the Texas Caver JUNE 1~84 .. " . :. .. .. : :., . ~ ;« ..; <; . ::~ ..; ~.. '/;:/~: ~ the Texas Caver Vol. 29, No.3; June, 1984 CONTENTS New Look! .......................................... ....................... ............... 3 NEW CAVER EDITORS ........................................................ 3 Editorial ................................................................................... 3 TSA BOG ................................................................................. 3 Peering Into the Vortex ............ ............................................... 5 Huautla Project 1Q84 .. ................................................ ...... ....... 5 Equipment Neurosis .......... ....................................................... 6 Your Own Light System .......................................................... 7 Honey Creek Preserve .............................................................. 8 Grotto News ................................................. ... .. ....................... Q Mexican Trip Reports .......... .................................................. 15 Trip Reports .. ......................................................................... 17 FRONT COVER DRAWING: John Brooks' (Dal­ las) pen and ink drawing of a sylvan cave entrance. BACK COVER DRAWING: John Brooks' (Dal­ las) pen and ink drawing of a borehole passage. Co-Editors Jay Jorden John Spence 1518 Devon Circle 6801 Esther Dallas, TX 75217 Austin, TX 78752 214-3Q8-Q272 512-451-2374 Dallas Stalf Managing Editor Rob Kolstad Text Entry Cllf Posey CAVE RESCUE Call Collect 512-686-0234 The Texas Caver Is a bl-monthly publication of the Texas Speleological Association (TSA), an Internal organization of the National Speleological Society (NSS). It Is published In February, April, June, August, October, and December. The Texas Caver openly Invites all cavers to submit articles, news events, cartoons, cave maps, photographs (any size black & white or color print), caving techniques, and any other cave related material for publication. Address material to one of the co-editors. Subscription rate Is $6 per year. Purchase slngie and back Issues for $1.00 each, post pald. Send subscription and back Issue requests to Jocle Hooper, RR 18, Box 14Q-S, Austin, Texas 78726. Please Include old address In address change correspondence. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Jocle Hooper, RR 18, Box HI}.S, Austin, Texas 78726. DEADLINES: Articles, announcements, and material for pub­ lication must be submitted to the editor by the 12th of the month. EXCHANGES: The Texas Caver will exchange newsletters with other grottos at the Editors' discretion. Contact one of the co-editors. COPYRIGHT 1Q84 Texas Speleological ASSOCiation. Internal organizations of the National Speleological Society may reprint any Item Hrst appearing In the Texas Caver as long as proper credit Is given and a copy of the newsletter containing the material Is malled to the co-editors. Other organizations should contact the co-editors. .. e:.; My insurance company? New England Life, of course. Why? " Ibe Tuaa Caver Pace 8 New Look! Seriously though, it seems true that a seemingly thankless Job such as the Caver would by Rob Kolstad have to be difficult. Collecting articles, photos, The Teza3 Caver has a new look. This maps, and information from the general public issue was composed and printed completely by and putting together a timely, accurate, and computer. informative publication ls one thing. But working with and for a group of individuals living on The Dallas editorial staff used C. Itoh "caver time" is another. CIT-I01 terminals connected at Q,600 baud to a DEC V AX-ll/780 computer running the UNIX We hope to be able to surmount these operating system (UNIX is a trademark of AT&T problems somehow - but not without the help of Bell Laboratories). The troff text processing others. Having the TSA secretary-treasurer, Jocie language produced output which was converted Hooper, handling the Caver subscriptions is a step then printed at the rate of 8 pages per minute on toward helping the editors with a great task. We an Imagen 8/300 laser printer (at 300 dots per thank Jocie for her willingness to take on this inch resolution). burden and only hope her successor shares the same enthusiasm. We intend to continue experimentation with various styles of layout and composition over But even with these changes, it will be up the next few months before standardizing on the to us all to contribute as we can. Texa3 Caver look. Please submit interesting pho­ Historically, the TSA and Texa3 Caver tographs or other art work to the Dallas branch! have drawn their strength from each other. The Next time around (October) we hope to TSA comes together three times a year; through be able to have much more advanced layout facil­ the Caver, though, we come together every other ities and enough artwork to make the Caver even month. It is this way that we share information more