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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
 |  |  | Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
< on 10/13/2010 1:41 PM >
|  | | | Howdy guys, I had a conversation with Rob earlier today.
Thought we'd start up a planning thread to get some more information out to everyone and chat about the upcoming trip.
Basic event details can be found here:
http://www.uer.ca/...nt.asp?eventid=484
It's certainly a whole slew of locations! I know personally, for my mini-group, we aren't planning on hitting EVERYTHING, just a couple off each day's list.
Specifically, I'm planning a return to the Waterloo Mine, in Calico. There's an incline shaft way down in the lower levels that Snordhol and I had gotten down to but hadn't brought enough rope to get down to the very bottom, so we'll be looking to bottom out that one.
Same with the Columbia #2 at Tecopa, and the Bonanza King, out by Mitchell Caverns.
Those 3 are some very deep mines, with long vertical runs, which will require the use of descending/ascending gear and lots of rope.
Other than that:
We need to decide what radio channel to use for meeting up with eachother in the basic areas for each day, and make sure to keep the "meetup" channel separate from each group's "inside-the-mine" channels during those days.
Rob will be stopping by my place probably early next week so that we can nail down some of the other planning details for this trip.
As it is the trip will be running from Thursday, Oct 21st through Monday Oct 25th, and we're looking at covering quite alot of territory.
The minimum requirements for everyone going inside the mines should be:
Helmet : Doesn't matter if it's a climbing helmet, a bicycle helmet, or something similar, but everyone needs to have some kind of helmet.
Headlamp : Anyone doing ropework inside the mines should absolutely have at least one headlamp. Preferably two. One is a backup. Having a handheld light as a backup to a headlamp doesn't do you much good when you're on-rope and need your hands free and your headlamp dies. We had this problem on the Panamint trip, and I can't stress this point enough. Even if your backup is a cheap one.
Basic Lighting : Everyone should have a minimum of two lights. Climbers were covered previously, but even people just walking around inside the mines need to have at least two light sources. Also having a couple glowsticks for emergency use is good too.
Note: a keychain LED shouldn't be used as your secondary lighting piece. Some of these mines have MILES of tunnels. If you're a mile in and your main light breaks, do you really want to have to use and/or rely on a small keychain light for the next 45 mins to find your way back out??
Water : Everyone who plans on being inside the mines for more than an hour at a time should bring along something to drink. Water at least. Gatorade or something similar is also good. Soda isn't a good idea. Beer would be worse. You need something to keep you hydrated.
Please visit these links for more basic information about mine exploration.
Mine Features and Hazards
http://www.undergr...rs.com/safety1.htm
Mine Saftey and Equipment
http://www.undergr...rs.com/safety2.htm
Please check back to this thread regularly for more information and planning details for Mojave : Dark Descent!
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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robk700
  
location:
Los Angeles / D.C.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 1 on 10/14/2010 12:54 AM >
| | | | Waterloo mine in Calico will be available for those with rope experience and not interested in exploring Rock-a-Holla. Leaving tonight to scout more. Expect day 2-4 update in three days.
Edit: btw hot tub Sunday night in Nipton. That's a first for us mojave explorers.
[last edit 10/14/2010 1:50 AM by robk700 - edited 1 times]
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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: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 2 on 10/14/2010 6:04 AM >
| | | | We could have a mineral hot springs night in Tecopa on Friday night =D
I'm looking forward to leading the group down the Waterloo. We're serious about the "experienced explorers" part. You gain access to the main drift via a 200' vertical shaft right off the bat. Further in there is a 9 (or is it 11?) level drop down to the lower tunnels. And beyond that is at *least* one more drop, beyond which we know not what awaits. And of course returning to the surface means ascending up all of those drops.
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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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: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 3 on 10/15/2010 6:27 PM >
| | | | I invited some geology instructors from the college out here to come along. Still waiting from a reply from them.
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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robk700
location:
Los Angeles / D.C.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 4 on 10/15/2010 7:26 PM >
| | | | Therrin, going off my iPhone. Can u be a sweetcup and post a few maps. Particularly Calico and Tecopa?
[last edit 10/15/2010 7:27 PM by robk700 - edited 1 times]
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robk700
location:
Los Angeles / D.C.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 5 on 10/15/2010 7:35 PM >
| | | | Also when we travel through the odd little community of kokoweef Dav gave me the heads up to bring carrots for the horses. If we are generous they let us pick through tailings of their mine for stalactites from crystal cave which they are tunneling through.
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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: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 6 on 10/15/2010 7:36 PM >
| | | | I'll sweetcup you right into the linen closet Rob...
But yes. Yes I can. I'm still working on getting the Waterloo location.
For Tecopa:
http://maps.google...24beedf23&t=h&z=12
Alright, I've got the coords to Waterloo as well.
