VERTICAL. Alan Warild. Nita Xonga, Mexico

Transcription

1 VERTICAL Alan Warild Nita Xonga, Mexico

2 Foreword V Acknowledgements..... VI Introduction VII 1 Personal Equipment Rigging Equipment Knots Rigging Advanced Rigging Descent Ascent Organisation Disasters Surveying Caving Gear Suppliers. 191 References Voronia, Abkhazia

3 VERTICAL Fifth Edition A Technical Manual for Cavers Alan Warild III

4 VERTICAL A Technical Manual for Cavers Fifth Edition Alan Warild Northwood St Newtown 2042 Australia Published by Alan Warild 2007 Caving, by its very nature is a risk activity. The author and publisher accept no responsibility for any accident or injury arising from the use or misinterpretation of information contained in this book. The reading of this book alone cannot be considered adequate training for a vertical caver. Knowledge must be coupled with first hand experience. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this book may be reproduced by any process without the written permission of the author. IV

5 Foreword It is a privilege to write the foreword to this the fifth edition of Alan Warild s book, VERTICAL. From the first addition, this series has encouraged cavers to think for themselves, whether purchasing equipment, descending a cave or rescuing a colleague. The book describes deep cave exploration methods; emphasizing the importance of efficient caving and throughout has strong underlying themes of safety, conservation and documentation. Alan Warild, during thirty years of intensive caving, has trialed many new devices and techniques, frequently designing his own equipment to obtain the best. He has participated in the exploration of deep, long caves, often with siphons at depth. Caving on five continents and interacting with cavers from all points of the globe, he has gained an excellent international perspective of vertical caving techniques. The fifth edition of VERTICAL is illustrated with photographs from these expeditions. In particular, his knowledge of expedition caving techniques and rescue have benefited from participation in several expeditions to Krubera/Voronia Cave in Abkhazia where he descended to over 2000 m. Alan is ideally qualified to write about lightweight caving as he regards it as the only way to descend and explore deep cave systems. Some may believe that he has taken lightweight to the extreme in descending nine of the world s 1000 metre plus caves solo, including the Reseau Jean Bernard (1609 m), which he rigged and derigged in 39 hours. Descents such as this require considerable practical expertise in the ultra-lightweight techniques presented in this book. The book, at first glance, may appear to be for caving experts who wish to improve their efficiency in deep vertical systems. However, I am of the opinion that it is of immense value to the embryo vertical caver, helping them make informed decisions about selection of equipment and to learn safe and efficient techniques from the start. The book clearly stresses the need for experience and training in the basic techniques before attempting the exploration of deep vertical caves. Alan Warild initially wrote and updated VERTICAL because he recognized the need for the full range of vertical techniques to be described in English. Other books on Single Rope Techniques have been published; this book complements them by giving a world view of vertical caving. The fifth edition of VERTICAL is an important contribution to technical caving literature. Julia James V

6 Acknowledgements My thanks must go to all those who have knowingly or otherwise contributed to this book. The who-knows how many people I have caved and talked caving with over the years. Special thanks go to Julia James for her continued support from start to finish. Also my proof readers who tidied up my Warildisms and put things into English: Carey Barlow, Dave Barlow, Craig Barnes, Vicky Bonwick, Dave Martin, Nick Melhuish, and Tony White. Jacques Orsola for the use of his library and the house it was in during the early writing. Carey Barlow, Dave Barlow, Marta Candel, Julia James, Nick Melhuish, Pete Nieuwendyk, Chris Probst, Greg Tunnock and Mark Wilson for help in taking and posing for photos. Enrique Ogando (Zape), Alan Pryke, Ignacio Rafael Ramos (Nacho), Gustavo Vela Turcott, for help with and/or the use of their photos. VI

