Recorded by Ken Walsh (Secretary Mark Daughtridge unable to attend but added minor edits to this post)
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Attendees (14): Steven, Travis, Ava, Howard, Hayden, Mark L., Bryce, Laurel, Allison, Carlin, Pete, Ken, Steve and Grant attended the meeting. Rob’s floating head in Charlotte appeared on Ava’s screen and occasionally spoke.
Howard Holgate led the meeting and conducted the business in short order. The Holiday Party on Saturday, December 10 will once again replace the December meeting. Howard plans to host the Holiday Party again this year at his home nestled amid Cary/Holly Springs neighborhoods. He will send out an Evite to the TriTrogs list serve to ensure that he doesn’t end up with the multitude of desserts that were generously provided last year (and left at his house). The leftover desserts did apparently find their way to a sorority house during Finals Week.
Howard plans to display the potential T-shirt designs at the Holiday Party and have everyone vote on their favorites. [He did not mention whether or not he is still accepting submissions for designs]
In terms of upcoming trips, the following two were discussed:
December 3 – Travis is planning a sport trip, possibly to Worley’s/Morrell Cave in Tennessee
December 31 – Ken, Steve, and Grant may be planning a sport horizontal trip
Ken mentioned that the grotto had not made a charity donation this year. Suggestions were made to donate money to WNS research, the museum where we hold meetings, or cave conservancies. After a short discussion and a proposal, the TriTrog members voted to donate $200 to the Friends of the Museum. Pete H. will get Mark L. in touch with the right person.
Carlin shared a trip report about surveying in Cold Sink Cave (Smyth County, VA). His weekend plans had fallen apart, so he contacted Dave Duguid about joining that trip. The cave had been listed as Big Spring Cave on previous maps, but the lack of a spring or even a resurgence point suggested that this title had been a misnomer. The frost in the sinkhole at 11 AM on a warm fall day warranted the name change to Cold Sink Cave.
Carlin reported that two teams began the survey on Saturday and that they returned to the cave on Sunday. They netted roughly 850 feet of surveyed passage, with Rob always crawling backwards as he surveyed. The D survey (Snail Shell Squeeze) ended in a wide passageway that was only six inches high and likely connects with a surface sinkhole.
On Saturday Carlin dug at the C Survey passage with just a rock, trying to reach the sound of flowing water. On Sunday he easily cleared the mud away with a crowbar in less than fifteen minutes. Rob and Dave had to dig fifteen minutes more before they could join him. They found a passageway with flowing water, but the leads from there are additional digs.
Grant and Steve described their trip during the bat count at Hancock Cave. Two groups had little success at finding bats (only 4 or 5 were counted all day). The scouts were especially impressed by the Breakdown Staircase, and Preston led them into small squeezes (including the Flying Zamboni Passage), including one that led to an overlook that dropped down fifteen feet. The scouts crossed the Toilet Bowls but found water filling the Funnel Tunnel. The Comic Book (Cartoon) Hole offered amusement, and the scouts found navigation (even with a map) a challenge when they were seeking the exit.
Rob Harris shared a brief version of his bat count team’s experience in Hancock Cave. They found it tough to go up the Breakdown Staircase, and one member refused the climb up. One at the top refused to climb down. To reunite their team, Rob discovered that 30-foot deep fissures would not work. Instead he relied on the scouts’ team to lead them to the Corn Cob Crawl (a difficult climb up) to get them back together.
After a two-minute break, Howard lowered the lights and introduced the program. Ken Walsh shared a presentation by Dave Socky about the CRF exploration of Gap Cave, Virginia, formerly known as Cudjo’s Cave.
After the meeting gathering was held sitting outside in balmy November air at Armadillo Grill.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
October 2011 TriTrogs General meeting
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Attendees: 18 Cavers: Mark Daughtridge, Howard Holgate, Ava Pope, Hayden Holgate, Gordon Bolt, Carlin Kartchner, the hovering head of Rob Harris, Martin G, Mark Little, Brian Sakofsky , Steve Molnar, Grant Molnar ,Bithika, Ken Waslh, Lisa Lorenzin, Mike Broome, Matthew Lubin, Scott Bellavia
General socializing 7:30 to 7:41
Meeting start 7:41
Old Business- T-shirts- Art submissions!! One more from Martin, one from Mark D, Howard suggested delegating it to a committee, but none was appointed or further discussed. Suggestion to use online polling software to finally settle the question.
New Business- Holiday party to be determined by e-mail
Trip Reports-
Carlin went to TAG. 1100 ft of rope work including Fantastic Pit . Balcony is sketchy for rigging rope, bolts have moved due to fracture, rig off BFR (Big Rock) instead. Cemetery pit, other lesser known pit. Slot rock
Mark Little ACC board mtg Bristol plus 1.5hr drive. Reopened caves, not requiring decomm between- applies to ACC owned caves- Gilley cave. Visited Gilley with extremely elaborate, impressive welded gate, tricky to open/find locks. Lock caves behind them as they go in- made nervous about getting stuck so someone stayed behind. Few thousand feet explored, nice formations, pictures. Near entrance has been vandalized with graffiti etc. 115 miles beyond Marion VA. Near Pennington Gap, VA Key got stuck in lock when re-locking for about 30 minutes.
Rob Harris went w/ VPI grotto near Blacksburg, VA, trip leader injured at a party so changed caves to SmokeHole, wet exit about 300 ft of swimming in cold water to go out that way. Boot driers worked well, Rob enjoyed the dip. Pack stayed fairly dry.
Upcoming Trips
Nov 5 Hancock bat count
Nov 6 Lovers Leap/Worley’s survey
Nov 12 WV Cave Conservancy Banquet
Nov 19 Survey trip? Dave Duguid organizing
Nov 19 Cavers Learn WNS in TN- see e-mail. Eastern TN see TriTrogs site for details
Vertical training- date to be determined
First Aid 10 interested, TBD
Program
Carlsbad Caverns- video of swallows emerging
Cave Research Foundation. Well lit pictures with electric lights (parts commercial, Ken got into wild parts too.)
Sulfuric acid formed the cave so unique formations very different from East Coast
CRF founded in 1957. Cooperates w/ Nat Park Svc, Dept of Interior
Gates, monitoring, surveying, cataloging entrances, restoration trips, etc.
Membership required, Svc hours from cavers count toward grant proposals for NPS
Active projects listed
Re mapping because 1960’s map was done quickly and lots of errors
Natural entrance zig zag to big pit. Carved a new entrance. Hotel right above the natural entrance
Nice weather in late Sept. Big Ampitheatre near it. Walkways steep
Bat flight at night viewed from ampitheater no cameras allowed at all!
Lots of Guano and cave swallow droppings. Hosed down every Wednesday
Desert Centipede seen.
Cave over 27 miles long. Some still not explored yet. Most exploration is going on in Lechuguila
Papoose room lots of cool formations. Surveyed .
Queens Chamber. Tours stand in the dark for 15 minutes while rangers lecture, so no surveying or lights allowed during that time.
Helictites, covered in gympsum
Sten lights made great pictures long exposures
Kings Palace room also impressive
Some leads in Carlsbad are stout climbs.
7 people on the survey
Had to leave someone on the trail to keep visitors on track.
Boneyard section was lots of round solutional holes, hard to photograph, leads to lower levels without rappelling.
Looks a lot like Swiss cheese.
Appetite Hill formations stalagmites very sharp and straight come up and covered and water evaporates quickly. Humidity about 60% in Lechuguila, unknown in Carlsbad
The BIG Room Largest Cave chamber in the US by area.
www.Caverbob.net lists all the superlatives for caves.
Surveying the big room, lots of time for good Photos
Used Aquasocks to protect floor formations in some spots. Shoes were clean each day, white dust fell off easily, and no brown mud anywhere
Cave Trays. Maybe form on top of water on shields? Shelf hanging from stalagtite
Celery stalk, Lions Tail, very unique formations
Resurveying is improving the trails already.
38 foot high totem pole formation
Breast of Venus formation about 8 ft across
Final survey stations good shots.
White sands New Mexico just acres of gypsum, powdery sand.
Applause for the presentation
Some survey stations marked with embedded brass markers.
Surveyed 1/5 of mile and ½ big room trail. All together mapped about 2 miles of easy survey. Did not inventory formations. Used Distos and tape. Ceilings over 200 ft high, disto couldn’t go quite that high.
Next month, more depth on Gap cave by Ken, another ACC owned cave
Meeting done at 9:04
After meeting meeting was held at Armadillo Grill.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Attendees: 18 Cavers: Mark Daughtridge, Howard Holgate, Ava Pope, Hayden Holgate, Gordon Bolt, Carlin Kartchner, the hovering head of Rob Harris, Martin G, Mark Little, Brian Sakofsky , Steve Molnar, Grant Molnar ,Bithika, Ken Waslh, Lisa Lorenzin, Mike Broome, Matthew Lubin, Scott Bellavia
General socializing 7:30 to 7:41
Meeting start 7:41
Old Business- T-shirts- Art submissions!! One more from Martin, one from Mark D, Howard suggested delegating it to a committee, but none was appointed or further discussed. Suggestion to use online polling software to finally settle the question.
New Business- Holiday party to be determined by e-mail
Trip Reports-
Carlin went to TAG. 1100 ft of rope work including Fantastic Pit . Balcony is sketchy for rigging rope, bolts have moved due to fracture, rig off BFR (Big Rock) instead. Cemetery pit, other lesser known pit. Slot rock
Mark Little ACC board mtg Bristol plus 1.5hr drive. Reopened caves, not requiring decomm between- applies to ACC owned caves- Gilley cave. Visited Gilley with extremely elaborate, impressive welded gate, tricky to open/find locks. Lock caves behind them as they go in- made nervous about getting stuck so someone stayed behind. Few thousand feet explored, nice formations, pictures. Near entrance has been vandalized with graffiti etc. 115 miles beyond Marion VA. Near Pennington Gap, VA Key got stuck in lock when re-locking for about 30 minutes.
