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UER Forum > Archived US: Great Lakes > Donkey Kong Drain (Viewed 1795 times)
shotgun mario 


Location: MSP
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Donkey Kong Drain
< on 7/12/2008 2:05 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I had recently posted about this drain in the rookie forum, asking if anyone there had ever seen anything like it. Well, today we went back and fully climbed it, and decided to name it after the term a few people had called it in my last post. You asked for pictures, so here they are...


I really tried to get some good shots. I went in with 2 tripods, several lights, and even an umbrella if it was needed. Well... there was water. Lots of water. More than I remembered. Too much in fact to even be able to think, let alone set up any shots. So I took what I could as I climbed. I didn't film. I forgot to. I also forgot to count the steps. I started. I made it to 1. Then I forgot to count some more. I promise to at least attempt to take some video my next trip in, but it's really really dark, really really loud, really really wet, and really really difficult to do anything. You're eyes are being bombarded with liquid shrapnel, and even feeling for the ladder is dangerous. I will not be taking a large tripod in again, as it is much to dangerous to climb with in that water.



Here's the cliffs that we're climbing into... the drain is right behind me. Google earth says there's an 80 foot difference between the beach and the cliff top.



Just inside the drain entrance. Very loud already.



Midway down the tube. Can hardly hear the person a few feet from you.



Entrance to the vertical shaft. Too loud to talk, unless you have a good concert voice. I told you there was lots of water...



On the first step, trying to make a plan of attack. Here there's a bit of room to communicate.



Moving my light tripod up from one step to another. The water knocks the light tripod down when it's setup, so it's useless in here, along with my camera tripod.



Another [fairly] useless shot looking at the bottom of a step above. It was right about this time that I took my goggles off, and then lost them.



Passing more tripod between levels. It was very difficult to keep the lens free of water for more than a few seconds.



Looking down a step. Might as well be looking up, it all looks the same in there!



Planning to move from one level to the other. All of the steps had varying heights, from 5' to 10', in random placement. There was too much water to look up or down, so you had to guess your hand and footholds... some of the ladder steps were over 20" above the steps!



A better shot looking down at the chaos below.



Standing at the top. Bad news though...



The drain continues on in a 6' section, but it's a 5 foot leap, or a 15 foot fall to the step below.



There IS a manhole above it! From one of these rungs, we will take my rope ladder (seen in this post: http://www.uer.ca/...rpage=6&pp#post100), latch it to one of the rungs of the ladder, add some guide ropes, and swing our way over to that continued drain!



Beginning the trek back down... once again defeated, but with the will to return again!!!



When we got to the bottom, we decided to carefully measure the depth of the pool of water. It's about 4 feet deep.



Drying out of all of our gear. We didn't travel far, but was it ever difficult! Our rain suits kept the water out for about... 20 seconds.



Nice view of Lake Michigan.



The only faux long-exposure shot I got to take the whole trip (my camera cannot do long exposures, so I just merge several shots with my computer. Almost as good!).

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metawaffle 

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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 1 on 7/12/2008 2:59 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I love that shot over the lake, with you guys in the foreground - just brilliant. I'll bet that one conjures up instant nostalgia for you in the future.

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trent 

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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 2 on 7/12/2008 3:05 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Wow, I'm so excited to see this. Great pics considering the conditions.

Just to make sure I understand one thing. Once you got to the top, to continue on upsteam in the new tunnel, you'd have to jump over a 5' pit which is 15' back down to the last ledge? Just like super mario man...

I dunno, would it be feasible to take a small ladder up there? really light one? or you mentioned something about a rope ladder? If you can swing over and play a little Pitfall, that will be fun too. Just be careful! Great thread. As someone who followed your original thread about this, it's great content.

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matt31 


Location: Milwaukee WI
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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 3 on 7/12/2008 3:39 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
That looks like a nice exploration, I would like to find the cover at the top and look at the situation to get to the next section of drain, but there is no telling when I may get around to it.

