Chair Rob Harris began the meeting with introductions. After
he passed Mike Broome and Lisa Lorenzin, Mark Daughtridge added the twist that
everyone had to say where they were from, and he described himself as a hillbilly
(or maybe it was a mountain man). He was followed by Carlin Kartchner (Tucson),
Sarah Dotson (New Hampshire-Maryland), Pete Hertl (Raleigh), Matthew Weiss
(Raleigh), Ken Walsh (Maryland), and Dave and Andrea Fielder (Adelaide,
Australia). Dave and Andrea shared some
descriptions of the caves southeast of Adelaide in Nullarbor.
Rob announced that TriTrog dues are $15 and $22 for
families. They could be paid to any officer at the meeting place, but Mark D.
also had envelopes printed so that they could be mailed to the Treasurer. Rob
is also setting up a PayPal account so that members will be able to renew
online.
There was no old business. The officers held a meeting the
week before to instruct Rob on how to command the TriTrogs. A pdf form of the
membership form will be added to the web page.
Then the meeting moved to trip reports. Pete went to Lost World Caverns with Mike, Lisa and
Rob through the original entrance (120’ Grapevine drop) where they rappeled
into a commercial, well-lit cavern. They took a wild trip into other parts of
the cave and forced their way into a small hole where they got wet. Xtreme Rappels set up the annual trip. They spent two hours with a nine-year old; he
was challenged in places but smart enough not to get caught in the Birth Canal.
Rob collected a video of Mike rappelling to Techno music.
Lisa and Mike went up to Butler Cave for Pancake Weekend.
It’s a time for ridgewalking and digging with a huge pot luck dinner. They
worked on Back Door Dig—hopefully a
back way into Butler Cave. They went to
dig for a few hours after going down a 35-40 foot drop, past a ladder and
bucket slide, as well as the surface generator to haul up buckets. They found a little fissure that might go
into a little canyon and pulled out buckets of mud and water.
Carlin went to Arizona’s Chiricahua Crystal Cave. The
survey is being led by Bob Zimmerman into a very three-dimensional maze with lots
of loops. The Lake Passage no longer has
a lake. Carlin came out early because he
was exhausted, but more than 20 people showed up for the survey. Most of
Carlin’s footage came from an upper trend in the canyon along nothing but
ledge. At some point, Carlin may bw field testing a device for surveying caves
that reads compass and inclinations separately. He would calibrate the
magnetometer for the environment and aim with a laser. The device measures
azimuth and inclination.
Carlin went with Jason to Perkins Cave, and it was a cool cave. They are starting the survey again
and still finding good virgin cave.
Matthew Weiss described his trip to Lost Creek Cave in the center of Tennessee (8-hour drive). He enjoyed taking back a better camera and
lights than his first trip there. Unfortunately the cave is very heavily
vandalized so graffiti ruined the pics.
Emily, Alan, and Anna joined the meeting.
Ken described his survey trip in New River Cave. He replaced
a disto as Dave West did cross sections moving back to the Attic Room. At
dinner that evening, they discovered that the NSS has agreed to purchase the
cave.
On the Hancock Cave
Bat Count, Ken, Matt Weiss, Peter Hertl, the Mannings and Hunter spotted eleven
bats but only one with WNS. Matthew
liked the Comic Book Hole eight feet up the wall and has a video of Peter in
it.
As Mark Daughtridge described, Snow Cone Cave was an exciting cave accessed by seven people piled
into Dave’s truck across the cow fields.
The 79–year-old went back to the cave for the 180-foot descent to the
lowest point. One team carried two
lengths of rope (about 300 feet) because they didn’t know what they were going
to find. The drop was 21 feet deep. Although the pit was dead-bottom, Mark,
Rob, and Dave joined the other team to switch out some cavers. Mark continued surveying with a walking lead
and a drop as the leads at the back of the Viewmaster Passage.
Paddy’s Crack is a
potential cave area that is grown up in the summertime. Mark and Matthew related that we surveyed the
whole area. They surveyed one slot and
one hole in the ground. A narrow creek didn’t offer a connection, but they did
find four stalactites.
Upcoming trips included:
March 28-30 – Cave Rescue Training near Grand Caverns (see
web site)
March 28-30 – SCIG trip to Worleys Cave in Tennessee (talk
to Rob Harris)
April 5 – New River Cave Survey (Matt Weiss and Sarah Dotson
might go)
April 11-13 – Spring VAR at RASS Fieldstation
April 19 – Grand Caverns Cave Restoration Weekend (Ken might
go)
April 19 – Easter Beer at the Bat Ranch (contact Rob)
April 18-20 – Butler Cave expedition (talk to Lisa about
digging all weekend)
May 30-June 1 – SERA Summer Cave Carnival
July 14-July 18 – NSS Convention
August 16 – TriTrogs Annual Trip maybe to Friars Hole Cave (25th
anniversary celebration)
After a short break, Matthew Weiss shared an informative
lecture on what he learned from Art Palmer at the Mammoth Cave Summer Geology
class.
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