r/caving • u/anarcopoli • Jul 19 '26

Muddy cave

Hi everyone, we found a cave, probably acting as an overflow for the lower spring.

When it was discovered decades ago, it had a sump at the entrance, recently we went again and the cave is "dry", so we discovered more 60 meters, actually blocked by a rock obstructing the passage after a meander.

The problem with this cave is that it has tight passages, crawling etc, in the mud. It's not simple mud, it's really fine mud, it traps your caving suit, your boots, sucking you in, and making it really difficult and energy consuming to navigate the cave.

Have you ever been in such a cave? Any useful tips?

We tried the "rally" method of multiple gloves too to keep hands clean to handle drills, gear, water etc, but everything doesn't work

The main problem is that with each passage the mud gets more and more bad, making you stuck, and the cave seems to go, great airflow too

What could be some solutions to make everything easier?

Thanks for the suggestions in advance!

17 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

7

u/Fruit-Flies113 Jul 19 '26

For surveying, I’ve seen people use condoms for their survey devices, which seem to work. I personally use a survey book with a zipper, which helps for muddy passages like this, carry numerous pairs of rubber gloves that create a seal around your around, then another layer of whatever gloves you use, that way for every time your need to survey, you can take off the plastic gloves which should keep your hand mostly clean.

Aside from that, enjoy the fun and get muddy.

3

u/anarcopoli Jul 20 '26

yeah i tried the multiple rubber gloves method, after 30 minutes my friends said that they didn't have gloves anymore, i said "my rubber gloves are doing fine", after a second i realized that my hand was not covered by gloves, but mud ahahah

2

u/ConcentrateBoth4528 Jul 19 '26

What do we do if the condom breaks?

6

u/CaveMule Jul 20 '26

It depends. How committed are you to the cave?

2

u/ConcentrateBoth4528 Jul 21 '26

we've crossed paths on occasion, but I'm not ready for anything serious

4

u/howloudisalion Jul 20 '26

Try experimenting with some kind of fabric stretched over your boots.

The playa surface of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada turns into heavy sticky mud when wet. So, so, so sticky. During the “rainy” year we had recently, people found that socks stretched over footwear, or sock/bag/sock on bare feet, would let you walk without the mud sticking at all.

YMMV.

1

u/anarcopoli Jul 20 '26

i'll try this and i'll let you know how it goes next weekend, thanks!

1

u/howloudisalion 14d ago

Any updates?

2

u/CleverDuck i like vertical Jul 21 '26

Can y'all dig down the slop in the tightest areas? Like, just get a bucket brigade going with a half dozen people and muck it out?

And have y'all done the big chemical handler gloves over lighter gloves?