I woke up the next morning at 7:00 AM flat against the ground because my air mattress leaked again. I’ve been putting up with that for about a month. I suppose I’d be more motivated to fix it if it held air for less than 6-8 hours. Anyway, we’d slept plenty. Time to get up. I got up, packed my stuff, stretched, and ate breakfast. Then I decided it was time to get Ryan and Brian up. They quickly rose and after a little socialization we drove off the mountain to The Liberty. I only ate a couple biscuits since I’d already eaten. Doug soon joined us and talk of today’s trip continued. It rather sounded like Alan was trying to get us to go off on our own. After signing the Liberty Cave Log, we decided to do Tarode Pit so I rode with Doug; Brian and Ryan followed.
After obtaining landowner permission we parked in a field and geared up. My pack certainly felt a little heavier then normal. I gauged the weight between 45 and 50 lbs. I carried V-gear, 2 large dry boxes of camera equipment, a 60’ rope, 2 full Nalgenes, and a 4 lb rock hammer. Doug estimated our descent at 400’. We started down the slick, rocky hillside carefully placing our steps and soon looked down upon a large sinkhole containing a nice pit entrance. We spiraled down the sinkhole perimeter and geared up. Doug assembled the rigging. He used the 40’ rope to go down the sinkhole slope and tied the 190’ to the end of the 40’ footer. The pit is 190’ deep so we had little rope to spare. I took a couple pictures of Doug rigging and then photographed Ryan and Brian’s descent. I heard “off rope” and descended down to the lip, clipped on my safeties, and attached my rack onto the very stiff rope below. Soon after, I enjoyed a slow descent down a really nice pit into a large room continuing into huge borehole.
Once down, Brian and I toured the 500’ of big breakdown borehole. About 400’ feet in I looked back at Doug highlighted by entrance light as he began his climb. I then went back and took a picture of Ryan standing atop the breakdown pile below the pit. A 10 second exposure provided adequate entrance light. Brian and I supplemented the foreground with strobe light. Ryan climbed out and I took a few more shots of Brian during his ascent before my turn. I tried to climb fast but id didn’t seem like I ascended that quickly. Of course, I did have two dry box anchors dangling and penduluming below me. Once up top, Ryan and Brian de-rigged and we contoured along the hillside to a dry, rocky ravine and looked for a Cressler lead. The lead didn’t turn up but we did get to see the site of a recent rock slide. We concluded our search and started back up the hillside. My legs certainly felt the 45 – 50 lb strain of my pack. Despite that, I easily followed Ryan back up the hill thinking to myself that it could be much worse. My recent NM mountainside climbs were much steeper and much higher. To Neversink
Tarode Pit
Doug rigs the 190 ft rope to the 40 at the lip.
Doug rigs the 190 ft rope to the 40 at the lip.
Tarode Pit
Doug rigs the 190 ft rope to the 40 at the lip.
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Tarode Pit
Brian prepares for his descent.
Brian descends toward the gaping pit entrance.
Tarode Pit
Brian descends toward the gaping pit entrance.
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Tarode Pit
Brian crosses the knot.
Brian crosses the knot.
Tarode Pit
Brian crosses the knot.
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Tarode Pit
Ryan Moran stands at the bottom of this majestic pit.
Ryan Moran stands at the bottom of this majestic pit.
Tarode Pit
Brian ascends out of Tarode Pit.
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Tarode Pit
Brian ascends out of Tarode Pit.