Rob Harris went w/ VPI grotto near Blacksburg, VA, trip leader injured at a party so changed caves to SmokeHole, wet exit about 300 ft of swimming in cold water to go out that way. Boot driers worked well, Rob enjoyed the dip. Pack stayed fairly dry.
Upcoming Trips
Nov 5 Hancock bat count
Nov 6 Lovers Leap/Worley’s survey
Nov 12 WV Cave Conservancy Banquet
Nov 19 Survey trip? Dave Duguid organizing
Nov 19 Cavers Learn WNS in TN- see e-mail. Eastern TN see TriTrogs site for details
Vertical training- date to be determined
First Aid 10 interested, TBD
Program
Carlsbad Caverns- video of swallows emerging
Cave Research Foundation. Well lit pictures with electric lights (parts commercial, Ken got into wild parts too.)
Sulfuric acid formed the cave so unique formations very different from East Coast
CRF founded in 1957. Cooperates w/ Nat Park Svc, Dept of Interior
Gates, monitoring, surveying, cataloging entrances, restoration trips, etc.
Membership required, Svc hours from cavers count toward grant proposals for NPS
Active projects listed
Re mapping because 1960’s map was done quickly and lots of errors
Natural entrance zig zag to big pit. Carved a new entrance. Hotel right above the natural entrance
Nice weather in late Sept. Big Ampitheatre near it. Walkways steep
Bat flight at night viewed from ampitheater no cameras allowed at all!
Lots of Guano and cave swallow droppings. Hosed down every Wednesday
Desert Centipede seen.
Cave over 27 miles long. Some still not explored yet. Most exploration is going on in Lechuguila
Papoose room lots of cool formations. Surveyed .
Queens Chamber. Tours stand in the dark for 15 minutes while rangers lecture, so no surveying or lights allowed during that time.
Helictites, covered in gympsum
Sten lights made great pictures long exposures
Kings Palace room also impressive
Some leads in Carlsbad are stout climbs.
7 people on the survey
Had to leave someone on the trail to keep visitors on track.
Boneyard section was lots of round solutional holes, hard to photograph, leads to lower levels without rappelling.
Looks a lot like Swiss cheese.
Appetite Hill formations stalagmites very sharp and straight come up and covered and water evaporates quickly. Humidity about 60% in Lechuguila, unknown in Carlsbad
The BIG Room Largest Cave chamber in the US by area.
www.Caverbob.net lists all the superlatives for caves.
Surveying the big room, lots of time for good Photos
Used Aquasocks to protect floor formations in some spots. Shoes were clean each day, white dust fell off easily, and no brown mud anywhere
Cave Trays. Maybe form on top of water on shields? Shelf hanging from stalagtite
Celery stalk, Lions Tail, very unique formations
Resurveying is improving the trails already.
38 foot high totem pole formation
Breast of Venus formation about 8 ft across
Final survey stations good shots.
White sands New Mexico just acres of gypsum, powdery sand.
Applause for the presentation
Some survey stations marked with embedded brass markers.
Surveyed 1/5 of mile and ½ big room trail. All together mapped about 2 miles of easy survey. Did not inventory formations. Used Distos and tape. Ceilings over 200 ft high, disto couldn’t go quite that high.
Next month, more depth on Gap cave by Ken, another ACC owned cave
Meeting done at 9:04
After meeting meeting was held at Armadillo Grill.
Monday, October 10, 2011
September 2011 TriTrogs General Meeting
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Note: There was no August 2011 meeting as a rousing pool party was held instead. Trip reports from August include that no one tripped and fell into the pool. A couple people may have been pushed but most jumped in willingly.
Attendees: 15 Cavers: Howard Holgate, Ava Pope, Hayden Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Carlin Kartchner, the hovering head of Rob Harris, Martin Groenewegen, Peter Hertl, Brian Sakofsky, Neil Brooks, Cassandra Houston, Steve Molnar, Grant Molnar, Amar chawla, Mark Daughtridge
General socializing 7:30 to 7:44 including Howard manning the door since guard was away and we didn't have the sign to call the room Ken normally posts, but we made one on the fly and stuck it up just as the guard came back and Howard went down to start the meeting anyway.
Meeting start 7:45
Old Business- T-shirts- Art submissions!! 3 are in from Martin. Others originally due and decision to be made by September Meeting.- Extension of 2 more weeks to submit designs to Howard by e-mail. Then e-mail voting will commence!
Receipts from Grotto Trip still to be re-imbursed
Red Cross training desired 8 people at previous meeting would be interested in a course. Mark D will ask Danny M about options, cost, dates, locations 10 tonight expressed interest, assuming that includes the original 8.
New Business- none
Trip Reports
OTR- Brian reported on another trip to Shovel Eater cave
Peter talked about his OTR experience too, competed in vertical skills and did a few hours of caving
Carlin went to Gap Cave – gear provided including new vertical gear. Vertical section only open 4 months a year. Historic signatures beyond the gate, civil war era etc. Surveyed, documented pictures, long 3.5 hour retreat with a strained shoulder. Gap Cave is near VA/KY/TN border
Upcoming TripsGrand Caverns trip with Baltimore Grotto 1st weekend of October- survey training
10/6-9 TAG Fall Cave-In (http://www.tagfallcavein.org)
10-14 to 16 Fall VAR- Bath County, marvelous caves- Breathing Cave,Wishing Well, etc
11-5 Hancock Bat count
11-19 Cavers Learn WNS in TN- see e-mail.
Vertical training- date to be determined, Pete and Mark D
First Aid 10 interested, TBD, Mark D.
Program
Bryce presented on Lava Beds National Monument.
Elevation 4000 ft? orhigher. In CA near Oregon Border. Nearest city is Klamuth Oregon, 40 min away
Volcanic activity as recently as 1000 years ago. Most tubes 30-40K years ago. Come vertical connections with collapses between.
Historical artifacts, lots of Native American activity historically
Lots of Bats, packrats, and some snakes
World’s only confirmed site of aerosol rabies from Mexican Freetail bats. That cave is closed!
North of Modoc Nat. Forest
Caldwell Trench is a collapsed lava tube about 60 ft deep at some spots. Open top now with vegetation
750 caves in the area
Soil is pumice and terrain above is desert, high elevation and cold
Several developed caves along cave loop road. CCC put in trails, stairs, rails etc in 1930’s. Also brought in pumice which moved around and detracts form caves’ natural beauty
Caves still being discovered.
Holes around above ground so be careful. Deer fell into one developed cave and distressed tourists.
No gold, only algae.
A few formations, and a few secondary from later water flow, but nothing like limestone caves
Lava tubes are newer and still collapsing, and more dangerous. Older caves have had eons of earthquakes etc to stabilize them
Lava sicles like ice cicles of rock. Neat webbing patterns
Some caves have chimneys built as lodges or smoke houses.
Bat Superhighway is one cave name.
Rare rubber boa snake that only eats crickets.
Sentinel was hot. Caves small enough to vary with outside temp. Most very dry unless it’s actually raining.
A few caves have year round ice, but closed in summer to protect the ice
Don’t rely on cheap helmets sold in the gift shop
Meeting done at 8:52
After meeting meeting was held at nearby watering hole of Armadillo Grill which seemed to lack the normal kitchen staff but managed to feed us well anyway.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Note: There was no August 2011 meeting as a rousing pool party was held instead. Trip reports from August include that no one tripped and fell into the pool. A couple people may have been pushed but most jumped in willingly.
Attendees: 15 Cavers: Howard Holgate, Ava Pope, Hayden Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Carlin Kartchner, the hovering head of Rob Harris, Martin Groenewegen, Peter Hertl, Brian Sakofsky, Neil Brooks, Cassandra Houston, Steve Molnar, Grant Molnar, Amar chawla, Mark Daughtridge
General socializing 7:30 to 7:44 including Howard manning the door since guard was away and we didn't have the sign to call the room Ken normally posts, but we made one on the fly and stuck it up just as the guard came back and Howard went down to start the meeting anyway.
Meeting start 7:45
Old Business- T-shirts- Art submissions!! 3 are in from Martin. Others originally due and decision to be made by September Meeting.- Extension of 2 more weeks to submit designs to Howard by e-mail. Then e-mail voting will commence!
Receipts from Grotto Trip still to be re-imbursed
Red Cross training desired 8 people at previous meeting would be interested in a course. Mark D will ask Danny M about options, cost, dates, locations 10 tonight expressed interest, assuming that includes the original 8.
New Business- none
Trip Reports
OTR- Brian reported on another trip to Shovel Eater cave
Peter talked about his OTR experience too, competed in vertical skills and did a few hours of caving
Carlin went to Gap Cave – gear provided including new vertical gear. Vertical section only open 4 months a year. Historic signatures beyond the gate, civil war era etc. Surveyed, documented pictures, long 3.5 hour retreat with a strained shoulder. Gap Cave is near VA/KY/TN border
Upcoming TripsGrand Caverns trip with Baltimore Grotto 1st weekend of October- survey training
10/6-9 TAG Fall Cave-In (http://www.tagfallcavein.org)
10-14 to 16 Fall VAR- Bath County, marvelous caves- Breathing Cave,Wishing Well, etc
11-5 Hancock Bat count
11-19 Cavers Learn WNS in TN- see e-mail.
Vertical training- date to be determined, Pete and Mark D
First Aid 10 interested, TBD, Mark D.
Program
Bryce presented on Lava Beds National Monument.
Elevation 4000 ft? orhigher. In CA near Oregon Border. Nearest city is Klamuth Oregon, 40 min away
Volcanic activity as recently as 1000 years ago. Most tubes 30-40K years ago. Come vertical connections with collapses between.
