The DUG SCOOPS Archives - 1990

COMPILED FROM DUG SCOOPS VOLUME 8

FISHER RIDGE SUMMARY JANUARY 1990 V8 N3 By Dan Crowl

On the weekend of December 16, Peter Quick, Rick Shomsky, Brian Davis and Reid Beauchamp entered the Fisher Ridge Cave System. They lugged heavy camera equipment back through the multiple breakdown crawls to Grand Avenue, taking the first photos of this impressive trunk passage. In addition they discovered and surveyed a beautiful lower level to Grand Avenue. This discovery netted about 1100 feet of new survey in 34 stations. The passage was mostly 15W x 6H. They completed a 22 hour trip, exiting into near zero weather outside.

On New Year's weekend, Peter Quick, Steve Miller and myself traveled to Kentucky for a three day weekend of caving. Unfortunately, I awakened on Saturday morning with a nasty case of the flu. This condemned me to spend the remainder of the weekend confined to my sleeping bag in the field house. In addition, the weather brought in pouring rain all day Saturday, postponing Pete and Steve's plans to enter Fisher Ridge. Saturday night was spent in Bowling Green, complete with dinner and a movie (I slept in Steve's van during the movie).

Pete and Steve finally entered Fisher Ridge on Sunday afternoon. They carried very heavy packs containing vertical equipment and videotape equipment (including heavy motorcycle batteries to power lighting). They traveled to Lovely Larry's Lower Level Lead where they set several bolts and dropped a line down into the West Room. This new rigging provides ready access to base level via the West Room. Pete plans on using this extensively in the future to mop-up base level surveys.

FISHER RIDGE SUMMARY FEBRUARY 1990 V8 N4 By Dan Crowl

On the weekend of January 27, two teams entered the Fisher Ridge Cave System The bad news first....

Peter Quick, Reid Beauchamp and Chip Hopper traveled back to Thunder River via the newly installed standing line at Lovely Larry's Leapoff. They persisted all the way back to the Yucchy Passage, hoping to continue survey beyond the rout in 1983. The survey began as a 4' muddy tube. They placed 58 stations in 1100 feet to an impassable upstream sump. Pete conjectures that this is the drain for the Big Side Lead in the Fisher Avenue extension area.

Now for the good news...

The other team was comprised of Keith Ortiz and Bob Anderson. They belly-whomped their way through a nasty stream crawl about 100 feet before the Toothless Tube breakdown. After about 400 feet of this nasty stuff, they popped up into going passage, including a very respectable trunk passage.

The trunk passage heads both south and north. To the south it reportedly ended in breakdown. To the north it went across Ice Cave Ridge and then suddenly headed due east and stopped in breakdown.

They reported tons of great side leads and interesting intersections.

Unfortunately, they did not survey the connecting stream crawl so the exact location of all this stuff is not known at present. The question now remains: Who will survey it?

Their total survey stats were 92 stations in 3800 feet.

These latest discoveries bring us close to 50 miles. An anniversary trip is tentatively planned for the weekend of February 10th. With good luck we will also break 50-miles at that time.

Joe Saunders sent me a copy of an article he wrote for the January, 1974 issue of COG Squeaks. This article discusses exploration in Crumps Spring Cave, immediately adjacent to Fisher Ridge. Joe says in this article, 'What will be the next major discovery? We hope it will be a route into the Promised Land of Fisher Ridge just to the south, an extensive sandstone-capped ridge several times larger than the ridge arm that Crumps lies under. For years this has been the elusive goal dream, and suck-in lure of many crumpers. When Lou Simpson discovered the Crump Avenue trunk passage and started mapping it south, he prophetically designated the trail FR. But lo!, the passage split and got smaller as the headwaters of the trunk were apparently approached to the south, just into Fisher Ridge. Two small wet leads remain as possible routes to other passage in Fisher Ridge.'

Joe also says later in the article, "A breakthrough into a major Fisher Ridge system from Crumps would compare with the Mammoth-Flint Ridge connection for Crumpers."