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shotgun mario 


Location: MSP
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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 4 on 7/12/2008 4:29 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by TrentReznor
Just to make sure I understand one thing. Once you got to the top, to continue on upsteam in the new tunnel, you'd have to jump over a 5' pit which is 15' back down to the last ledge? Just like super mario man...



Here's the Plan:



sorry I got lazy with the ladder & didn't want to redraw

And here's a more-accurate detail of the drain... but the number steps and/or their size is still not correct:



If you want to protect the locations you love to explore, don't talk about them online in public!
If you want to make exploring friends, send people private messages! Meet up in real life! Get off the internet!
Don't try to have a UER e-penis! You won't impress anyone! This especially means you, Minneapolis MN newbies!
Wilk 


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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 5 on 7/12/2008 4:53 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Alright, I'll say it. Because of the gnarly drain exploration pictures and the drawings with Mario and Luigi in the afore mentioned drain, I nominate Shotgun Mario for winner of the internet.

So what lake is that, Michigan I assume?

Ready for liftoff
siologen 


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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 6 on 7/12/2008 7:29 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Top job carting all that gear thru it!

Id suggest using a time exposure to photograph it. The pic i put on your other thread was taken under similar if not nearly as wet conditions, plus i had more room.

Either way, flash photography like that utilized in the above shots catches the reflection of every water droplet.

Set up yer tripod somewhere level, under yer umbrella, then do a 15 second time exposure. Get in behind the falling water and illuminate it with a reasonably powerful flashlight or something similar. The time exposure allows the water to flow and in some ways 'tames' it. You also dont illuminate the gazillion other random flying droplets.

When the images below was taken, the atmosphere was soaked, water droplets and mist flying all over, but by illuminating the water off camera the stray moisture was eliminated from the shot.



[last edit 7/12/2008 7:30 AM by siologen - edited 1 times]

Big Drayyynes!
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shotgun mario 


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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 7 on 7/12/2008 5:31 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I really tried to do that... I wanted to do some faux exposure shots, and that's what all the gear was for. The problem is that the drain is only 8' diameter at best, so I'm virtually looking up through my shots. None of my lights were able to penetrate the water too far as well (I had a spotlight not pictured). Perhaps I'll give it one more go at a timed exposure... but most likely not the next time I am in there (which will not be the next time I drain... I'm going to do check out some others)

If you want to protect the locations you love to explore, don't talk about them online in public!
If you want to make exploring friends, send people private messages! Meet up in real life! Get off the internet!
Don't try to have a UER e-penis! You won't impress anyone! This especially means you, Minneapolis MN newbies!
trent 

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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 8 on 7/12/2008 11:28 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Dude, love the graphics, love the plan. If you can find out where that pesky man hole comes out, that might make for a much dryer entry if you keep going back there.

He who rules the underground, rules the city above.
Freak 


Location: Usually Alaska, now MSP.
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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 9 on 7/13/2008 3:08 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Nice drain! I've seen diagrams of that type of dropshaft, and we just found one in the Twin Cities, but I've never heard of anyone doing one. They're not common from what I can tell, nice work!

If there are other drains in your area with a similar elevation difference between outfall and upper level, it would be interesting to see what solutions the designers used for the shafts. That design is one way to break up the water flow (otherwise the force of water falling 80' would eventually break through the floor at the bottom). Other solutions include spiral stairways, spiral ramps, slides, and the ever popular impact cup temple. Collect them all!





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trent 

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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 10 on 7/14/2008 2:39 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by Freak
Other solutions include spiral stairways, spiral ramps, slides, and the ever popular impact cup temple. Collect them all!


LOL Classic!



