The Snakepit
April 9, 2006 by rockwatching
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; }
Digging with David Sawatzky is hot and sweaty work. He is one of Ontario’s cave divers and his dedication to the sport is incredible. Over a ten year time period David and his companions charted around eleven kilometers of tunnel beneath a local river. It is undoubtably the most daring exploration that I know of. Tunnels sometimes 90 feet wide cut along beneath the river bed. They are in places almost entirely silted shut. Exploration involves digging your way through the underwater mudbanks. they settle behind you as you progress. The visibility is totally non existant.
In this picture I am engaged in one of David’s recent projects. Wedged midway down the shaft that connects to the snakepit I am returning to the surface for some water. An old dryer hose hangs in the background. It is connected on the surface to a leaf blower. In this way we keep the digging chamber cool and well ventilated. Insufficient air down there soon leads to crushing migraines.
good post - filled my coffee break