Fisher Ridge Summary MARCH 1990 V8 N5 By Dan Crowl

On the weekend of February 10th, ten hardly cavers descended on Fisher Ridge intent on scooping the new Ice Cave Avenue discovery in the northeast section of the system. Little did they understand the difficulties they would encounter traversing the Chocolate Icehole connector to this new area. Despite effusive commentary from Keith Ortiz and Bob Anderson concerning this passage, all ten cavers-prevailed. What they found was a passage that cannot be adequately described using the full force of the English language. Let it be known that in my 30 + years of caving I have never encountered a single passage with such a nasty character. First, it has length, estimated previously at 400 feet but I believe more like 600. Second, it has a low ceiling, probably averaging about a foot. Third, it has water, several inches deep in places and mostly filled with some sort of organic and putrefying 'sheep dip.' The 'sheep dip" is found only in the second half of the passage, with the first half devoted to a more traditional but also difficult cobble and stone stream crawl. Let me assure you that I am not completely negative on the nature of this passage: The 'sheep dip' does allow one to move along quiet briskly, with minimal friction and abrasion.

As things worked out, I ended up traversing the Chocolate Icehole in a group of three people comprised of myself, Chip Hopper and Reid Beauchamp. Dave LeClerc was l00 feet or so ahead of us so we could hear his verbal report Of what lay ahead (despite the small flashlight in his mouth).

We encountered several problems. First, we had substantial trouble with our carbide lamps being extinguished by the splashing water. At the end of the passage, I had the only working flashlight among the three cavers, and it was a faint glimmer. Second, the passage travel time is enough to produce a hypothermia problem. I had a bad case of the big shakes at the end.

Despite these significant difficulties, all ten cavers traversed this passage successfully, albeit with a substantial toll in equipment moral and enthusiasm.

I recommend the following procedures for future explorers. First, dress warmly even though you will be working hard. A thin wetsuit top is recommended and polypropylene underwear -is a must. Second, bring a change of clothes for the end and pack them in three layers of plastic bags (garbage compactor bags worked nicely). Third, bring a small heavy-duty, waterproof flashlight and have it readily available during the entire traverse. A Tekna light is recommended. I had my flashlight on and in my right hand during my trip. Finally, I pushed my packs ahead of me on the way in and had quite a difficult time. On the way out I tied them to my feet and pulled them through the 'sheep-dip.' This worked much better and reduced the Lamp extinguishing problem.

I might also suggest a third change of dry clothes placed at the entrance to this passage for use on the way out. However, this increases the amount of equipment to be hauled. Perhaps an additional change of polypropylene underwear would suffice.

Anyway, to get back to the exploration, the ten cavers broke up into three groups. Myself, Dave LeClerc, Chip Hopper and Reid Beauchamp formed the first group; Keith Ortiz, Bob Anderson, Larry Bean and Dennis Kendrick formed the second; and Peter Quick and Steve Miller formed the third.

My group joined Keith's group and headed north in Ice Cave Avenue. Eventually, Keith and Bob pointed out a promising side lead and suggested that my group survey it. This lead, dubbed the "Gift Passage' turned out to be one of the better side leads of the weekend. We surveyed over 1200' of nice walking canyon type passage to a dome, the 'Gift Dome.' Chip was able to scramble across the dome and found a crawlway to continue on the other side.

We declined to continue the survey and instead headed south in great hopes that Pete and Steve had found a more favorable connection back to Fisher Ridge proper. Finding no connection, we headed out I must comment that the Chocolate Icehole took almost two hours to traverse, and the trip down Toothless Passage seemed unending. We exited after 22 hours.

Pete and Steve surveyed some smaller leads at the complicated, domey southern end of Ice Cave Avenue. As stated previously, they were unsuccessful at locating the hoped for connection. Next they surveyed a lower level loop in Ice Cave Avenue. After a siesta in their bivy bags, they also headed out after a 27-hour trip (with 3 hours of sleeping).

Keith's group succeeded in grabbing the most footage and stations. First they surveyed the "15 x 15" lead in northern Ice Cave Avenue. This connected back to Ice Cave Avenue via a complicated loop. They also found a "40-foot dome" which is probably in the same dome complex as the Gift Dome. Next, they pushed the northern end of Ice Cave Avenue and pushed into the trunk continuation. This heads suddenly north and finally terminates in a mud fill.

