Xalltégoxtli 1999

The seed had been planted some eight years previously and had lain dormant since then. But while on our annual Dos Aguas Expedition at Xmas 1998 we were kicking around ideas on where to go for our Easter week break and Ramon finally decided it was time to re-visit what was to become known as "Ramón's Most Amazing Cave". Beautiful active river passages, large, well decorated fossil passages, aragonite bushes, 2km of survey with over 2km straight-line and minus 300m down to the resurgence to go, and an 8km long, -553m deep cave just upstream to connect into. It had it all. It just happens to be a 1000km drive from my house!

Logistics were as usual left to the very last minute with the final team members still not known 24 hours before departure time. I knew that I was going, along with Vicente from Guadalajara and we had tried to convince British caver, Nick Hawkes, to come with us but he was still up in Chihuahua on the Friday morning before our intended 7am departure Sat. morning from Ramon's house in Mexico City. Fortunately he hadn't forgotten and he called me Friday morning to check on things, or more to the point to be convinced that it was worth him wrangling permission from his wife to go. So I worked on him off and on through various phone calls during the day with the result that by 5pm (my intended departure time from Guadalajara) he committed to going, but with a 10pm departure. So thus it was we arrived at Ramón's house at 5 am Sat. morning only managing to get lost finding Vicente's house in Guadalajara and then Ramón's house in Mexico City (fortunately there are always people on the streets in Mexico City to ask directions, even at 4:30am!).

Saturday's departure was fortunately a bit late allowing us a couple hours of extra sleep before heading further east past the smoking volcano down to the Veracruz coastal plain. Once at Cordova we hung a right and headed back into the hills at the place where the states of Puebla, Veracruz and Oaxaca all come together. This was the fabled holely land I had been hearing and reading about for years and Ramón proceeded to point out the pertinent landmarks as we progressed further up into the hills. The first cave of note was one that the Brits found at the end of the Black Holes Expedition on a scouting trip. The entrance is literally right next to the road and provided them with 8km of passage, and a lovely swimming on the other side of the road. Visible up in the hills was the area the Belgians have been working and which hosts 3 different 1km deep systems. A little to the left is the Sierra Negra where the Quebecois have been working that has some good long caves and some impressive shafts like the 320m deep Petit Quebec shaft. Somewhere in-between those are areas being worked by UNAM and the Polytecnico from Mexico. Just over the hills is the Cheve area and then just beyond that, the deepest in Mexico, the Huautla System. Holey land indeed!

Ramón had been to our target cave back in 1990 along with his wife Ruthi, Marc Tremblay and girlfriend. They had hiked down from higher up the mountain looking for electricity so Marc could give a slide show to the locales and to check for resurgences. The locale land owner, Don Rutelio, promptly pointed them in the direction of the local resurgence and gave them a hut to camp in. In two days they surveyed 1016m downstream in big fossil passage and 1018m upstream in very active streamway, including some long swims. The two caves were tantalizingly close, but not connected. They hiked out the bottom and figured that we could drive to the end of the road and rent donkeys to carry our gear up to the entrance.

As 8 years had gone by it shouldn't have been a big surprise to find that the road had been extended and actually goes all the way up to El Cumbre now, an area of deep pits visited by the Quebecois. Thus it was we bounced into the little town of T????? late in the afternoon, just in time to organize mules for the following morning. We were given the local school to camp out in (for a modest "tip") and were treated to the first rainstorm in about two months. This not minutes after being told by one of the locales that this was not the time of year for rain and that those big, nasty, black clouds weren't going to amount to anything.

7am came all too early. The mules were loaded and off we went under crisp blue skies. The whole of the Sierra was visible, and it was clear that a lot of the upper area of the Belgians had been burned in the fires of 1998. Finding entrances up there now would be a whole lot easier. Just out of town a huge black hole was seen across the valley that must be at least 30m wide by 40m tall and turned out to be the main resurgence for the Belgians and had been mapped for 20km. Two hours of slightly up and down trial brought us out at the cavers chalet of Don Rutelio. Unfortunately he hadn't been maintaining it and besides we were now 9 people and so we headed up to camp in the entrance like I had been planning on all along. Another two hours got us and our gear installed in the ample entrance. The name Xalltégoxtli means Cave of Sand in the local Nahuatl language, because they used to haul sand out of it to use to mix with their cement (there being no other source of sand in the valley). So we used the left over of their sand pile to make flat sleeping areas and settled in. The cave was blowing out a nice comfortable 16 degree C wind which was a respite from the building heat outside.

