1998 FISHER RIDGE SUMMARIES
Compiled from the DUG SCOOPS
JULY:
The next two trips took place on July 16th and 19th . The trip on the 16th Included Keith Ortiz and his son David (his first cave trip) Les Carney and Chip and Eileen Hopper. They made their way back to a lead in the Lower Crust Survey (off of Northtown Ave near NT25). When they got to the lead the trip was aborted after 3 stations and 88 feet. A few days later Keith was able to talk his son into going back into the cave, something about staying in a hotel instead of camping in trade for another cave trip. Keith David and Les made their way into the Lost Carbide Complex and closed a loop between 2 surveys, the LA and the Super Frog for 23 stations and 171 feet. AUGUST:
Also during that weekend Les Carney, Suzanne DeBlois and Mick Skowronsky made a return trip to the Lower Crust area and finished up on a couple of leads started a few weeks earlier by Keith Ortiz. They closed several loops and picked off a few other side leads while placing 41 stations for 544 feet before heading out. SEPTEMBER:
During the same weekend Steve Miller also took six Nashville cavers into the cave for a photo trip. Over the next few days with the help of Herb Scott he attached a lid to the entrance culvert so the cave could be gated and secured. Over the weekend of September19th and 20th Les Carney, led Suzanne DeBlois, Seamus Decker, John Korabic, and Tripp Lichtefeld back once again to the Lower Crust area, this time with a lead list supplied by Chip Hopper in hand. They broke up into two groups and started mapping loops. After 19 hours of fun they had mapped close to 1450 feet of new passage in 72 stations. Finally over the weekend of September 26 Ron Adams organized a big Central Indiana Grotto trip into the cave. Peter Quick had invited the C.I.G. to have an official grotto trip in appreciation to their financial support in the Quick Exit construction project. Ron had assembled 17 cavers who were then broken into four survey teams. Ron wasn't going to allow a silly tourist into the cave. Mapping was the name of the game. Team #1; Brian Davis, Jonathan Schwer, Mike Dowden & Chris Culver. Team #1 headed back to the pit in the northern part of the Eveready Canyon area (near the GYP Passage) that was the original destination of Jonathan's Labor Day trip. A 50 foot pit was dropped that didn't go. A way was also found to climb out of the pit with out the need of the rope and vertical gear that was hauled out there. Fifteen stations were placed for about 250 feet of passage. The group then went on to map some leads in the GYP area but got lost on the way to their objective, something about vague directions from Peter Quick "There a good lead at station 21" when in reality the lead was at station 41. After much frustration they headed out of the cave. Team #2; Eric Higbie, Scott Regal, Phill Rykwalder and Bruce White. Brian Davis dropped this team off at a nice crawling lead between the Northtown Thruway and the Other World S.E.. The lead was at AT 44. Their lead connected to KH 48 (Lower Northtown Ave) after 17 stations. The mapped a couple of other leads to their termination. When they were done they had placed 47 stations for 965 feet of new survey. Team #3; Ron Adams led teams 3 & 4 back to the Other Way to some leads not too far from Laura's Domes and the Eclipse turn off. Talk about paying ones dues. Team #3 consisted of Ron Adams, Jordan Oster, Derrik Fabel, George Neagle and Kent Koster. They picked a lead that had been previously mapped 25 stations to a cheese grater crawl. Twenty one stations for 360 feet of what was probably cheese grater hell were placed before the team turned back. The passage continued low and sharp. Team #4; Jerry Bailey, Jame Burkhart, Darryl Granger and Bart Nott were dropped off at station 60 in the Other Way. They mapped a 4' high by 3' wide tube for 25 stations for 400 feet and ended up tying their survey into station EC 2 ? in the Eclipse Canyon. The CIG mapping extravaganza had added nearly 2000 feet more to the caves length. OCTOBER:
Peter led the climb while Jonathan belayed. The climb was an ugly mud covered slope too steep to be climbed without protection. If it had been a clean rock surface it probably could have been done without gear. The climb led to an unglamorous belly crawl on a narrow mud ledge with about 30 feet of exposure. Peter bellied across while on belay and finally made it to the climbing objective, a nice nine foot diameter tube, that mudded up in 20 feet, just out of sight from below. Jonathan and Peter then walked and slipped their way another mile further down Park Ave. to another lead that Peter knew about. This one blew tons of air. The lead was a 15 foot deep nuisance drop that cut across a stoop walking canyon. The drop was descended and a canyon was followed perhaps 100 feet to a beautiful round dome shaft. The only way on was up, way up. Jonathan then bolted across the top of the nuisance drop to the continuation of the passage. There was no air flow. Just a mud plug. Apparently the tremendous air flow comes out of the dome. With this lead written off Peter and Jonathan slogged their way back to hook up with the others. Larry, Brian and Jon came out of their lead shortly after Peter and Jonathan had arrived at its entrance. They had placed 52 stations for 996 feet of survey. The passage continued about 10 feet high by 1 foot wide. The long haul out of the cave was commenced and after four or five hours everyone was out of the cave.. In summary a total of 384 stations were placed for 7496 feet of survey (1.42 miles) during the months of July, August, September and October. The length of the Fisher Ridge Cave System now stands at 87 miles.