The good news is that Fisher Ridge Cave System has now surpassed the 50-mile mark. My computer output indicates 50.95 miles of total taped distance.

Fisher Ridge Summary APRIL 1990 V8 N6 By Dan Crowl

The harsh difficulties of exploration in the new Ice Cave Avenue area of the system is now setting in. Despite three trips to Kentucky in the past month, only about 1000 feet of survey has been added.

On the weekend of March 10, Peter Quick and myself from Michigan were joined by Keith Ortiz and Chip Hopper from Virginia. Chip and myself planned on ridgewalking above the Ice Cave Avenue area and-had little motivation to enter the cave system. However, the 80 + degree weather rapidly increased the importance of ridgewalking and trips into Fisher Ridge were deferred.

An entire day of ridgewalking found little in the way of significant karst features.

An interesting Saturday evening and Sunday morning activity was a dig in Going Concern cave. This was a hole found by Joe Saunders a few months ago somewhat southwest of Massachusetts Cave. After several hours of digging, access was gained into a small room. From this room additional digging and blasting yielded about 20 feet of passage, with more obstructions ahead. A very strong airflow is encouraging. A subsequent blast in Going Concern reduced the present obstruction by about 80%.

On the weekend of March 24, Peter Quick Reid Beauchamp and Brian Davis entered FRCS intent an pushing the continuing passage beyond the Gift Domes. Unfortunately, they were accidentally diverted into a very small side passage in the Chocolate Ice Hole. After considerable effort in extraction, the trip enthusiasm rapidly diminished and they deferred further penetration.

On the following weekend, the three returned again determined on making good on past mistakes. This time their penetration of the Chocolate Ice Hole was successful. Their explorations netted several hundred feet of new survey in the continuing passage beyond the Gift Domes. However, the passage broke apart and eventually became too small for continuation. They were able to net several hundred feet of additional survey in a few leads off of the main trunk.

Fisher Ridge Summary MAY 1990 V8 N7 By Dan Crowl

On Easter weekend, Peter Quick and Jeff Brumell from Michigan met three people from Pennsylvania in central Kentucky. They were intent on a "touristy" trip into FRCS.

Joe Saunders had arrived in central Kentucky earlier in the week for digging in Grady's. He had been joined by Bill Halliday and an ACCA person (!??) earlier in the week. This group went on a Fisher Avenue tour, entering and exiting via Remington.

Joan and Steve Miller drove down from Michigan for a four day weekend Easter weekend. They took a trip into Salt's Cave to look for artifacts.

Peter, Joe, Jeff and the three from PA entered FRCS with Grand Avenue as an objective. They resolved Brian's lower level leads, finding a complex of meandering crawls and bellywhomps. They surveyed 8 stations, and noted 400 to 500 feet of additional mapping. They completed a 19 hour trip.

In other areas, I have now finished reformatting the Crump Spring Cave data to achieve compatibility with my present cave processing program. The data has been reprocessed and I have downloaded the database to my PC. I have already completed drawing the entrance section map (out of a total of 19 sections) using my CAD package. The cave passages for each section win be drawn using my computer cave wall algorithm. Furthermore, I will draw the passage names and the passage heights on the section. The section will also have a title block, identifying the section and the relative position with respect to the entrance. While the CAD sections are not complete cave maps, the result will provide a more documented map of the cave than available previously. Once the Crumps sections are completed I will move onto Fisher Ridge.

Fisher Ridge Summary JUNE 1990 V8 N8

UNITED STATES LONG CAVE DERBY By Peter Quick

I made a couple of phone calls recently to find out the length status of our two closest rivals, Wind Cave and Lechuguilla Cave. The folks at Wind Cave National Park say their cave now stands at 53 miles in length. Donald Davis in Colorado informed me that Lechuguilla Cave now stands at a little over 48 miles in length and that he anticipates the cave passing the 50 mile mark sometime in December.

Thus in a nutshell:

Wind cave is the 9th longest in the world and 3rd longest in the U.S. with 53 miles mapped. Fisher Ridge Cave System is 1lth longest in the world and 4th longest in the U.S. with 51 miles mapped.

