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 phractal
 
Location: freeland, WA
Gender: Male
I think therefore I'll tell you what I think.
 |  | Re: drain question
<Reply # 20 on 2/13/2011 6:54 AM >
|  | | | Hopefully this bit of thread will move me closer to becoming a full member...
As an ex Denver drainer, I've only had one scarey ride in a tunnel. It was probably 2001 and I was doing a sneak in a drain just north of 20th street on the south platte river. The beginning was all square concrete but opened up into a large chamber a few hundred yards up. Off of that was a small hand layed brick round opening that led into a 5' round brick tunnel that stretched on for miles.
My partner and I set off north. (knowing that the other way only led to a grated spill into the platte) And as we went, we saw small 1' openings that I assumed went to other storm drains. We plodded on for probably an hour and every several hundred feet, we saw a manhole access that went up probably 15 or more feet.
About 2 miles in, we heard rushing water behind us. We looked at the walls of the tunnel and saw that the potential water line would be more than enough to drown us. Panicked, we ran (as best as one can do in a tunnel) from the sound further into the tunnel. I thought, at the time, that the drains must have had some sort of flood gate set on timers, and that we were gonna die by getting caught between cycles. Our bodies flattened against the grate at the end. It would have taken them days to find us.
While running up tunnel, my crappy Eddie Bauer flashlight took a dump on me. (phucking worthless light) I scrambled for my Mag 2-D and kept going. At some point, I fell and managed to break the 2-D bulb. My buddy (with only a Mag 2-AA) stopped long enough for me to change bulbs. At which point, we realized that the noise had stopped. The water had quit.
After breathing a sigh of relief and nursing my poor ankle for a few minutes, we noticed that the sound had returned, only now, it was coming from ahead of us. The closest man hole access was a few hundred feet behind us. We "ran" like hell and after much panic, made it back to the chamber, where we took huge breaths and thanked the underworld for our safe return.
We were tired and very aware of our mortality when we stepped out of that system. We had been in scarey places before (some, involving gunfire) but none quite like that. It was a defining moment in my UE experience. I realized that I was not as smart as I thought I was and that the wrong equipment could someday get me killed. The fact that I had spare equipment wasn't because I was smart, but because I thought it made me cool to have all that sh!t in my trunk. Thank god for making me want to look cool...
For drainers, particularly in the Denver metro area, I should point out it rains every day in the summer for exactly 15 minutes at exactly 12:00 noon. Early summer is not a draining time. Save it for fall.
the mighty phractal
Where'd my oh there it is go?...damn.
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Therrin
    
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: North of Chicago, IL
Gender: Male
*Therrin puts on the penguin-suit
| |  | Re: drain question
<Reply # 21 on 2/13/2011 7:45 AM >
| | | | So uh, did any water ever actually get to you guys? Did you ever figure out where it came from? Was it actually from rain?
I had this crazy mental picture of you guys awkwardly hauling ass one way, then the other way, and you scrambling around with your busted ass lights...
Go waterproof/bulb-less LED bro. And maybe try some headlamps. They look hella cool unless there's cute chicks around who aren't a part of your underground crew. Then they just look dorky as all fuck.
But having your hands free and not dropping your light is pretty cool too!
Give a person a match and they'll be warm for a minute, but light them on fire and they'll be warm for the rest of their life. =) |
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phractal
Location: freeland, WA
Gender: Male
I think therefore I'll tell you what I think.
| | Re: drain question
<Reply # 22 on 2/13/2011 8:22 AM >
| | | | Towards the end, we were almost shin deep. We started out dry.
LED would have been cool but this was early 2000s. Slightly out of our price range. Head lamps would have been great but we had limited bum hunting gear which barely included our sharp slim-cam.
These days, I role with an Inova X5 and a Garrity LED backup. Good enough gear for a lazy bastard like me. Where I live now, rain ain't so big a concern as tides. (though flood levels and deadheads play a big part in my world)
I'm at the top of the lighting food chain now and I know what a good light is. (the inova got 5 stars from "flashlightreviews")
That sneak was poorly executed but it was when I was a kid. I know better now.
Hopefully, my story might save you from drowning yourself.
the mighty phractal
Where'd my oh there it is go?...damn.
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Therrin
This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.
Location: North of Chicago, IL
Gender: Male
*Therrin puts on the penguin-suit
| | | Re: drain question
<Reply # 23 on 2/13/2011 10:41 AM >
| | | | A water-resistant, Nichia LEDx5 light is the top of the lighting food chain now?
Damn, I think we went backwards a few notches. =P
Sorry, when I wrote my question I didn't realize your story was from the 2000 era. Things were a bit different back then. Maglites were still awesome, being a computer geek made you "weird", and I was totally unsexy.
My my my how time changes things.
Glad you made it out alright though =)
Give a person a match and they'll be warm for a minute, but light them on fire and they'll be warm for the rest of their life. =) |
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hatsumi
  