7 Introduction For thousands of years caves have been little more than forbidding dark holes in the ground. In that time caves have not changed, but people have. One by one the natural challenges of our world have disappeared with the unstoppable civilising of our planet. This book is about that last great challenge the deep cave, or more precisely, how to get down it and out again. It is a guide to the technical side of vertical caving which I hope will be of use to both the beginner and expert. There are two major philosophies of Single Rope Techniques (SRT) in vogue at the moment. For ease of description I will call them Alpine as developed in Europe and IRT (Indestructible Rope Technique) as developed in the USA. Alpine caving stresses the need for light rope and rigging which keeps the rope free of the rock and water. It requires an effort to rig carefully and precisely. You must be willing to spend the time putting bolts into awkward positions; to swing around and find that perfect deviation. It is slow to rig the first time but once rigged it is very fast. Big pitches broken into short sections reduce waiting time for groups and the large number of belays increases safety. Once you ve placed the bolts anyone following needs only a minimum of lightweight gear they can travel fast and easily. IRT rigging stresses the need for abrasion resistant rope used with a minimum of anchors, no fancy rigging and few bolts. IRT is fast to rig. If a belay is strong enough it is fine, if the rope does not rub too badly, all the better. Descent is also fast for the individual no need to stop and cross rebelays. On the way up though, a long pitch can have people waiting around for hours and the extra weight of thick rope will certainly slow the group down. The next group down the cave will have the full challenge of rigging it themselves with few ready-made anchors. No one technique is the only way to explore vertical caves and I have tried to cover the range of caving styles without giving overt value judgements or writing-off ideas simply because I prefer not to use them. The emphasis is on comparison of the current technologies and use of what is appropriate for the job at hand. There is never one correct way to do things and to think so leads to the narrow views and unwillingness to change so often seen when cavers from different countries get together. For the moment there is the range between continents and even from club to club. I hope I have done justice to all concerned and this book will show the other side how we do it. So saying though, I must admit to being a confirmed user of Alpine technique. Given the choice it is the way I explore caves. I am of the firm opinion that just as ladders were largely superseded by the advent of SRT despite VII

8 considerable opposition so too is IRT continuing to be superseded by Alpine technique as the best solution. The ideas presented in this book are not all original, many were picked up during my development as a caver and I have not the faintest idea to whom they are attributable. Most uncredited figures in tables are my averaged results of one or two samples and must only be taken as indications. Most referenced values have no indication of reliability, and should be viewed in the same manner. Most of my ideas on IRT have been formed by caving with Americans in Mexico (no doubt they ve changed since then) while my version of Alpine and the lighter techniques has grown from experimentation with ideas coming out of Europe and reinforced by my trips there and expeditions with cavers from several nations. Looking at caving from a conservation perspective though, it should be obvious to all cavers that wearing out your equipment instead of the cave is better than wearing out the cave to keep your replaceable equipment intact. In Europe I encountered some of the best caves in the world disgustingly littered with rubbish of all kinds. Much of it left because of an attitude that caves (indeed nature in general) are objects to be conquered no matter what the cost. It simply does not matter to many people what damage is done along the way or what is left behind when they leave so long as their mission is accomplished. If you can get it in, you can get it out. There is simply no excuse for excessive bolting, carbide dumps, throwaway rigging, entire abandoned camps or even lollie papers in caves, let alone the more subtle things like trampling a whole chamber when a single path through is adequate. It saddens me to see cavers thoughtlessly destroying the very caves we come to explore. Caving is a sport which is done for fun so let s keep it that way by doing it safely and cleanly and in so doing we ll leave some challenge for those who follow us....and while I first wrote that nearly 20 years ago, the philosophy has changed little. There are still those who go caving to conquer with little thought for the cave. There are still cavers using IRT, although I hope that in my small way I ve contributed to more than just a few learning to cave lighter, cleaner and faster. Throughout Vertical I mention several proprietry names: Petzl, MTDE, etc. This is usually to illustrate a point using a well-known example and not necessarily an endorsment of that product. Conversely, if something is very good or universal (Garma chest harness or Croll for example), I m quite happy to say so. Of the brand names that I mention, the only one I have any connection to is MTDE. Alan Warild, January VIII 1