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