Historical artifacts, lots of Native American activity historically
Lots of Bats, packrats, and some snakes
World’s only confirmed site of aerosol rabies from Mexican Freetail bats. That cave is closed!
North of Modoc Nat. Forest
Caldwell Trench is a collapsed lava tube about 60 ft deep at some spots. Open top now with vegetation
750 caves in the area
Soil is pumice and terrain above is desert, high elevation and cold
Several developed caves along cave loop road. CCC put in trails, stairs, rails etc in 1930’s. Also brought in pumice which moved around and detracts form caves’ natural beauty
Caves still being discovered.
Holes around above ground so be careful. Deer fell into one developed cave and distressed tourists.
No gold, only algae.
A few formations, and a few secondary from later water flow, but nothing like limestone caves
Lava tubes are newer and still collapsing, and more dangerous. Older caves have had eons of earthquakes etc to stabilize them
Lava sicles like ice cicles of rock. Neat webbing patterns
Some caves have chimneys built as lodges or smoke houses.
Bat Superhighway is one cave name.
Rare rubber boa snake that only eats crickets.
Sentinel was hot. Caves small enough to vary with outside temp. Most very dry unless it’s actually raining.
A few caves have year round ice, but closed in summer to protect the ice
Don’t rely on cheap helmets sold in the gift shop
Meeting done at 8:52
After meeting meeting was held at nearby watering hole of Armadillo Grill which seemed to lack the normal kitchen staff but managed to feed us well anyway.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
July 2011 TriTrogs General meeting
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Attendees: Mark Daughtridge, Ken Walsh, Mark Little, Howard Holgate, Lisa Foley, Ava Pope, Matthew Lubin, Hayden Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Yuan Li, Carlin Kartchner, and the hovering head of Dr. Robert Harris attending via Skype from Charlotte
General socializing 7:30 to 7:37
Meeting start 7:38
Old Business- T-shirts- Art submissions!! 3 are in from Martin. Any others designs to be considered will be due and decision to be made by September Meeting.
Receipts from Grotto Trip still to be re-imbursed
New Business-
Red Cross training desired? 8 people would be interested in a course. Mark D will ask his friend and ARC instructor Danny M about options, cost, dates, locations
No NCRC Training announced currently.
New members should give Mark L. membership forms
Matthew Lubin will mail check to Mark L. for dues.
Trip Reports
Carlin went to Germany valley Karst survey at ShovelEater Cave in West Virginia near Hell Hole cave. Went to end of diamond canyon. Long crawl/chimney, goes to station 43 as a crawl. 52-60 year old tough, good cavers. Followed stream passage, broke through to a pit but no way beyond that. Used micro blasting for a bit but now not even plausible for that.
Got to see the nice parts of the cave too. 14 hour trip. Had to pull fixed rope on the way out. Mark Minton, Bob, Dwight Livingston also on the trip.
Bryce presented Martin’s pictures of the grotto trip. Formations, salamander, kitten, muddy cavers, foggy shots, stream, Caleb the exotic bird on arms- from nice cave owner lady. Luna moth. Again, a good trip with good food.
Upcoming Trips
8/6 Fountain Cave Photography trip – Ken shared photos that they want to re-shoot with better technique. With Ericka Hoffman (near Grand Caverns commercial open since 1804) easy cave, nice formations. Access to Grand Caverns too. In Grottos, VA Pictures given to the cave establishment. Possible midnight tour with history of Grand.
9-1 to 9-5 Labor Day weekend OTR- Old Timer’s Reunion, Thurs-Sun 8 hour drive from Raleigh, lots of vendors, bands playing music, lots of caves around, $35 covers it all including beer. Must register early. See www.OTR.org for details. Peter will most likely go. Need to go as a guest of a TRA- Robertson Association member to restrict to cavers.
Setp 17 Bug Fest contact Pete Hertl to volunteer
September 24-30 Kan is going to Carlsbad Mapping with CRF
10-14 to 16 Fall VAR- Bath County, marvelous caves- Breathing Cave,Wishing Well, etc
10/6-9 TAG Fall Cave-In (http://www.tagfallcavein.org)
11-19 Cavers Learn WNS in TN- see e-mail.
6/25-29, 2012 NSS Convention (West Virginia TBD)
Vertical Training -? Pete and Mark D to determine dates
Red Cross Training?- Mark D. to get details from Red Cross
Program
2nd half of National Geographic Special on “World’s Largest Cave”
After meeting meeting was presumably held at a nearby watering hole although the humble TriTrogs secretary did not make it to the post meeting festivities.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Attendees: Mark Daughtridge, Ken Walsh, Mark Little, Howard Holgate, Lisa Foley, Ava Pope, Matthew Lubin, Hayden Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Yuan Li, Carlin Kartchner, and the hovering head of Dr. Robert Harris attending via Skype from Charlotte
General socializing 7:30 to 7:37
Meeting start 7:38
Old Business- T-shirts- Art submissions!! 3 are in from Martin. Any others designs to be considered will be due and decision to be made by September Meeting.
Receipts from Grotto Trip still to be re-imbursed
New Business-
Red Cross training desired? 8 people would be interested in a course. Mark D will ask his friend and ARC instructor Danny M about options, cost, dates, locations
No NCRC Training announced currently.
New members should give Mark L. membership forms
Matthew Lubin will mail check to Mark L. for dues.
Trip Reports
Carlin went to Germany valley Karst survey at ShovelEater Cave in West Virginia near Hell Hole cave. Went to end of diamond canyon. Long crawl/chimney, goes to station 43 as a crawl. 52-60 year old tough, good cavers. Followed stream passage, broke through to a pit but no way beyond that. Used micro blasting for a bit but now not even plausible for that.
Got to see the nice parts of the cave too. 14 hour trip. Had to pull fixed rope on the way out. Mark Minton, Bob, Dwight Livingston also on the trip.
Bryce presented Martin’s pictures of the grotto trip. Formations, salamander, kitten, muddy cavers, foggy shots, stream, Caleb the exotic bird on arms- from nice cave owner lady. Luna moth. Again, a good trip with good food.
Upcoming Trips
8/6 Fountain Cave Photography trip – Ken shared photos that they want to re-shoot with better technique. With Ericka Hoffman (near Grand Caverns commercial open since 1804) easy cave, nice formations. Access to Grand Caverns too. In Grottos, VA Pictures given to the cave establishment. Possible midnight tour with history of Grand.
9-1 to 9-5 Labor Day weekend OTR- Old Timer’s Reunion, Thurs-Sun 8 hour drive from Raleigh, lots of vendors, bands playing music, lots of caves around, $35 covers it all including beer. Must register early. See www.OTR.org for details. Peter will most likely go. Need to go as a guest of a TRA- Robertson Association member to restrict to cavers.
Setp 17 Bug Fest contact Pete Hertl to volunteer
September 24-30 Kan is going to Carlsbad Mapping with CRF
10-14 to 16 Fall VAR- Bath County, marvelous caves- Breathing Cave,Wishing Well, etc
10/6-9 TAG Fall Cave-In (http://www.tagfallcavein.org)
11-19 Cavers Learn WNS in TN- see e-mail.
6/25-29, 2012 NSS Convention (West Virginia TBD)
Vertical Training -? Pete and Mark D to determine dates
Red Cross Training?- Mark D. to get details from Red Cross
Program
2nd half of National Geographic Special on “World’s Largest Cave”
After meeting meeting was presumably held at a nearby watering hole although the humble TriTrogs secretary did not make it to the post meeting festivities.
Monday, July 25, 2011
TriTrogs General Meeting June 2011
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Attendees: Mark Daughtridge, Ken Walsh, Howard Holgate, Hayden Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Peter Hertl, Zeke Van Fossen, Ava Pope, Martin , Patrick Craft, Bithika Khargharia, Amar Chawla, Carlin Kartchner, Mike Broome, Matthew Lubin
Welcome 3 new members!! Bithika, Amar, and Carlin!!
We had 4 members total pay dues this meeting.
General socializing 7:30-7:49
Meeting start 7:50
Old Business- T-shirts
Pete rigging rope at his house, near fairgrounds for vertical training/practice
New Business
NSS Member Manual discussion, general consensus is that we would be in favor of on line version with pay for print option.
VA big eared bat count largest population ever recorded there since 1983 in Sinnett-Thorne Cave.
BugFest- Peter could use volunteers. No caving/bug knowledge needed, Peter will teach what you need to know. This is reciprocal for the museum allowing us to use the space. Sept 17 2 hr shifts 9a-7pm needed. Get Bug Fest T-shirt and lunch and/or dinner (pizza, sandwiches etc) here at the museum.
Had 35,000 visitors last year.
Trip Reports
6/25 -26 TriTrogs Grotto trip – Ava reports it was really fun, asleep by 1, breakfast tacos, caved all day in Buckeye Creek Cave, soaking wet, couldn’t go through due to sump. 11 people attended. Cool Formations, side passages. Bryce and friend made awesome huge dinner- amazing stir fry. Food was great all around. Facility great and in good shape, weather was also great, mid 70’s outside. Resident there had several large exotic birds. Saw a salamander, pigmented crawfish, etc, they get washed in from outside or migrate upstream.
New River cave- Ken, Martin, others went. Navigation was interesting and challenging. Waterfall was flowing well. Martin’s new powerful 3xpG home made light doubled as a laser cannon. Camped at Claytor Lake. Ava warns of the shower on the left being temperamental. Trash, squirt gun, golf ball etc found in cave. UVA has sensors in there now.
Carlin visited lots of national park and other caves on the way while moving to Raleigh/Durham. Did a restoration trip in one cave with lighting. "Beware" Cave only 50 ft but lots of water in Utah near Nevada. Near Crystal Ball cave.