entertaining. that would otherwise be limited to local friends or the grapevine. We are currently collecting material for NEW CAVER EDITORS the August issue of the Caver. In preparation for by Rob Kolstad the Texas Old Timers Reunion, we will be taking another look back in our past. Should you have Congratulations to the two new Texa3 an interesting story you would like to share, Caver editors: Jay Jorden (heading the Dallas please send it in as soon as possible to the address branch) and John Spence (in charge of the Austin below. We would especially like to hear about branch). After Jim Jasek's resignation (after those events that should go down in Texas caving years of dedication and high quality), it was history. decided that until the Old Timers' Convention, both John and Jay would share the editor's duties Write to John Spence, 6801 Esther, Aus­ on a rotating basis. Jay Jorden is the official edi­ tin, Texas 78752. tor for the June Caver, John will edit the August edition. Jocie Hooper has taken over the sub­ scription duties, thus sharing the load even more. TSABOG Please submit material for the Caver to By Jocie Hooper the editor of the edition next to be printed (try to Minutes of the TSA Convention held at get material in a month before the issue is to be Kingsland, Texas on May 20, lQ84. mailed). About 48 people attended the meeting. Officers present: Andy Grubbs, George Love, Editorial Jocie Hooper. by John Spence and Jay Jorden I. Minutes from Previous TSA Meeting It has been said that you have to be crazy Approved. to edit the Texa3 Caver. If this is true, then shar­ ing its responsibility makes us only half-crazy! n. Financial Report 1/1/84 to 5/18/84: Pace i 'be Texu Caver Bank balance Jan. 1: $1,136.38 This issue is on hold until someone wants Petty Cash $36.00 to deal with it. Total: $1,174.38 V. New Business Credits to date: Dues: $190.00 A. A motion was made to sell Texas Cave Humor Account discrepancy $12.01 to Bob & Bob for $4.00 each. This will give Interest: $15.88 TSA a profit of $1.00 per copy. It passed unanimously. Total: $217.89 B. Texas Caver Debits to date: James Jasek has resigned as editor. He said he was completely burned out and needed Texa3 Caver: $72.00 to quit. James received applause for his con­ Photo Salon, TSA Convention: $75.00 sistently good production of the Caver. There TSA Logo Fund (patches): $250.00 are two issues due before the editor is elected Total: $397.00 at the Old Timers Reunion in September. It was unanimously approved that John Spence Balance to date: $965.27 and Jay Jorden will co-edit the Caver until OTR. James also stated that the Texa3 Caver ill. Committee Reports currently has no money to put out any more issues. We owe Terry Raines $130 for printing A . Logo Fund the last issue. There have been no new sub­ Jay Jorden states we spent $335.00 for scriptions in two months, as James was unable patches, including preorders. Sales are doing to send out fiiers reminding people to renew. well. The patches cost $1.71 apiece, and are The TSA voted to pay what the Caver selling for $4.00 (gross profit of $2.29 each). owes to Terry Raines. Members authorized the temporary editors to draw up to $200 per B . Publications issue if needed, up until OTR. There was John Spence says all the TSA copies of much discussion on the cost of the Texas Introduction to Texa3 Caves are sold. There Caver. James states that it costs $10 per page are plenty of copies of Texas Cave Humor. and approximately $40 postage per issue. Bob & Bob are interested in selling the latter Some people thought it could be put out more at noncompetitive prices and not at NSS con­ cheaply -- less fancy. It was argued that the ventions or in Texas. quality has been high and should be main­ tained if we expect people to continue to sub­ C . Safety & Techniques scribe. Andy Grubbs has had new Texas Cave Terri Treacy-Sprouse volunteered to assist Rescue phone number stickers made. He is in sending out postcards reminding people to sending these out. The Association of Texas renew their subscriptions. It was voted to send Counties may send them out to EMS and these out immediately. It was unanimously sheriff's offices. Terry Raines may be able to decided that the secretary-treasurer of the insert them into a Texa3 Caver issue. Bob TSA would do the bookkeeping for the Texas Cowell says he still has not received updated Caver in the future, since it is the official pub­ phone and address lists from all grottos. Res­ lication of the TSA. Subscriptions need to be cue information sheets were filled out by those sent to that person in the future. (Currently, attending this convention. Jocie Hooper, at RR 18, Box 149-S, Austin, Texas 78726. Subscriptions are $6.00 per N . Old Business year.) A . Nonprofit Status C. John Spence wonders if we could find a TSA tarp or tent to use as a gathering place during rainy conventions. Various people plan to look up prices and it will be discussed at the OTR Ibe Tuu Caver Pa&e 6 meeting.