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FOX CAVER GUIDED AWARENESS |
This represents an email reply I sent to what apprears to me as a new caver seeking information. Just an example of how I tend to reply to this type of request.
>Dear Mr. Andrew, > My friends and I are all experianced mountain climbers. We were >recently turned on to spelunking by some other friends of ours and have >a decent amount of experiance in it. We were intrested in exploring the >caves at fox mountain and I was wondering if you could give us any >advice on the caves there. Any information would be greatly apperciated. > -Scott Hello Scott, Fox Mountain represents an isolated part of the Cumberland Plateau elongated in a North South direction. Out West a person might call it a "mesa". The geology of the mountain consists of Mississippian limestones overlaid by Pennsylvanian aged sandstone and shale. The sandstone provides an impermeable barrier that collects precipitation and directs it through runoff to the contact with the limestone exposed along the flanks of the mountain. Water can enter the limestone at this contact and has created multiple cave systems. Many different cavers including myself have explored these caves over a period of many years. The entire mountain has over 50 known caves with about 10 considered significant by TAG caving standards. Their exists many different landowners having legal rights to their property as defined by the law, county land office, and marked property boundaries on the land. The SCCI http://www.scci.org has purchased approx 164 acres of land on Fox Mountain. This only represents a small fraction of the entire mountain. There exists a fraction of the total number of caves of Fox Mnt. within this land. There exists three significant caves on this land. Two require vertical rope techniques to enter via pits while the third can be entered without the use of ropework. One of the vertical caves requires a rope drop of some 125 feet to enter the cave. Without proper equipment, technique, knowledge, or experience a person could get into serious trouble, including suffering their death, trying to attempt to negotiate the 125 foot deep drop. I would suggest acquiring the proper equipment, technique, knowledge, and experience before attempting to negotiate a 125 foot deep drop or any drop in a cave environment. Since I no longer represent a manager of the SCCI property I do not wish to provide great detail on how to access, find, and do the caves on Fox Mountain. Cavers represent a fairly closed bunch. They try to protect their sport by keeping detailed knowledge of the caves to themselves. Imagine the chaos that would occur and probably does when inexperienced climbers go out and end up stranded on some mountain. They require rescues and leave a bad reputation with the sport. Imagine how the mountain climbing community would feel if the landowners "closed" the mountain to future mountain climbers. Many caves have been closed to cavers because of similar situations. The most popular caves on Fox Mountain are no secret. Their exist major trails that go to their entrances. Many cavers new to caving go to the horizontal cave that does not require ropework. The ones who want to continue to learn how to cave then progress to the point where they learn how to do the rope work. Rope work in caves is similar to mountain climbing but has a great many unique qualities that requires specific guided awareness. I would recommend that cavers new to the sport find a willing leader who already knows the cave to give them advice and provide a proper tour. If you consider this process too difficult or want instant gratification you can always drive to the mountain and ask around on where to go to park and find the trails (i.e Sues Market). The caves are really easy to find. You could try to enter with what equipment you have. You would mostly likely have a fairly adventurous trip and get out without any problem. There exists a chance you could suffer some difficulty and require a rescue. If a person lost their life by chance and they had no children, their own unique evolutionary line would end. I quit as property manger because I did not want to be in the position where one of the relatives tried to sue me because of the incompetence of the dead. This is another reason why I do not feel like giving detailed information to a person I have never met. It would be like me asking you if you could tell me how to climb Mount Rainier, I plan on going their next month, I have some caving experience, What is a crampoon?, ect. (Get the idea?) I do not know. I hope this helps. Do you live in Atlanta? If you do I could meet you and your friends and provide more information. I have a website I created on TAG caving located at http://www.tagcaving.com/org I would suggest http://caves.org/ as a start also. I generally do not lead new cavers on trips. I tend to teach those cavers who have reached a basic level how to do the most extreme kinds of caves in the sport. We call this "hardcore caving" Only a few cavers per year emerge to try to reach this level of caving. It takes a certain kind of person to crawl on their belly for 4000 feet one way carrying 40 pounds of gear in a wetsuit in 54 degree water that comes within one inch of the ceiling in places to see that a passage dead ends. It takes a strong survival instinct to turn around and crawl back out while suffering hypothermia and extreme exhaustion. How about the thrill of doing a 600 foot deep pit deep underground in the middle of a raging waterfall that has so much force you have to keep your head locked in place or the water will knock it sideways and strain your neck. To The Bitter End! Andy |
