THE EXPLORATION DIVE IN BOATBOX CAVE, UTAH
July 15, 2021
Photo by Alex Chagovetz
We wake up to a lightly smoked atmosphere which made for a very beautiful sunrise.
the crew was starting to get up early and getting ready for a gear haul to Boat box cave. We have around15 people helping out
with the effort and I am so glad that we had that help. That was
the perfect number to haul all of this gear out to boat box cave. We head out in two teams so rigging can get started ASAP.
Photo by Matt Paulson
Boat box cave is at around 9500 feet of elevation. This is the highest cave dive I have performed and the highest in elevation I have ever been with regard to diving in general. Matt Paulson, Jamie Goodwin, John Horton, Alex and others were setting up the rope access into the cave.
Not only do I want to empower the team to develop themselves into stronger cavers and practice the skill sets that they want to develop, I also need to relax before the dive.
Photo by Matt Paulson
Photo by Matt Paulson
Now my initial idea of how this cave should be rigged was with some sort of high line and haul system. I also favored high help for the gear line and a traditional rap down into the cave
Photo by Matt Paulson
The team did really well with setting up the cave on their own with little supervision oversight. Once the cave was primed, we had john sit in his alpaca raft in the water to assist the divers in any way possible.
Photo by Matt Paulson
This was also my first mistake. It was slippery muddy and the quarters were close. I had my undergarments sent down there so I figured that it will be fine to get set up ( which it was but not ideal). Astro prepared at the surface.
Photo by Matt Paulson
Photo by Matt Paulson
Photo by Alex Chagovetz
John was out of the way. Immediately I could feel the cold creeping through all of the layers and starting to chill my body. The gear was just underwater and John was in his boat.
Photo by Matt Paulson
I forgot my gloves so they were sent down along with a 5lb weight. Those wet gloves were difficult to get on but thankfully john had higher positioning. I could not forgo the gloves due to the extreme cold water.
Photo by Matt Paulson
Photo by Matt Paulson
Photo by Matt Paulson
Photo by Matt Paulson
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