Upcoming Trips
Vertical training- date to be determined
7/18-22 NSS convention in Colorado, Glenwood Springs, in mid western CO. No one from TriTrogs currently planning to go.
8/6 Fountain Cave Photography trip With Ericka Hoffman (near Grand Caverns commercial open since 1804) (in August to avoid the Civil War re-enactment event at Grand in July which may also be of interest to some) easy cave, nice formations. Access to Grand Caverns too. In Grottos, VA
Pictures given to the cave establishment.
Labor Day weekend OTR- Old Timer’s Reunion, Thurs-Sun 8 hour drive from Raleigh, lots of vendors, bands playing music, lots of caves around, $35 covers it all including beer. Must register early. See www.OTR.org for details. Peter will most likely go.
10/6-9 TAG Fall Cave-In (http://www.tagfallcavein.org)
6/25-29, 2012 NSS Convention (West Virginia TBD)
Program
Patrick Craft talked about Cave Rescue, Medicine and Safety.
Patrick is a family Doctor, has his own practice and works for Duke.
Brief highlights from the slides and discussion follow, Patrick can share copies of the slides if interested.
Perkins Cave owned by ACC, Washington Co VA
11,000 NSS members 80 commercial caves
8600 in TN.
4378 in VA
White Nose Syndrome discussed briefly, no affect on humans
Spread
Difficulty with Cave Rescue- patient status- ambulatory, pre-existing conditions, hypothermia, consciousness,
Guy fell 600 feet (tumble) rescue took 11 hours on Mount Hood, similar or worse in caves
Caves dark, wet, cold, long, deep, breakdown, chimney, crawling, swimming, vertical drops,
400ft from entrance took 1 hour in one case
Communication, cave navigation, time of day/night to get resources in rural area, rescuers struggle to find entrances
Floyd Collins story mentioned
2007 Union County TN near Knoxville
27 year old fell 80 feet, head injury, many mistakes made
Simmons Mingo cave near Snowshoe WV, injury, those who went for help got lost in cave. Wearing cotton,
Lost for 2 days before found
“Daring” Cave Rescue in Orme Tenn. Couldn’t do the climb out.
Claxton TN- Guy breaks leg 1hr to go 400 ft
VT Student in Feb 2011 in Stay High cave, wedged in v shape crack, 12 hour rescue, crush injury
Emily Mobley in 1991- in NM, broken leg
Cave Fatalities. Nutty Putty Utah
Getting a litter out very difficult.
Incident Commander
Organization communication, scene control
Personnel-Equipped? Trained?
Equipment- litter, 1st aid kit, packaging, ropes, hardware
What is the cave like?
See Auerbach- Wilderness Medicine
Gave Cave rescue contact #’s
Call 911, NCRC, and local known cavers. Can get local politics etc involved
Possible medical issues associated with caves:
Rabies, Lassavirus, 55K deaths /year, mostly in India. Raccoons most common vector in US, and skunks
May be possible to transmit through feces etc. vaccine only lasts a few years.
One bad case from 5mm bat bite not treated at first ended up in medically induced coma to save the girl. Became same temp as the room- ambithermic. Recovered but with some long term problems like speech.
Working on better vaccines.
Histoplasmosis (Ohio Valley Fever)
Can seem like common cold. In soil, bat litter, chicken litter etc. Treated with anti-fungals. Usually not serious, most likely in those with other complications. One variant causes permanent partial blindness.
Bad Air
Volcanic gases- Mt Hood asphyxiated some. Flame test- candle extinguished at 15% Oxygen
Rarely in limestone caves
Hypothermia- kills folks in SE
Described several methods of losing heat
Air draft, direct contact, etc
Mild: body temp 95-89; moderate: 89-78.9; severe: <78.8
Symptoms similar to bad air, hypoxia, intoxication, AMS, etc.
Trauma- lacerations, abrasions, dislocations, fractures,
Clean and cover
Splint, Improvise
Time to definitive care
Evac can be very hard and slow
Vertical often multiple injuries poly system
Keep warm.
Evac even harder
Standard equipment for safety
1st aid kit. Duct tape and wits.
Never change plan without telling surface watch directly
May 30 2011
TN- Got on wrong end of rope, rappelled off end.
450 ft uphill to entrance
200’ stream passage
300’ etc etc, no cell coverage near entrance approach for miles
Fell 23 feet
Took 15 hours to get him out
T12 compression fracture, l5, pelvis, wrist fractures
Feb 2011 death – wearing cotton, rappelling in waterfall, got tangled couldn’t unfowl descending system. Couldn’t unweight rope and ascend
For boy scouts,stick to EASY caves, commercial etc limit group size, limit to age 14 and up
See guide to safe scouting
Leaders in good physical condition and truly qualified
Recommend 1st aid, WFA, National Cave Rescue Commission training, etc.
Festivities continued at Armadillo Grill with a large, jovial group.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Attendees: Mark Daughtridge, Ken Walsh, Howard Holgate, Hayden Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Peter Hertl, Zeke Van Fossen, Ava Pope, Martin , Patrick Craft, Bithika Khargharia, Amar Chawla, Carlin Kartchner, Mike Broome, Matthew Lubin
Welcome 3 new members!! Bithika, Amar, and Carlin!!
We had 4 members total pay dues this meeting.
General socializing 7:30-7:49
Meeting start 7:50
Old Business- T-shirts
Pete rigging rope at his house, near fairgrounds for vertical training/practice
New Business
NSS Member Manual discussion, general consensus is that we would be in favor of on line version with pay for print option.
VA big eared bat count largest population ever recorded there since 1983 in Sinnett-Thorne Cave.
BugFest- Peter could use volunteers. No caving/bug knowledge needed, Peter will teach what you need to know. This is reciprocal for the museum allowing us to use the space. Sept 17 2 hr shifts 9a-7pm needed. Get Bug Fest T-shirt and lunch and/or dinner (pizza, sandwiches etc) here at the museum.
Had 35,000 visitors last year.
Trip Reports
6/25 -26 TriTrogs Grotto trip – Ava reports it was really fun, asleep by 1, breakfast tacos, caved all day in Buckeye Creek Cave, soaking wet, couldn’t go through due to sump. 11 people attended. Cool Formations, side passages. Bryce and friend made awesome huge dinner- amazing stir fry. Food was great all around. Facility great and in good shape, weather was also great, mid 70’s outside. Resident there had several large exotic birds. Saw a salamander, pigmented crawfish, etc, they get washed in from outside or migrate upstream.
New River cave- Ken, Martin, others went. Navigation was interesting and challenging. Waterfall was flowing well. Martin’s new powerful 3xpG home made light doubled as a laser cannon. Camped at Claytor Lake. Ava warns of the shower on the left being temperamental. Trash, squirt gun, golf ball etc found in cave. UVA has sensors in there now.
Carlin visited lots of national park and other caves on the way while moving to Raleigh/Durham. Did a restoration trip in one cave with lighting. "Beware" Cave only 50 ft but lots of water in Utah near Nevada. Near Crystal Ball cave.
Upcoming Trips
Vertical training- date to be determined
7/18-22 NSS convention in Colorado, Glenwood Springs, in mid western CO. No one from TriTrogs currently planning to go.
8/6 Fountain Cave Photography trip With Ericka Hoffman (near Grand Caverns commercial open since 1804) (in August to avoid the Civil War re-enactment event at Grand in July which may also be of interest to some) easy cave, nice formations. Access to Grand Caverns too. In Grottos, VA
Pictures given to the cave establishment.
Labor Day weekend OTR- Old Timer’s Reunion, Thurs-Sun 8 hour drive from Raleigh, lots of vendors, bands playing music, lots of caves around, $35 covers it all including beer. Must register early. See www.OTR.org for details. Peter will most likely go.
10/6-9 TAG Fall Cave-In (http://www.tagfallcavein.org)
6/25-29, 2012 NSS Convention (West Virginia TBD)
Program
Patrick Craft talked about Cave Rescue, Medicine and Safety.
Patrick is a family Doctor, has his own practice and works for Duke.
Brief highlights from the slides and discussion follow, Patrick can share copies of the slides if interested.
Perkins Cave owned by ACC, Washington Co VA
11,000 NSS members 80 commercial caves
8600 in TN.
4378 in VA
White Nose Syndrome discussed briefly, no affect on humans
Spread
Difficulty with Cave Rescue- patient status- ambulatory, pre-existing conditions, hypothermia, consciousness,
Guy fell 600 feet (tumble) rescue took 11 hours on Mount Hood, similar or worse in caves
Caves dark, wet, cold, long, deep, breakdown, chimney, crawling, swimming, vertical drops,
400ft from entrance took 1 hour in one case
Communication, cave navigation, time of day/night to get resources in rural area, rescuers struggle to find entrances
Floyd Collins story mentioned
2007 Union County TN near Knoxville
27 year old fell 80 feet, head injury, many mistakes made
Simmons Mingo cave near Snowshoe WV, injury, those who went for help got lost in cave. Wearing cotton,
Lost for 2 days before found
“Daring” Cave Rescue in Orme Tenn. Couldn’t do the climb out.
Claxton TN- Guy breaks leg 1hr to go 400 ft
VT Student in Feb 2011 in Stay High cave, wedged in v shape crack, 12 hour rescue, crush injury
Emily Mobley in 1991- in NM, broken leg
Cave Fatalities. Nutty Putty Utah
Getting a litter out very difficult.
Incident Commander
Organization communication, scene control
Personnel-Equipped? Trained?
Equipment- litter, 1st aid kit, packaging, ropes, hardware
What is the cave like?
