5 ms·
For people who've never had the experience, it's stunning how fast a stray kick into the silt can turn the water in a cave pitch black. Like barely able to see
by x0x0 8y ago
For people who've never had the experience, it's stunning how fast a stray kick into the silt can turn the water in a cave pitch black. Like barely able to see your hand dark. Even when you're used to it most people will find it very claustrophobic.
From the surface, it's easy to say just follow the guide cables the divers have no doubt installed. Doing that in person is quite different.
The other issue is these are some calorie deprived kids probably not in shape for an extended workout. Maintaining body heat and fighting a not-particularly strong current for 10 hours is taxing for very physically fit people who haven't been food deprived. And who aren't scared out of their minds and burning through oxygen.
- TeMPOraL 8y ago> For people who've never had the experience, it's stunning how fast a stray kick into the silt can turn the water in a cave pitch black. Like barely able to see your hand dark. Even when you're used to it most people will find it very claustrophobic. For some reason reading this made me shiver in fear. I don't usually visualize scary stuff when I read it, but this did it. I know I would be scared to death if it were to happen to me.
- callahad 8y agoIn practice, the training is excellent and you'll have dozens of zero-visibility experiences before finishing the certification. You learn that as long as you have the line in your hand and you stuck to your gas limits, you have everything you need to make it out alive, even if it takes you twice as long to do so. ...the trick is what happens when you don't have the guideline in your hand, or something goes wrong with your equipment, or someone's tanks run out, or a diver gets lost, etc. But you train for that, too.
- gaius 8y agoFrom the surface, it's easy to say just follow the guide cables the divers have no doubt installed Someone asked my cave instructor, if you lose the line how long should you search for it? The rest of your life, he replied.
- roel_v 8y agoProbably a naive question, but why don't they hook people up to guide cables with another line or cable?
- gaius 8y agoBecause then you couldn’t pass a tie-off, where the line is fixed to something like a rock. Also, risk of entanglement.
- narvval 8y agoYou could pass a tie-off if you had two carabiners, as you do in via ferrata. Don't know about the entanglement risk though... I'm not a diver but that sounds way less dangerous to me than losing the cable altogether, since worst case you could just release the carabiner
- gaius 8y agoAnother thing to consider is this is just a guideline - 2-3mm nylon, fixed in place often just be wrapping around a handy outcropping. If you tug on it with any force it will come loose. And then you and everyone in the cave with you are in a lot of trouble.
- wallflower 8y agoAnother thing that guide mentions is that if the nylon guideline is cut, it will rapidly snap and retract and spool up (kind of like a fishing line). Also I read an accident report of some divers who survived a silt out condition, they spent a lot of time carefully figuring out what direction they should follow the rope out to exit the cave in places where it has been wrapped around a stone a few times to anchor it.
- saiya-jin 8y agowhy not use something like in via ferrata sets - a single easy-to-open carabiner with a short cord, attached to you. when you climb a ferrata, you clip&unclip hundreds of times, nothing particularly complicated or taxing, and in water you would need only a basic one with little resistance on the gate opening part. you could pass along the cable holding the carabiner in one hand, not slowing you down