Chris poses in the entrance to Chimney Hole. Note the railroad ties. (Click for larger version)

Saturday's plan was the long-awaited trip to Keyhole to celebrate LB's birthday. For various reasons it didn't happen, probably much to the relief of those who knew we were going, not to mention the trip leader. Instead, we wound up visiting Ken's Cave (formerly known as Fiato's), which features a series of 9 domes and perhaps dig potential at the very end. It was a great trip, and challenging enough not to be considered a poor substitute for the day's planned activity.

The next day we considered Peggy's Hole and Sinks by the Sugarbush, but were unable to track down the landowner to secure permission, so we turned to what is becoming our usual Plan B: Stop by Speleobooks and see what Emily and Thom recommend.

During a previous visit, Thom had suggested Hannacroix Maze, something that none of us had seen before, much less heard about. It turned out to be a pretty cool trip, albeit a muddy slophole. So when we ran out of options on December 2nd, we again turned to the collective wisdom in the barn for an obscure recommendation. Being young and enthusiastic, we all might as well have signs on our foreheads that say, "Challenge us with something", and it was with barely masked glee that Thom and Emily brought up Chimney Hole and Shoehorn Cave.

As it turns out, these two, er, gems are located on Barton Hill, past Gage and Keyhole. Thom even accompanied us out to the woods to show us the entrances. Chimney Hole we may have been able to find; Shoehorn, probably not.

Chimney Hole
Chimney Hole features an entrance drop of somewhere around 15' that is shored up with railroad ties in such a deliberate manner as to suggest that someone thought there might be real potential beneath the surface. Leading from the base of the drop is a crack about 10' long, 4' high, and 1' wide at its top. Towards the bottom of the crack it tapers to around 6".

The story from Thom and Emily was that nobody had ever been beyond the crack, which is of course what was so enticing about the cave. Apparently, one person had gotten far enough through said crack to see that it exited in the wall of another pit.

Chris Beauchamp led the way down, quickly shedding his vertical gear and moving through the crack to the next pit. A precarious balancing act was required to gear up again and get back on rope for the drop, which turned out to be around 20'. Gary Burns, the smallest member of the crew, was next; he never even removed his gear.

Unfortunately, I am the biggest member of the crew, yet I was determined to get through with my gear. Scott Sala was exploring the other side of the entrance drop, so I followed Gary, wearing my gear. Things went smoothly; I could see Chris and Gary at the bottom of the pit and was 99% of the way through, when my hips slipped down into the narrow part of the crack, thus ending my progress.

I was stuck, and every time I maneuvered I worked myself further and further into the narrow part of the crack. Chris and Gary did their parts by ascending the rope -- of course, I was preventing their exit from the cave, so they were as stuck as I was -- and "encouraging" me to move. It took 40 minutes, and a fine piece of work by Scott to extract me: using my Leatherman he was able to undo one of the leg loops (I had already given the go-ahead to cut my harness off if necessary), which gave me just enough room to pivot out of the tight spot.

The second pit was a dead end anyway, though there is potential dig opportunity in the mud floor. We all got out, and quickly.

Scott Sala in the vertical entrance to Shoehorn. (Click for larger version)

Shoehorn Cave
When Thom pointed out Shoehorn, I don't think any of us thought that was really the entrance to a cave. The hole is at the bottom of the tiniest sinkhole I've ever seen. We had checked out the map in Speleobooks, from a back issue of Northeastern Caver, and knew that it was supposed to be tight. In fact, it features a 65' entrance shaft, the first 42' of which includes not 1, not 2, but 3 pinches of 7". Add that to the fact that the whole thing is only shoulder-wide, and it poses something of a vertical challenge. At least 2 people have been to the bottom and explored (and mapped, obviously) the cave, but they had small frames and could negotiate the pinches.

Scott Sala in the vertical entrance to Shoehorn. (Click for larger version)

By the time we got out of Chimney Hole, it was starting to get dark, but that's why wear lights on our heads, no? We headed over to Shoehorn to see what was what. Thom and Emily had mentioned that previous trips to the cave usually employed some sort of haul system right from the start: with a drop that tight and narrow it was inevitable that someone was going to have to be pulled out. Even if you could get past the constrictions wearing your gear on the way down, climbing out was going to pose a formidable problem, to say the least.

Remembering his advice, we suspended a rescue pulley directly over the hole using 3 webbing slings. We tied the end of the rope to a tree, and tied Chris to another tree, running the rope through his micro-rack as a belay device. The idea was to tether Scott to the rope and lower him down gently.

Chris belays Scott in the vertical entrance to Shoehorn. (Click for larger version)

Scott was game for the adventure. Certainly he wouldn't be able to fall down the entrance, being tethered to the rope. Given the size of the hole, it's unlikely he could have fallen even if we were all jumping on his head. He began the journey downwards, with Gary and I looking on (we had had enough after Chimney Hole), trying to work his arms and shoulders through.

Now, Scott is not a huge guy. After Gary, he was the smallest in the crew, but even he was having trouble slipping through the crack withouh pushing upwards on anything available. About 15' from the surface he encountered the first 7" pinch. All we could see from the top was his helmet, but we could hear the grunting.

After about 10 minutes of pushing and straining, it was time to abandon the project. There was no need for another of us to get stuck, so it was up to Scott to get out. However, it was just as we suspected (and Thom warned): getting out is no small trick. We attached an ascender to the rope as a progress capture device, and the three of us topside set to work hauling our friend out. It was easier said than done.

We headed into town for some pizza and a quick round with our new friend Kong (that's another story), and then we were homeward bound.

All told, 4 of us had spent about 3 hours in 2 caves and covered maybe 50' of ground between us. I think I can still hear the laughing coming from the octagon barn...

«Back