I don't get much time to discuss caving with people where I work, but last week I had someone in my office that was admiring the Speleoprojects postcards I had posted on my outer door (I save these from their calendar every year, and post them in rotation as my mood changes). It turned out that she was yet another person who claimed to suffer from claustrophobia and cto have fears that the cave might collapse on her, and thus would never be enticed into caving. Ten hours underground for most people would not be designated as "pure fun".
Whenever I hear someone talk about claustrophobia I find I have to restrain myself from discussing my first "solo" caving adventure. This was actually on my second wild caving trip. It involved a digging lead and I was the skinniest person on the trip. By the time they had enlarged the hole enough to let me through, they were so tired of digging that they just asked me to go on through and check out the lead. This caused me some hesitation, for obvious reasons (to a beginner, at least), but I was unwilling to admit my fears. I did protest that I had no idea what constituted a caving lead, but they seemed sure enough (or perhaps tired enough) to let me check it out on my own. So after telling myself "it's now or never, either I go or I will never be a real caver", I summed up the courage to squeeze through into a pretty large room. I checked it out to the best of my beginner abilities and told them that it was a dead end--but to this day I am sure that cave goes, I just didn't know how to sense air movement and find the next digging lead to work on. Diana * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Diana R. Tomchick Professor University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Department of Biophysics 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Rm. ND10.214A Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A. Email: diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu 214-645-6383 (phone) 214-645-6353 (fax) On Sep 16, 2013, at 12:04 PM, Bill Bentley wrote: > Pure Fun! > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Louise Power > To: Bill Bentley ; texas cavers > Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 10:17 AM > Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Re: Solo Caving > > Was it 10 hours because you were having a good time or because you couldn't > find your way out? > > From: ca...@caver.net > To: texascavers@texascavers.com > Date: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 13:42:32 -0500 > Subject: [Texascavers] Re: Solo Caving > > Done a whole bunch in Amazing Maze Cave back in the mid 80's. I was in my > 20's and was going to live forever. Regular pack nothing out of the ordinary. > Can't remember if I told anyone where I was going or not. Would not do it > again... I teach and preach against it now... The longest solo trip in there > was about 10 hours...Maybe longer ... > > Bill > ________________________________ UT Southwestern Medical Center The future of medicine, today. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
