Surviving in a Cave

Surviving in a Cave. Sourced by Alexander Turcan

http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-in-a-Cave

Enter a cave well-prepared. Caving is inherently dangerous, but you can reduce the risk by learning proper caving techniques, bringing the right equipment, and knowing how to use your techniques. Especially if you’re new to caving, don’t go in without an experienced guide, and never explore caves alone. Always make sure you notify someone where you will be and when you expect to return so that they can notify rescuers if you can’t. Bring warm, NON-COTTON (like polypro or polyester) clothes and a plastic bag or emergency blanket. It is important that all layers of clothes are made of a synthetic fabric, even undergarments and socks. Cotton absorbs and holds much more water than synthetic fibers. Wearing standard cotton garments in a cave will cool your body very rapidly. If cotton layers are worn (as an absolute last resort) make sure they are above the synthetic layers. Doing the opposite will rob your body of heat, as the most wet layer will be in direct contact with the skin. Also, make sure your flashlight or headlamp is in good working condition (and bring a spare light source and batteries). The best way to survive in a cave is to know the cave and to be prepared.

Mark your path. Caves can be maze like and confusing, but there’s almost no reason to get lost in one. Always be aware of your surroundings, and note landmarks. In addition, be sure to mark the way out at all intersections. Use rocks to make an arrow pointing the way you came, scratch an arrow on the cave floor, leave yourself notes, or tie ribbons or leave glow sticks to show you the way back. Make sure you can differentiate your marks from those that other cavers may have left. Not only will marking your path help lead you out safely, it will also help rescuers find you if you can’t get out on your own.

Remain calm. If you do find yourself lost, injured, or trapped don’t panic. Assess your situation and think clearly about how to get out.

Stay together if you’re in a group. There is safety in numbers, so be sure to stay together. Hold hands if you must move in darkness, and don’t let anybody fall behind.

Stay warm and dry. Caves are frequently cold, and hypothermia is one of the most dangerous hazards you will face. Always bring warm, non-cotton clothes, and pack a large plastic bag in your helmet to wear as a poncho to conserve warmth. Keep your helmet on at all times. If you have to endeavor into water (i.e. if the cave is flooded, or if you must cross a stream) take off your clothes to keep them dry, and then dry off and put them back on when you’re out of the water. If your clothes get wet and you don’t have replacements, wring them out thoroughly and wear them so your body heat can dry them. Huddle with your group for warmth, and minimize contact with the cold ground. Try to keep moving (even if it’s just moving in place) if you get too cold, but avoid breaking a sweat.

Ration your food and water supplies. If you told somebody on the outside when to expect you—and you absolutely must do this—help should be on its way soon. If for some reason, such as flooding or cave collapse—it may take a while for rescuers to come, make sure to ration your food and make it last. Make sure everybody gets enough water, but don’t try to save it as long as possible—keep well hydrated even if you’re not thirsty. If you run out of water, you can drink water you find in the cave, but be aware that it may be contaminated and should only be used as a last resort.

Conserve your light. Turn off flashlights when you are not moving, and use only one at a time. Form a chain of people following one with a flashlight. If you're using a headlamp, use the lowest output setting.

Stay put if you don’t have light. Unless you are quite certain that help will not be coming, do not move without light. A cave is a dangerous, unpredictable environment, and the risk of injury outweighs all other hazards. If you must move without light, proceed with extreme caution. Crawling may be the best option to avoid falls.

Tips

• If you are deep in cave, try to feel where air is flowing and follow it to the source. There are usually multiple ways out from a cave.
• In the absence of a draft, smoke always rises. You can try to light up something small that creates smoke and try to follow it. Remember that smoke is dangerous in narrow areas as you may be choked because of it. You also need to make sure that you can control whatever you’re burning.
• Mobile phones, watches, and other such devices may be used to provide backup light.
• Always have a flashlight as you enter the cave. And always have a backup flashlight or batteries in case the first flashlight runs out of power.
• Go with at least 4 people so if one person gets hurt – one can stay with him, and two can get help.
• Always put cell phone, lighter, and matches in a ziplock bag to keep them dry.
• If you are in a cave near water, be sure to note the times of high and low tide so that you will not be drowned.
• If you’re traveling in a group, have the largest person go in the middle. That way people on both ends can help extricate the person should he or she get stuck in a tight spot.
• Be sure and watch the weather. A 15 minute rain downpour can drown you. Remember, caves are mainly carved by water.
• If moving in a group, keep a little distance as long as you can see each other. Just a few feet between people can help prevent injuries to multiple people if one person should stumble or if part of the cave falls. 
• When making ascents, only one person should climb at a time, and the others should stay clear of the area below the climber, where rocks (or the climber) may fall and injure them.

