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NSS News January 2010 NSS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President Volume 68 Number 1 Gordon Birkhimer 2807 Hogan Court Falls Church, VA 22043 (703) 573-4653 [email protected] Operations VP Administrative VP Wm Shrewsbury Ray Keeler 221 Leitha Way 1051 Solar Road NW Mexico Lakeland, FL 33809 Albuquerque, NM 87107 Misbehaving Sumps and Lost Tadpoles: A Tale of the US Deep [email protected] [email protected] 727-424-2901 623-523-1760 Caving Team’s 2009 J2 Expedition ............................................... 4 Executive VP Secretary/Treasurer Jon Lillestolen Lee Florea Peri Frantz Western Kentucky University 16345 Englewood Ave. Mexico Dept of Geography and Geology Los Gatos, CA 95032-4621 J2: The Journey to Camp 4—Beyond the Sump .......................... 11 1906 College Heights Blvd. (home) 408-356-8506 Bowling Green, KY 42101 [email protected] Matt Covington [email protected] Salon Gallery National Speleological Society Office 2813 Cave Ave, Huntsville, AL 35810-4431 Mulu 2009 Expedition Images .................................................... 16 Tel: (256)852-1300; FAX (256)851-9241 e-mail: [email protected]; web: www.caves.org Robbie Shone Please contact the office for address changes or back issues. Spelean Spotlight NSS NEWS EDITOR An Interview with Doug Soroka .................................................. 20 Dave Bunnell Ron Zuber Box 879 Angels Camp, CA 95222 Society [email protected] The 2010 NSS Convention–A Cool Convention ............................ 26 Please include “NSS News” in your subject line when e-mailing material to help me sort it from the spam. Thanks! Peter Youngbaer Questions about submitting features and photos? Please see the style and submission guidelines:on the NSS web site: President’s Message www.caves.org/pub/nssnews/style.html Board of Governors Meeting Birmingham, Alabama .................. 28 ADVERTISING Gordon Birkhimer Complete advertising information, including ad costs, deadlines, and guidelines for preparation, are on the NSS wesite at: www.caves. 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Washington, KY 40047 (575) 895-5050 [email protected] [email protected] SPELEAN SPOTLIGHT IN THE MEDIA Spelean Spotlight .........................20 President’s Message ....................28 Ron Zuber Underground Update ....................23 Society News ................................29 Derek Hoyle ([email protected]) PO Box 400 360-293-4158 Reading .........................................25 Calendar ........................................30 Fort Bragg, CA 95437 Letters............................................25 Classified Ads ...............................30 [email protected] SAFETY & TECHNIQUES Kurt Waldron [email protected] Deadline: Ads, articles and announcements should be sent to the editor by the 15th of the month, six weeks before the month of issue (e.g., material for the March issue needs to be in by January 15). Front cover: Nikki Green traverses a handline in the Jungle Series near Camp 2A in J2 Cave, The NSS News (ISSN 0027-7010) is published monthly with Mexico. Photo by David Ochel. the Members Manual and American Caving Accidents published as additional issues by the National Speleological Society, Inc, 2813 Cave Ave, Huntsville, AL 35810-4431. Periodicals Postage Paid at Huntsville, Back cover: Al and additional mailing offices. Tel: (256)852-1300; FAX (256)851- Logo image by Jose Morales. 9241, e-mail: [email protected], web: www.caves.org Left: Regular membership in the NSS is $40 per year. See http://caves. Right: The dive platform at El Sifon de Los Piratas in J2. Photo by Bill Stone. org/info/membertypes.shtml for descriptions of other membership Bottom: Matt Covington climbs rope above a deep pool in the wet canyon above categories. Subscriptions to the NSS News are $27 per year; individual Camp 3 near the -1000m depth. Photo by Marcin Gala. copies are $3.00 each. Contact the Huntsville office for membership applications, subscriptions, orders, or for replacement of issues missing or damaged in the mail. Moving? Please report changes of address to Inside Cover: the office promptly or online at: www.caves.org/info/changeinfo.shtml Matt Covington climbs rope in the wet canyons above Camp 2A. Photo by Marcin Copyright ©2010 Gala. by the National Speleological Society, Inc. NSS