Breakfast was the first order business before deciding what to do with the rest of the day. The majority opted to do a slow trip in to get to know the cave and see the pretties, and maybe push the main fossil route. I talked Vicente into to going to try and connect the two caves by way of a climb noted by Ramon on his previous survey. This was really laziness on my part as the climb was right by camp and I counted on Vicente doing the actual climbing. So while the rest of the group went right, on into the cave, we went left into the by-pass series. Out of curiosity we popped down into the sump along the way and noticed that it had a lot of air flow. It also looked like it could have dropped a lot in level since Dec. when they were here before. It looked so good in fact that we decided to go back and change into shorts to go for the swim and see if it connected. Vicente got the honors of testing the waters (me being the book person and reading instruments) and dragged the survey tape through with him. Sure enough, 10m across was the other mud bank and out he walked into the other cave, now this cave. One survey shot and we doubled the length of the cave! I didn't even have to get wet.

That project dispensed with we set off to look for the presumed active downstream route (also located conveniently close to camp). A narrow chimney downclimb noted by Ramón led us down into a picturesque calcite rimmed pool passage. Water dripped down from active stalagmites and continued down the streamway over gour dams and big flowstone drops. Pool, drop, pool, drop. All of it picture perfect. We ogled our way down this until we came to a drop that would have required swimming at the bottom (we had changed back out of our shorts and left the survey gear behind). This was certainly going to be a gem to push. We spent the rest of the afternoon pushing climbs in the roof around the top of the chimney downclimb. The cave just seemed to go off in every direction and we still hadn't gotten more than 100m from camp. Ramón and gang had meanwhile gone to the end of the previous survey only to find the main passage stooping down into a mud-bowl section not enticing to push. So they back-tracked a bit and climbed up a 10m high flowstone into a large branch passage. It followed along with its 5 to 10m width going up and down to end in another 10m high flowstone climb. Numerous aragonite encrusted calcite stal decorated the way, along with an abundance of spaghetti-like helectites. Not a bad start to the week.

Monday was the first day I could finally say I awoke well rested and so off went three different teams. Vicente and Nick were talked into going upstream to see if the Brutal Cascade could be passed and to see what difficulties were above. Ramon commandeered the beautiful active downstream with Curro and Ixta while I took a team to push the climb at the end of new fossil section.

Our first order of business was to repeat the first climb which was now a little mud slicked after 7 people doing it the day before. So Ruthi scampered on up and threw down a rope for the rest of us to use as a hand-line and we bat-manned our way up. The 350m of passage they netted on their stroll yesterday was indeed quite lovely but (in my opinion) not quite up to the promotion as most of the stalactites (many aragonite covered) and helectites had a slight brown smudging on them as if dust from the ample air movement was being caught up in their formation. (I was duly chastized for my comments and forbidden to mention the Lechuguilla word for the rest of the week.)

Our first intended lead was a pith off the side of the passage that was about 8m deep and had a tall rift going off in two directions. I rigged it and Ruthi dropped in to find that it quickly turned into crawls in both ends. Not this year. Continuing on to the end of their previous day Ruthi then dispatched with our intended climb and graciously threw down another rope for us follow her up. This put us into a continuing large passage with stal poking up and down all over the place. The way on led up a steep flowstone climb (what else?) which Ruthi had to do in her socks so as to get better grip. It unfortunately pinched out in flowstone blockage, calling for a retreat and a few photos.

