Caving in Texas

 After I taught two three-day small party cave rescue classes, I had a day off. I usually don't when I go to cave rescue seminars, so I intended to fully enjoy it. What would be the best way to do that? Go caving, of course! Fortunately the past park superintendent was up to being our guide for the day. We started off with Gorman Falls Cave, which had been used several times earlier in the week, but I hadn't had a chance to go in. Here is Casey ready to lead the way down the first drop. It's three short rappels into a steamy cave.

Then you reach the stream below. I went upstream as far as I could to the sump, then downstream. This well shaft goes down to the stream, and I guess they drilled the well before they realized the cave was here. The cave was quite warm, and it felt good. It was a fun cave. Air has to be pumped into the cave before you go into it because it has high carbon dioxide levels, as do many of the Texas caves. It's good to go with someone who knows, as bad air could make your day a little problematic.

Next we headed to a cliff edge and found a spot between the pencil cactus and the prickly pear to rappel over the edge.

We swung into a cool cave that was highly decorated. I thought it was neat to see the old water line so distinctly.

Liz and John wanted a photo of them together on rope as they rappelled to the bottom of the cliff. They're getting married later this year.

At the bottom we walked a short way and got a view of the backside of Gorman Falls. The travertine that's built up along the cliff face is fantastic, and the green moss covering it gives it a great surreal look.

We had gotten permission and a key to go visit Gorman Cave, so we headed there next. There's a nice interpretive sign outside the entrance.

Kelby was our guide, and he explained how this used to be the most-visited cave in Colorado Bend State Park (which has 400+ caves!).  However, this cave has turned out to be a very important maternity colony. It also has bad air.

I immediately liked the cave, as most of it was walking passage. This wasn't how Texas caves were described to me! We followed the sinuous stream passage, stepping over pools of water and admiring a variety of formations. This was a neat speleothem right in the middle of the passage.

We passed the old gate, that had been back farther in the cave. We could smell and feel the change in air as we went through a thermocline. My pulse rate increased a tiny bit, but I didn't feel many other effects from the increased CO2.

We eventually got to crawling passage and found lots of little bones on the floor. What was going on? It turned out there were hundreds of dead bats. There was no sign of human interaction (the most typical reason that bats die). We put on our sleuthing caps and realized that last summer there had been massive floods in Texas. We found where the cave had sumped, and these poor bats had been trapped and died either from starvation or bad air.

Then it was time to head back to the lodge and hear all about the mock rescues that had happened that day. And to eat and celebrate! We had great facilities at Barefoot Fishing Camp.

 Volunteers prepared meals, and for this last night, we were treated to prime rib and bacon-wrapped asparagus. I don't eat this well at home! All the meals were fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed them.

Celebrations ensued, and the next morning, when it was time to pack up and head home, it was a little slow-going.

I had a super time in Texas and thank everyone who made all the arrangements and made it happen. I was a little afraid that some Texas cavers might have read my mystery novel, An Un-Conventional Murder, and take offense at the fun I poke at Texas cavers. But nobody mentioned it. So maybe I'm safe to visit Texas again! :)

Small Party Assisted Rescue Training - Texas 2017

Opening talk

 I recently spent 10 days in Texas to teach back-to-back Small Party Assisted Rescue (SPAR) classes for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). This all-volunteer organization wants to ensure that people have the best methods to get an injured, sick, or stuck caver out from the underground. Caves are one of the most difficult places to do a rescue, as passages can be tiny and convoluted, there's no way to get a short haul from a helicopter, GPS doesn't work, and there isn't any cell signal. Plus it's dark. And often wet. And sometimes deep.

The NCRC offers Levels 1 (Team Member), 2 (Team Leader), 3 (Advanced Rigging), and TOFE (Team Oriented Field Exercises) at weeklong seminars. These are all aimed at cave rescuers responding in big groups with lots of equipment. But what if you're really remote and don't have many people or gear? That's where Small Party Assisted Rescue (SPAR) comes in. We focus on rescue with minimal gear and people. That's the kind of rescues we'd need to do where I live. So I love it.

The Texas regional seminar offered Levels 1 and 2 as well as two SPAR classes. When we started at our classroom, under a pavilion, at the beginning of the week, it was cold! We had coats on and made sure we were in the sun. Fortunately the classroom part is only half a day and rather interactive, such as with splinting your partner with things from your cave pack.

 In the afternoon it was time for stations, when groups of four rotated through four stations. This one is releasable redirect, or in other words, how to get someone up and over the picnic table.

Traveling haul was another one. You can see the awe and amazement about learning this technique. (I seem to have caught a lot of funny expressions!)

Later it was time for minimal gear. How little gear do you need to climb a rope?

 The next day we went out to some cliffs. I was in charge of the crack and crevice portion, and we had a really cool place to practice.

The third and last day we had scenarios, and the students rotated through three caves, solving a problem in each. The instructors split up and stayed in the same cave each day, and it was really interesting to see the different ways students solved the problems. Below they've rigged a diminishing loop to a haul system that can be hauled by a climber, which we've nicknamed the Dragon.

It can be a little awkward. But essentially just one person can carry out the rescue as long as the patient is conscious and doesn't have too serious of injuries.

 We finished one class and started right after dinner with the next class. Fortunately the weather had warmed up, so the next day we were even able to go down to short sleeves. Below, students figure out how to convert-to-lower off bolts. In other words, a rope is connected to bolts, and someone gets stuck on it. How can you quickly get them off the weighted rope and lower them to the ground with another rope?

