Post by tagkaver on Jan 7, 2007 14:26:15 GMT -5
Saturday morning, 1-6-06, found seven members of the Cullman Grotto meeting at the library at 8am. On the trip was Harold, Richard, Becky, Tommy, Evon, Scott, and myself. Once everyone had arrived we all loaded into Evon's Jeep and Richard's ford truck. I was in the nascar jeep, or at least we all thought we were because our driver thought she was on a race track. We finally arrived safely in Huntsville, and headed up the road to the fire station. When we arrived there were three Huntsville Grotto cavers at the parking area. They were Jack, Fred, and Suzie, I hope I remebered your names right. We all decided that we would combine our trip from the bottom of the first drop. We rigged a rope, and they rigged a rope in this 71' pit, and the plan was they would use our ropes on the other drops, then they were gonna head back out.
Tommy and I went down first on opposite ropes, and while Richard and Becky was descending I rigged the second drop of around 30' with the same rope we rigged the entrance drop with. Once the second drop was rigged the four of us went on to the bottom of this drop to wait on the others, and the ropes they were bringing for the next two drops. While we were waiting we took the passage back to see the nice dome room on this level. There are fossils everywhere in the walls in this room. When we heard the others coming down the second drop we went back and headed down to the next drop. We had to climb down through a small window into the room with this drop so we helped pass packs and rope down. I went ahead and rigged this third drop of 60' with a 130' rope, and once it was rigged we decided to wait for everyone to get to this room before we went farther. Once everyone was this far I asked who had the third rope for the last drop, and nobody did. It was left at the entrance of the cave , so Jack was kind enough to volunteer to return to the surface and bring the rope back. While he was gone after the rope the rest of us, except Fred and Suzie, went on down the third drop to wait on the rope. Fred and Suzie decided to go practice vertical skills on the entrance drop.
We went ahead and passed gear through the tight passage to the top of the last drop, and Richard, Becky, Scott, and Tommy waited here while Evon, Harold, and I waited at the bottom of the third drop. Jack soon arrived with rope in hand, and I took it on headed to rig. They were going to wait here until it was rigged because of limited space at the lip. This fourth and final drop of around 75' is very tricky to rig. First you have got to belay yourself to a bolt while you reach out over the top of the pit and wrap the rope around a natural bridge, then back the rope off to this bolt. When the rope is finally rigged it makes for a fairly easy lip, just reach out get the rope, rig in, and just swing out and the drop is a totally free drop. Once everyone had rappelled to the bottom I climbed first followed by Jack, then Jack said that he was gonna head on out so we said our good-byes and we was off to get the other two in his group and exit the cave. I stayed at the top of the last drop until everyone had climbed, and de-rigged and followed the others out. One-by-one we climbed the remaining drops, and pulled the ropes up and out of the cave.
We all had a wonderful time in this challenging little multi-drop cave. The hike back to the fire station is were it turned a little on the bad side, because you have to make a steep uphill ascent to the base of a bluff, and then ascend to the top of the bluff, and then hike about 1.5 miles back to the station. When we reached the main road we were greeted by Jack pulling up in his vehicle asking if we wanted him to drive our gear the rest of the way to the vehicles for us, and we happily agreed, and Harold even got a ride back as well.
Tommy and I went down first on opposite ropes, and while Richard and Becky was descending I rigged the second drop of around 30' with the same rope we rigged the entrance drop with. Once the second drop was rigged the four of us went on to the bottom of this drop to wait on the others, and the ropes they were bringing for the next two drops. While we were waiting we took the passage back to see the nice dome room on this level. There are fossils everywhere in the walls in this room. When we heard the others coming down the second drop we went back and headed down to the next drop. We had to climb down through a small window into the room with this drop so we helped pass packs and rope down. I went ahead and rigged this third drop of 60' with a 130' rope, and once it was rigged we decided to wait for everyone to get to this room before we went farther. Once everyone was this far I asked who had the third rope for the last drop, and nobody did. It was left at the entrance of the cave , so Jack was kind enough to volunteer to return to the surface and bring the rope back. While he was gone after the rope the rest of us, except Fred and Suzie, went on down the third drop to wait on the rope. Fred and Suzie decided to go practice vertical skills on the entrance drop.
We went ahead and passed gear through the tight passage to the top of the last drop, and Richard, Becky, Scott, and Tommy waited here while Evon, Harold, and I waited at the bottom of the third drop. Jack soon arrived with rope in hand, and I took it on headed to rig. They were going to wait here until it was rigged because of limited space at the lip. This fourth and final drop of around 75' is very tricky to rig. First you have got to belay yourself to a bolt while you reach out over the top of the pit and wrap the rope around a natural bridge, then back the rope off to this bolt. When the rope is finally rigged it makes for a fairly easy lip, just reach out get the rope, rig in, and just swing out and the drop is a totally free drop. Once everyone had rappelled to the bottom I climbed first followed by Jack, then Jack said that he was gonna head on out so we said our good-byes and we was off to get the other two in his group and exit the cave. I stayed at the top of the last drop until everyone had climbed, and de-rigged and followed the others out. One-by-one we climbed the remaining drops, and pulled the ropes up and out of the cave.
We all had a wonderful time in this challenging little multi-drop cave. The hike back to the fire station is were it turned a little on the bad side, because you have to make a steep uphill ascent to the base of a bluff, and then ascend to the top of the bluff, and then hike about 1.5 miles back to the station. When we reached the main road we were greeted by Jack pulling up in his vehicle asking if we wanted him to drive our gear the rest of the way to the vehicles for us, and we happily agreed, and Harold even got a ride back as well.