Not wanting to believe this way on could end we poked into the holes around the base of the climb and Ruthi downclimbed one not to be seen again. Eventually we heard her faint voice ascending a different pitch but could not manage to guide her back to the one she went down to start with. The word was, once she made it back, was that the way one was "a bit complex". But a way on was what we were there for, so down we went surveying through steep rifts which dropped down in unusual directions. After the initial narrow stuff it opened back up into 4m wide and 10m tall passage which had to be traversed with care as there was no flat floor to follow. It went down to a sump which Ruthi figured needed a rope to get back out of so she wisely decided not to go in in the first place. Before heading back in retreat I climbed up above where we had gone down and found that the air actually went up and over into a continuing rift the same size if not bigger. I didn't check it out very thoroughly and sent Ruthi ahead with the tape only to have her call back that there was a 20m pitch ahead that I must have looked right across the top of into going passage on the other side. This seemed like a reasonable place to call it a day as we had no such rope with us.

The upstream team had been successful in getting past the Brutal Cascade and had followed some "very sporting" stream passage that climbed up very steeply with the raging water right beneath your hand or foot. The others had headed down the active downstream and gone only one pool past were we had been on Sun. and turned around because they didn't want to get wet. This after being told that we had left it at a swim!

After much badgering I conceded to let Ramón have another crack at the active downstream on the Tues. (I figured after pre-empting it the previous day and then failing to push it, he had lost his exploration rights) But there was the active upstream to push and survey which sounded even more exciting so I convinced Vicente to be guide for Ruthi and I and we managed to set off well before noon expecting a long day. This was just as well since Vicente managed to get us lost within 100m of the entrance before even getting to the active streamway. To be fair, the size of the entrance section was rather overwhelmingly big and going under the house sized boulders as opposed to over them seemed like a reasonable thing to do at the time. We got a weird surprise as we were climbing down through these blocks and gained an overflow rift section with a pool of water in it. Staring up out of the pool was a set of gleaming eyes. They could have been a cat or some such thing but after not moving while Ruthi caught up to us we figured we could approach closer to see what it was. It turned out to be the reflector off Vicente's headlamp that had fallen off yesterday whilst climbing over the top of the pool. So we weren't lost after all, it just wasn't the best route to get to where we wanted to be. (For the record, you leave the entrance chamber and climb over the TOP of the house sized boulders and stroll on into the active stream passage - reverse said directions to get out).

Once into the streamway we were quickly forced to swim in a series of long canals. A 200m one was shortly followed by a 150m and numerous other short ones before popping out into some lovely 15m wide, tall canyon passage with only ankle deep water flowing over gravel. Delightful. It wasn't a big surprise for Vicente to encounter a waterfall pouring down in the middle of one chamber that wasn't there the day before as it had rained all the previous afternoon. The Brutal Cascade was soon reached and the rigged rope a nice psychological aid to climb up the wall beside the ragging (much bigger than yesterday) cascade. Ramón had been here previous during Xmas when it rains almost everyday and the water then fell halfway down and shot out off a ledge actually preventing then from even getting near the actual climb. At this time of year it was simply very noisy and intimidating, but quite do-able. That concept had to be keep at the very forefront of your thoughts at all times in this section or you would be turned back in fear. The size of the passage at 2 to 4m in diameter was ample but not big as the previous swims and here the water continued to pound down with an incessant furry. You weren't sure which you were more scarred of - taking a fall as a piece of the incredibly eroded rock broke under your weight and/or being dumped into the stream and being pummeled to little bits. The climbs were steep and in places actually overhanging, but fortunately the rock was in reality quite solid despite being eroded into ribbons less than a centimeter thick in places (you just didn't use those sections). I definitely haven't experienced those kinds of stress levels since a 2m diameter ice column collapsed in a chamber above us on a trip in Austria in 1992, almost sealing us into the cave.

The surveying went along well and took us through the big chamber they had found yesterday and figured was the connection room. But from the descriptions we had there shouldn't have been a lake on the other side, and besides we hadn't gone the required 300m horizontal. So we plunged on into the lake (a wade as it turned out) and continued on into steeply climbing passage. The walls now varied between solid bedrock and being more house sized boulders with holes going off everywhere. We followed the stream as best we could until a point where it created a waterfall that looked un-passable, coming out of a flat bedding plain. So we spent almost an hour looking for a way around and finally surveyed up into a probable by-pass with a big room visible beyond, but one that required a rope to enter. That seemed like a good place to turn back. On the downclimb I spotted an opening that went in right above the waterfall and immediately popped up into the same big room. A quick look around showed that the stream then came out a sump and the strong airflow we had also been following was nowhere to be seen. As it obviously had to go somewhere through here, we left it for a another day.