But instead of posting them, since it's a dangerous shaft, when we meet in Calico, we'll figure out who's going, and head up there together in a group.
I'm not overly fond of the thought of other people just "showing up" after we've gone down... clipping in using our set equipment and either getting lost or hurt or us not seeing them before we head out then having to wait or go look for them.
We should also see if we can have someone wait at the top, or agree to meet us there at a certain time. Since this thread is "public", if anyone decided to show up and just unclip our rig from the top and pull it up or drop it down, we'd be seriously screwed.
I'll go over the stuff with you when you drop by my place next week Rob.
I also need to check and see if my client here in town has a large-scale printer I can use to make some map copies so that we can accurately plot locations for the entire trip on one page, and possibly laminate them.
I like how Snordhol made those Tecopa maps that one time. I have two of them here at home, I'll see if I can make full size copies of them; and possibly make some similar ones for Calico and Mojave.
[last edit 10/16/2010 12:51 AM by Therrin - edited 2 times]
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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The_Trooper
location:
San Diego, CA
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 7 on 10/16/2010 2:07 AM >
| | | | Really trying to get a group going down there, much harder than I thought bahhhhhh
:/
I'd drive myself but I am like 50/50 confident my Torino will make it there, and would realllllllllly suck if it broken down half there or back lol.
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The_Trooper
location:
San Diego, CA
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 8 on 10/16/2010 3:40 AM >
| | | | Jus' wondering, how many UE usually come to these trips?
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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: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 9 on 10/16/2010 4:08 AM >
| | | | Depends, on the first Tecopa trip we probably had ...what...16 total or so show up over the span of 3 days.
Some of the other trips since then have been considerably smaller. I think we're hoping for roughly 20 people on this trip, over the span of 5 days.
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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robk700
location:
Los Angeles / D.C.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 10 on 10/16/2010 5:38 AM >
| | | | 20 sounds right.
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Dav
location:
Los Angeles, CA
Gender: Male
Like fun, but different.
| |  | |  | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 11 on 10/16/2010 6:06 AM >
| | | | Carrots AND apples. ;)
Also, I didn't say he'd let you in, just that he might be more inclined to be ok with it.
As for Tecopa - OpenTrackRacer sent me these two pics last year, hopefully he doesn't mind me posting links here.
http://farm4.stati...3_df18b65771_o.jpg
http://farm4.stati...5_03de32d5ce_o.jpg
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The_Trooper
location:
San Diego, CA
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 12 on 10/16/2010 6:46 AM >
| | | | How many miles would the trip be total(estimate?)? Tryin to get a group going and I think we could make it (the question that is brought up is gas$$$)
Thanks!
Also note we are coming from El Cajon,San Diego
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robk700
location:
Los Angeles / D.C.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 13 on 10/16/2010 8:10 AM >
| | | | Posted by The_Trooper
How many miles would the trip be total(estimate?)?
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A lot. The longest run will be from Calico to Tecopa. That unfortunately will be 100 miles give or take. Starting Saturday, from Baker, we'll travel around 130 miles inside the park over the next 3 days.
I guess an easy way to think of it is that'll be about the same as driving to SF and back.
[last edit 10/16/2010 8:16 AM by robk700 - edited 1 times]
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The_Trooper
location:
San Diego, CA
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 14 on 10/16/2010 7:42 PM >
| | | | Would it be around 700?
I did the math from San Diego to Tecopa its 300miles 1 way, sooooo?
I did the SF trk like you said but that is about 1,000 miles both ways O_O
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robk700
location:
Los Angeles / D.C.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 15 on 10/16/2010 9:46 PM >
| | | | If coming from SD I add another 100 to be on the safe side for all 5 days. Calico-Tecopa-Baker-Kelso-Cima-Nipton-Geoffs plus change.
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The_Trooper
location:
San Diego, CA
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 16 on 10/16/2010 10:56 PM >
| | | | I'm only staying for fri afternoon-Sunday night. IF I can go along with some buddies, I can't make the trip up there by myself :/
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robk700
location:
Los Angeles / D.C.
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 17 on 10/16/2010 11:29 PM >
| | | | Worse comes to worse you can carpool with me but I'll be on the road Th-M.
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The_Trooper
location:
San Diego, CA
Gender: Male
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 18 on 10/16/2010 11:50 PM >
| | | | Posted by robk700
Worse comes to worse you can carpool with me but I'll be on the road Th-M.
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Alright where you at in LA?
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PositivePressure
location:
High and low where most don't go
Gender: Male
Set your Tesla coil to broil
| | Re: Mojave : Dark Descent Planning Thread
<Reply # 19 on 10/16/2010 11:51 PM >
| | | | Just wanted to chime in and say good luck! Sounds quite ambitious!
I can state with 100% certainty that if I was not stuck here in Canada, without passport, I'd be up there (or down, depending how you look at it, haha) in a heartbeat.
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