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Inside the cave there is only the cave phone and the occasional drip of water from the roof twenty feet above. the amount of water flowing through Alpazat along with its character and location show this cave to be the main resurgannce for the Cuetzalan area. As a major resurgence the cave has a tendency to flood and this flooding creates a sump close to the entrance. The risk of being hit by a pulse of flood water and also being trapped behind a sump necessitates the use of a cave phone. the command set for this phone is next to my bivvy bag is and attached to about 2.5 kilometers of thin cable layed deep into the cave. Each team that enters carries a hand set which can be attached to the cable at points along its length. In this way any change in the weather that could signal a flood can be communicated underground and any party trapped beyond the sump will have a voice connection to surface.
Their objective lies in the far upstream reaches beyond a section of passage named horror inlet. I know, from my two trips through and beyond horror inlet, that its name is truly deserved. Approaching the point at which it enters the large, boulder strewn main passage you can hear its stream thundering before you. The two hours it takes to force up it is filled with the roar and boom of water cascading and falling down its narrow ,high passage. A twenty foot high waterfall heralds the approach of the final section beyond which the passage gets so narrow and the pressure of water so great that it is impossible to stand up, let alone move forward. At this point one must climb into the roof of the passage and traverse along the passage thirty feet above the tumult. During your fight up Horror Inlet you are filled with the certainty that, should there be a reasonable ammount of rain outside, this is the last place on earth you would want to be.
5:00am
5:10am
5:20am
6:00 am
6:40 am
7:30 am
-Johnny Taylor |
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It's
saturday,12am and the Bivi cave is dark save the flickering carbide
lamp by which I write this entry. I awoke ten minutes ago to the hum
and crackle of the cave phone but i should not be hearing any calls
for at least another four hours. I listen for rain in the trees outside
but can only hear the chorus of the creatures in the forest and the
trickling spring outside which the local indians come each morning to
wash. 
Tony,
Geordie, Pete and Kev have been out of reach of the cable for eight
hours. I watched and helped them prepare for their trip this morning.
Each was concentrating on ensuring that their equipment was packed and
working but I could see and knew well the invisible preperation that
they made. For me and for each of them it filled the cave with a strong,
vital air of commitment and acceptance. Commitment to the task in hand
and acceptance that the task will be physicaly and mentaly punishing.
So
why do we go up there? The connection. A chance to link kilometers of
passages and thier related sinks with the main resurgance.