Eagles Nest Ballroom Questions

[bradymsu]

I'm well aware that Eagles Nest is considered the Mt. Everest of cave diving. While I have IANTD Technical Cave, I have no desire to do a deeper penetration into Eagles Nest. I would like to see the entrance room (aka The Ballroom) by dropping through the entrance shafts to the top of the debris mound. Have you done it? If so, is there a common tie off point for a primary reel in the open water portion of the sinkhole? How wide are the entrance shafts? Do they allow visible light into the entrance room?

 

[KevinNM]

I'm well aware that Eagles Nest is considered the Mt. Everest of cave diving. While I have IANTD Technical Cave, I don't have the experience to be doing a cave dive this deep and I have no desire to go deep in Eagles Nest and add to its body count. I would like to see what's there by dropping through the entrance shafts down into the entrance room and not going below 30-40m. Have you done it? If so, is there a common tie off point for a primary reel in the open water portion of the sinkhole? How wide are the entrance shafts? Do they allow visible light into the entrance room?

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"If you have never seen the Little River well pipe, done the Peacock Grand Traverse, and hit the Hinkle restriction, all on on a swim dive, then you probably should not be diving here. There is no open water, cavern, intro, nor apprentice to cave level of diving conducted here unless under the control of an instructor."
Eagle's Nest

 

[Marie13]

I'm well aware that Eagles Nest is considered the Mt. Everest of cave diving. While I have IANTD Technical Cave, I have no desire to do a deeper penetration into Eagles Nest. I would like to see the entrance room (aka The Ballroom) by dropping through the entrance shafts to the top of the debris mound. Have you done it? If so, is there a common tie off point for a primary reel in the open water portion of the sinkhole? How wide are the entrance shafts? Do they allow visible light into the entrance room?

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Are you trying to get Eagles Nest shut down for those who ARE qualified to dive it?

 

[bradymsu]

Are you trying to get Eagles Nest shut down for those who ARE qualified to dive it?

Not at all. I'm a conservative diver. I recognize that just because a 90m deep cave exists doesn't mean that a cave diver needs to go that deep. Many cave divers do short penetrations or even stick to caverns in systems which offer the possibility of much longer penetrations. Just like recreational scuba divers will stay above 30m on wall dives that can drop well below 100m. Or in the non-diving world, many trekkers will make the hike to Everest Base Camp who have no intent on climbing the mountain herself.

Cave diving attracts a fair share of extreme sport types looking for an adrenaline fix. Cave diving attracts people primarily focused on its technical diving aspect. And it also attracts people like me whose main focus is on exploring the cave environment. I've had people ask me why I'm focusing on caverns and entrance rooms when I have a full technical cave cert. What that tells me is that they're not cave diving for the cave aspect.

If Eagles Nest gets shut down, it will be due to divers who exceed their limits and pay the price rather than divers who dive well within their limits.

 

[RyanT]

@kensuf ?

 

[elgoog]

Are you trying to get Eagles Nest shut down for those who ARE qualified to dive it?

Seems like OP has the required training to do the dive he's describing and is looking for site specific information to conduct that dive. I may just be a baby C1 diver but getting information on any dive from those with experience sounds like a good idea.
Also a good idea (and I may be way off base here) is not immediately assuming that when someone asks a question about diving Eagle's Nest that they're going to dive beyond their limits.

 

[Marie13]

Seems like OP has the required training to do the dive he's describing and is looking for site specific information to conduct that dive. I may just be a baby C1 diver but getting information on any dive from those with experience sounds like a good idea.
Also a good idea (and I may be way off base here) is not immediately assuming that when someone asks a question about diving Eagle's Nest that they're going to dive beyond their limits.

The OP was significantly edited.

 

[elgoog]

The OP was significantly edited.

Ah, gotcha. And that got me :/ My apologies.

 

[KevinNM]

Eagles Nest demands skills much greater than I've got, but someone once discussed why it has no cavern. I can't find the thread, but basically what they said is the visibility is often poor and the cavern is huge. So it's much easier than you might think to end up where all you see is darkness. Even with a good light you can't see the walls, you can't see the roof, you can't see the debris cone, you can't see the light from the entrance shaft. Lost line techniques don't work in a space that big. So you get to spend the rest of your life swimming along the roof trying to find the entrance shaft. And then they have to call AJ and Ken.

 

[helodriver87]

It's not really a cavern. Pretty much goes straight to cave thanks to the small entrance and massive room. It's very, very easy to lose daylight down there unless conditions are magical. It's also gonna be pretty deep (120 to the breakdown), so you're really looking at either a super short bounce where you miss out on most of the ballroom or deco and trimix. That said, it's an awesome normoxic trimix dive with just doubles and a 70 bottle. You can really appreciate the scale of the room and take your time there without ever going into the cave proper.