Lechuguilla Cave is 12th longest in the world and 5th longest in the U.S. with 48 miles mapped.

The biggest change coming from Lechuguilla Cave in a dramatic jump in less than one year from 7th longest cave in the U.S. to 5th longest bypassing Organ Cave System and Friars Hole Cave System, both in West Virginia.

Fisher Ridge Summary JUNE 1990 V8 N8 By Dan Crowl

The best news during the past month is that the Chocolate Icehole has finally been surveyed. On the weekend of May 12th, Peter Quick, Reid Beauchamp and Joe Saunders did the nasty deed, placing 544 feet in 35 survey stations. I am told that the surveyed length is close to what Chip Hopper estimated previously, but the passage locations are shifted west about 75 feet. As Joe notes in his article in this issue, this finishes the longest hanging survey in project history. The plotted results indicate that the Brit's crawlway to the west might be more important than previously realized.

On the Memorial Day weekend, Peter Quick and Steve Miller traveled to the base level stuff using the recently placed (if you call New Years recent) ropes in the West Room. In a 6 hour trip, 300 feet were surveyed in a mop-up effort. Additional mop-up, including the connection to Sweetwater, still remains.

On the same weekend, Keith Ortiz and Chip Hopper visited the end of the South Fisher Avenue extension. They dug and blasted but were unable to progress any farther. They also went to the end of the Big Side Lead, checking several small crawls noted several years ago. These crawls all ended very shortly in mud fill. They dug in numerous leads and spent lots of time, but no encouraging progress was reported. They exited via Splash and reported nasty conditions apparently due to lack of use.

I am just a few sections short of completing the map on Crumps. While looking at some of Joe Saunders' old articles on Crumps, I was intrigued by a map presentation method he developed. He presented Crumps as a line map with the major passages numbered. An accompanying key identified the passage names and also provided the year of discovery/exploration/survey. I have reproduced this map using a CAD system with the more complete and recent Crumps data. I believe a similar map for Fisher Ridge should be prepared, but it will be a bit more difficult due to the size of the cave and the density of the passages.

Fisher Ridge Summary JULY 1990 V8 N9 By Dan Crowl

Two teams of cavers visited Fisher Ridge Cave System on the weekend of June 16. Both teams were easily sidetracked from their original objectives. The first team was comprised of Peter Quick and Reid Beauchamp. Their intent was to work in Chartres Avenue. They never set foot in their objective. First, they did mop-up work in north Pedigo. This resulted in 150' in a known loop connecting the end of Pedigo to the beginning of the Chartres Avenue long crawl. Next, they mapped the cross Canyon in the Rest Room area of the Chartres crawl. Their net total was about 400' of survey. They routed.

The second team was comprised of Keith Ortiz and Bob Anderson. Their verbally announced objective was Ice Cave Avenue, through the infamous Chocolate Icehole. However, they were apparently determined to be sidetracked at the earliest possible opportunity. in this case they found a curious lead in Remington (possibly a new record for sidetracking so close to an entrance). This lead is reported to be the continuation of the crawlway at the bottom of the breakdown. They surveyed this about 750' southwest to a low water crawl blowing air. The survey places the lead under the valley south of Remington, heading towards new ridge and, may I be so bold, the Ropple Section of Mammoth!

Fisher Ridge Summary AUGUST 1990 V8 N10 By Dan Crowl

Two teams of cavers from Michigan visited the Fisher Ridge Cave System on the weekend of July 14.

The first team was composed of Michiganders Peter Quick and Rick Shomsky. They were joined by Tammie Heazlit of Bowling Green. Their objective was the wetsuit continuation of the watercrawl leading southwest from the Remington Entrance. As Peter Quick stated, 'Why bother with other water crawl leads in the cave when one is within an hour of the entrance?' Anyway, as you might remember, Keith Ortiz and Bob Anderson found this lead the previous month and surveyed it for about 750' until it became an obvious wetsuit continuation. Line plots showed this passage at the bottom of the valley, just about to enter the adjacent ridge. The hope for the July trip was to push this lead west into the ridge, intersecting either larger passage or a dome. Oh, I forgot to mention that this lead blows good air.

