Bogley

[jumar]

http://www.cavediggers.com/Depth.pdf

Quote: Local spelunkers map Main Drain, Utah’s deepest cave
Wed, Nov 10, 2004
By BRYCE PETERSEN JR.
Standard-Examiner staff
bpetersen@standard.net
www.Standard.net
3D Maps of the cave....CLICK HERE
After many summers of “jumping down pits” in the Tony Grove area, Ryan Shurtz fi nally found the big one.
The 25-year-old Clearfi eld resident had been working for more than two years on the Tony Grove project, which
aims to map and GPS all of the caves in this, Utah’s most concentrated location, when, in September 2003, he
dropped into yet another 200-foot vertical cave.
This September, that cave was certifi ed as the deepest in Utah.
The cave, for years known as Deception Pit, is now named Main Drain Cave. The name comes from the highest
hopes of Tony Grove cavers -- that they would eventually fi nd a “main drain” that drained the area’s countless
watery caves and icy sinkholes into one channel that would leave a path large enough to follow to somewhere
near the outlet.
The breakthrough came when Shurtz climbed an icy chimney
inside the 260-foot pit. He was 60 feet off the bottom (with
nothing to break his fall but a few friends on the ground below)
when he found the small tunnel that led to the rest of Main
Drain.
After the short, small tunnel, the cave opened up. On subse-
quent visits, the group dropped into several pits as deep as
the fi rst, rappeled down a series of waterfalls as tall as 220
feet, wound through tiny slots and spent a lot of time wading
through 37-degree water.
Main Drain is 1,173 feet deep, and counting. The surveying
was stopped by snow, not by the end of the cave. Based on the
estimates of a few cavers who took a brief, unoffi cial look at the
next passage, that passage drops about 200 feet immediately after
the last survey point.
Jon Jasper, director of the Tony Grove project and Timpanogos Cave National Monument, said there is a real
possibility that the cave could end up deeper than 1,604 feet, the depth of New Mexico’s Lechuguilla Cave, the
deepest in the continental United States.
The purpose of the Tony Grove survey is “to fi nd and explore big caves,” Jasper said.
“We thought we’d see caves over 400 feet deep,” he said. “We never thought we’d see one 1,000 feet deep. So
this is cool.”
David Shurtz(left) and his son, Ryan, both of
Clearfi eld, look at a map of a cave in the Tony Grove
area.According to a U.S. Geological Survey dye test, the water eventually surfaces at Wood Camp Springs, more
than 3,000 feet below the cave’s entrance. So the cave could be that deep, but chances are something will stop
the cavers long before that.
“It’s already almost ended itself a couple of times,” Shurtz said.
In fact, if a harsh winter signifi cantly increases the water fl ow inside the cave, the explorers may never make it
to this season’s stopping point again. At one point, the water is funneled into a small tunnel, with only a foot of
air above the torrent.
“You’re basically sticking your lips to the ceiling. If it (the water level) raises about a foot, then you’re done,”
Shurtz said.
The cave can be compared to some of Zion National Park’s best and most diffi cult narrows: four drops of more
than 100 feet. Towering slots; rushing tributaries; a long, winding, wide-open section.
But there are some important differences: There is no light, little life and no escape.
It’s “eternally dark,” as Dave Shurtz, Ryan’s father, puts it. Deep in the cave, there are no bats, no moss and
certainly no ferns. While you can count on Zion’s narrows ending eventually, in this cave, there is no outlet.
Cavers come out the way they came in, climbing back up the ropes and emerging 12 to 14 hours later.
“You go in in the dark, you’re in the dark all day and you come out in the dark,” Ryan Shurtz said.
This summer, Shurtz made 10 trips to Main Drain, exploring and carefully measuring the cave’s dimensions.
Several others have been involved, including Dave Shurtz, Jasper, photographer Brandon Kowalis and Thomas
Haskett, Deception Pit’s fi rst surveyor.
The trips are brutal. As Kowalis says, “It’s amazing once you’re out of there, but it can be miserable while
you’re inside.”
If the cave gets much deeper, it may become an overnight trip, Dave Shurtz said.
They’ve found a nice camping spot -- other than the “eternally dark” factor -- in a room they call High and Dry.
That’s the last spot on the journey where Ryan Shurtz still feels “warm and happy.” But then the cave drops 178
feet, and they rarely leave the frigid water again.
“The hard part now is fi nding somebody who’ll go back,” he said.
*********
A NOTE ON SAFETY
Clearfi eld caver Dave Shurtz notes that not only are “99 percent” of Utah’s caves vertical, they are “very cold,
very wet and very sharp.”
*Main Drain Cave, for instance, is a constant 38 degrees. The water that fl ows, falls and pools throughout the
cave is one degree cooler.*The dolomite on the walls is “jagged, angular and sharp”; even a minor fall can be deadly.
*In a deep cave, trapped visitors can expect a rescue to be at least a week away.
*Caving requires specialized equipment (your rock climbing set-up won’t cut it) and knowledge.
Before attempting any caving, visit the Wasatch Grotto, the local chapter of the National Speleological Society.
The Wasatch Grotto meets on the second Monday of every month at 7 p.m. at the Bountiful/Davis Art Center,
754 S. Main St., Bountiful. For contact information for this and other state and national grottoes, visit www.
caves.org.
*********
LEAVE NO TRACE
The National Speleological Society advises all cavers: “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints,
kill nothing but time.” The touch of one hand can stop the growth of stalactites and stalagmites. Just one distur-
bance can kill a hibernating bat.
1. Avoid touching anything you don’t have to touch.
2. Do not sit or lean on anything.
3. Do not wear shoes that leave marks on limestone.
4. Don’t disturb bats.
5. Remove all solid and liquid wastes, including urine, feces and spit.
6. To avoid transferring foreign microbes, wash equipment before entering a cave.
7. Use soft, padded cave packs to minimize damage from brushing the walls.
Source: Minimum Impact Caving Code by Jim Werker and Val Hildreth-Werker, found on www.caves.org