See Auerbach- Wilderness Medicine
Gave Cave rescue contact #’s
Call 911, NCRC, and local known cavers. Can get local politics etc involved
Possible medical issues associated with caves:
Rabies, Lassavirus, 55K deaths /year, mostly in India. Raccoons most common vector in US, and skunks
May be possible to transmit through feces etc. vaccine only lasts a few years.
One bad case from 5mm bat bite not treated at first ended up in medically induced coma to save the girl. Became same temp as the room- ambithermic. Recovered but with some long term problems like speech.
Working on better vaccines.
Histoplasmosis (Ohio Valley Fever)
Can seem like common cold. In soil, bat litter, chicken litter etc. Treated with anti-fungals. Usually not serious, most likely in those with other complications. One variant causes permanent partial blindness.
Bad Air
Volcanic gases- Mt Hood asphyxiated some. Flame test- candle extinguished at 15% Oxygen
Rarely in limestone caves
Hypothermia- kills folks in SE
Described several methods of losing heat
Air draft, direct contact, etc
Mild: body temp 95-89; moderate: 89-78.9; severe: <78.8
Symptoms similar to bad air, hypoxia, intoxication, AMS, etc.
Trauma- lacerations, abrasions, dislocations, fractures,
Clean and cover
Splint, Improvise
Time to definitive care
Evac can be very hard and slow
Vertical often multiple injuries poly system
Keep warm.
Evac even harder
Standard equipment for safety
1st aid kit. Duct tape and wits.
Never change plan without telling surface watch directly
May 30 2011
TN- Got on wrong end of rope, rappelled off end.
450 ft uphill to entrance
200’ stream passage
300’ etc etc, no cell coverage near entrance approach for miles
Fell 23 feet
Took 15 hours to get him out
T12 compression fracture, l5, pelvis, wrist fractures
Feb 2011 death – wearing cotton, rappelling in waterfall, got tangled couldn’t unfowl descending system. Couldn’t unweight rope and ascend
For boy scouts,stick to EASY caves, commercial etc limit group size, limit to age 14 and up
See guide to safe scouting
Leaders in good physical condition and truly qualified
Recommend 1st aid, WFA, National Cave Rescue Commission training, etc.
Festivities continued at Armadillo Grill with a large, jovial group.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
TriTrogs General meeting May 2011
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Attendees: Howard Holgate, Hayden Holgate, Zeke VanFossen, Martin G, Luke Mitchell, Bryce Schroeder, David T., Ava Pope, Mark Daughtridge, Lisa Foley, Robert Harris, Ken Walsh, Peter Hertl, Melissa Swazey, Marcie Rush, Trevor Rush
General socializing 7:30 to 7:41
Meeting start 7:41
Old Business- T-shirts- no real progress, still want a design
Pete rigging rope at his house, near fairgrounds for vertical training/practice details still TBD
New Business
Bryce asked about getting carbide through the mail? May get in small quantities through special shipping. Miner’s grade is good, nut grade is less desirable. (Used for light underground, dirty burn but bright.)
Trip Reports
Spring VAR 4/29- Amanda went.
Ken, Dave, Tanya- Worley’s survey continued, new section sloppy, low getting in, but opened up after. Live raccoon blocked way to waterfall. New section smelly, raccoons have been living there. Map shaping up, runs along a straight plane, about 23 degrees, lots of chert, 23 stations, 300ft of survey. Racoons seem far from any entrance or light source. Landowner suggested new cave possibilities too including other landowners, including a sinkhole that locals have cleaned out for scrap metal. They pulled out 15 cars. Now clean enough to clean further and look for entrances.
Also explored other minor caves in the area and a nice hiking area on Sunday.
Robert knows a guy who thinks he may have caves in his land.
Upcoming Trips
Vertical training- date to be confirmed
May 28th weekend, Lost World Caverns in WV celebrating a long time caver who died of old age recently.
5/26-28 Kentucky Speleofest
6/4 Ken wants to go caving. Anything but vertical
6/25 -26 TriTrogs Grotto trip Howard and Bryce organizing, cave TBD, fun, horizontal about 6 people say they can go.
SERA summer cave carnival in TN, in mid July
Gilleys, part of ACC is closed for WNS, so that trip won’t go.
7/18-22 NSS convention in Colorado, Glenwood Springs, in mid western CO. Howard is going, Ken probably going, Peter might. Howard can pick folks up at airport.
8/6 Fountain Cave Photography trip With Ericka Hoffman (near Grand Caverns commercial open since 1804) (in August to avoid the Civil War re-enactment event at Grand in July which may also be of interest to some) easy cave, nice formation
Labor Day weekend OTR- Old Timer’s Reunion, Thurs-Sun 8 hour drive from Raleigh, lots of vendors, bands playing music, lots of caves around, $35 covers it all including beer. Must register early. See OTR.org for details.
Program World’s Biggest Cave video
Watched the first half (20 min), 2nd half for next month.
Meeting ended with some folks heading for food and beverage.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Attendees: Howard Holgate, Hayden Holgate, Zeke VanFossen, Martin G, Luke Mitchell, Bryce Schroeder, David T., Ava Pope, Mark Daughtridge, Lisa Foley, Robert Harris, Ken Walsh, Peter Hertl, Melissa Swazey, Marcie Rush, Trevor Rush
General socializing 7:30 to 7:41
Meeting start 7:41
Old Business- T-shirts- no real progress, still want a design
Pete rigging rope at his house, near fairgrounds for vertical training/practice details still TBD
New Business
Bryce asked about getting carbide through the mail? May get in small quantities through special shipping. Miner’s grade is good, nut grade is less desirable. (Used for light underground, dirty burn but bright.)
Trip Reports
Spring VAR 4/29- Amanda went.
Ken, Dave, Tanya- Worley’s survey continued, new section sloppy, low getting in, but opened up after. Live raccoon blocked way to waterfall. New section smelly, raccoons have been living there. Map shaping up, runs along a straight plane, about 23 degrees, lots of chert, 23 stations, 300ft of survey. Racoons seem far from any entrance or light source. Landowner suggested new cave possibilities too including other landowners, including a sinkhole that locals have cleaned out for scrap metal. They pulled out 15 cars. Now clean enough to clean further and look for entrances.
Also explored other minor caves in the area and a nice hiking area on Sunday.
Robert knows a guy who thinks he may have caves in his land.
Upcoming Trips
Vertical training- date to be confirmed
May 28th weekend, Lost World Caverns in WV celebrating a long time caver who died of old age recently.
5/26-28 Kentucky Speleofest
6/4 Ken wants to go caving. Anything but vertical
6/25 -26 TriTrogs Grotto trip Howard and Bryce organizing, cave TBD, fun, horizontal about 6 people say they can go.
SERA summer cave carnival in TN, in mid July
Gilleys, part of ACC is closed for WNS, so that trip won’t go.
7/18-22 NSS convention in Colorado, Glenwood Springs, in mid western CO. Howard is going, Ken probably going, Peter might. Howard can pick folks up at airport.
8/6 Fountain Cave Photography trip With Ericka Hoffman (near Grand Caverns commercial open since 1804) (in August to avoid the Civil War re-enactment event at Grand in July which may also be of interest to some) easy cave, nice formation
Labor Day weekend OTR- Old Timer’s Reunion, Thurs-Sun 8 hour drive from Raleigh, lots of vendors, bands playing music, lots of caves around, $35 covers it all including beer. Must register early. See OTR.org for details.
Program World’s Biggest Cave video
Watched the first half (20 min), 2nd half for next month.
Meeting ended with some folks heading for food and beverage.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
TriTrogs General Meeting April 2011
TriTrogs General meeting
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Attendees: Howard Holgate, Mark Daughtridge, Lisa Foley (1st meeting!), Robert Harris, Ken Walsh, Susanna Clark
General socializing 7:30 to 7:45
Meeting start 7:45
Old Business- Nothing new on T Shirts or Vertical Training/practice
New Business- None
Discussion of gear and other things to know for new cavers. List of gear is on the web site.
Trip Reports
Lover’s Leap- Ken, Mike, Lisa See trip report on web site. Very interesting surveying in the deep slot. Pretty formations within the slot. Found 2 more pits at the bottom . About 30 feet of floor between the new/lower pits. Surveyed 2 other leads, one concludes, one needs digging. The other passage went to a nice room with 12 foot ceiling and small drain hole. Rain outside made it very tricky getting back up the hill outside the cave. It snowed as they descended the hill to drive to Pizza Hut.
Near Pittsboro/Siler City old Iron Mine- Revolution/Civil War used, about 12-18 mines on Conservancy land to look for bats and identify which species if any. Old iron furnace. Pics on web site. Potentially good place for vertical training? Spotted about 9 bats, and some turkey vulture eggs underground. A vulture startled Ken as it flew out. All bats were Tri-Color bats (Eastern Pipistrelles). No evidence of WNS was found.
Upcoming Trips
This weekend:
Spring VAR 4/29
MVOR Missouri 4/29
Dave/Dawson 4/29 may go caving/ridge walking
Survey trip for 5/8 or 5/15?? Dave Duguid considering
Vertical training- date to be confirmed
5/26 to 28 Kentucky Speleofest
6/25 TriTrogs Grotto trip Howard and Bryce organizing, cave TBD
Mark Little to look into Gilley’s Cave for some future trip.
7/18-22 NSS convention in Colorado, Glenwood Springs, in mid western CO.
8/6 Fountain Cave Photography trip With Ericka Hoffman (near Grand Caverns) (in August to avoid the Civil War re-enactment event at Grand in July which may also be of interest to some)
Program
Howard previewed the NSS convention in Colorado
Glenwood Springs was a mining town in 1890, changed from "Defiance" to GS at request of a homesick resident
Large geothermal pool there was used to treat TB, hospital for WWI and II.
One of first electrified hotels is there, Hotel Colorado. Teddy Roosevelt enjoyed the area.
