TriTrog General Meeting Minutes (4/24/2007)

Introductions of the fifteen attendees went quickly and smoothly once we determined that Howard was unlikely to show up.

Regarding the old business of redefining the officer’s role, the officers reported that it was a work in progress begun on email thread with a knot tied in the end. Howard had proposed a conference call defining officer’s roles and conducting other business. He apparently skipped the meeting for a cold.

It was suggested that the annual TriTrog trip should be held in late July or early August.

Next month the meeting will be held at John Plyler’s house instead of at the museum. Folks will learn to tie some knots (including a double figure 8), climb rope, switch over, belay, and cook out on a grill. Look for an announcement from him with times and directions.

Diana Gietl and Dave Duguid went caving with Tanya McLaughlin to Rowland Springs Cave. Dave wanted to confirm the upper connection, and they found a big room in the cave. They surveyed a lot of side passages. After the mapping, Diana would like to go back for a photo trip in this dolomite cave. There was a 48’ drop, and the rope was just long enough. Tanya had no vertical gear with her, so Dave and Tanya left Diana at the bottom while they left the cave and went around the other way. They let Diana rig the cable ladder and drop it down to them from the middle level. Cave access is very convenient, and there are probably at least two more survey trips to go.

Upcoming Trips
Spring VAR (April 27-29)
Memorial Day trip likely organized by Ken
[SERA Summer Cave Carnival (May 31-June 3)]
[Weeklong NCRC training in Salem, VA (June 16-23)]
July 14-15-Girl Scout camp—Blountville, TN area. Saturday on a wild trip into Renfrew Cave. Graffiti cleanup. Slides of bats Saturday night. Spend the night in Lost Sea Cave. Ten girls signed up.
Indiana Convention—Diana described the convention experience in detail and how it’s about learning. John mentioned the vertical climbing contest.

As the program, John Plyler shared his slides from the high and low points in Mexico. He described the accommodations and costs in a handout and shared his driving routes. Between his three-LED light and the GPS, John found his way solo up to the glacier at 2 AM to get an early start before the faster hikers. Other groups said that it was too icy, too soft, or too cloudy as reasons why they skipped climbing to the peak. John found that the clouds on the glacier helped avoid sunburn. He also shared photos of the concrete gardens that were obviously built by someone on drugs, all the way down to the concrete bamboo. At Golondrinas Pit, the locals brought you morning coffee for a fee. It only cost five dollars to camp and drop Golondrinas. One of the amazing sights were the chimney swallows and parrots.