Post by Brad Tipton on Jan 1, 2007 1:44:01 GMT -5
On Friday night my crew of 5 packed our overnight gear and headed for Pigeon Mountain for a night of camping and a day of caving. Friday night was crisp and clear. We camped past the Sawmill Lake area where a cast of hundreds of climbers were camped. I never realized how popular the Rock town area was in the climbing community. We saw state tags from Washington, Cali, Vermont and 2 from Canada. The Lost Wall and Rock town parking areas were jam packed with cars. I guess climbing/bouldering on the mtn is rather popular these days.
Saturday morning after pancakes and omelettes, we loaded up the 4-Runner and shuttled our gear down to the end of the road where we set out on foot for the Stairstep entrance. From the gate to the the carved tree with the "I" it is less than half a mile level walking, which beats the hell out of hiking up from the Blue Hole or the Pocket. Within 15 minutes of departing from the gate we had reached the sink.
It has been over 7 years since I last saw the Stairstep entrance and it would be an understatement to say that it is in constant movement. Every caver in TAG could take one death rock from that crater and there would still be 100 more ready to flatrock an unsuspecting caver. After about an hour of ledge clearing, I rigged the rebelay and continued to the bottom of the pit. Clay came down next with the "hoss", rocks and tree limbs followed. I was glad I wasn't in charge of wrestling the 600 footer down the drop as he didn't seem to enjoy it much. There was a considerable amount of tension in the group as everyone was negotiating the entrance pit. Loose rocks tend to do that. Once Tim and Beth were down and we continued into the waterfall room.
The last time I was in the waterfall room I don't remember the 3 ropes hanging down from the ceiling. Someone has been quite busy. I didn't find any tags, names, or dates on any of the ropes. There were only 3 waterfalls present on this trip as opposed to the 5 we counted in 1999. Still there was a good bit of water leaving the waterfall room heading towards the 2nd pit. We guessed someone must have been rather afraid they would lose their way through the cave as the lone passage was decorated heavily with flagging. Surely this must have been someone's joke.
The second pit had a good bit of water in it, but the rappel was only drippy. I spent some time tightening one of the bolts at the top of the pit as it was rather loose.
Once everyone was down we headed towards Incredible picking up trash as we went. By the time we had reached the anchors for the pit I had already filled the pockets of my mud suit with garbage left behind from previous trips. Some of this garbage was quite recent. There was also half a closet worth of clothes in the cave. We left the clothes. You never know when a caver might need an extra T-shirt or three. Just before the big pit Clay and Beth discovered a rope stashed up in the ceiling above the stream bed. We pulled the duffel bag down. When I saw the rope color and pattern I knew it was the rope left by the party involved in the March 1999 death in Incredible. The rope was never removed after the recovery. We thought about removing it ourselves, but we had our own to deal with.
At the lip of Incredible, I got down on my stomach and peered down the shaft. With my Sten-Light on super-high-blinding beam I could see the water fanning out as it fell farther down the pit. Even with the rope rigged far to the left of the lip we would still be climbing in a torrential downpour. Everyone decided that 440 feet in that much water wasn't worth the risk. So we wimped, took a few photos and routed.
Ironically, Tim ran into a minor gear issue 10 feet off the floor of the 80 foot pit. It took him a considerable amount of time to get this issue resolved. We both mused at what that experience would have been like if we had decided to bounce Incredible and he had been hanging 10 feet off the floor in that waterfall. Minor issues could have become major in a hurry. Luckily that wasn't the case and the remainder of the trip was uneventful. Thank GOD for that heavily flagged trail back to the entrance. The route finding got a little hairy at times. ;D
We reached the surface just as it was getting dark. I hauled the "hoss" back to the top of the mountain while Tim and Clay derigged the entrance. Within an hour it was so foggy on top of the mountain that visibility was less than 10 feet. We had to pack up camp in a blanket of wet, cold fog.