Glenwood Canyon Highway construction started in mid 1960’s and is most expensive per mile in US. Has a heated road surface reportedly. Rafting/canoeing, bicycling in the area.
Airports in Grand Junction, Denver (cheapest), Montrose. Nice drives from the further cheaper ones. Nice gold mine in Idaho Springs on way from Denver
Commercial Glenwood Caverns is nicely decorated and has tourist and wild trips.
Doc Holiday’s Grave is up on the mountain, high lake, and gondola rides to top of mountain.
Part of Green River formation. Huge Oil deposits in Shale, difficult to extract
An experimental nuclear explosion was done there to try to extract the oil.
Wild horses and other interesting natural resources atop Grand Mesa and beautiful views. Good trout fishing in the lakes
Marble Colorado is there, best marble in world. (Says Howard who grew up there :-)) Used in Tomb of unknown soldier and lower half of Washington Monument. (finished with cheaper marble from Alabama). Town was wiped out repeatedly by avalanches, floods, etc. Scary gravel road to the marble quarry. Redstone Mansion is there, home of mine baron. Checkered past, not sure if it’s open to tourists now.
Colorado Monument in Grand Junction, cowboy museum, dinosaur museum.
Dinosaur National Monument park is a day’s drive away in Utah
Aspen is 2 hrs north with Maroon Bells park etc.
Convention provides cheap camping, cave gear is available to rent- check the website and avoid bringing protentially WNS infected gear.
See details of convention at www.caves.org
Geology field tour precedes convention. Lots of educational sessions at convention. Fascinating new exploration reports, technical sessions, cartography, etc , etc Thursday night slide show competition is great. Big banquet on Friday night with awards and great food. Hosts are very welcoming. Lots of vendors for gear discounts. Howard will be out there early and can pick us up at closer airports.
After the meeting dinner was at Armadillo Grill on Glenwood at about 9:30 pm
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Attendees: Howard Holgate, Mark Daughtridge, Lisa Foley (1st meeting!), Robert Harris, Ken Walsh, Susanna Clark
General socializing 7:30 to 7:45
Meeting start 7:45
Old Business- Nothing new on T Shirts or Vertical Training/practice
New Business- None
Discussion of gear and other things to know for new cavers. List of gear is on the web site.
Trip Reports
Lover’s Leap- Ken, Mike, Lisa See trip report on web site. Very interesting surveying in the deep slot. Pretty formations within the slot. Found 2 more pits at the bottom . About 30 feet of floor between the new/lower pits. Surveyed 2 other leads, one concludes, one needs digging. The other passage went to a nice room with 12 foot ceiling and small drain hole. Rain outside made it very tricky getting back up the hill outside the cave. It snowed as they descended the hill to drive to Pizza Hut.
Near Pittsboro/Siler City old Iron Mine- Revolution/Civil War used, about 12-18 mines on Conservancy land to look for bats and identify which species if any. Old iron furnace. Pics on web site. Potentially good place for vertical training? Spotted about 9 bats, and some turkey vulture eggs underground. A vulture startled Ken as it flew out. All bats were Tri-Color bats (Eastern Pipistrelles). No evidence of WNS was found.
Upcoming Trips
This weekend:
Spring VAR 4/29
MVOR Missouri 4/29
Dave/Dawson 4/29 may go caving/ridge walking
Survey trip for 5/8 or 5/15?? Dave Duguid considering
Vertical training- date to be confirmed
5/26 to 28 Kentucky Speleofest
6/25 TriTrogs Grotto trip Howard and Bryce organizing, cave TBD
Mark Little to look into Gilley’s Cave for some future trip.
7/18-22 NSS convention in Colorado, Glenwood Springs, in mid western CO.
8/6 Fountain Cave Photography trip With Ericka Hoffman (near Grand Caverns) (in August to avoid the Civil War re-enactment event at Grand in July which may also be of interest to some)
Program
Howard previewed the NSS convention in Colorado
Glenwood Springs was a mining town in 1890, changed from "Defiance" to GS at request of a homesick resident
Large geothermal pool there was used to treat TB, hospital for WWI and II.
One of first electrified hotels is there, Hotel Colorado. Teddy Roosevelt enjoyed the area.
Glenwood Canyon Highway construction started in mid 1960’s and is most expensive per mile in US. Has a heated road surface reportedly. Rafting/canoeing, bicycling in the area.
Airports in Grand Junction, Denver (cheapest), Montrose. Nice drives from the further cheaper ones. Nice gold mine in Idaho Springs on way from Denver
Commercial Glenwood Caverns is nicely decorated and has tourist and wild trips.
Doc Holiday’s Grave is up on the mountain, high lake, and gondola rides to top of mountain.
Part of Green River formation. Huge Oil deposits in Shale, difficult to extract
An experimental nuclear explosion was done there to try to extract the oil.
Wild horses and other interesting natural resources atop Grand Mesa and beautiful views. Good trout fishing in the lakes
Marble Colorado is there, best marble in world. (Says Howard who grew up there :-)) Used in Tomb of unknown soldier and lower half of Washington Monument. (finished with cheaper marble from Alabama). Town was wiped out repeatedly by avalanches, floods, etc. Scary gravel road to the marble quarry. Redstone Mansion is there, home of mine baron. Checkered past, not sure if it’s open to tourists now.
Colorado Monument in Grand Junction, cowboy museum, dinosaur museum.
Dinosaur National Monument park is a day’s drive away in Utah
Aspen is 2 hrs north with Maroon Bells park etc.
Convention provides cheap camping, cave gear is available to rent- check the website and avoid bringing protentially WNS infected gear.
See details of convention at www.caves.org
Geology field tour precedes convention. Lots of educational sessions at convention. Fascinating new exploration reports, technical sessions, cartography, etc , etc Thursday night slide show competition is great. Big banquet on Friday night with awards and great food. Hosts are very welcoming. Lots of vendors for gear discounts. Howard will be out there early and can pick us up at closer airports.
After the meeting dinner was at Armadillo Grill on Glenwood at about 9:30 pm
Thursday, March 24, 2011
March 2011 TriTrogs General Meeting
3/22/11
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Attendees: Ken Walsh, Mike Broome, Lisa Lorenzin, Howard Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Martin Groenewegen, Melissa Sweazey, Rob Harris, Mark Daughtridge, John Plyler
General socializing 7:30 to 7:45
Meeting start 7:45
Trip Reports
Last weekend Mike & Lisa went to Butler cave pancake weekend, dug down 8 ft total, came back deciding those leads were not interesting. No blasting was done. Digging in the direction of a known cave.
Also did a commercial cave trip in Cueva Clara in Lares, Puerto Rico, which they enjoyed. Some nice formations. Mostly dry. Wild tours also available but other sightseeing beckoned.
Wiley PTA Science night thanked Ken and the Tritrogs for participating. The kids learned a lot. Ken brought the posters for us to peruse during the break, which seemed well done with interesting facts about bats.
Upcoming Trips:3/26 Lover’s Leap Vertical Survey
4/23-24 Grand Caverns Restoration
4/23 -24 Rob going to Blacksburg caving party that people are welcome to join him for, will include some caving
4/29-5/1 Spring VAR, Durbin WV
5/14 Vertical Training?? - who’s interested? students: Bryce, Ken, Rob, Martin, Melissa, Mike & Lisa for another date Suggested instructors John Plyler, Pete Hertl, Diana, Mike/Lisa. Mark D will continue to pursue putting this together
5/28 (Sat workday, 5/29 Sunday caving) - Memorial Day weekend Butler Expedition Weekend
5/26-28 Kentucky Speleofest
6/25? Grotto Trip ? Crib cave? Others??
? Gilley’s - Mark Little investigating, though busy with non caving stuff now. Part of Appalachian Caving Conservancy (ACC). In VA near Smyth Co, large passages, horizontal
Missouri VOR also coming up, google for info if interested
T-shirts. Martin will check into finding an artist. All are encouraged to submit ideas for design etc.
Howard will get preliminary pricing.
Break 8:16- 8:25 General mayhem ensued. (not really)
Program : Cave Map Reading, led by Ken Walsh
The book “On Station”, with key codes was recommended
Handouts given with descriptions of several cave map symbols.
Ken then proceeded with a well done presentation projected from a laptop which explained symbols and concepts. Ken will post the presentation separately on the TriTrogs website.
Topics and map symbols/notations covered included:
Strike and Dip - tells the tilt in relation to the earth's surface
Slope- crows feet on map widen to bottom
Also explained:
Ledge, Passage height, Ceiling Change, depth below datum (entrance),
Height above datum, stalactite, flowstone wall, Drapery, flowstone, water depth, pool, Rimstone dams, tick marks to show direction facing for cross section call outs.
Breakdown, cobble, dirt or clay, intermittent sump, stream, ceiling height, pit depth etc
The presentation concluded with a very fun exercise with 3 teams competing. Mike, Bryce and Howard won delicious locally made chocolate bars. All 3 teams struggled to piece together a map and then plot a trip through the cave based on verbal instructions given before the cut up maps were available. Understanding the meaning of the symbols and discovering a path to go past interesting features gave the exercise the feel of actual caving as well as re-enforcing our new knowledge about map reading.
The traditional after the meeting gathering was outdoors at Armadillo Grill with all meeting attendees making it for the nice weather.
NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Attendees: Ken Walsh, Mike Broome, Lisa Lorenzin, Howard Holgate, Bryce Schroeder, Martin Groenewegen, Melissa Sweazey, Rob Harris, Mark Daughtridge, John Plyler
General socializing 7:30 to 7:45
Meeting start 7:45
Trip Reports
Last weekend Mike & Lisa went to Butler cave pancake weekend, dug down 8 ft total, came back deciding those leads were not interesting. No blasting was done. Digging in the direction of a known cave.
