For a couple weeks in November, I participated in a caving course through a club here in Madrid called Flash. The course consisted of two classes during the week and two full weekends. Read my summary of the first week, Hanging like Jamones: Vertical Caving, Part 1.
After our practice weekend, I was excited to put my skills to the test in a real vertical caving situation.
But first, here’s a quick breakdown of the second week:
- Class 2: Geology and biology of caves, map reading
- Weekend 2
- Day 1: Putting our new vertical skills to the test in a real cave
- Day 2: Navigating to a cave entrance and within a cave
Class 2: Rocks, bats, and other not-so-creepy crawlies
The breakdown:
- There are three categories of living things you find in caves based on how much time they spend there.
- Cave maps have standardized symbols and schematics and those in Spain are just as difficult to read on an 8×10 sheet of paper as they are in the US.
Favorite part: Learning the Spanish words for the major categories of species you find in a cave (troglofauna): troglobios (always in the cave), troglófilos (can live outside the cave), and troglóxenos (sometimes in a cave, but mostly not).
Weekend 2: Let’s go underground!
Friday afternoon, we carpooled out of Madrid to a new part of Spain for me—Burgos, specifically the town of Hontoría del Pinar. We arrived at our lodging somewhat late (for me) so while everyone else went to the bar, my partner and I made some dinner and relaxed a bit by the fire before turning in for the night. We were staying at an old train station that had been made into a hostel. It also turns out that this area is famous as the location where they shot the Sad Hill Cemetery scenes from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The next morning, after breakfast, we split into two groups, with three of the students going to one cave and the rest of us (the other three) going to a different cave—Carlista cavern. The trip there reminded me of one of the things I love about caving—just getting to the entrance. We drove down rough dirt roads that got rougher and narrower the closer we got. Toward the end, all the passengers in our car got out and started walking the rest of the way so the driver could navigate a few giant hollows, tree roots, and rocks.
When we finally arrived, I took a peek at the cave entrance, where there was another group preparing to enter. Some of our instructors had started setting up the ropes earlier and were kindly sharing the route with this other team. After checking out the entrance, I returned to the van to gear up—first my blue canvas coveralls that I use for caving, rubber boots, harness, all the various ascending and descending equipment, helmet, and headlamps (one on the helmet, one around the neck as a back-up).
The nice thing about Carlista cavern is that it is a teaching cave. As such, like the cliffs where we practiced, it has the bolts in the main descent arranged in pairs so you can go with one of the experienced people as well. I would go in the last group with one of the instructors who had lived in the US and spoke English well, so that was comforting. However, on the first two short descents, we were on our own. I went before the instructor so he could supervise as I descended and give tips or answer questions. After the short descent into the semi darkness, I was hit by an overwhelmingly terrible smell. At the end of a small ramp into the main tunnel of the cave was a dead, rotting sheep. This happens from time to time. Some caves are just a deep hole in the ground and easy to fall in when you are running around.
Quickly passing the sheep, we ambled along a brief horizontal section followed by another short descent and another brief horizontal section. Then, we finally reached the main descent of the cave—a steep, but not quite vertical wall undulating down into the darkness. Yes! But first, we had to cross a pasamanos where you are really just kind of hanging before getting to the descending. For me, this was the second worst part. It turns out that I hate the pasamanos.
The descent went smoothly for me, switching my gear appropriately at each fraccionamiento (rebelay). There was a lot of waiting, since we were a large group with new people. The discomfort in my kidneys and crotch intensified with each meter we dropped. After the long sloping wall, we got to descend through a narrow crevasse to another sloping wall that was less steep and even had a couple of places where I could rest on my feet, relieving the horrid harness pain. This was the last slope, and shortly, I arrived to the main cave with everyone and detached from the rope.
After a quick snack, we continued down on foot to the true base of the cave. Inspected some wood in the cave that had pure white centipedes. My first troglobio sighting! We then headed up an extremely muddy, narrow slope followed by a short, but awkward vertical ascent to see some of the beautiful formations in the cave. On the return, we discovered that the short, awkward ascent was even worse on the way down. In order to gain enough leverage to switch my gear at the fraccionamiento, I had to stand on the shoulder of one of the other cavers—yes, that’s how close I was to the ground.
After that challenge, we returned with great difficulty down the narrow muddy slope—the rope now so caked with mud that the gear barely moved. I would have preferred to just slide down the slope on my butt. Nevertheless, with much difficulty, I huffed and puffed my way down what was now quickly becoming the most difficult part of the day so far, as I needed to feed the muddy rope through the descender and short of yank my body down with each step. It was tiring, no doubt enhanced by a lower oxygen level in the cave.
Now, it was time to start the climb up out of the cave. For the return, I was paired with a different caver who spoke mostly Spanish but was really funny and fun, so I really enjoyed laughing with him on the way up. I was surprised to find that climbing out of the cave was my favorite part of the whole day. I loved the rhythm of the movements, sliding the ascender up the rope and standing up on the foot strap attached to it to move the croll device attached to my harness. Although there was also a lot of waiting, I had finally managed to comfortably adjust the harness so the secondary strap intended to support the butt (culera in Spanish) was in its appropriate place and not sliding up, which made the waiting much more enjoyable.
It felt like almost no time had passed before we were at the pasamanos again, signaling the end of the longest ascent. This time, as I was traversing on the pasamanos, the bulk of my watch somehow trapped my wrist between the rope of the pasamanos and my cabos de anclaje, called “cow´s tails” in English, which is a safety device consisting of a pair of carabiners—one on a longer cord and one on a shorter cord—that allow you to clip into rebelays and your equipment. This was the worst part of the day. I HATE the pasamanos. Thankfully, I did manage to extract my wrist without losing the watch or damaging my wrist, but I probably won’t wear the watch again.
After everyone made it up the long ascent and across the pasamanos, we proceeded back up the one short ascent, passed the stinking rotting sheep, and quickly climbed the final short ascent to escape the smell and emerge from the darkness of the cave into the darkness of the night. We spent probably seven or eight hours in the cave. To me, it felt like no time at all. Though I did have to pee really badly.
We changed out of the muddy cave clothes in the cold night air, and I quickly scurried off into the forest to relieve myself, but stopped short as I suddenly found myself scurrying directly toward a giant hole in the ground—it was the other entrance to the cave, which we had passed under before. It really demonstrated how easy it is to fall into such a hole in the darkness. I had a headlamp, which is probably the only reason I saw it. Feeling much better, despite my slight shock, we bundled into the cars to head back to town where we stopped, as you might expect, at the bar. But, after a quick stay to say hello, my partner and I walked back to the hostel to make dinner.
The next morning, we had a short talk after breakfast before we embarked on our assignment for the day. We all drove to the edge of the Cañon del Río Lobos to first take in the view and then follow a description we had been given to find a cave entrance. We also had a map of the cave and were instructed to find the treasure (hopefully not a dead sheep, as we all joked) marked on the map.
The six of us students led the way with the experienced cavers following along as we easily navigated to the cave entrance and found our way through a couple of tricky turns in the cave to find a dead sheep…no, it was a small cardboard treasure chest hanging from a rope through a vertical entrance to the cave. Inside were plastic cups with the club’s logo commemorating their 50th anniversary and photos of each of us from our weekend of practice in Patones.
After exploring the cave a bit more, we all navigated back to the entrance where we gathered and the club presented us each with a certificate of completion. Finally, we returned to the cars to drive down to the river in the bottom of the canyon to enjoy a relaxing lunch before returning to Madrid.
Next, hopefully sometime this month or in January, the club plans to head to a region in Cantabria, which is supposed to have stunning caves. I can´t wait!