Returning to the present trip, the trio surveyed an addition 650' in mostly wall to wall water. The continuation is southwest and south. The lead still continues for those with wetsuits and strong constitutions. The passage is now well into the adjacent ridge with no domes or intersecting passages in sight. It was reported that during the trip the strong air flow changed direction. Pete was overheard to say that most major discoveries in Fisher are through leads blowing inward.

On the same weekend, Steve Miller and myself surveyed Ripple Cave near the Fisher house. For some reason the survey turned into a Chinese fire drill Steve became confused about which direction to head and I botched up, the survey by forgetting to take readings on one shot. We both felt like a bunch of neophytes! We never did get to the bottom of the cave.

Fisher Ridge Summary SEPTEMBER 1990 V8 N11 By Dan Crowl

The good news is that the Fisher Ridge Cave system has now surpassed 52 miles in total surveyed length. The bad news is that recent surveys have all been difficult yielding hundreds of feet rather than the previous thousands standard.

The fieldhouse log shows that on the weekend of July 25th, a large group Of Cleveland cavers visited Fisher Ridge. This included Charles Pflanze, Elaine Harmon, Sue Gallagher, Lee Glenn, Cynthia Norris and Bob Nadich. According to the log they placed stations CNII through 19, starting at FF70. This is somewhere is south Fisher Avenue).

The log also reflects a recent entry by Shari Engler and a friend visiting Splash during the last several weeks.

In early July, Peter Quick and Reid Beauchamp returned once more to the recently discovered crawlway heading southwest from Remington. They added more survey, but the passage deteriorated in character and they eventually routed. Pete says that it still goes, it still blows and it sucks! At this time he is more than happy to pass the survey book off to any hardy takers!

Also during that weekend, Chip Hopper and I dug and blasted in Shaking 1eaf and Going Concern Caves. In Shaking Leaf, considerable progress was made, moving the dig front back by at least 20 feet. A very small room was entered, with the air blowing out from many small holes in the floor. The resulting debris pile in front of the cave is quite magnificent. In Going Concern, an additional blast and dig moved the dig site back at least two body lengths. Additional blasting is required (of course) and it appears that, some custodial rock moving is required to improve the working conditions.

During Labor Day weekend, four cavers from Michigan visited central Kentucky. This included Tony Mulbrecht (who has been absent from FRCS for some time), Brian Davis, Jeff Brummel and Peter Quick. They completed two trips: one into Burnhole Cave and the other to the Frog Passage in FRCS.

For the Burnhole trip, the drop which stopped Tony Mulbrecht several years ago was free-climbed (even though they brought all necessary vertical gear). A small canyon led to the intersection of a larger canyon. This included about 700 feet of walking passage (20'Hx6TV). The upstream direction of he canyon mudded up. The downstream direction eventually split. The right hand lead was followed for 300' paleo downstream. This had minimal airflow and was not followed to termination. The left hand direction led to a drain into a small drain hole in the floor requiring a blast to continue. Air is flowing rapidly out of this hole.

On Sunday the four entered Fisher Ridge. They first continued the downstream survey in the Frog passage. This led to a persistent chert layer, making further progress difficult. They then returned to the upstream direction. This direction was coated with liquid mud. Despite these difficult conditions, they placed 45 stations to a dome complex where a giant high level lead was observed. An additional 10 stations were placed in the domes bringing the total stations to 55 with 880 feet.

In other news I have finally received the latest CKKC Newsletter. In this issue, Jim Borden reports that "the Khan Entrance is open and has provided for the mapping of two miles of cave, including the largest trunk passage known in Roppel Cave. The CKKC is thriving after a period where we found ourselves refocusing our goals. This refocusing will make us ultimately stronger than we were before."

Also in the same issue, James Wells includes an article 'soliciting entrance locations and descriptions for caves of any length in the vicinity of Toohey/Eudora Ridge. By vicinity I mean in general any location within approximately two miles of the current extent of Roppel Cave." This also means a significant part of Fisher Ridge! Most interestingly, Burnhole Cave is listed as a cave where CKKC has obtained permission to enter.