Meanwhile Ramón and team had taken the plunge and pushed the active downstream for a 700m survey day leaving it still going in complex rift passage. Our hoped for easy connections were apparently not going to be easy.

Wed. turned into a rest day for everyone and Nick and Curro left early to regain the favor of their spouses. This reduced the team to seven people and on the Thurs. Vicente and I took the two Castillo girls on a photo trip. We first hit the active downstream to get the gours and flowstone drops and then went up into the fossil section, mainly snapping pretties in Hyperspace (a profusely decorated chamber on the main route). On the way back I checked into a bunch of unmarked side leads off the main route trying to get the map up to date. Meanwhile Ramón took Ruthi and Sergio down the active downstream on a long, slow, pushing trip. They only managed to add about 150m of passage and were all intimidated by the loose rock and amount of climbing required. Mind you if they had taken more than one piece of rope as was recommended they could have avoided that panic. Downclimbing pitches is not to be recommended anywhere let alone when the rock is crumbly. As they figured this was going to be a major effort to continue they de-rigged, knowing nobody was going to want a really long day before having to leave early on Sat (ya, we're all getting soft).

Friday was to be our last chance to connect into Cueva de los Angeles and Ramon was the one talked in to going up with Ruthi and Vicente. I decided to push some of the side leads I had checked the previous day with Illi. The other two rested up for the departure on Sat. (really soft).

It wasn't much more than 300m from camp that we stooped through a low opening and popped up into a large chamber that hadn't been explored before. We surveyed into the 80m long room with a large sloping sand bank heading up and up. After passing the bony remains of some rodent it climbed steeply into a narrow rift. After hitting a T junction we then tied into one of Ramon's original survey markers from 1991. Exiting from Puerto Escondido we then followed the outlet streamway (now dry) that started as nice walking but quickly degenerated into a crawlway. Fortunately it just as quickly opened back up again justifying the steady airflow. Soon it began heading down with a vengeance. As Illi was out front with the tape I was letting her call the shots on whether we should continue, but downclimbing was not going to turn her back. She chimneyed down a 1m wide chute and replied that it still looked reasonable. She didn't mention that it was an undercut, vertical downclimb with another 5 or 6m to the floor below. But having disappeared down it I had little choice but to follow.

Back horizontal again it looked like it was opening up, though the going was still slow as the rock was incredibly eroded with bits sticking out here and there that had to be passed slowly. Sure enough just as it got big enough not to have to brush by the projections it went vertical again. We had emerged near the top of a 2 to 3m wide rift that was 10 to 15m high. At the bottom could be seen a slowing flowing stream. It was so tempting to downclimb into it but the rock was now just like Ramon had described in the other downstream route, really rotten. So we turned around leaving yet another downstream route with a completely new flowing stream to follow for next year.

The news that we were all really waiting for though was what happened upstream with Ramón's team. They returned after dark with news that things were pretty complicated up there and the air flow had finally been followed to a small hole that easily blew out their ceiling burners. As it needed enlarging to enter it had to be left for next year.

The total for the week brought the caves together and made a 4160m long cave with 220m of vertical relief (+90m, -130m). We must be quite close to the Cueva de los Angeles (8000m long and 553m deep) above us, but just how close is hard to say without an accurate surface survey. And then there are the side leads in that section as well. Downstream there appears to be about 300m vertical to the known river below (where the resurgence actually comes out is not known, but is presumed to be close to that or it would be visible from the nearby slopes(said known river enters a slot like canyon some 2km upstream and was attempted as a canyoneering trip by the Belgians, but they ran out of rope)). Then there is the other 10km long cave that bottoms out just about below Don Rutelios house, only a couple 100m's from the line of our present cave. We also noticed on our walk out that the sizable stream on surface that comes out of our cave sinks again about 1km down the valley just before it starts to steeply drop into the river canyon below. Should be enough to keep us busy next Easter Week.

By Chris Lloyd; May, 1999

All Photos by Chris Lloyd (with help from Vicente and Ixta)

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