I agree, this squabbling over which trip is harder, the Round-Trip to
the Back of Airman's versus the Six-Hour-One-Way Tank Haul in Honey
Creek, is a senseless argument. Short people such as myself find it
much easier to crawl, so the 1.5 hours or so of crawling and stoop-
walking on the Tank Haul trip was a relative breeze, but the 1.5
hours or so of thigh-sucking mud slowed me down considerably. Just
getting through the entrance of Airman's would be a challenge for a
number of the people who were on the Tank Haul last weekend (I know I
wound up with the most interesting bruises on my hip bones the last
time I took someone into Airman's). One of the greatest things about
caving is that it can be such a varied trip, which results in an
equalization effect. You don't have to be a great big bruiser to go
on a long trip, you just have to be willing to embrace the misery.
But how about this for a fun topic: you ever see those posters in
bars of the fantasy golf courses? You know the ones I'm talking
about, like this Putter's Dream Hole:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Putter-s-Dream-Hole-Posters_i100274_.htm
What would constitute the Fantasy Grimmest Tank Haul Trip in Texas?
The Honey Creek Tank Haul includes swimming, salamandering, walking,
crawling, stoop-walking, and thigh-sucking mud sections, but it's
lacking some hallmarks of great caving trips. This includes vertical
work (imagine hauling a 27 pound tank plus your pack up a 100 foot
rope), tight crawlways, mud-and-or guano-slickened breakdown slopes
and bats. So here's a start on a description of The Fantasy Grimmest
Tank Haul Trip in Texas:
1) Start with the Six-Hour-One-Way Tank Haul in Honey Creek: 1.5
hours of swimming & salamandering, 1.5 hours of walking through the
Boneyard and the beginning of the mud, 1.5 hours of thigh-sucking
mud, 1.5 hours of crawling and stoop walking;
2) Now you get to haul the gear through the Mudpuppy passage at the
end of the Crevice in Powell's Cave. For those who have not been
there, the Mudpuppy is not only tight, it has the stickiest mud I've
seen in Texas. Let's just pretend that the Mudpuppy passage goes
(hey, it might, we need to go back and check it out!).
3) ? How about the rope descent to the swim across the guano-filled
pool in Sorcerer's Cave?
Your turn.
Diana
On Dec 5, 2007, at 10:56 AM, Minton, Mark wrote:
Gregg said:
>Airmen's is right here in Austin. It supposedly has going leads.
But no one seems willing to go back that far to survey. So maybe
it is harder than
diving Honey Creek.
I've worked on the leads at the back of Airmen's and also on
some at points along the way. As far as I know there are no open
leads. Everything involves digging. There is good air in places,
but it is a hell of a long way to go just to dig, which is why few
people have bothered. The potential is great, though, and the cave
no doubt goes a long way past it's currently known end. Talk to
William Russell about where the "leads" are. I'm sure he'd be glad
to tell you. :-)
>I took a marathon runner to the back once. It took him all trip
to determine which was harder, running 28 miles in one shot or
going to the back of Airmen's. He decided the marathon was harder.
Bill Steele once brought a triathlete to Honey Creek on a
pretty hard trip. The poor guy had never been caving before, and
he never knew what hit him. We would play with him, getting ahead
and then waiting. When he showed up huffing and puffing Bill would
say, "Well, ready to go?" He later said he thought he was in
shape, but he wasn't so sure after that trip. I don't think he
ever went caving again, at least not in Honey Creek, so I guess he
thought caving was harder. ;-) (Seriously though, what's harder
is a matter of what you're used to. I'd probably die off in a
triathlon.)
>Tall people hate the one-legged man, too, though I've seen two
different 6' 4'' cavers do it.
I'm 6'2" and I kind of like the One-Legged Man. But you
don't have to do that anymore - we made a bypass years ago. Or did
that collapse?
Mark Minton
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Diana R. Tomchick
Associate Professor
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
Department of Biochemistry
5323 Harry Hines Blvd.
Rm. ND10.214B
Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A.
Email: diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu
214-645-6383 (phone)
214-645-6353 (fax)
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