I posted a report of our exploration of the west line at Rock Lake in Santa Rosa, NM, in this thread: Rock Lake Trip Report. I am going to use this thread to detail further explorations as time goes by.
Yesterday we made a preliminary exploration of the north end. As reported earlier, the existing north line descends at a slope we estimated to be at about 30°, starting on a ledge at about 40 feet. Making good use of high school geometry, we estimated that it hits the bottom at about 135 feet out from a vertical drop from that ledge, making it less than ideal as a starting point for north wall diving. So we got a large block and new line and dropped it straight down from that ledge. With a weight as big as the one we had and all that depth, this was not an easy operation to do safely, and it took us a while to get it done. So now there is a vertical ascent/descent line at the north end to use as a starting/stopping point for dives.
The line did not play out as far as we expected it to, so we were not sure what we would find at the bottom. When we got there, we found that it had landed on a surprisingly steep slope. We moved it down the slope a little, which stirred up some silt. We then tied a line off and headed north, with the goal of finding how far back the overhang goes. One of us led the way with a compass, and the second diver followed close behind with a reel. I was last in line, carrying a bundle of PVC stakes which I used as attachment points in the deep silt for the line we were laying. I sunk them into the silt and then wrapped the line. I was working in zero visibility because of the very fine silt that was stirred up by those ahead of me. I just kept one hand on the line and shoved in a stake every now and then.
We came to the wall much sooner than expected. We were thinking it might be 100 feet based on experiences in the shallower sections, but we did not come close to that. We entered a large boulder field, tied off the line, and worked our way back to the new descent line. We made another effort to move the block down the slope, creating another massive silt explosion, and then made our ascent. The deepest part of that experience was only about 268 feet--we were expecting a little more.
On some future date we will go back to see what we actually did and what that area looks like. In my role of bringing up the rear, I pretty much never saw a thing.
Today we will be looking at some features at a shallower depth.
Yesterday we made a preliminary exploration of the north end. As reported earlier, the existing north line descends at a slope we estimated to be at about 30°, starting on a ledge at about 40 feet. Making good use of high school geometry, we estimated that it hits the bottom at about 135 feet out from a vertical drop from that ledge, making it less than ideal as a starting point for north wall diving. So we got a large block and new line and dropped it straight down from that ledge. With a weight as big as the one we had and all that depth, this was not an easy operation to do safely, and it took us a while to get it done. So now there is a vertical ascent/descent line at the north end to use as a starting/stopping point for dives.
The line did not play out as far as we expected it to, so we were not sure what we would find at the bottom. When we got there, we found that it had landed on a surprisingly steep slope. We moved it down the slope a little, which stirred up some silt. We then tied a line off and headed north, with the goal of finding how far back the overhang goes. One of us led the way with a compass, and the second diver followed close behind with a reel. I was last in line, carrying a bundle of PVC stakes which I used as attachment points in the deep silt for the line we were laying. I sunk them into the silt and then wrapped the line. I was working in zero visibility because of the very fine silt that was stirred up by those ahead of me. I just kept one hand on the line and shoved in a stake every now and then.
We came to the wall much sooner than expected. We were thinking it might be 100 feet based on experiences in the shallower sections, but we did not come close to that. We entered a large boulder field, tied off the line, and worked our way back to the new descent line. We made another effort to move the block down the slope, creating another massive silt explosion, and then made our ascent. The deepest part of that experience was only about 268 feet--we were expecting a little more.
On some future date we will go back to see what we actually did and what that area looks like. In my role of bringing up the rear, I pretty much never saw a thing.
Today we will be looking at some features at a shallower depth.
