Post by Sharon Faulkner on Feb 19, 2006 10:51:54 GMT -5
February 18, 2006
Rapid City Journal
Surveys lengthen Wind Cave
Eighteen cave explorers surveyed more than 3,500 feet of unexplored passages in Wind Cave on Feb. 11, making it the fourth-longest cave in the world.
Cavers from Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota brought the total distance surveyed in Wind Cave to 119.6 miles, pushing it past the former fourth-longest cave in the world, Hoelloch Cave of Switzerland, according to a news release from Wind Cave National Park headquarters.
The most significant discovery of the weekend involved large passages on the southwestern edge of the known cave. Near “The Skinner,” a 200-foot-long belly crawl, one of the new passages contained a distinct breeze leading into darkness. Explorers plan to return soon to continue surveying the discovery.
The exploration was in the farthest reaches southwest from the cave entrance, according to park spokesman Tom Farrell. “It’s not just filling in the map,” he said. “It’s extending the map.”
The new area explored in the cave is near a room called Vega. It’s under the part of the park known as Bison Flats near U.S. Highway 385, Farrell said.
“This is one of the greatest caves in the world, known not only for its massive length but also because of its complexity, diverse cave formations and the large amount of boxwork found in the cave,” physical science specialist Rod Horrocks said in the release.
Formal exploration of Wind Cave began in 1890 by 16-year-old Alvin McDonald. Since then, more than 1,000 people have surveyed in Wind Cave. In the process, they discovered underground lakes, a half-mile-long room, branching helictite “bushes” and more boxwork — which is a calcite honeycomb formation — than is found in the rest of the world’s caves.
McDonald wrote in his diary in 1891 that he had “given up the idea of finding the end of Wind Cave.” This is a sentiment shared by modern cave explorers. Wind experiments conducted by Herb and Jan Conn of Custer in the 1960s reveal possibly less than 10 percent of the cave has been explored.
www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/02/18/news/local/news02.txt
Rapid City Journal
Surveys lengthen Wind Cave
Eighteen cave explorers surveyed more than 3,500 feet of unexplored passages in Wind Cave on Feb. 11, making it the fourth-longest cave in the world.
Cavers from Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota brought the total distance surveyed in Wind Cave to 119.6 miles, pushing it past the former fourth-longest cave in the world, Hoelloch Cave of Switzerland, according to a news release from Wind Cave National Park headquarters.
The most significant discovery of the weekend involved large passages on the southwestern edge of the known cave. Near “The Skinner,” a 200-foot-long belly crawl, one of the new passages contained a distinct breeze leading into darkness. Explorers plan to return soon to continue surveying the discovery.
The exploration was in the farthest reaches southwest from the cave entrance, according to park spokesman Tom Farrell. “It’s not just filling in the map,” he said. “It’s extending the map.”
The new area explored in the cave is near a room called Vega. It’s under the part of the park known as Bison Flats near U.S. Highway 385, Farrell said.
“This is one of the greatest caves in the world, known not only for its massive length but also because of its complexity, diverse cave formations and the large amount of boxwork found in the cave,” physical science specialist Rod Horrocks said in the release.
Formal exploration of Wind Cave began in 1890 by 16-year-old Alvin McDonald. Since then, more than 1,000 people have surveyed in Wind Cave. In the process, they discovered underground lakes, a half-mile-long room, branching helictite “bushes” and more boxwork — which is a calcite honeycomb formation — than is found in the rest of the world’s caves.
McDonald wrote in his diary in 1891 that he had “given up the idea of finding the end of Wind Cave.” This is a sentiment shared by modern cave explorers. Wind experiments conducted by Herb and Jan Conn of Custer in the 1960s reveal possibly less than 10 percent of the cave has been explored.
www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/02/18/news/local/news02.txt