Also did a commercial cave trip in Cueva Clara in Lares, Puerto Rico, which they enjoyed. Some nice formations. Mostly dry. Wild tours also available but other sightseeing beckoned.
Wiley PTA Science night thanked Ken and the Tritrogs for participating. The kids learned a lot. Ken brought the posters for us to peruse during the break, which seemed well done with interesting facts about bats.
Upcoming Trips:3/26 Lover’s Leap Vertical Survey
4/23-24 Grand Caverns Restoration
4/23 -24 Rob going to Blacksburg caving party that people are welcome to join him for, will include some caving
4/29-5/1 Spring VAR, Durbin WV
5/14 Vertical Training?? - who’s interested? students: Bryce, Ken, Rob, Martin, Melissa, Mike & Lisa for another date Suggested instructors John Plyler, Pete Hertl, Diana, Mike/Lisa. Mark D will continue to pursue putting this together
5/28 (Sat workday, 5/29 Sunday caving) - Memorial Day weekend Butler Expedition Weekend
5/26-28 Kentucky Speleofest
6/25? Grotto Trip ? Crib cave? Others??
? Gilley’s - Mark Little investigating, though busy with non caving stuff now. Part of Appalachian Caving Conservancy (ACC). In VA near Smyth Co, large passages, horizontal
Missouri VOR also coming up, google for info if interested
T-shirts. Martin will check into finding an artist. All are encouraged to submit ideas for design etc.
Howard will get preliminary pricing.
Break 8:16- 8:25 General mayhem ensued. (not really)
Program : Cave Map Reading, led by Ken Walsh
The book “On Station”, with key codes was recommended
Handouts given with descriptions of several cave map symbols.
Ken then proceeded with a well done presentation projected from a laptop which explained symbols and concepts. Ken will post the presentation separately on the TriTrogs website.
Topics and map symbols/notations covered included:
Strike and Dip - tells the tilt in relation to the earth's surface
Slope- crows feet on map widen to bottom
Also explained:
Ledge, Passage height, Ceiling Change, depth below datum (entrance),
Height above datum, stalactite, flowstone wall, Drapery, flowstone, water depth, pool, Rimstone dams, tick marks to show direction facing for cross section call outs.
Breakdown, cobble, dirt or clay, intermittent sump, stream, ceiling height, pit depth etc
The presentation concluded with a very fun exercise with 3 teams competing. Mike, Bryce and Howard won delicious locally made chocolate bars. All 3 teams struggled to piece together a map and then plot a trip through the cave based on verbal instructions given before the cut up maps were available. Understanding the meaning of the symbols and discovering a path to go past interesting features gave the exercise the feel of actual caving as well as re-enforcing our new knowledge about map reading.
The traditional after the meeting gathering was outdoors at Armadillo Grill with all meeting attendees making it for the nice weather.
Friday, March 18, 2011
February 2011 TriTrogs General Meeting Minutes
February 22, 2011
Ken Walsh, Robert Harris, Steve Molnar, Grant Molnar, Zoey Shepherd, Mike Broome, Matthew “Zeke” Van Fossen, Howard Holgate, Mark Daughtridge attending
Meeting began about 7:30
T- Shirt discussion- Majority present interested in making/buying a new t shirt design.
“Mythbusters” booth run by at Wylie Elementary March 10th, ?? pm till
8:05 pm Mark D was duly elected as secretary and began taking minutes at that point.
Zeke reports Bic lighters 10 years old from Hancock cache did not work, in fact sprayed butane when attempting to light. Candles worked fine. Butane was still flammable but starters did not work. Conducted experiments at his desk, suggests outdoors for further experiments.
Trip Reports:
1) Ken, Mike, Lisa, and Dave Duguid went last weekend to Smyth Cty VA, stayed w/ Tanya, arrived Saturday, got to cave at 1pm after bbq lunch w/ Tanya. Copenhavers Cave survey added 22 stations, 600 ft, went back on Sunday, 8.5 hrs total Big muddy room left hand wall primary survey target. Cave is on a farm. Many cows and a goat supervised changing. Some Ninja black cows appeared under cover of darkness. Climbing and belaying needed to get to a pool they struggled to measure as at least 2 ft deep. Saw hell bender lizard about 10 inches long. (grew 2 inches during tonight's meeting . . .) Tanya and Lisa did surface surveying and found interesting sinkholes on Sunday. Wrapped up several leads, ~12 survey stations / 80ft on Sunday. Hail and rain while underground nearly got Ken’s car stuck getting out. Tanya wisely parked at the top by the road. Finished cave with about 1700 ft. Could be some high climbing leads or submerged leads.
2) 4 ppl went to see Sanctum on Super Bowl Sunday
Upcoming Trips:
What types of trips are desired? Photo, Survey, Digs, Sport ?
May 1, Spring VAR , vendors expected, Durbin WV, link at Tritrogs web site in calendar (may not work)
July 19-22 Convention in CO
Ken is Looking for NCRC rescue classes
Gap Cave at TN/VA/KY border. survey trip last weekend of each month- CRF, must join CRF to participate. Easy to join now.
Rob heading to Blacksburg around Easter
Grand Caverns cave Restoration April 23-24th (Easter) weekend. Great food provided. Make walkways, change light bulbs, list of projects. About 40 cavers usually show up. Spend all day in and out of tourist cave. Shenandoah Valley in town of Grottos. Last year went to Shakespeare play in Staunton afterwards
Break 8:37
Robert passed around National Geographic cave article
Program:
Ken led discussion about safety based on mistakes from the movie, Sanctum:
Attitude/Machismo /respect for life
Didn’t bring backup tanks as assigned
Pushing rebreather through restriction
Waiting too long after losing surface contact
Failure to respect weather forecast
Weather problems
Long Hair loose on rappel
Novice- Failure to listen to leader
Improper warmth gear
Hypothermia- failure to wear deceased persons gear even when crucial to do so
Knife near rope
Food shortage
Going off alone
Ran out of light
Improper rest
Couldn't dive, got bends
Didn’t tell anyone where he was going,
Leaving a member behind
No backup plan if weather did go bad or cave in blocked exit
One member not mentally up for the dive, pressured to go anyway
Poor diving/buddy breath technique,
Poor climbing technique- Rig point moved
Cable ladder in a waterfall
1) What are duties of surface support team? Are they stated or just “Understood”?
Suggestion that we may want to refine suggested instructions for surface watch.
2) What cave obstacles will you introduce to novices? How should they be coached?
Discussion suggestions: Don’t have someone get on rope for first time underground.
3) What should you consider when rigging ropes, hand lines, and cable ladders? What about handling knives?
Learn good techniques for anchor building, self rescue, etc. Be accountable for your own safety. Don’t just assume leaders know or are using safe techniques.
4) How can spectators disrupt a complicated move?
Too many voices. Distracting. Don’t shine light in someone’s eyes
5) How should you react to the weakest links? Leave them in back?
Have a strong person as the sweep position. No one ever gets out of earshot from the group. Everyone is responsible for the whole team.
6) How do you prevent the onset of hypothermia?
Dress properly, stay dry, keep moving, cover with garbage bag, body heat, (a body on either side) Plan wet stuff for last
7) When packing gear for a trip, how many hours of food, water and light do you plan?
More than you need for the hours you expect to be gone.
Recommended book: Deep Survival talks about general survival ways of thinking that work and those that don't
Meeting concluded with debate on where to eat afterwards, and a few ended up at the Diner on Glenwood.
Ken Walsh, Robert Harris, Steve Molnar, Grant Molnar, Zoey Shepherd, Mike Broome, Matthew “Zeke” Van Fossen, Howard Holgate, Mark Daughtridge attending
Meeting began about 7:30
T- Shirt discussion- Majority present interested in making/buying a new t shirt design.
“Mythbusters” booth run by at Wylie Elementary March 10th, ?? pm till
8:05 pm Mark D was duly elected as secretary and began taking minutes at that point.
Zeke reports Bic lighters 10 years old from Hancock cache did not work, in fact sprayed butane when attempting to light. Candles worked fine. Butane was still flammable but starters did not work. Conducted experiments at his desk, suggests outdoors for further experiments.
Trip Reports:
1) Ken, Mike, Lisa, and Dave Duguid went last weekend to Smyth Cty VA, stayed w/ Tanya, arrived Saturday, got to cave at 1pm after bbq lunch w/ Tanya. Copenhavers Cave survey added 22 stations, 600 ft, went back on Sunday, 8.5 hrs total Big muddy room left hand wall primary survey target. Cave is on a farm. Many cows and a goat supervised changing. Some Ninja black cows appeared under cover of darkness. Climbing and belaying needed to get to a pool they struggled to measure as at least 2 ft deep. Saw hell bender lizard about 10 inches long. (grew 2 inches during tonight's meeting . . .) Tanya and Lisa did surface surveying and found interesting sinkholes on Sunday. Wrapped up several leads, ~12 survey stations / 80ft on Sunday. Hail and rain while underground nearly got Ken’s car stuck getting out. Tanya wisely parked at the top by the road. Finished cave with about 1700 ft. Could be some high climbing leads or submerged leads.
2) 4 ppl went to see Sanctum on Super Bowl Sunday
Upcoming Trips:
What types of trips are desired? Photo, Survey, Digs, Sport ?
May 1, Spring VAR , vendors expected, Durbin WV, link at Tritrogs web site in calendar (may not work)
July 19-22 Convention in CO
Ken is Looking for NCRC rescue classes
Gap Cave at TN/VA/KY border. survey trip last weekend of each month- CRF, must join CRF to participate. Easy to join now.
