Cave Quest
Photographs by Wes Skiles
Text by William C. Stone
"Deep down at the bottom of the cave a flickering light appeared in the black pool. Kenny Broad was coming back. The diver had gone looking for his partner, Ian Rolland, who had failed to return from a descent into a flooded U-shaped tunnel called a sump almost 4,000 feet below ground in southern Mexico. For 17 years this sump had blocked exploration of the Huautla Cave system, then the second deepest known cave in the Western hemisphere.
"Breaking the surface, Kenny reached for me, and I helped him out of the water. Because of the roar from a nearby waterfall, I couldn’t hear what Kenny said as he pulled off his mask, but I saw ‘Ian’ and ‘drowned’ form unmistakably on his lips. My heart plunged."
Followed the members of the U.S. Deep Caving Team as they handle the blow of losing a friend and handle the problems that come from exploring the deepest cave in the world.
NGM 1995/09