Warnings

• Avoid making vertical ascents over rock that is wet, as this will be particularly susceptible to collapse.
• Beware of the water in a cave, especially during flooding. It can be difficult to ascertain the depth of the water, and there may be a hidden current.
• Do not drink cave water with a strong odor or which you know to be contaminated.
• Look out for sharp stones and slippery rock while moving about in a cave.
• There are quite a lot of sheer drops in caves that would kill a person was he to fall through them. When walking without light, always, Always, ALWAYS check the area around and at the place you are about to walk to.
• Do not attempt to move a badly injured person. Keep the victim immobilized and warm and get the assistance of experienced cave rescuers to extricate him.

Survival tips: Water (Infographic)

Water is very important. You can survive three weeks without food, but only three days without water.

Remember! Fish, mosquitoes, algae, etc. can not – and do not – live in poisonous water. Given the choice between two still ponds in the wild, one with mosquitoes, or algae growing in it – and another nearby it, which may be seemingly clear – experienced survivors would prefer to drink the water that has the organic life growing in it. The other standing water, even though it appears clear – is obviously unusable or undesirable to other living organisms and therefore it may be poisonous.

By Alexander Turcan

Weather in the Pyrenees

Weather in the Pyrenees

By Alexander.Turcan@TurcanLaw.md (April 2013)

“The West is wet, and the East is much dryer.”

The Pyrenees Mountains form the natural border between France and Spain, and completely engulf the tiny nation of Andorra.

The mountains extend for about 440 kilometers (270 miles) from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Sea.  

The highest point is Pico de Aneto at 3,404 meters (11,168 ft.)

The Crown of Aragon and the Kingdom of Navarre have historically extended on both sides of the mountain range, with small northern portions now in France and much larger southern parts now in Spain.

Legend

The mountains are named after a mythological princess – Pyrene.  Apparently Pyrene was raped by Hercules, who has abused of her father’s hospitality.  As a consequence, Pyrene gave birth to a serpent and, afraid of her father’s rage, run away in the woods, where she was torn apart by wild beasts.  After learning of Pyrene’s fate, Hercules was seized by profound grief and remorse.  He laid Pyrene to rest tenderly, demanding that the surrounding geography join in mourning and preserve her name: “struck by Herculean voice, the mountaintops shudder at the ridges; he kept crying out with a sorrowful noise 'Pyrene!' and all the rock-cliffs and wild-beast haunts echo back 'Pyrene!' … The mountains hold on to the wept-over name through the ages.”

Climate

The amount of precipitation the range receives, including rain and snow, is much greater in the western than in the eastern Pyrenees, because of the moist air that blows in from the Atlantic Ocean over the Bay of Biscay.  After dropping its moisture over the western and central Pyrenees, the air is usually dry over the eastern Pyrenees.  

The winter average temperature is -2°C (28.4°F).  

Sections of the mountain range vary in more than one respect. Some glaciers are found in the western and especially the snowy central Pyrenees, but the eastern Pyrenees are without any glaciers – with the quantity of snow falling there being insufficient to cause their development.  

The snow-line varies in different parts of the Pyrenees from about 2,700 to 2,800 meters above sea level.  

The weather varies considerably across the Pyrenees.

The general rule is that the West is wet, and the East is much dryer.  Furthermore, the Spanish side of the Pyrenees is considerably warmer than the French. As a consequence, plant and animal life change almost as soon as you cross the border.

The French side has lush wooded forests of beech and oak, whereas the Spanish side is sparsely planted with low vegetation and dotted with pine trees. The desolate but beautiful nature of the Spanish Pyrenees is in part due to the destruction of olive groves several decades ago.

The climate year-round is that of temperate mountain regions.  Short bursts of heavy rainfall can be expected in April and May, and stable periods of high pressure between September and November give clear blue skies. During the height of summer (especially August), short violent thunderstorms are a regular occurrence during mid-afternoon. Occasionally, the onset of winter is heralded by a cold-snap at the start of November.  However, any snow usually melts away below about 1,000 m altitude.  

Winter conditions are to be generally expected between January and March.

Weather in May

The most beautiful month of May is possibly also the rainiest month in the Pyrenees.  While hoping for sun and for T-shirt & shorts weather, at the same time we need to be prepared for rain, and for temperatures below zero.  

The Rule of Aragon in Medieval Iberia

The Rule of Aragon in Medieval Iberia: A View from Moldavia

By Alexander.Turcan@TurcanLaw.md (a lawyer from modern-day Moldavia)

As someone who studied the world history from Soviet textbooks, the first thing I remember about King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Spain is that they gave Christopher Columbus travelers cheques to sail across the ocean to try and find a sea route to Asia from the East.  Google also reminded me that they were the ones who drove the Moors (Muslims) and Jews away from Spain unless they converted to Catholicism.

