I can’t believe it. I am stuck. I can’t go up or down. I am unable to get a proper foothold to boost myself up out of the shaft. I am definitely stuck. I am in the “box”, a wooden shaft that runs from the lower part of Rat’s Nest Cave to the upper chamber. The people behind me want to know what the hold up is. Why am I not moving? I can feel my boot slip off the foothold and I do not have enough upper body strength left to pull myself up out of the hole. We have been in the cave for over three hours and I am tried.
Up to now it has been a great experience. Rat’s Nest Cave in Grotto Mountain, 6 km (4 miles) outside of Canmore, Alberta Canada, is a true wild cave. If you are looking for a stroll through a show cave, this definitely is not it. I have not walked upright since we entered the cave. I have crawled, climbed, slid, squeezed, slithered and even repelled down an 18-meter (60 foot) hole but no leisurely walking. Now on our way out of the cave I am trapped in a small shaft. I only need to crawl up another meter (3 feet) and I have completed the last hard climb in the cave, however, I can not seem to lift my body up onto the ledge.
Discovered in 1858 the Rat’s Nest is a limestone cave this is 4 km (2.5 miles) long. It is Canada’s 11th longest cave and with a constant temperature of 50C (41oF) it is the warmest cave in the Rockies. Rats Nest cave is named for the packrats that live there. They are the only rats in found in Alberta. In 1987 the cave and area around the cave entrance was made a Provincial Historic Site. This was because of the bone bed pit which is located near the entrance and drops 13 meters (40 feet) into the dark. It is one of the most important paleontological sites in Alberta containing bones that date back nearly 7000 years. It is believed that the aboriginal peoples knew about the cave and used it for shelter for over 3000 years. Today the only access to cave is through a gated entrance controlled by the caves custodians, Greymont Ltd. and Canmore Caverns.
Eli, our guide is asking me what is wrong. I tell him that I am stuck and can not get up through the opening into the box. The two people behind me are shouting advice, “lift you leg”…”pull yourself up”… “use your knees.” Eli is waving his hand in my face, telling me to grab onto his wrist. I squirm a little, my head is in the box and my feet are in the lower part of the shaft. If I could just get a secure foothold I could climb my way up but my boots keep slipping off the side of the shaft.
I can do this, I got this far without any problems, and I know I can pull myself up into the box. After all I did my first repel today without even breaking a sweat. I repelled eighteen meters (60 feet) into a dark hole. It was easy. We crawled through cracks in the cave wall that I thought I would never have fit through, but I did. I slithered down the “laundry shoot”, a three meter (10 foot) narrow passage, like an experienced caver. I slid down into other parts of the cave on my backside. I climbed up inclines that looked impossible to navigate without climbing gear and now on the way out I am stuck in what should be an easy to climb manmade shaft. Yet I am unable to move either up or down.
Eli keeps telling me to try different things. “Move this way, use your knees, your feet, your hands…” The people behind me are discussing what to do. Should they try and boost me up; probably not, they are in a vertical shaft and are hanging onto the wall themselves. Finally, I decide I have to try it one more time. I turn my body around a little and use my hands to grab onto the wooden rail in front of me. The guy behind me grabs my leg and gives me a boost. My knee is now inside the box. I twist around and am able to sit down on the ledge. I have made it.
If you like to visit Rats Nest Cave, the only access is through a guided tour. Rats Nest is a wild, undeveloped cave and it is necessary to use the services of an experienced certified guide to visit the cave.
- http://www.canmoreadventures.ca/main.php
- http://www.tourismcanmore.com/members2/canmorecaverns.htm
- http://www.canadianrockies.net/wildcavetours/
- http://banffvacations.net/cave.html
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