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those halycon Days at
PIG HOLEcontinued
A further excerpt from the August 18, 1944, GROTTO GRAPEVINE, tells about the rope seat (swing seat) being used in Pig Hole. Watt's Corset, constructed in the grottos younger days by our first president, Tommy Watts, again climaxed the return trip to Pig Hole. A group of seventeen were lowered by its famous and well supported form through approximately 160 feet of dim space in which only the light of a single carbide could be seen. Seen from below, the descending Speleo is a sight to behold. Two massive, limp feet predominate the otherwise unrecognized individual. Drifting none too gently through the semidarkness, outlined by the light of the open air above him, the individual was no doubt surprised to encounter a sleepy and undoubtedly astonished bat flying curious circles around him. The whole picture resembled nothing more than a sack of potatoes, holding its shape only through the courtesy and efforts of the corset.
In 1948, cavers from VPI and other NSS members expressed interest in the cave markings found in Pig Hole. Many felt that they might be some kind of ancient inscriptions. Philip Karp, of VPI, made a test hole in the bat guano under the markings. The floor at this point is covered to a depth of about four feet of guano. Phil was unable to find any artifacts or other evidence of human habitation. During the same trip, Earl Thierry, Bob Barnes, Brooks Gilmer and several NSS members from Roanoke College ran an accurate transit survey from the far end of Pig Hole out to the entrance to find out just where the far end of the cave lies under the surface. If the far end was found to be near the surface, the cavers planned to open up an easy entrance and do a little excavation of the guano without so much rope work. --THE NEWS, February 1948.
The VPI Grotto had long-wished for another entrance into Pig Hole Cavenear Mountain Lake, VA. This cave is large; many of its passages are still unexplored. Lower levels of the cave have well-preserved fossils and there are large quantities of bat guano, but the entrance is deep and dangerous.
In 1943, when grotto members first entered the cave, they found at the extreme rear of the cave bark, leaves, etc., indicating a former entrance. After obtaining permission from the owners Mr. Porterfield, the cave was surveyed under the leadership of Bob Barnes. The result of the survey established a surface point at the bottom of a small sink hole as being the correct place to dig in order to open another entrance.
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With the aid of several sturdy diggers and twenty-four sticks of dynamite, a breakthrough was accomplished in two weekends of hard work. Luck and good engineering had placed the new hole at the exact spot of the old clogged entrance.--Joyce Forehand, THE NEWS, July 1948.
Blasted entrance Photo by S.L. Carts |
They used a bosuns chair, just before I started caving, in Friars Hole. They had a monstrous capstan winch that they drove off a car or jeep. Theyd put the vehicle in low gear, let it idle, and use it to run the capstan to pull the people in and out. That must have been a pretty hair raising thing because I saw some of the lines they used 3/4-inch lines. They had some narrow places on the line where it had been nicked in the capstan. I reckon Tommy Watts must've made the thing.
I worked a lot of caves with Earl Thierry and the VPI Grotto. One of my first ones was Pig Hole. We did a lot of crawls off a guano passage in Pig Hole, dropped down about ten or fifteen feet that was virgin. From the trip reports I learned that there was a hole up in the wall down past this hollow that they werent able to reach. Took a trip in. Three of us made it past this hollow. By standing on one anothers shoulders we were able to gain the hole. I think Barr Willey was the caver in this instance. For some strange reason I insisted, had to insist three or four times, that he be safetied while rigging the ladder at the drop we'd found. One thing, I didnt trust the guano. Where he was rigging from had a good heavy layer of guano, and it was a bit damp. I was holding the safety line, and Burr was playing it over. All of a sudden the guano gave way and he was chest deep before the safety line caught him with his feet hanging out over a fifty or sixty foot drop! He sure Thanked me for insisting on that safety rope. And I was one scared feller, thinking I could have let him rig without it.
Well, we found a stream in Pig hole. Pig Hole had the reputation of being the only major cave with no stream in it. But we found a stream. A little narrow vertical slot of a stream, and Willey lost his knife out there.-- Roy Charlton
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Aqua
First trip to Lockridge's Aqua Cave, VA, ca. 1953. Diver unknown Photo by S. A. Loyd |
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