| |  | Re: drain question
<Reply # 24 on 2/14/2011 12:02 AM >
| | | | " raining for exactly fifteen minutes at 12.00 " that's some precise mother nature action right there
drainasaurus maximus |
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phractal
Location: freeland, WA
Gender: Male
I think therefore I'll tell you what I think.
| | Re: drain question
<Reply # 25 on 2/14/2011 5:46 AM >
| | | | Posted by hatsumi
" raining for exactly fifteen minutes at 12.00 " that's some precise mother nature action right there
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Denver's like that. Though in the winter, it can be -5 in the morning and 75 at 2:00 pm then right back to blizzard in a few hours. It's like mother nature on menopause. Thornton is roughly 6000 ft above sea level and the weather up there has little warning. Drive through the Eisenhower tunnel on I-70 and at one end, it's nice and sunny, a good 65 degrees. Come out the other side and there is 4' of snow and visibility is barely past your hood.
Colorado is a bitch sometimes.
the mighty phractal
Where'd my oh there it is go?...damn.
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imprezawrxsti
 
Location: Portland, OR
Gender: Male
nothing is true; everything is permitted
| | | Re: drain question
<Reply # 26 on 2/14/2011 5:57 AM >
| | | | Posted by phractal
Denver's like that. Though in the winter, it can be -5 in the morning and 75 at 2:00 pm then right back to blizzard in a few hours. It's like mother nature on menopause. Thornton is roughly 6000 ft above sea level and the weather up there has little warning. Drive through the Eisenhower tunnel on I-70 and at one end, it's nice and sunny, a good 65 degrees. Come out the other side and there is 4' of snow and visibility is barely past your hood.
Colorado is a bitch sometimes.
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this man speaks the truth
last week it was -30 (in both C and F at various points), with six inches of snow on the ground and winds of 40 to 50 mph.
today it was fucking 60 degrees and sunny.
welcome to Colorado, where even mother nature is so baked she doesn't know what season it is.
do you know how to waltz? |
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zero_rollov
Gender: Male
| | Re: drain question
<Reply # 27 on 3/2/2011 3:47 AM >
| | | | I only scanned a few of the longer posts, so forgive me if I repeat someone else's point;
When I was a teenager I must have explored most of and even mapped much of the sewers in North Dallas and Dallas county. Texas has unbelievable flash flooding, and while drowning is certainly a very real danger, you also need to consider debris. Even if you don't get a downpour and you're only ankle-deep, there's all kinds of deadly crap floating around like jagged sheet metal, glass, razor wire, emergency netting, etc. Having a piece of rusted, jagged sheet metal, conveniently located just UNDER the surface of the murk where you can't see it can ruin your day... or month if you haven't had a tetanus shot. This happened to me one day when I happened to be wearing shorts (hey, I was a kid. Insert slack here) and I got a huge and not very clean cut on my calf.
Another time one of my comrades was captured by marauding length of construction twine of some kind as the water was rising and we had so sit and try to beat the flashlight battery's will to die getting him untangled and getting our asses out before it became an aquarium.
The moral I suppose is that you shouldn't just fear torrential onslaughts of neck high water, because all manner of nightmares can and do lurk in about 10 inches of swiftly moving infection soup.
That said, don't forget the extra batteries, be safe, and have fun!
No matter where you go, there you are |
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