Irelands Cave, Travis County, Texas

February 2013

Gate style: BASIC

This is a notorious bad air (high CO2) cave in the Austin area. So bad, in fact, that the end has never been reached. To protect the speleothems and cave fauna from the encroaching subdivisions, as well as protecting the curious youth from the cave itself, the City of Austin contracted with us to install a bat-friendly gate. All photos © Lee McKenzie

The steel and equipment arrives.
Yaz showing off her torch cutting skills.
A solid anchor pin placement.
Lydia attaches the torsion bars.
The smoke from the welding doesn’t let us take the clearest photos, but you can at least see the entire gate here.