Paladin wrote:
wrote in message ups.com...

Ran into "Dead air" in a cave in Texas. It felt very strange and the
carbide got dim. We got out in a hurry.


How does carbide get dim? Carbide lamps burn acetylene gas not carbide. Calcium carbide, for use
in carbide lamps, is a granular solid with no inherent brightness. When combined with water it produces
the aforementioned flammable gas.

Paladin
(Have gun-will travel)



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I meant the carbide lamps got dim from lack of oxygen.

wrote in message
ps.com...

I did a lot of rock climbing and some mountaineering in the late 70s
and early 80s but soon it got to be fashionable and people started to
get really flashy gear. My old goldline wasn't cool. I took up caving
because it could never become fashionable (and due the obsession with
discovery). Cavers are always covered with mud and grunge so there is
no way to get good ad photos of cavers so gear couldnt get cool. We
used old seatbelt webbing to make our own harnessess, made our own
prusiks and most other climbing gear. My only concession to store
bought gear was a rack from Bob and Bob. Used old carbide lamps. For
boots we bought surplus jungle boots cuz in our grungy caves they would
last about a year only. The best packs were (and still are) surplus
army gas mask bags modified with fastek closures. We'd pool our money
to buy rope. Once bought 1500' of rope to do Golundrinas, had to wash
it to get the waxy stuff offa it (it'd be "too fast" otherwise) and you
shoulda seen the looks at the laundramat.
I'd re-use my "cave clothes" but would have to spread it all out in the
parking lot and hose it down with a huge red stain of mud running down
the street, people would just go by and stare and wonder. My friend
Frank would get his cave clothes by raiding dumpsters behind frat
houses and would show up at the cave in loose disco outfits. After a
trip he'd dump them in a moldering pile outside that was 3' high.


I know what you mean. When climbing went into the pink tights phase my
friends and I went retro. Wool knicker, cutting steps, WWI googles etc, etc.
My friend still does it and he gets stares. I go for the lighter stuff and
carry as little as possible. I still get a reaction whenever I use an old
cycling helmet for climbing. One time we were downclimbing the Grand Teton
in the dark. I was much faster than my partner at down climbing so I reached
the lower saddle nearly an hour before he did. I was standing with a bunch
of other climbers chatting. Up on the Grand you could hear my friend
stumbling and rocks crashing. A number of people in our little chat group
had headlamps and they were on. One of them asked, "Why isn't your friend
using a headlamp?" So I yelled up to him, "Why don't you use your headlamp?"
The reply bellowed from the mountain: " Headlamps are for pussies!"
Immediately, everyone in the group turned off their headlamps. I'm sure that
from that incident alone mountaineering was kept in its glorious golden
years for at least a few more months.

Gilligan wrote:
wrote in message
ps.com...

I did a lot of rock climbing and some mountaineering in the late 70s
and early 80s but soon it got to be fashionable and people started to
get really flashy gear. My old goldline wasn't cool. I took up caving
because it could never become fashionable (and due the obsession with
discovery). Cavers are always covered with mud and grunge so there is
no way to get good ad photos of cavers so gear couldnt get cool. We
used old seatbelt webbing to make our own harnessess, made our own
prusiks and most other climbing gear. My only concession to store
bought gear was a rack from Bob and Bob. Used old carbide lamps. For
boots we bought surplus jungle boots cuz in our grungy caves they would
last about a year only. The best packs were (and still are) surplus
army gas mask bags modified with fastek closures. We'd pool our money
to buy rope. Once bought 1500' of rope to do Golundrinas, had to wash
it to get the waxy stuff offa it (it'd be "too fast" otherwise) and you
shoulda seen the looks at the laundramat.
I'd re-use my "cave clothes" but would have to spread it all out in the
parking lot and hose it down with a huge red stain of mud running down
the street, people would just go by and stare and wonder. My friend
Frank would get his cave clothes by raiding dumpsters behind frat
houses and would show up at the cave in loose disco outfits. After a
trip he'd dump them in a moldering pile outside that was 3' high.


I know what you mean. When climbing went into the pink tights phase my
friends and I went retro. Wool knicker, cutting steps, WWI googles etc, etc.
My friend still does it and he gets stares. I go for the lighter stuff and
carry as little as possible. I still get a reaction whenever I use an old
cycling helmet for climbing. One time we were downclimbing the Grand Teton
in the dark. I was much faster than my partner at down climbing so I reached
the lower saddle nearly an hour before he did. I was standing with a bunch
of other climbers chatting. Up on the Grand you could hear my friend
stumbling and rocks crashing. A number of people in our little chat group
had headlamps and they were on. One of them asked, "Why isn't your friend
using a headlamp?" So I yelled up to him, "Why don't you use your headlamp?"
The reply bellowed from the mountain: " Headlamps are for pussies!"
Immediately, everyone in the group turned off their headlamps. I'm sure that
from that incident alone mountaineering was kept in its glorious golden
years for at least a few more months.

I never did climb the Tetons, We did do Devils Tower (Durrance Route).
The macho BS that people put up with really causes safety problems and
I see this in sailing too. My friend who was paralyzed by his 180'
fall in Moses Tomb is a good example. He allowed himself to be cowed
into using only two brake bars on brand new rope. The people who
called him a wuss for wanting to use more were some of the "Well known
TAG vertical cavers". New waxy rope starts slow, heats up and gets
very fast. He was not too experienced so allowed himslef to be
convinced. I saw another very well known caver tie off to ab obviously
dead treee and then not use a rope pad.
I learned vertical caving from a lesbian couple who had no sense of
macho BS. They really were into safety and would not allow anybody on
their trips unless he passed a rigourous test that included being able
to climb 750' in 20 minutes on prusiks, rapell down to aknot and change
over to climbing, climb and then change over to rapell, change from one
rope to another during a climb or rapell, get out of a heel hang
situation, know how to climb tandem and a lot more. Others thought
this was stupid but after going on trips with them I knew I was better
than anybody else on any other trip. Their guidance gave me enough
confidence that I just knew everybody else was f547ke8 up and decided
to always be the last out of a pit. I was always amazed at the
dumb-ass macho crap that I had to help people get out of.
A couple years ago, SAIL mag referred to a harbor in the bahamas as
"Chicken harbor" because of the people who waited there for great
weather before making the Gulf Stream crossing. They said that people
should not wait so much but should be corageous and just go. That was
crap and has probably resulted in deaths.
In dangerous sports, if you just follow the crowd, you might die.

"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...


who don't now.

I don't, and I don't care either!

Scotty