Post by Karstscience on Apr 28, 2007 12:11:42 GMT -5
Latest word from Mexico, assembled by Bill Mixon from e-mails from Mark Minton and Bill Stone:
On April 18, 2007, Sótano del Río Iglesia was connected to Sistema Huautla. A crew was sent to recheck a dig at the end of the Canadian's 1967 map, and the alleged impenetrable mud choke turned out to be a crawlway with a howling wind. It was only 60 meters to the connection into the Sótano de San Agustín section of Huautla, where Matt Covington and Yuri Schwartz came out in the Fool's Day Extension shaft series, about 60 meters above Tommy's
Borehole. The connection came during eight days of camping in Iglesia, both in the Penthouse and in the 1967 camp at -450 meters. Besides Matt and Yuri, Vickie Siegel, Bill Stone, and David Ochel were involved in the underground-camp push. The connection has increased the length of Sistema Huautla to over 61 kilometers; its depth in unchanged.
Higher in Sótano del Río Iglesia, about 1.5 kilometers of new passages were found by Bill Steele, Diana Tomchick, Mark Minton, and Yvonne Droms, providing several alternate routes from the river entrance to the Penthouse, dropping in through domes in the ceiling of the huge room. The relatively small expedition has not so far found a way to follow the main Río Iglesia river deeper, though.
On April 18, 2007, Sótano del Río Iglesia was connected to Sistema Huautla. A crew was sent to recheck a dig at the end of the Canadian's 1967 map, and the alleged impenetrable mud choke turned out to be a crawlway with a howling wind. It was only 60 meters to the connection into the Sótano de San Agustín section of Huautla, where Matt Covington and Yuri Schwartz came out in the Fool's Day Extension shaft series, about 60 meters above Tommy's
Borehole. The connection came during eight days of camping in Iglesia, both in the Penthouse and in the 1967 camp at -450 meters. Besides Matt and Yuri, Vickie Siegel, Bill Stone, and David Ochel were involved in the underground-camp push. The connection has increased the length of Sistema Huautla to over 61 kilometers; its depth in unchanged.
Higher in Sótano del Río Iglesia, about 1.5 kilometers of new passages were found by Bill Steele, Diana Tomchick, Mark Minton, and Yvonne Droms, providing several alternate routes from the river entrance to the Penthouse, dropping in through domes in the ceiling of the huge room. The relatively small expedition has not so far found a way to follow the main Río Iglesia river deeper, though.