He who rules the underground, rules the city above.
shotgun mario 


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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 11 on 7/14/2008 3:58 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Sweet. We just did another drain at the edge of a cliff, and it turned out to just be a shrinker running deep, with street level drains spilling in every few hundred yards down manhole chambers. Kinda a bummer. But then leaving was the best part. It was about 15 yards from a popular beach, and there were plenty of people out today. We all geared down deep in the last stretch of the tunnel, crawled out, and briskly walked as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Of course, the people around were extremely shocked, staring at us and whispering to one another, and at least one of them pulled out a phone. Then we got up the stairs as fast as we could, and the sound of sirens made sure that we just hopped in the car and got out ASAP (I doubt the sirens were for us, but that was the topper of the whole trip lol)

St. Paul looks so badass, I want to get up there so bad. Perhaps within a year or so I'll head out that way for a while... and if it's good enough I'll look for colleges in the area! I'd love to find a spiral staircase around here, but I doubt I will. Oh well. Milwaukee offers lots of combination drains, and those have lots of unique features and rooms made just for the old drains.

I also notice that my google bandwidth has been used up. Tomorrow I'll upload a select number of images to the UER server so that people can see at least some of them.

If you want to protect the locations you love to explore, don't talk about them online in public!
If you want to make exploring friends, send people private messages! Meet up in real life! Get off the internet!
Don't try to have a UER e-penis! You won't impress anyone! This especially means you, Minneapolis MN newbies!
MindHacker 


Location: Suburbs of DC
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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 12 on 7/14/2008 3:08 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
That's sweet. I love watching someone prep for a exploration and then go conquer it. And the Mario pictures were additionally great.

And thanks for linking from the other thread - I mighta missed it. Good work on every front.

"That's just my opinion. I would, however, advocate for explosive breaching, since speed and looking cool are both concerns in my job."-Wilkinshire
junkyard 


Location: LaCrosse, WI
Gender: Male


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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 13 on 7/15/2008 12:59 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
The pictures had all X's for me, but it seems you humped your share of gear. Now with only a backpack full of beer, you'd almost be ready for The Command.

I drink gasoline for breakfeast and beer for dinner!
Any problem can be licked with a case of beer and a few sticks of dynamite.
Strategic Beer Command ruling the desert since 1995 http://www.strategic-beer-command.com
shotgun mario 


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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 14 on 7/15/2008 3:11 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 

Please Note that this is a repost of my report, as I was stupid enough to hotlink the images off my private server, which was quickly flogged down with UER-effect. I also trimmed down images to reduce unnecessary images on the UER server

I had recently posted about this drain in the rookie forum, asking if anyone there had ever seen anything like it. Well, today we went back and fully climbed it, and decided to name it after the term a few people had called it in my last post. You asked for pictures, so here they are...


I really tried to get some good shots. I went in with 2 tripods, several lights, and even an umbrella if it was needed. Well... there was water. Lots of water. More than I remembered. Too much in fact to even be able to think, let alone set up any shots. So I took what I could as I climbed. I didn't film. I forgot to. I also forgot to count the steps. I started. I made it to 1. Then I forgot to count some more. I promise to at least attempt to take some video my next trip in, but it's really really dark, really really loud, really really wet, and really really difficult to do anything. You're eyes are being bombarded with liquid shrapnel, and even feeling for the ladder is dangerous. I will not be taking a large tripod in again, as it is much to dangerous to climb with in that water.


103971.jpg (33 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


Entrance to the vertical shaft. Too loud to talk, unless you have a good concert voice. I told you there was lots of water...


103972.jpg (83 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


Moving my light tripod up from one step to another. The water knocks the light tripod down when it's setup, so it's useless in here, along with my camera tripod.


103973.jpg (63 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


Another [fairly] useless shot looking at the bottom of a step above. It was right about this time that I took my goggles off, and then lost them.


103974.jpg (80 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


Looking down a step. Might as well be looking up, it all looks the same in there!


103975.jpg (70 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


Planning to move from one level to the other. All of the steps had varying heights, from 5' to 10', in random placement. There was too much water to look up or down, so you had to guess your hand and footholds... some of the ladder steps were over 20" above the steps!


103976.jpg (80 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


A better shot looking down at the chaos below.


103977.jpg (71 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


Bad News... the drain continues on in a 6' section, but it's a 5 foot leap, or a 15 foot fall to the step below.


