[Nmcaver] MAD, Issue 7 & Big-G

[Gill Ediger]

At 10:23 AM 2/16/2007, John P Brooks wrote:
>Call me old school.... The use of such a device is offensive on so many 
>levels that one could spend hours debating them.

Hey, Old School--
Not to be argumentative here (since not many folks'll be using these beasts 
anyhow--unless for rescues, perhaps, and I really don't care much either 
way) but a similar argument could have been made when we went from prussik 
loops to Jumars and other mechanical ascenders way back in the--what was 
it?--'60s. A whole bunch of folks refused to make the change out of 
aesthetic stubbornness and lack of vision--at least for a few years. And 
carbide vs. electric is still an aesthetic issue (both ways) for some folks.

As far as Golondrinas goes: There was--and I guess still is--occasional 
talk of commercializing Golondrinas. When that first became an issue of 
discussion about 25 years ago it took me about 3 minutes to devise an 
overly effective and exciting method of getting people to the bottom--just 
as an interesting mental exercise in case anybody ever did got it together 
to do such a thing. It takes advantage of the bell-shaped structure of the 
hole--bigger at the bottom than at the top. An elevator shaft is excavated 
from the surface and located so as to intersect (break out of) one of the 
long walls about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up the pit and at a place where a 
minimal amount of structural material will secure a steel shaft to the wall 
the rest of the way to the floor. The elevator will be made of glass on 3 
sides and the bottom. People get in on the surface and the elevator car 
starts down in the rock walled dug shaft, perceptibly accelerating all the 
while. Just before it gets to the breakout point the lights are turned out 
in the car. This will raise the anxiety level a notch or two just to get 
folks in the mood. Some prerecorded gasps or wheezes played over a PA 
system at the same time wouldn't hurt, either, I guess. Then, in a mere 
second, the whole thing breaks out into the abject openness of the day 
lighted pit, 600 or 800 feet above the floor, visibly unsupported, free 
falling in space at the maximum speed allowed by law. The important thing 
is that they get their money's worth outa the "Big Pit Experience." Adding 
to the adventure will be the several people who refuse to ride in the 
elevator for the trip back to the top.

I think this will make a better ride than the double helix approach--more 
aesthetic, less intrusive. And will require fewer barf-bags.

But we'll keep a mop and bucket at the bottom to clean the elevator car, 
I'm pretty sure. Ah, what fun this caving can be!

--Ediger