Friday, November 27, 2009

November 2009 General Meeting Minutes

Warren Pusak, Ken Walsh, Mark Daughtridge, Zeke Van Fossen, Matt Jenkins, Diana Gietl, Gordon Bolt, Lisa Lorenzin, Mike Broome, Pete Hertl, Brian Bolt, and Mark Little attended.

To accommodate Warren’s schedule, Mike and Lisa began the meeting with their program describing Burnsville Cove surveys and the exploration of Basswood Cave so far. Lisa also indicated that they have been together as a couple a long time when she described her anniversary gift to Mike. More photos of the Butler Cave system can be found on John Sweet’s web site.

Warren Pusak proffered that former member Bill Mattocks is willing to teach TriTrogs more about safe rock climbing techniques (e.g., proper rigging), if anyone is interested.

Mike and Lisa offered to host the 20th Anniversary/Holiday Party on December 12. Gordon suggested that the program include puppets, and Mike and Lisa insisted that they would not accept pee gifts under their tree.

There was a brief discussion of the TriTrog Facebook site and how open its content should be (it was already fully open). Dues are half price now, and Mark Little agreed to start accepting 2010 dues now.

There will be no December meeting. January’s program will include elections and discussion about a topic (e.g., choosing a helmet for beginner caving). Lisa suggested that the February program could be a discussion of the effectiveness of WNS decontamination techniques.

Matt Jenkins shared a description of the closed caving signs placed before Aqua and Marshalls Caves. Although the caves were not obvious before, the signs make the entrances easy to find.

Pete Hertl described his trip to the NSS Convention. He won vertical competitions and found the facilities really nice. Instead of taking his regular cave gear along, he visited Goodwill and visited some “nasty, dusty caves.” When they entered the last one, they were told “By the way, this cave has potential for bad air.” On the way in, everyone started panting. They labored to breathe in the warm caves. When the group was ready to turn around, the formations were still much further down the passage. The healthy ones took a run into the cave and saw the formations. Pete did get a headache and bruised his shoulder when racing along. He concluded his trip report with “Why even go to a known bad air cave with all the caves in the U.S.?”

Upcoming trips include:
A New Years weekend trip to Smyth County to look for active bats and ridgewalk
An Explorer Scout trip to Cribb Cave on March 27 (volunteers are welcome)
Possible vertical practices this winter

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

October 27, 2009 Minutes TriTrogs General Meeting

Dave Duguid, Diana Gietl, John Plyler, Mike Broome, Warren Pusak, Ken Walsh, Dawson Duguid, Pete Hertl, Matthew Lubin, Mark Daughtridge, and Martha were in attendance.

The 20th Anniversary celebration is set for December 12 . It was suggested that we continue to promote the event bigger with past members. Dues are still half price.

Mike Broome affirmed that the new web link is working. He will work on a new pics notification that gets sent to the membership. He will also post links to the Virginia WNS protocol and the FWS decontamination protocol.

The November program from Mike Broome and Lisa Lorenzin will examine exploration in the Burnsville Cove area and promises to be a dynamite presentation.

The Trip Reports portion of the meeting began with Mark Daughtridge’s photos from caves in Washington State. He was able to ascend to 8000 feet but not summit Mt. Shuckson and Mt. Baker because of weather. So he drove further east to the impressive scablands where he visited Polluz Falls and Soap Lake. Mark visited the Lake Lenore Caves that were once used by Native Americans. He went looking for leads in the biggest one he found there, and he decided that one diggable spot held promise. Mark also visited Boulder Cave in Natches, Washington to find popcorn on the ceilings, a gated bat colony, and some trash that he removed.

Matthew Lubin and Ken Walsh shared a report of their survey trip to Lovers Leap Cave.

Dave Duguid described his recent trip to Busted Turtle Cave with Tanya McLaughlin and Robbie Spiegel. Several big leads just didn’t go, but they managed 370 feet of survey. One passage had many helictites and other formations, but one wall was totally cleaned of the formations. Tanya wants to place a sign there about the Virginia Cave Law protecting the cave from vandalism. There are still several leads left to explore, with some especially for small people. One corner needs some work to get past, but it lies in two inches of water.

Dave spent Sunday ridgewalking in gorgeous fall colors but still found it very vegetated. With a little digging, he managed to find a cave in a spring. Explorers will get wet.

Mike Broome talked about his rappels at Bridge Day. It was a cold nasty wet weekend with Pete Hertl and snowflakes.

The previous weekend Mike Broome and Lisa Lorenzin went to the Burnsville Cove area and entered Basswood Cave on Saturday afternoon. They went to survey into the Little Girls Room and started from the base of a cable ladder. Lisa found a wet puddle at the beginning of the trip, so she wasn’t with the guys when they found a tall narrow passage that doesn’t give up its secrets readily. Mike had to go past two-foot long soda straws in the narrow passage. It led to a walking section with a 15-foot high flowstone formation that was perfectly white. They surveyed 240 feet of passage.

Regarding upcoming trips, Ken mentioned that he may help the Virginia cave biologists collect samples in Hancock Cave in November. He may team that with a trip back to Lovers Leap Cave. Warren Pusak is planning a Cribb Cave trip with scouts on January 30 or February 20.

Dave Duguid shared a program about Cave Diving.