Despite not dropping the 440 it was a fine trip. We got a little wet and a little cold. Nobody ever stayed cold for too long with the "hoss" needing hauled. Next time we will come back in the summer when there will hopefully be less water. I was also rather pleased with my Sten-Light that I got for Christmas. This is by far the best LED Light I have ever used in a cave. It is a joy to be able to cave without the burden of a battery on a belt and a damned wire snagging on everything. Well worth the $300 price tag in my opinion.
Saturday morning after pancakes and omelettes, we loaded up the 4-Runner and shuttled our gear down to the end of the road where we set out on foot for the Stairstep entrance. From the gate to the the carved tree with the "I" it is less than half a mile level walking, which beats the hell out of hiking up from the Blue Hole or the Pocket. Within 15 minutes of departing from the gate we had reached the sink.
It has been over 7 years since I last saw the Stairstep entrance and it would be an understatement to say that it is in constant movement. Every caver in TAG could take one death rock from that crater and there would still be 100 more ready to flatrock an unsuspecting caver. After about an hour of ledge clearing, I rigged the rebelay and continued to the bottom of the pit. Clay came down next with the "hoss", rocks and tree limbs followed. I was glad I wasn't in charge of wrestling the 600 footer down the drop as he didn't seem to enjoy it much. There was a considerable amount of tension in the group as everyone was negotiating the entrance pit. Loose rocks tend to do that. Once Tim and Beth were down and we continued into the waterfall room.
The last time I was in the waterfall room I don't remember the 3 ropes hanging down from the ceiling. Someone has been quite busy. I didn't find any tags, names, or dates on any of the ropes. There were only 3 waterfalls present on this trip as opposed to the 5 we counted in 1999. Still there was a good bit of water leaving the waterfall room heading towards the 2nd pit. We guessed someone must have been rather afraid they would lose their way through the cave as the lone passage was decorated heavily with flagging. Surely this must have been someone's joke.
The second pit had a good bit of water in it, but the rappel was only drippy. I spent some time tightening one of the bolts at the top of the pit as it was rather loose.Once everyone was down we headed towards Incredible picking up trash as we went. By the time we had reached the anchors for the pit I had already filled the pockets of my mud suit with garbage left behind from previous trips. Some of this garbage was quite recent. There was also half a closet worth of clothes in the cave. We left the clothes. You never know when a caver might need an extra T-shirt or three. Just before the big pit Clay and Beth discovered a rope stashed up in the ceiling above the stream bed. We pulled the duffel bag down. When I saw the rope color and pattern I knew it was the rope left by the party involved in the March 1999 death in Incredible. The rope was never removed after the recovery. We thought about removing it ourselves, but we had our own to deal with.
At the lip of Incredible, I got down on my stomach and peered down the shaft. With my Sten-Light on super-high-blinding beam I could see the water fanning out as it fell farther down the pit. Even with the rope rigged far to the left of the lip we would still be climbing in a torrential downpour. Everyone decided that 440 feet in that much water wasn't worth the risk. So we wimped, took a few photos and routed.
Ironically, Tim ran into a minor gear issue 10 feet off the floor of the 80 foot pit. It took him a considerable amount of time to get this issue resolved. We both mused at what that experience would have been like if we had decided to bounce Incredible and he had been hanging 10 feet off the floor in that waterfall. Minor issues could have become major in a hurry. Luckily that wasn't the case and the remainder of the trip was uneventful. Thank GOD for that heavily flagged trail back to the entrance. The route finding got a little hairy at times. ;D
We reached the surface just as it was getting dark. I hauled the "hoss" back to the top of the mountain while Tim and Clay derigged the entrance. Within an hour it was so foggy on top of the mountain that visibility was less than 10 feet. We had to pack up camp in a blanket of wet, cold fog.
Despite not dropping the 440 it was a fine trip. We got a little wet and a little cold. Nobody ever stayed cold for too long with the "hoss" needing hauled. Next time we will come back in the summer when there will hopefully be less water. I was also rather pleased with my Sten-Light that I got for Christmas. This is by far the best LED Light I have ever used in a cave. It is a joy to be able to cave without the burden of a battery on a belt and a damned wire snagging on everything. Well worth the $300 price tag in my opinion.
Congrats on the Sten-light. 