Mines Caves and Rappelling!?

[pfs78]

Hey Everyone

I am pretty new to all this and just looking around to see what kind of stuff is out there, maybe you all could help?

I have rappelled down into a couple mines and I'll tell you that was a blast! I want to do more of that! Is there any caves that you could rappel down into that would be worth it? Or even just some walkin caves to explore? Anything in SoCal? I am in Orange County btw. you could check out my site its got some good pics of us rappeling down into some mines!




www.freewebs.com/adventurestoremember/

[Sharon Faulkner]

Hi pfs78,

Yes, there are many caves that require rappelling to enter and California has both vertical and horizontal caves, though I have no idea which ones would be near your location. Here is a link to the grottos in California. If you're interested in learning more about caving you could drop in on some of the grotto meetings in your area. Grottos are not always the easiest place to pick up caving information right off the bat, but it is the best place to meet up with other cavers in your area. Many grottos also schedule monthly cave trips.

Hope that helps out a bit.

[jonsdigs]

Mines are a lot more dangerous than caves as they have not had as much time to stabilize. In addition, the greatest danger in the mines out here in Colorado, imho, is bad air as the air gets oxygen depleted without good circulation.

In Great Britain, mine exploration is a accepted sport along with caving as the mine properties revert to The Crown (who can't be sued) when abandoned. They even publish stories about them in their publications.

Here in America where mining was a means to convert public land to taxable private land, if it has had enough excavation to be interesting, it is probably on private land and the owner is liable for an "attractive nuisance." That is why mine exploration, or "minelunking" here is a dirty little secret.

[Brian Roebuck]

Bad air can kill. Often in caves we encounter CO2 from plant debris that rots and forms this gas. It lessens the amount of air in the cave for us to breath and that can be quite bad. Carbide lamps are good to have on such trips since the flame will stand away from teh tip by about an inch or so when in bad air. Of course you have to be concious of this to observe it. The symptoms of bad air are disorientation, fast breathing, aggitation, and sometimes a feeling of danger. This is serious stuff and should not be taken lightly. If you must explore mines I would suggest taking some sort of oxygen meter at least. You can only make some mistakes once.

[Karsthuntr]

I went through the pics on his site, these guys are going to get hurt or dead.


You really need to hook up with a good caving club and learn some safety. I would also suggest an OCR cave rescue class, it might just save your life.

[Brian Roebuck]

karsthuntr said:

I went through the pics on his site, these guys are going to get hurt or dead.


You really need to hook up with a good caving club and learn some safety. I would also suggest an OCR cave rescue class, it might just save your life.

Yes indeed. Some of the rig points looked marginal, the mines unstable, and the air quality questionable. In caves there is a much smaller chance of bad air being present since they are formed naturally over long time periods. Any gases that were present could have dissipated. In mines however there has not been a very long time for this process to occur and most are safe only when forced air ventilation systems are in use. It is quite possible for fumes or gases from old mine equipment to sink to the lowest levels of mines if they are heavier than air. You could pass out and die without ever knowing you were in danger. Not a good way to end an adventure. Be careful out there!