Rob heading to Blacksburg around Easter
Grand Caverns cave Restoration April 23-24th (Easter) weekend. Great food provided. Make walkways, change light bulbs, list of projects. About 40 cavers usually show up. Spend all day in and out of tourist cave. Shenandoah Valley in town of Grottos. Last year went to Shakespeare play in Staunton afterwards
Break 8:37
Robert passed around National Geographic cave article
Program:
Ken led discussion about safety based on mistakes from the movie, Sanctum:
Attitude/Machismo /respect for life
Didn’t bring backup tanks as assigned
Pushing rebreather through restriction
Waiting too long after losing surface contact
Failure to respect weather forecast
Weather problems
Long Hair loose on rappel
Novice- Failure to listen to leader
Improper warmth gear
Hypothermia- failure to wear deceased persons gear even when crucial to do so
Knife near rope
Food shortage
Going off alone
Ran out of light
Improper rest
Couldn't dive, got bends
Didn’t tell anyone where he was going,
Leaving a member behind
No backup plan if weather did go bad or cave in blocked exit
One member not mentally up for the dive, pressured to go anyway
Poor diving/buddy breath technique,
Poor climbing technique- Rig point moved
Cable ladder in a waterfall
1) What are duties of surface support team? Are they stated or just “Understood”?
Suggestion that we may want to refine suggested instructions for surface watch.
2) What cave obstacles will you introduce to novices? How should they be coached?
Discussion suggestions: Don’t have someone get on rope for first time underground.
3) What should you consider when rigging ropes, hand lines, and cable ladders? What about handling knives?
Learn good techniques for anchor building, self rescue, etc. Be accountable for your own safety. Don’t just assume leaders know or are using safe techniques.
4) How can spectators disrupt a complicated move?
Too many voices. Distracting. Don’t shine light in someone’s eyes
5) How should you react to the weakest links? Leave them in back?
Have a strong person as the sweep position. No one ever gets out of earshot from the group. Everyone is responsible for the whole team.
6) How do you prevent the onset of hypothermia?
Dress properly, stay dry, keep moving, cover with garbage bag, body heat, (a body on either side) Plan wet stuff for last
7) When packing gear for a trip, how many hours of food, water and light do you plan?
More than you need for the hours you expect to be gone.
Recommended book: Deep Survival talks about general survival ways of thinking that work and those that don't
Meeting concluded with debate on where to eat afterwards, and a few ended up at the Diner on Glenwood.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
January 2011 TriTrogs General Meeting Minutes
Howard Holgate, Mike Broome, Mark Little, Martin Groenewegen, Duke Dooley, Rob Harris, Melissa, Bryce Schroeder, Pete Hertl, Mark Daughtridge, and Ken Walsh attended the meeting.
Dues go to Mark Little ($15 for regular members and an additional $7 for family members). Mark then shared the annual Treasurers Report. He reported that we are running a balanced budget, but we still had allocated $100 for conservancy donations from a VAR door prize a few years back. The treasurers report did not include some wear-and-tear fees collected for borrowed grotto gear.
Mike Broome had no news about changes to the web site.
Howard thanked everyone who brought desserts to the Holiday Party. However, he insisted that they should go home with people in the future.
Wiley Elementary School will be holding its Science Night on the evening of March 10, and the TriTrogs are invited to come back to talk about caves again. The theme this year is Mythbusters, so Pete Hertl and Ken Walsh are soliciting input about what myths we should try to bust.
Howard announced that the NSS is now offering a membership category titled Conservation Life Members. A five-year donation of $1000 will be going toward cave conservancy efforts.
Mark Little made a motion to donate the previously dedicated $100 for cave conservancies to ACC Gilley’s Cave Capital Fund. The motion was accepted unanimously.
At least five members were interested in the TriTrogs producing T-shirts in the next year.
As the first trip report, Melissa described her first caving trip in Starnes Cave with Rob Harris. They enjoyed a formidable mud wall, an interesting waterfall, and lots of climbing on rocks and ropes last October.
Mike Broome described a BCCS expedition trip he took the previous weekend with Lisa Lorenzin. Nittany Grotto joined the expedition, so they had seven different trips headed to three different caves. Lisa and Mike changed clothes in a neighbor’s garage and then descended into Wishing Well Cave. Mike shared how the dig through sandstone was now shored up using polyurethane foam. His team surveyed for 8 hours and 550 feet of passage across a very muddy room. The Romper Room had a dry sand floor and trended downward at the same dip angle as the rest of the cave. The team took a side trip to the well-decorated Sugar Run before exiting after ten hours underground.
Mike also shared a description of the first survey into Copenhaver’s Cave in Smyth County. Dave Duguid, Matt Jenkins, Trina Cooke, Ken Walsh, and Mike stayed in the warmth of Tanya McLaughlin’s house the night before, after shoveling a few inches of snow from her driveway. They met a nice landowner and an icy cave entrance with some spectacular icicles. Matt, Trina, and Ken surveyed the upper cold part of the cave while the other three dropped the cable ladder down twenty feet. Tanya did fine going up and down the cable ladder, and Mike’s team worked their way down to a room full of breakdown blocks. Mike found a way to climb up through the breakdown to another open room before they quit surveying for the day. Mike’s suit was freezing on him as he returned to the car in 16-degree weather. While Matt and Trina went snowshoeing the next day, Ken, Dave, and Mike went back to the open room. While surveying the Zen Garden, they found a duck under lead that led into a major mud-filled room and down to pretty rimstone dams and a larger flat-bottomed room. They exited without crawling back up the mud mountain.
After the break, the officers described their duties, and elections were held. We welcome the newly elected board: Howard Holgate (Chair), Ken Walsh (Vice Chair), Bryce Schroeder (Editor/Webmaster), Mark Little (Treasurer), and the empty seat (Secretary). Anyone wishing to run for Secretary should contact one of the officers.
Upcoming trips include:
January 29—Smyth County survey (Ken)
February 6 – 3D viewing of The Sanctum at Crossroads Cinema (4:30 PM and dinner afterwards)
February 19-20—Copenhaver’s Cave--leave on Saturday morning (Dave?, Mike, Lisa, and Ken)
May 1—Spring VAR
July—Convention in Glenwood Springs
Ken Walsh shared the program “Caving with CRF in the Ozarks” where he explained what the Cave Research Foundation is and then shared vacation slides.
The After-the-Meeting Meeting was held at Armadillo Grill.
Dues go to Mark Little ($15 for regular members and an additional $7 for family members). Mark then shared the annual Treasurers Report. He reported that we are running a balanced budget, but we still had allocated $100 for conservancy donations from a VAR door prize a few years back. The treasurers report did not include some wear-and-tear fees collected for borrowed grotto gear.
Mike Broome had no news about changes to the web site.
Howard thanked everyone who brought desserts to the Holiday Party. However, he insisted that they should go home with people in the future.
Wiley Elementary School will be holding its Science Night on the evening of March 10, and the TriTrogs are invited to come back to talk about caves again. The theme this year is Mythbusters, so Pete Hertl and Ken Walsh are soliciting input about what myths we should try to bust.
Howard announced that the NSS is now offering a membership category titled Conservation Life Members. A five-year donation of $1000 will be going toward cave conservancy efforts.
Mark Little made a motion to donate the previously dedicated $100 for cave conservancies to ACC Gilley’s Cave Capital Fund. The motion was accepted unanimously.
At least five members were interested in the TriTrogs producing T-shirts in the next year.
As the first trip report, Melissa described her first caving trip in Starnes Cave with Rob Harris. They enjoyed a formidable mud wall, an interesting waterfall, and lots of climbing on rocks and ropes last October.
Mike Broome described a BCCS expedition trip he took the previous weekend with Lisa Lorenzin. Nittany Grotto joined the expedition, so they had seven different trips headed to three different caves. Lisa and Mike changed clothes in a neighbor’s garage and then descended into Wishing Well Cave. Mike shared how the dig through sandstone was now shored up using polyurethane foam. His team surveyed for 8 hours and 550 feet of passage across a very muddy room. The Romper Room had a dry sand floor and trended downward at the same dip angle as the rest of the cave. The team took a side trip to the well-decorated Sugar Run before exiting after ten hours underground.
Mike also shared a description of the first survey into Copenhaver’s Cave in Smyth County. Dave Duguid, Matt Jenkins, Trina Cooke, Ken Walsh, and Mike stayed in the warmth of Tanya McLaughlin’s house the night before, after shoveling a few inches of snow from her driveway. They met a nice landowner and an icy cave entrance with some spectacular icicles. Matt, Trina, and Ken surveyed the upper cold part of the cave while the other three dropped the cable ladder down twenty feet. Tanya did fine going up and down the cable ladder, and Mike’s team worked their way down to a room full of breakdown blocks. Mike found a way to climb up through the breakdown to another open room before they quit surveying for the day. Mike’s suit was freezing on him as he returned to the car in 16-degree weather. While Matt and Trina went snowshoeing the next day, Ken, Dave, and Mike went back to the open room. While surveying the Zen Garden, they found a duck under lead that led into a major mud-filled room and down to pretty rimstone dams and a larger flat-bottomed room. They exited without crawling back up the mud mountain.
After the break, the officers described their duties, and elections were held. We welcome the newly elected board: Howard Holgate (Chair), Ken Walsh (Vice Chair), Bryce Schroeder (Editor/Webmaster), Mark Little (Treasurer), and the empty seat (Secretary). Anyone wishing to run for Secretary should contact one of the officers.
Upcoming trips include:
January 29—Smyth County survey (Ken)
February 6 – 3D viewing of The Sanctum at Crossroads Cinema (4:30 PM and dinner afterwards)
February 19-20—Copenhaver’s Cave--leave on Saturday morning (Dave?, Mike, Lisa, and Ken)
May 1—Spring VAR
July—Convention in Glenwood Springs
Ken Walsh shared the program “Caving with CRF in the Ozarks” where he explained what the Cave Research Foundation is and then shared vacation slides.
The After-the-Meeting Meeting was held at Armadillo Grill.
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