Vortex revisited

[Kevin Carlisle]

Thanks Kevin. So the last one- is that the last one Edd made it through or the last one he encountered before turning? 4 inches- that is crazy.

Well nobody is going to squeeze through a 4 inch gap, 160ft underwater and 1500 or so feet inside a cave LOL. He stopped there because he had long passed where divers had been. If i remember correctly, it was so small it took him several minutes just to move 20 feet.

 

[doakc]

Keep that in mind when you talk about a beginning diver going to places that only the most highly skilled cave divers can go. It is inconceivable to me that a diver at that skill level could go there without leaving a trace.

great point.

 

[doakc]

What about this quote from an online story: "She and McClellan drove to Vortex intending to shoot a documentary. Heinerth and a cave diving partner filmed in the cave. She wanted to show the video to the McDaniels and try to gently explain how cave diving works and give them closure, she said.
Then she read Ben's diving log books. He was mapping the cave. It showed he had made at least one dive to the far reaches of the cave."

Any clue how far back he got?

 

[ucfdiver]

What about this quote from an online story: "She and McClellan drove to Vortex intending to shoot a documentary. Heinerth and a cave diving partner filmed in the cave. She wanted to show the video to the McDaniels and try to gently explain how cave diving works and give them closure, she said.
Then she read Ben's diving log books. He was mapping the cave. It showed he had made at least one dive to the far reaches of the cave."

Any clue how far back he got?

Hard to tell, since Ben was mapping visually rather than using any form of accurate survey techniques.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Ok, i know what he meant. When Edd went as far as possible, the passage is very small with what we call restrictions. This is smaller than average places to squeeze through. He said the last one, looked like a crack cause it was only about 4 inches tall or so. Technical term would be restriction.

For most of us, attempting a restriction that small would be like trying to be born again ... and I don't mean in the religious sense. Your head wouldn't even fit through a space that size ... and Ben was wearing a helmet ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

He was mapping the cave. It showed he had made at least one dive to the far reaches of the cave."

Any clue how far back he got?

How far back? Not beyond the reaches of the current maps... I saw his logbook, it was pretty messy. He had alot of notes, but his maps are not what I would consider accurate.

 

[Hetland]

doakc:

Most folks breathing air or nitrox (oxygen enriched air) at a depth of 160ft, will be extremely limited in their mental faculties. Any physical exertion, which causes CO2 to build up in your blood will multiply this effect. You are essentially anesthetized, and divers have overworked themselves at deeper depths and fell asleep, which results in drowning unless a buddy is right there to assist (and sometimes results in death anyway).

The folks that searched for Ben used a breathing mixture that was enriched with helium, which does not have the same narcotic effects as nitrogen and CO2. This allowed them to be clear headed as they moved past the more challenging parts of the cave.

When someone says that Ben lacked the skills to get further into the cave, they're not (always) just being mean to Ben because he lacked training, they are saying this because it's virtually impossible to believe that a helmeted untrained diver, suffering from significant narcosis (because he used the wrong gasses) was able to get his two 8" diameter tanks past an area where a pinnacle diver was stopped because his head (sans helmet) and smaller tanks wouldn't fit.

 

[doakc]

thank you for all your replies. This has been really interesting to learn about.

 

[ucfdiver]

How do we know Ben didn't take off his helmet?

 

[LiteHedded]

How far back? Not beyond the reaches of the current maps... I saw his logbook, it was pretty messy. He had alot of notes, but his maps are not what I would consider accurate.

don't let that get in the way of an exciting documentary