and neither is Bill (although I won't ever let him forget he forgot me). I pushed myself too far by attempting HC 6 days after running a marathon. My feeble attempt to help Creature carry a tank back out made me realize just how far gone my body was and I should have stuck closer to someone. And by the way Creature is one of the most incredible super human cavers I have ever known. I watched her grab a tank and practically run when I could barely carry my pack and her Tang at a slow crawl. This is a bit long but it was my way to document for myself my experience so I thought i would share it as well. I remember passing the water well and yelling a good "yahoo" knowing the exit was near. plus at this point the water is deeper and much easier to float on my pack and rest my body with minimal effort of just moving with my toes. then came the cold and fog and I thought wow I didn't know there was another air access point (hhmmnn wonder if bill knows about this). so I kept going enjoying my easy float. then the fog cleared and after a few minutes I realized I apparently just had never looked up from following the crowds because this part of the cave is quite nice. rock bottom, nice and clear and quite pretty. I wondered if somehow I had taken a wrong turn so I stopped, listened and heard bill and several others splashing and talking still coming in my direction thus i must be going the right way still. I went on about 10 more minutes (I didn't have a watch) when I came across a very low ceiling and I knew I had never been here before. For the first time in hours my brain actually sparked and said oh shit. suddenly all the pieces: fog, cold, etc clicked.I turned back but I wasn't panicked because I would run into everyone in 10-15 min I was sure. It took about 10min to make my way back to the entrance going at a fast pace only to find three harnesses (two extras and my own) hanging but no cable. Not a problem they are just in the middle of un hooking people so I put my harness on, shined my light up a few times and waited, 5 min later nothing. I shined my brightest pelican light up the shaft and yelled for a minute or two but I knew that was useless if no one was actually looking down. I've been through this exit twice before so I knew it was a mad dash from the shaft to your tent to get dry and warm and shove something in your mouth then pass out. I was getting very cold very fast so I set a timeline of yelling for a few more minutes then I would focus on sheltering in place for the night. The low was around 35 that night and a strong wind comes straight down that shaft but I rationalized I couldn't ri sk moving farther back into the cave for fear someone would come back for the gear. Then my light died and I messed around with an alternate light and switching out another light out of creatures bag to make sure I had plenty of backup. I still had two long sleeve thermal shirts and two pairs of running tights and dry thermal socks that I had in my dry bag for the wait at the end. Creatures bag I just found a skimpy pair of spandex hotpants (sorry creature, but I got the biggest laugh out of that at that moment since there wasn't enough material to keep one nugget warm) The shaft area is all standing water, but through a crack near the floor where I could see a shelf of rock just above water level in the adjoining room. I put the gear bags against the crack to block the wind and went to the other side and moved lots of rock to make a bed. It was equivalent to climbing under a standard 2'x5' coffee table. once i was situated out of the water I attempted to exchange my boots and neoprene socks for a pair of nice dry thermal socks (not easily done with an 18" ceiling) along with the two pairs of tights (over my harness of course). my feet were already light blue and my toes dark blue when I put the socks on. I didn't want to put my wet boots back on so to keep them dry I dumped
[Texascavers] The alter-Epic at Honey Creek Cave
Puppy here.? I haven't opened my texas cavers mail folder in a long time (1,236 unread messages) since topics tend to vary way off of caving at times but I saw the epic Honey Creek title and couldn't help jumping back in to tell my long winded epic. So delete now if you've already seen the movie. Yes I had a bit more of an adventure than everyone else (well except for that lucky Ninja brown, but his adventure was fun). Diana isn't to blame and neither is Bill (although I won't ever let him forget he forgot me). I pushed myself too far by attempting HC 6 days after running a marathon. My feeble attempt to help Creature carry a tank back out made me realize just how far gone my body was and I should have stuck closer to someone. And by the way Creature is one of the most incredible super human cavers I have ever known. I watched her grab a tank and practically run when I could barely carry my pack and her Tang at a slow crawl. This is a bit long but it was my way to document for myself my experience so I thought i would share it as well. I remember passing the water well and yelling a good "yahoo" knowing the exit was near. plus at this point the water is deeper and much easier to float on my pack and rest my body with minimal effort of just moving with my toes. then came the cold and fog and I thought wow I didn't know there was another air access point (hhmmnn wonder if bill knows about this). so I kept going enjoying my easy float. then the fog cleared and after a few minutes I realized I apparently just had never looked up from following the crowds because this part of the cave is quite nice. rock bottom, nice and clear and quite pretty. I wondered if somehow I had taken a wrong turn so I stopped, listened and heard bill and several others splashing and talking still coming in my direction thus i must be going the right way still. I went on about 10 more minutes (I didn't have a watch) when I came across a very low ceiling and I knew I had never been here before. For the first time in hours my brain actually sparked and said oh shit. suddenly all the pieces: fog, cold, etc clicked.I turned back but I wasn't panicked because I would run into everyone in 10-15 min I was sure. It took about 10min to make my way back to the entrance going at a fast pace only to find three harnesses (two extras and my own) hanging but no cable. Not a problem they are just in the middle of un hooking people so I put my harness on, shined my light up a few times and waited,?5 min later nothing. I shined my brightest pelican light up the shaft and yelled for a minute or two but I knew that was useless if no one was actually looking down. I've been through this exit twice before so I knew it was a mad dash from the shaft to your tent to get dry and warm and shove something in your mouth then pass out.? I was getting very cold very fast so I set a timeline of yelling for a few more minutes then I would focus on sheltering in place for the night. The low was around 35 that night and a strong wind comes straight down that shaft but I rationalized I couldn't risk moving farther back into the cave for fear someone would come back for the gear. Then my light died and I messed around with an alternate light and switching out another light out of creatures bag to make sure I had plenty of backup. I still had two long sleeve thermal shirts and two pairs of running tights and dry thermal socks that I had in my dry bag for the wait at the end. Creatures bag I just found a skimpy pair of spandex hotpants (sorry creature, but I got the biggest laugh out of that at that moment since there wasn't enough material to keep one nugget warm) The shaft area is all standing water, but through a crack near the floor where I could see a shelf of rock just above water level in the adjoining room. I put the gear bags against the crack to block the wind and went to the other side and moved lots of rock to make a bed. It was equivalent to climbing under a standard 2'x5' coffee table. once i was situated out of the water I attempted to exchange my boots and neoprene socks for a pair of nice dry thermal socks (not easily done with an 18" ceiling) along with the two pairs of tights (over my harness of course). my feet were already light blue and my toes dark blue when I put the socks on.??I didn't want to put my wet boots back on so to keep them dry I dumped out my dry bag and put both feet in the bag in case my feet slipped off the shelf during the night into the water. I also had two trash bags that I poked my head out the top of that I could keep my arms inside and I would breath into the bag to add heat. So there I laid occasionally pulling my face out of the bag to watch my breath freeze in the air. I was shivering quite profusely for what seemed like hours but I really don;t know. I thought of all kinds of ways to communicate with the top but?most involved getting on the internet to whi