Did you know that King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Spain were cousins?  Ferdinand’s marriage in 1469 to his cousin Isabella of Castile was dictated by the desire to unite his own claims to the crown, as the head of the younger branch of the same family, with hers. When the king died in 1474, Ferdinand made an ungenerous attempt to procure his own proclamation as king without recognition of the rights of his wife. Isabella asserted her claims firmly, and at all times insisted on a voice in the government of Castile. Though Ferdinand had sought a selfish political advantage at his wife's expense, he was well aware of her ability and high character.

In turn, when Isabella of Castile chose her husband, she had three candidates: Charles of Valois, the son of Charles VII of France, Alfonso V of Portugal, and Ferdinand, son and heir of John II of Aragon. Although marrying the French or Portuguese candidates seemed to be more beneficial to Castile in terms of diplomacy, and her half-brother King Henry IV hoped her to marry Alfonso, Isabella proposed to Ferdinand of Aragon and married him.  It is said that she sent Catholic missionaries to all three countries and gained information about the tree candidates for her husband; while Charles was weak and incompetent and Alfonso was over forty years old, Ferdinand was a young and talented man.  

Their marriage was not just a love affair.  Their married life was dignified and harmonious; because Ferdinand had no common vices, and their views in government were identical.

King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Spain reigned from the mid 1400’s to early 1500’s.  For a Moldovan, this period is of particular historic interest, as it is considered to be one of the greatest ages of old Moldavia.  During this same period the Moldavian greatest king – Stephan the Great (Stefan cel Mare) – fought 36 wars and battles (scoring a record of 34 wins), most of which were also against the opponents of Christianity.  

One of the curiosities was that despite being baptized by the Catholic Pope as an “athlete of the Christian Faith” for his numerous victories against the Ottomans and Tatars, Stephan the Great was also cousin of Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler), another notorious King of Wallachia (Romania) during 1456-1462, the one who inspired the Bram Stocker's fictional character of Count Dracula.  

The remarkable parallel reigns of the Southeast-European cousins duet formed of Stephan the Great (Moldavia) and Vlad Tepes (Wallachia) and Iberian cousins duet formed of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in Spain is extremely telling about the importance and symbolism of their age – the period of great kings on both edges of the old Europe.  

A historian blogger naming himself ‘The Mad Monarchist’ calls the Queen Isabella as his “favorite king of Spain”, depicting her as “one the most giant, iconic figures in Spanish history, whose marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon brought a new unity to Christian Spain”.  She is said to be the mother of the notorious Spanish Inquisition, which is appreciated to be ultimately to the benefit of Spain as it is said to have spared Spain from the horrific, catastrophic wars of religion that so divided and devastated Britain, France and Germany during this same period.

King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Spain together aimed to reunite Spain under the banner of Christianity. As a result of their relentless efforts they managed to reform Spain into becoming one of Europe’s best administered countries.

Despite lacking all of the attractive personal qualities of his wife, king Ferdinand was known for being one of the most skillful diplomats in an era which bred some great diplomats. Ferdinand managed to organize the Iberian states in a manner that served their purpose most effectively. Castile, Aragon, Catalonia and Valencia were maintained as independent political constitutions. Under their rule Spain managed to put an end to the Muslim domination of Granada, the victory which is known as the Reconquest. It is this effort that earned them the admiration of the Pope and the title of Catholic kings.

There still remained a considerable amount of non-Christian minorities in Spain, namely the thousands of Muslims living in Granada which posed a constant threat. It was at this time that the King’s men led ruthless crusades against the Muslims and Jews. The Muslims were given the choice to either convert to Christianity or leave. As a result many did convert whereas the majority left and some were forcefully driven out. A considerable amount of Jews embraced the Christian faith which even got them important positions in the government and other ecclesiastical positions in Aragon and Castile. The small number of Muslims that managed to stay back in the re-conquered territory lived a low profile life as skilled craftsmen and peasant farmers.

The drive to make Spain a purely Christian state was declared fulfilled in the year 1525 when it was announced that all the residents of Spain professed the Christian faith. But in order to keep on the safe side, all government and religious positions where reserved for the Coptic Christians. There were other groups of converts that were suspected for being hypocrites who would secretly practice their own faith and thus served as a constant threat to the Catholic government. As a result they were investigated and prosecuted where and when the need be. There was a hint of rebellion from the Muslims who at one point stood up for their Faith, but were expelled from the country forcefully.

