The Rapture?

Joe Duxbury

Joe Duxbury

Active member
I'm reading 'Last Words' by Michael Koryta (about a girl's body brought out of a cave in Indiana) and he refers to 'The Rapture', mentioned in another book, 'Blind Descent', by James Tabor. Tabor says this is a 'particularly insidious derangement unique to caves'. According to him it's 'like a panic attack on meth.' In 'Blind Descent' he quotes one instance of how it affected someone. But have any of you lot experienced it?
Tabor's term is very inappropriate: 'rapture' means ecstasy, bliss. Not a devastating experience like a panic attack.
 
According to Wikipedia:

Narcosis while diving (also known as nitrogen narcosis, inert gas narcosis, raptures of the deep, Martini effect) is a reversible alteration in consciousness that occurs while diving at depth. Maybe something to do with this?
 
Yes, I'm aware of 'the rapture of the deep', and the impression I have is that it causes divers to become euphoric. The effect Tabor talks about is anything but.
 
The results from a quick Google give the impression that it is a phenomenon that only Tabor has recognised... He says that "those who have suffered from it describe it as being similar to an anxiety attack while on methamphetamines."

I get the impression that he is referring to a standard anxiety attack which may be suffered by anyone prone to them who are outside their comfort zone.

He also says that there are more than 50 ways of dying whilst exploring caves. I can think of 50 ways of dying whilst walking down the road.

 
The most likely cause of a panic attack is on a long trip when someone checks their watch and says: "If we're not quick, we'll miss the pub". That's when cavers turn into racing snakes . . .

Didn't the term "rapture of the deep" originate from Cousteau's early writings? There is perhaps a sort of connection here because, although inert gas narcosis at (considerable) depth can result in euphoria, it can also very quickly turn to feelings of fear and panic. Both are dangerous for the affected diver, as (s)he will find problem solving / gas monitoring etc compromised.

But I agree; a panic attack could never be properly referred to as "rapture".
 
The closest to panic attack I have experienced underground has been caused by CO2. I have on a few occasions found myself gasping for breath with only one thought, get out fast!

On two particular occasions, I recall the sensation being completely consuming and as close as I can imagine to panic. It may well have been a life saving sensation, but fortunately afforded me enough self control to extract myself from my predicament.
 
Rapture of the deep is compared to "pleasant drunkenness":
https://www.liveabout.com/what-is-nitrogen-narcosis-2963052

The "Rapture" is something else again:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture

It was talked about at the time:
https://www.neatorama.com/2010/07/29/the-rapture-a-terribly-way-to-die-in-a-cave/
 
I agree with Pete Hall. An encounter with carbon dioxide induces severe feelings of panic as I have discovered on a couple of occasions. It causes the same problem when diving if your blood carbon dioxide levels rise with exertion and you can't breathe fast enough through your regulator. It is known as 'beating the lung' and the only way you can deal with it is control your breathing. It is not nice.
 
Nitrogen Narcosis ('Rapture of the deep') affects divers breathing nitrogen at higher pressures. Diving normal compressed air (79% nitrogen), this starts to become an issue beyond about 30m depth. Similar to being drunk, but affecting mental rather than physical ability, it manifests itself in different ways depending on the situation. In warm tropical waters, diving to 30m may feel like having a couple of pints. 40m, maybe 4 pints. That's all fine if everything is going well and you don't need to respond quickly and rationally to a problem. It becomes a serious hindrance beyond 50m, with people not even remembering the dive properly. In a situation where someone is apprehensive, or even scared, nitrogen narcosis will amplify this in an unpleasant way. People may revert to primal instincts, which is never a good thing in an unnatural underwater overhead environment. 

Nitrogen Narcosis is the main barrier to people diving deeper than 30-40m. The solution is to replace some on the nitrogen in the breathing mix with Helium. This is effectively inert and doesn't affect people in the same way. The downside being that Helium is very expensive. A cylinder of compressed air, may cost ?5 to fill. Adding 45% helium may add ?50 to the cost.

Personally, I've seen people make serious mistakes whilst under the influence of nitrogen narcosis (e.g. marking incorrect exit directions when cave diving). Helium makes a huge difference to clarity of thought when you have opportunity to directly compare breathing with/without.
 