Nov - Dec:
Also during that weekend, Steve Miller, Les Carney and Shane Fryer entered the Quick Exit
and proceeded to the Lost Lagoon. For some reason Les ended up standing waist deep in the
Lost Lagoon. Steve and Shane decided to join him. Apparently Steve decided that he didn't
want to get his clothes wet and mostly undressed before jumping in. An underwear survey in
nice cold Kentucky cave water sounds bracing. Apparently the Lost Lagoon is more than a
Lagoon. They took a couple of survey shots downstream before the air space above the water
got too low for the way they were dressed. They then turned around and surveyed a distance
upstream to another not very low "low air" where they heard running water ahead. They managed
to scoop a quick 450 feet of survey in mostly five foot high by 20 foot wide passage. It
appears that with wetsuits the passage could be pushed further in either direction.
The final trip of this summary was really a multi-day base camp trip from Dec. 11 to Dec.
14 out to Park Avenue. Peter Quick had managed to recruit Jon Smith and Suzanne DeBlois for
this venture. In addition to the regular cave camp set up, Peter insisted that all haul out
wetsuits to do some stream surveys.
The trip in was very smooth despite the awkwardness of moving big packs through the Not
Too Bad Passage. The trip to Park Ave. took less than four hours. After setting up camp the
trio headed off to try to dry out in the gypsum sand floored MM survey just a few hundred
feet from camp. The MM survey is basically a two foot wide by fifteen foot high canyon. It
had previously been mapped for 1000 feet and 53 stations. Another 60 stations were placed
for 1028 feet and the passage was explored ahead for 300 feet to a breakdown fill. Camp was
returned to dinner was cooked and sleep was had.
The next day, Saturday, the crew headed to the end of Park Avenue to start mapping wet
leads. Near the end of Park Ave. wetsuits were donned and the furthest downstream lead was
pushed.
During July there were three survey trips into the Fisher Ridge Cave System. On July 4, Les Carney, Suzanne DeBlois and Charlie Pflanze went decided to do some mop-up survey off the LA Survey. The LA Survey is the passage that takes off right at the bottom of the last drop in the Quick Exit. They took a side lead at LA 25 and proceeded to map a twisty canyon passage 668 feet in 53 stations. They left off in going passage. They named the passage the Lost Bee Canyon.
On the weekend of August 8th Peter Quick, Brian Davis and Jonathan Schwer decided to test out Jonathan's new 24 volt Bosch cordless hammer drill. They headed back to the KN Canyon area where Peter had a nice 9' high by 15' wide passage cut off by a deep pit. On the other side, just ten feet away, the passage could be seen to continue. The objective of the trip was to bolt horizontally over to the other side of the pit. The climb went with remarkable ease, save for the drippy water in the dome and the sticky mud on the other side of the climb. Seven bolts were placed before the drills batteries crapped out. Luckily the climb was completed and securely rigged by the seventh bolt. Amazingly on the other side of the climb the passage continued. Usually climbs are greeted with crappy returns, passages that go around the corner and end. The passage ranged between 15 and 25 feet wide and around 10 feet high. 31 stations were placed for 1526 feet of survey before the trunk ran into a valley wall to the west and filled with breakdown and mud. This passage sits at a high level in the cave system. It shares its height in the stratagraphic column with the Over The Top Survey and the Nebulous Borehole, all old passages full of breakdown that have a problem getting beyond the edges of Northtown Ridge.
Over the Labor Day weekend, September 5th, a trip was made into the cave by Jonathan Schwer, Drew Packman, LeighAnn Vaughn & George Nagle. Initially their plan was to do an aid climb in the northern reaches of the Eveready Canyon area. On their way into the cave heavily ladened with climbing gear they decided to change their destination midway through the Lost Carbide Complex. Instead they headed to the Big Hole Eats Floor, a right hand branch of the Lost Carbide Complex. Drew had checked this lead earlier and was sure it would yield fine discoveries. A 30 foot bolt climb led up into the continuation of the canyon passage that was interrupted by the Big Hole. Unfortunately the passage filled with sandstone breakdown just around the corner, just 30 feet beyond the climb. They placed on station for a whopping 78 feet of survey The Lost Carbide Complex was returned to and gear was dumped. The explorers opted to check out the climb in the Eveready area to see if it was really worth hauling a lot of gear to. After several hours of travel they reached the pit and climb in question. It was decided it would be worth returning to at least do the pit, if not the climb.
On October 10th five cavers, Peter Quick, Brian Davis, Jonathan Schwer, Larry Bean and Jon Smith, headed into the cave to do a technical climb in Park Ave. Jonathan had his trusty hammer drill that was going to make the climb possible. The usual assortment of climbing gear was hauled through the lovely Not Too Bad Passage. After many hours Park Ave and the climbing objective was reached. Peter suggested that Brain, Larry and Jon map/scoop a nice canyon he had found on his previous trip to park Ave. The lead was just a few hundred feet from the technical climb and was twisty enough that folks wouldn't get too far away in case they were needed.
In the months of November and December 1998 there were three survey trips into the Fisher
Ridge Cave System. The first two took place over the Thanksgiving weekend. Keith Ortiz and
his son David entered the Quick Exit on Friday to camp at the old Base Camp for three days
and to do some mop-up survey along Northtown Ave. During the next few days they did a bit
of traveling around in the cave and managed to map 750 feet of various passages in the area
of NT 19 along Northtown Ave.