There's more than one way to do it! We always like to practice the scenarios first in a somewhat controlled environment (not far from the ground), then the next day we step it up at short cliffs or caves, and the last day the students have to figure out what method to use.

 Part of the training included an alpine single rope technique (SRT) course, with rebelays, J-hangs, and even a guided rappel. Your climbing system has to be well-adjusted to do the course efficiently.

The guided rappel was my favorite. You basically rappel diagaonally.

 On cliff day I was at the Dragon station. We drew out the rigging and talked about it, had a demo, and then the students got to try it for real.

 Another station was climbing and rappelling counterbalances, a slick technique that doesn't require a lot of people either.

 On scenario day, the instructors switched up caves. I was the "bat," or invisible instructor fluttering around and checking rigging. Another instructor was on the small party trip, and he unfortunately got injured (in the scenario).

The students figured out how to splint him and get him out with minimal gear.

 At the end of a very fun class we set up for a class photo. Except the students decided to run away.

Fortunately they came back again.

It was a really fun week with great people and nice caves. I learned a few new techniques and am re-energized to keep learning more about cave rescue. You can learn more about cave rescue at the NCRC website.

Lava Beds NCRC Level 1 Seminar 2016

I left my part of the Great Basin and went to the very edge of the Basin and Range province to Lava Beds National Monument for over a week in mid-September to teach a cave rescue class for the National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC). Every year the NCRC hosts a national seminar with a variety of classes. This year it was in Mentone, Alabama, but due to other obligations, I wasn't able to go. I was approached about teaching a Level 1 seminar at Lava Beds, and it all worked out, so I set out. 

Even though I spent eight days there, I managed to get very few photos (at least by my usual standards). I didn't even get one of the entrance sign. The first day I arrived I was very intent in trying to figure out what caves we'd be using for the rest of the week. Above is Ron in the culvert for one of the caves, one we ended up using for the mock rescue at the end of the week. It was a difficult entrance to negotiate.

 On Saturday we started with classes in Lava Bed's fire conference room.

But this is a cave rescue class, so why not do the Cave Environment underground in Mushpot Cave? The park uses the cave for school group presentations. We stuck around long enough for the Hypothermia lecture, which the 50 degree temperature made us feel a little bit more.

A big part of Level 1 is patient packaging. We need to know how to keep a patient warm in a litter and tied in securely, no matter which way the litter is being moved.

By Day 3, we were ready to head out to some short cliffs and practice moving the litters up and down. We had a station for using the Ferno, our Cadillac of cave litters, and another station for the Sked, which looks like an orange burrito but can fit in tiny spots.

We used a pike-and-pivot technique to solve the edge problem. After the exercises, some of the class went to the bottom of Skull Cave, which is one of 18 caves in Lava Beds that still has ice in them. Twelve others used to in recent history, but that ice has since melted. There are a whopping 700+ caves at Lava Beds!

Our evenings were largely consumed with doing check-offs, which is when the students show the instructors that they know the skills we've been practicing in class. Below is the comm station, where students hook up old military phones to comm wire and talk to each other.

Day 4 we went into Sentinel Cave to practice a variety of techniques, such as searching for patients, running comm line and operating field phones, anchoring, and doing some hauls and lowers in the lava tubes. Below, Tom knew how to make an entrance on an upper level, with the class below him.


It wasn't a very big drop, but big enough to practice setting up a mainline and belay and finding anchors that wouldn't move.


In another station, students found their own anchors, then attached a rope and rappelled down it. Over ten different anchors were used, which was pretty creative.

We all celebrated when Checkoffs were completed! Bill provided entertainment.

After a written test it was time for the mock walkthrough. We used Catacombs, a particularly mazy cave along the cave loop. Lava Beds has over 20 caves open to the public, many with staircases or ladders that descend down into the lava tubes. Then you can walk--or crawl--wherever you like. It's a cool experience.


The mock walkthrough is an exercise in how to run a cave rescue incident. Eddy's a pro at it, and we did five iterations so students could rotate through various positions and try out different roles in a rescue.

There were some humorous moments, like when the medic decided he better clear the airway of the drunken patient who was pretending to throw up. The medic was prepared with his glove. Oh, what we do for fun in cave rescue!

After several hours of practice, we packed everything up and headed back to the vehicles.

It was time to get ready for the mock rescue the next day, which would start at 8 am and go all day. The scenario was that a park employee took two others caving in a cave we hadn't visited all week. When they got to the bottom gate, it wouldn't open. One person got injured with a broken lower leg. The other two went back through to get help. One got hit in the head with a rock and was unconscious up on top of a drop. The other was wandering around, lost and hypothermic. In came the rescuers, who had to employ all sorts of strategies to get all three out.

We were in the cave so long that we had to use pee bottles, as it is not at all kosher to pee in a cave. There's no rain to wash the pee away, little wind to scatter the smell. Gatorade bottles are commonly used, but one must be very careful not to confuse a lemon lime with a pee bottle (it's been done more than once before!). This cave rescuer carefully marked the caps with skulls and crossbones and put duct tape around one bottle that said "Hydrate or die!"

Twenty-one students finished the intensive 7-day course, with up to 14 hours a day of instruction. Thanks to Lava Beds for hosting, all the instructors who volunteered their time, the staff who kept paperwork in order and cooked meals for us, and all the students!

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, check out the NCRC website for upcoming classes. Next year's nationals will be near Bend, OR from June 17-24.