Basejumper.com - archive

This is a bit off topic but still related so I figured you guys may know. Is rappelling down into the Cave of The Swallows still permitted by Mexican authority? I was told they have banned BASE jumping, but I haven't heard anything about caving.

Also, is there a place where one could hang their rope so its mostly hanging in free air? I am actually a rock climber not a caver or BASE jumper and thus I don't have ridiculously long amounts of static rope. I do however have one 60m static line and six 60m dynamic ropes which I could easily join together to reach the bottom. I could use the static rope at the top and join the dynamic lines below that one. However this could only be safely done if the dynamic ropes do not come into contact with anything. With nearly 1000' of dynamic rope, the bouncing and stretch will be extreme while jugging/ rope walking back up the rope, if the rope came into contact with the rock, the rock could easily saw through the rope so it would only be safe if I could do a free hanging rap.

From what I understand on this site (which isn't much) one of the reasons why they didn't want us jumping was because of the lines that were lowered to bring jumpers back up. Authorities claimed (or so I was told) that the swallows would strike the ropes/cable in flight and die. Not sure how accurate that is, but if it is, you might have a hard time rappelling.

The rap is 1100 to 1400 feet long depending on where you drop in. It is all freehanging no matter where you set it up. The rope must go DOWN AFTER the birds leave in the morning and be back UP BEFORE they return in the evening.

To attempt to pass knots on dynamic rope with that much weight hanging beneath would be extremely difficult if not nearly impossible.

There are anchors along one wall for climbing.

As to whether it is still accessible to cavers and climbers I do not know. Contact the Ministry of Sport or Basehoundsam to find out.

jon

It's Mexico for god sake. Can't the jumpers just bribe the locals and the police to jump into the cave???? I've bribed police in Mexico to get out of trouble. My friends who went there bought illicit substances from the chief of police there. WTF? Surely our money can solve the problem of opening the cave. Not polite diplomacy, but moolah!

460 - as a proud mexican-american i resent your inference to corruption in the law enforcement of my homeland, and ask that you apologize at once. viva la revolucion. arriba.

no seriously, i got held up for cash at a mexican hotel because they said i damaged a couch - when i refused to pay, they showed me pictures of the contents of our refrigerator, which had been stocked with illicit substances (Ironically, one of the hotel employees facilitated the acqusition of those substances). housekeeping had been planning this for 4 days. i promptly handed then $200 and went on my merry way. everything is for sale in mexico.