One of the best things about Nitrox32 is you can?t go below 30m odd, which is a jolly good thing all round. Along with not diving anywhere you can?t do in a T-shirt. All happy.
Average age of diving fatalities in the UK a year or so ago was 56 I seem to recall. Bit disconcerting.
 
mikem said:
The "Rapture" is something else again:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture
Click to expand...

That type of Rapture was discussed on "In our Time" https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0008p2k
which I remember listening to some years ago walking from Birkwith to Horton. I became  convinced the US Vice President is in the Do-laaly brigade.

(I should add that I receive no financial benefit from the BBC, but I think that this series alone is worth the annual pittance that I contribute)
 
CO2 isn't nice, experienced it's delights a couple of times digging etc. Bad headaches and feel like rubbish for a day or two.
Anyway I quite like Blondie's version of Rapture.
 
Thank you all for joining in. Plenty of explanations of the effects of breathing nitrogen, and of high CO2 levels, but no-one has admitted to experiencing what Tabor was on about.
In his statements on the 'a terrible way to die' website (thanks, Mikem), Tabor carries on (digs himself deeper) with:
"At some level, everyone's brain will start to say, 'I don't belong here. This is a very dangerous place.' It's an ancient primordial instinct and it just says, 'You have to get me out of here, right now'" Well no, my brain has never said that. Have any of you other cavers' brains said that? Sitting in a large, dry chamber, lights out, with water drops going 'plink, plonk' in the distance is incredibly peaceful.
I agree with Tamarmole; I think, like Langcliffe, Tabor has inflated just one person suffering from 'a standard anxiety attack' into this semi-mystical, cave-induced experience.
 
Well, it definitely happened in The Descent movie...  ;)

Tabor is an outdoor journalist, not one of the expedition cavers (or the professor of religious studies, who has a different middle initial!)
 
Joe Duxbury said:
Thank you all for joining in. Plenty of explanations of the effects of breathing nitrogen, and of high CO2 levels, but no-one has admitted to experiencing what Tabor was on about.
In his statements on the 'a terrible way to die' website (thanks, Mikem), Tabor carries on (digs himself deeper) with:
"At some level, everyone's brain will start to say, 'I don't belong here. This is a very dangerous place.' It's an ancient primordial instinct and it just says, 'You have to get me out of here, right now'" Well no, my brain has never said that. Have any of you other cavers' brains said that? Sitting in a large, dry chamber, lights out, with water drops going 'plink, plonk' in the distance is incredibly peaceful.
I agree with Tamarmole; I think, like Langcliffe, Tabor has inflated just one person suffering from 'a standard anxiety attack' into this semi-mystical, cave-induced experience.
Click to expand...

In the context of the book it is likely to arise within people who have even underground for several days and likely to be pushing further into the cave and  cannot simply 'get out' in a couple of hours, not your average UK caver doing a 4 hr from surface UK trip so I don't think he has inflated it.
 
Bill Stones Ted lecture also mentions something similar:


https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_stone_inside_the_world_s_deepest_caves?language=en

Again reference to multiday trips in deep caves
 
It's a term made up by the Yanks in an attempt to make them look good/better/stronger when describing multi-day trips underground, such as on expeditions to Mexico.
They seem to think it works well in books, and when enticing the younger generation on these trips.
Little do they realise that Europeans and others laugh at such tosh.

There's a stark contrast in the Tabor book between the Russian stuff and Yank stuff. Most of the Yank stuff is rubbish and barely credible, chasing a depth record that is long gone. Whilst the Russian stuff contains some really interesting and hard expedition caving. The only thing that has some truth (Yank stuff) to it is an expedition leader chasing a young girl around a cave like a lost puppy, whilst the expedition divers wait for him to be ready to go and push the bottom of the cave !!

Funnily enough after 12 days underground in Huautla , the last thing I wanted to do was return to the surface, maybe reverse 'Rapture' ??
 
Perhaps 'panick attack on meth' is an over the top description but denying that there is a psychological element to such trips would also be a failing in portraying the situation, after all the book is written for the general public.
 
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