NewS, January 2010 3 Misbehaving Sumps and Lost Tadpoles A Tale of the US Deep Caving Team’s 2009 J2 Expedition Jon Lillestolen The 2009 J2 expedition is the latest effort, Proyecto Cheve. This discovery and to the north. Surface water in the middle endeavor in the Aguacate Valley area of the subsequent exploration would ultimately shift karst tends to disappear into stream gravel Cheve Karst in Mexico’s southern state of focus from the Huautla Plateau southward far from any obvious entrances, making it Oaxaca. A three year blitz of activity ending across the Santo Domingo Canyon to the somewhat difficult to find caves. However, in 2006, yielded Mexico a new 1200m deep Cheve area as Mexico’s premier deep caving with approximately fifteen linear kilometers cave, only to be stopped by a short, shallow project.y B 1993, cavers had pushed the of unknown passage between the upper 200m long sump and not enough time or Cheve system to world-class depths along karst and resurgence karst explorations, the equipment to continue exploration that year. with the world’s deepest proven potential. middle karst may hold the backdoor to the In the three expedition-less years which Beliefn i a major trunk hidden deep in the booming conduit hidden somewhere in the followed, dreams abounded of exploring mountain has kept cavers coming back year mountain (4). kilometers of virgin borehole in J2. Plans for after year to fulfill the promise of deeper In 2003, two major expeditions were this expedition were to continue to push the cave despite minimal depth gains since the undertaken in the Cheve karst. One would dry passage beyond the sump at the bottom early 1990s (4). push the last of the leads in the bottom of of the cave, El Sifon de Los Piratas. The The Cheve karst lies within the Sierra Sistema Cheve and the other would push expedition developed new technology and Juárez, part of the greater Sierra Madre onwardn i the confined canyons of Cueva brought with them the determination to meet Oriental de Oaxaca, in the northern part of Charco. Before the expeditions, Cheve was the cave on its own terms to accomplish the the state of Oaxaca. The highest elevation the second deepest cave in the Western goalf o discovering what could be the deepest entrances in the Cheve karst are located Hemisphere. Charco, the best lead in the cave in the world. near the town of Concepción Pápalo at middle karst, was hoped to continue towards approximately 2850m above sea level. This a connection with the elusive subterranean History highest segment of Sistema Cheve includes conduit that connects Cheve with its resur- During the 1970s and early 1980s, Cueva Cheve, the main entrance, and Cueva gence. Unfortunately, both caves ended. most American expedition cavers, who Escondida, the highest known entrance to Charco died with a small sump at the end of a focusedn o world-class deep caving, spent the Sistema, in addition to several other nice very long and miserable cave, and Cheve died their efforts on the caves of the Huautla caves in the general area referred to as the in an impassible rock pile on the other side plateau. Discovered in the 1960s, Sistema Cheve upper karst. The upper karst swallows of two sumps (which incidentally made it the Huautla was a proving ground for cavers the surface drainage from the highlands and deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere). of the era. It was in this place and time that discharges it with all its infeeders into the To push even further would require months many American-style expedition caving Santo Domingo Canyon 19 kilometers to the of preparation and significant risks just to techniques were born and established. With north. The resurgence karst including all the return to the limit of exploration (5). the connection of Li Nita ot Sotano San entrances near and in the Santo Domingo After Charco, Proyecto Cheve cavers Agustin the Huautla System broke the Canyon have been explored since before went back to the proverbial drawing board elusive 1000m depth mark, becoming the the discovery of Cueva Cheve and include to begin searching anew for areas to find deepest cave in the Western Hemisphere over two kilometers of underwater survey new cave. The effort in 2004 focused on and the first 1000m deep cave outside of and a total of more than 10 kilometers to untapped areas in the middle Cheve Karst. It Europe (1). It