Despite the adoption of several Aragonese institutions in Castile, the economic systems of the two crowns were still separated. The customs system was untouched, thus transportation of goods from Castile to Aragon, or vice versa, still caused heavy additional costs.  As a natural consequence, Castile and Aragon developed quite disconnected economic systems according to their geographical locations; Castile's Atlantic system and Aragon’s Mediterranean system.  This segregation of two economic systems later resulted in contrary phases of economic development between Castile and Aragon; while Castile's economy encountered its heyday, Aragon's was in continuous downfall.  

Ferdinand is remembered as a very cunning and deceitful politician.  Each time he made a new pact, treaty or agreement with someone, such document would always contain language that would implicitly benefit Ferdinand above the negotiated intentions of the parties.  Legends say that he has deceived Louis XII of France a dozen times in this way.  The worst of his character was prominently shown after the death of Isabella in 1504. He endeavored to lay hands on the regency of Castile in the name of his insane daughter Joanna, and without regard to the claims of her husband Philip of Habsburg. The hostility of the Castilian nobles, by whom he was disliked, baffled him for a time, but on Philip's early death he reasserted his authority.

A few acts of illegal violence are recorded of Ferdinand – as when he invited a notorious demagogue of Saragossa to visit him in the palace, and caused the man to be executed without any trial.  He was too intent on building up a great state to complicate his difficulties by internal troubles. His arrangement of the convention of Guadalupe, which ended the fierce Agrarian conflicts of Catalonia, was wise and profitable to the country, though it was probably dictated mainly by a wish to weaken the landowners by taking away their feudal rights.

Ferdinand died at Madrigalejo in Estremadura in February 1516.

From the dynastic union in 1469 to the end of the 16th Century, the economy of Spain could be characterized by the word 'bipolarization'. Although Aragon had more developed economic system than Castile at the beginning, Castilian economic power much overwhelmed Aragon’s in the following centuries. This can be explained by several factors.

First, as the New World was discovered by Columbus and Europeans started to trade with the New World, the economic center of Europe naturally moved from the Mediterranean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, Aragon's Mediterranean economic system was destined to decline. Moreover, due to its geographical advantage over trans-Atlantic trade, cities of Castile such as Sevilla obtained monopolistic rights over trade with the New World, thus, enormous wealth as well. In contrast, Aragonese cities were isolated in the new source of wealth, and did not have means to compensate the loss of Mediterranean trade.  Castile had better demographical and territorial conditions for economic development. Castile had about three times larger territory and five to six times greater population than Aragon. Also, as Castile obtained a substantial amount of land through Reconquista, it could obtain the infrastructures, such as the irrigation system, established by the Muslim population in the land. Therefore, Castile's economy could develop much faster than Aragon’s thanks to its superiority in resources and labor.

Last but not least, most economic policies that the court enacted were toward Castile more than Aragon. A prominent example is the prerogatives given to Castilian pastors. As the court found Castile's burgeoning wool industry profitable, it granted numerous privileges such as the priority in passage and land use over farmers. Thus, Castile enjoyed better support from the court for economic development than Aragon.

Thanks to abovementioned factors, Castile could develop its economy much faster than its neighbor Aragon. As a result of almost 200 years of economic bipolarization, Aragon, with the economic system much backward to Castile's, was ultimately 'absorbed' by Castile.  

Henry Russell

Henry Russell and the Mountain

 By Joelo Delgado

Count Henry Patrick Marie Russell-Killough, was born on 1834 to an Irish father and a French mother, blessed with the aristocracy of the Irish and wealth of the French, Henry Russell practically lived off of his inheritance. He didn’t need to build his career, as his inheritance was enough to give him a life of comfort.

 Nevertheless, his fascination with the mountain ranges of the Pyrenees lead him, time and time again, to the peaks of the Pyrenees. He was no stranger to adventure nor was he afraid of danger. Henry Russell traversed deserts, crossed Oceans and seas, climbed mountain and trees. He explored Russia, North and South America, New Zealand, and Australia; the Gobi Desert, and China. The world was his playground.

The Vignemale

When he was only 24 years old, Henry Russell summited the Neouville Massif and the Ardiden of the Pyrenees, at 27 Henry Russel summited the Vignemale, which is the highest point among the French Pyrenean summits. Henry Russell was not drawn to Kilimanjaro nor Everest but his focus centered on the Vignemale and the Pyrenees. Over his career he has had over 30 FAs (First Ascents) and numerous other second and third ascents. He was in love with the mountain and he spent so much time around the Pyrenees that he had have several caves built into the mountain system as any other construction was unacceptable. These caves served as his living space, and in some cases he would throw banquets in some of the caves – he built over 7 caves in his lifetime.

Henry Russel died in 1909 in Biarritz and was buried in the town of Pau.