Peter Quick says that he ran into Jim Wells in the Just Anywhere restaurant during the Labor Day weekend. Jim reports that he is now President of the CKKC and is actively reorganizing the Coalition.

For whatever it's worth, to me it appears that at least some CRFers are abandoning the Park and heading in the direction of the CKKC (as opposed to the other direction several years ago). What this means for Fisher Ridgers and central Kentucky caving still remains to be seen. However, it has been quite clear for some time now that the last thing required is a whole new set of players.

Fisher Ridge Summary OCTOBER 1990 V8 N12 By Dan Crowl

Another month has gone by and I don't believe anyone has entered the Fisher Ridge Cave System.

In a related matter, Jim Wells called me a few weeks ago. It seems he was upset about what I said in the Summary of the last Scoops. He said I misrepresented the intentions of the CKKC. I would have to admit he is correct because at the time I didn't have any idea what their intentions were. I still don't but I offered to publish anything he sent into the Scoops.

Fisher Ridge Summary NOVEMBER 1990 V9 N1 By Dan Crowl

Things have been mighty quite during the last month, with no reported explorers entering the Fisher Ridge Cave System.

On the weekend of October 13th, Peter Quick and Reid Beauchamp traveled to central Kentucky with the M intent of entering Fisher Ridge. However, due to nice weather and the ample beer supply left in the fieldhouse by the Cleveland people, the activity turned into a ridgewalk (or ridgestumble?)

Pete and Reid headed eas4 walking the area above Bob's Borehole; following a small valley until they connected with the large valley containing Splash. They found nothing. Actually, I seem to remember walking this area many years ago (before Fisher Ridge was discovered?) and likewise found nothing.

Now to some interesting stuff regarding caver statistics. I have recently been working on my cave data processing programs to implement the compute platform on a PC. However, my new program counted a different total number of stations, with my new program counting less stations. By annually counting stations I discovered that the now program is correct and the old tabulation is incorrect. The old program erroneously counts a loop tie-in or connecting station as a new station. Thus, the number of stations is increased by the number of connections. Chip Hopper's version of the program does the same thing since his was derived from an earlier version of mine.

For most people this will make little difference in their station count. However, for those with a large number of tie-in stations (RKO in Midway?) their total number of survey stations will be reduced by the number of tie-ins. It's interesting that people have been squabbling over numbers that were not correct.

Fisher Ridge Summary DECEMBER 1990 V9 N2 By Dan Crowl

On November 3, Peter Quick, Steve Miller, Brian Davis and Jeff Brummel returned once again to the fabulous Frog Passage in the southern sections of the Fisher Ridge Cave System. They went to upper Frog and found mostly crawly-type passages. They placed 50 stations for 678 feet and tied in to lower Frog. More details on this 16-1/2 hour trip are provided at the end of Brian Davis' article in this issue. They exited via Splash, finding it mostly dried out. This has occurred at least twice in FRCS history, but never on one of my trips.

I thought some more about the way the data processing counted the survey-'stations. As you recall I found a bug in the program which counted a tie-in to an existing station as a new station. Thus, the total survey station count is larger than it should be. Actually, what the program is counting is survey shots. For instance, suppose a survey connects two existing stations from previous surveys. While no new stations are placed, certainly a survey shot has been made, including a complete set of instrument data. The question is: What should be counted? Survey stations or survey shots? Let me know what you think. If we decide to consider survey shots, then the existing statistics are correct.

The latest issue of the CKKC Newsletter has issued forth. I have excerpted sections relevant to Fisher Ridge elsewhere in this newsletter. I would like to remind the CKKC folks again that the Detroit Urban Grotto has an official policy in effect against interference in the activities of the CKKC, including. in particular, the Khan entrance. However, the Detroit, Urban Grotto does not 'control' the Fisher Ridge Cave System, nor does it dictate the exploration policy in Fisher Ridge. The Fisher Ridge cavers have always been an independent and very loosely organized set of cavers working in the same cave system. The only relationship between the Detroit Urban Grotto and the Fisher Ridge Cave System is that many of the Detroit Urban Grotto members cave in FRCS.