103978.jpg (69 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


There IS a manhole above it! From one of these rungs, we will take my rope ladder (seen in this post: http://www.uer.ca/...rpage=6&pp#post100), latch it to one of the rungs of the ladder, add some guide ropes, and swing our way over to that continued drain!


103979.jpg (94 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


When we got to the bottom, we decided to carefully measure the depth of the pool of water. It's about 4 feet deep.


103980.jpg (69 kb, 1000x750)
click to view


Drying out of all of our gear. We didn't travel far, but was it ever difficult! Our rain suits kept the water out for about... 20 seconds. Nice view of Lake Michigan in the background.

If you want to protect the locations you love to explore, don't talk about them online in public!
If you want to make exploring friends, send people private messages! Meet up in real life! Get off the internet!
Don't try to have a UER e-penis! You won't impress anyone! This especially means you, Minneapolis MN newbies!
Macsbug 

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Location: St. Paul, MN
Gender: Male


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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 15 on 7/15/2008 4:03 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Kick ass!

Remember to tie the end of the ladder to something once you get in the upper level, wouldn't want to bring it all the way in to have to jump back out...

"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it."
junkyard 


Location: LaCrosse, WI
Gender: Male


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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 16 on 7/15/2008 6:32 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Yeah that would suck......alot. I'm just glad someone has some balls of sorts around here anymore. If you get drunk and do stupid shit you know who to call.....

I drink gasoline for breakfeast and beer for dinner!
Any problem can be licked with a case of beer and a few sticks of dynamite.
Strategic Beer Command ruling the desert since 1995 http://www.strategic-beer-command.com
shotgun mario 


Location: MSP
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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 17 on 7/15/2008 11:44 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
what fucking sucks the most is that I always carry a 5/8" dia 50' rope just in case... and this was the first time I didn't bring it because of all the other shit... I only had a tiny 3/16" dia for pulling gear up if we needed it; and I wouldn't trust anyone to swing on that thing after I saw how unstable it was when I demoed the rope ladder design with it. I can say I was extremely pissed at myself. We prob. could get into the drain, but the problem would have been getting out...

If you want to protect the locations you love to explore, don't talk about them online in public!
If you want to make exploring friends, send people private messages! Meet up in real life! Get off the internet!
Don't try to have a UER e-penis! You won't impress anyone! This especially means you, Minneapolis MN newbies!
wackodood 


Location: Twin Cities
Gender: Male




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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 18 on 7/16/2008 5:19 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by shotgun_mario
St. Paul looks so badass, I want to get up there so bad. Perhaps within a year or so I'll head out that way for a while... and if it's good enough I'll look for colleges in the area! I'd love to find a spiral staircase around here, but I doubt I will. Oh well. Milwaukee offers lots of combination drains, and those have lots of unique features and rooms made just for the old drains.



You'd be a good addition to the team of fuckwits up here, not that I have any say in the matter. I'd explore with you. Hope you like beer.

Perhaps you could make a Homer Simpson drain bridge out of a 2x4 and fix it to one of the rungs. Then you could harness up and walk across with the security in case you take a dive. Or do you know where the manhole leads to up top? Maybe I haven't read the thread thoroughly, but I imagine you could just follow the drain topside and land on another potential way in too.

I might be down that way tomorrow or something, I'll pm you after I post this.

shotgun mario 


Location: MSP
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Re: Donkey Kong Drain
<Reply # 19 on 7/16/2008 9:39 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
lol, I'd totally move up there if I can find just one more reason outside of exploring. Too bad I'm still too young to legally get away with drinking... but so long as we don't get caught I don't see a problem...

PLEASE WISCONSIN!!! LOWER THE DRINKING AGE!!! YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT IT, NOW DO IT!!!

If you want to protect the locations you love to explore, don't talk about them online in public!
If you want to make exploring friends, send people private messages! Meet up in real life! Get off the internet!
Don't try to have a UER e-penis! You won't impress anyone! This especially means you, Minneapolis MN newbies!
UER Forum > Archived US: Great Lakes > Donkey Kong Drain (Viewed 1795 times)
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