[Don]

Wow! Thanks for posting. Thats amazing. As much as I would love to see something like the narrows the author describes I would hate the section described where there was only a foot of air above water in a tunnel.
I remember that Brandon Kowalis guy from high school; he used to hang around with my little brother a lot. I saw him on a Discovery Channel caving documentary made somewhere in south america about a year ago too.

[jman]

Don wrote: Wow! Thanks for posting. Thats amazing. As much as I would love to see something like the narrows the author describes I would hate the section described where there was only a foot of air above water in a tunnel.
I remember that Brandon Kowalis guy from high school; he used to hang around with my little brother a lot. I saw him on a Discovery Channel caving documentary made somewhere in south america about a year ago too.

Brandon did a lot of discovery caves in Southern Utah. In a geological survey, he published that just south of St. George he and friends/coworkers found and listed over 200+ caves/pits and of course they won't be published. But Brandon has done a LOT of work - its impressively amazing to map a cave - especially the infamous and confusing Bloomington Cave.

[mills mania]

Thats absolutely amazing! I had no idea that there was anything like that around here! Sounds extremely interesting! Ill bet plenty of people would like to go there, especially people on this here bogley eh?

[mills mania]

I feel another "journey to the center of the earth" coming on here! Only the real deal! Hope there aren't any ginormous lizards in there!

[bigrockman]

I had the opportunity to do Main Drain Last year with Brandon. It was by far the hardest cave I have ever done!!!! Once we reached the bottom I realized I was exhausted and still had the hardest part of all to go through. The huge pits were amazing to descend, but torture getting out of! The narrows were amazing too, and it was a cool feeling to be canyoneering in a cave. You can check out our pics on my site. http://utahcaves.blogspot.com/search/label/Main%20Drain

[accadacca]

Hi Spencer, Can you place a link to this section on your caving blog? Thanks. :2thumbs:

[jumar]

accadacca wrote: Hi Spencer, Can you place a link to this section on your caving blog? Thanks. :2thumbs:
I thought we already did...
Yep it's on our list of caving links.

[CarpeyBiggs]

:hail2thechief: :hail2thechief: :hail2thechief:

I'm speechless. :2thumbs:

[accadacca]

jumar wrote: accadacca wrote: Hi Spencer, Can you place a link to this section on your caving blog? Thanks. :2thumbs:
I thought we already did...
Yep it's on our list of caving links.
Ah ha! Sorry my bad. I should have searched "bogley" on that page. Thanks guys. :five: