November 25, 2014 General Meeting Minutes

Okay, so I skipped the October meeting minutes, but they were pretty boring. The best part may have the description of a New River Cave survey. Below you'll find the minutes from the November meeting.

No introductions but threats of food being shared. In attendance were Mark D., Glen, Mark L., Pete, Ken, Emily, Mike, Lisa, Rachel, and Rob. The calendars have all been claimed.

Mark D. recommended that the “I’ve always wanted to try that!” Meetup Group should wait until warmer weather, but Pete felt that they’d get to know one another better if they packed into 2-3 hotel rooms because overnight bonding is a plus.  Mark D. expressed uncertainty about the winter trip because he plans to tie an untie-able knot in the very near future.  Even if the trip is put off until springtime, the best approach might be a slide show about caving followed by sign up list for the trip.

With regard to the anniversary/holiday party, ice, cups, and utensils will be provided by the Littles. The party starts at 6 PM and then dinner sometime after 7 PM. Rob’s action item is to solicit more responses to the online RSVP. Ken is trying to arrange to have Steve Simmons’ squeezebox at the holiday party.

Lisa suggested that she might be interested in hosting a squeezebox assembly party to build one for Lisa and Mike.

Glen offered a donation to the grotto and thanked us for leading him on the Hancock Cave trip.

Ken mentioned three items proposed by the museum and then opened discussion:

1.  Presentation topics should be shared in advance with the museum staff so that they can post them on their web site (agreed to by membership).
2. Meetings could be moved to Thursdays when the museum stays open late to make it easier to find your way in (met with reluctance by the membership because Thursday are packing nights but agreed that holding events on Thursdays once or twice a year might be appropriate).
3. Outreach help with an exhibit at Darwin Day at the museum February 14 this year 

Most discussion revolved around the last item. It ranged from the micro-superhero Tardigrade Girl to cutout boards with people’s faces. The museum’s mammalogist might need help with a bat display, but Pete suggested that blind crayfish and fish might be available for preserved exhibits through the older scientists at the museum.

Regarding recent trips,we began with descriptions of three teams during the Hancock Cave bat count.  Glen really enjoyed his first caving trip and found it a lot more physical than he thought. He carried buckets of water into the cave and washed graffiti off the walls. He was disappointed in not seeing any bats. His group chased some false leads, and Glen’s mom did not approve of the trip.

Pete’s group found the only bat during the bat count, and it was probably just a little brown and not yet in hibernation. He found it easy to spot because it was on a light-colored part of the wall.

Emily’s niece found the Hancock Cave trip awesome but was sore afterwards. They wandered around a lot, but Emily couldn’t reconstruct the order that they visited all the rooms. While going down the Breakdown Staircase, Emily’s pack landed fifteen feet in the air but was handily retrieved from a fortuitous angle.

Mike and Lisa discussed their recent trip to Butler Cave where a new cartographer is comparing the output of 18 miles of cave data.  They dropped a rappel line into the lead, and it led into an out-and-back loop ending in a round room. The forty-foot waterfall yielded just a few drips, and they couldn’t get to leads across the top of the waterfall.  They were underground for seven hours, but Mike was miserable in some passages that were almost the right size for Mike.  In the two tight squeezes, Mike could move through using only hips. Part of the cave passage was much colder, so Lisa would like to find a new surface entrance.

In terms of upcoming trips,

• Thanksgiving Weekend – Pete headed for TAG caves (maybe Fern and Valhalla)
• Dec. 13—Carlin and Dave cancelled their plans, so Ken is free to go caving if anyone is interested
• Jan. 1 – Cave survey in Smyth County
• Israeli caving –Rob’s been facetiming with Israeli cavers and plans to join them.  Rob may visit salt caves, gravesites and archaeological digs.

Then we watched the rest of the John Cole NSS Luminary talk. The officers voted to make a grotto donation of $200 to West Virginia Cave Conservancy thanks to their acquisition of Hancock Cave.

General Meeting Minutes (September 23, 2014)

Meeting started at 7:42 PM. Glen, Pete, Rob, Emily, Mark D., Carlin, Martin, Mike, and Ken were the few in attendance. Rob skipped discussion of the NSS building fund.

Ava and Rob and Pete will help Mark plan his outreach efforts to outside meetup groups.  A destination may be in the Blacksburg area.  “I’ve always wanted to try that” and a local rockclimbers group both want to cave.  The numbers of people might get high. The rock climbing gym was enthusiastic about the program. They might set up a wait list with a fifteen-person limit. Suitable helmets might be an issue.  The might use VPI area helmets and borrow from grotto members. If it doesn’t happen until spring, Mark wouldn’t die.

Bugfest recap from Pete H.—33,000 people visited BugFest and it went off pretty well.

Holiday Party—Figure out who will host the event and then send out a poll with the possible dates.  Rob will send out a poll. [ed. Mark and Rhonda L. agreed to host the party on December 8]

Next month’s program suggestion—understand how batteries work. Other ideas included stuff from convention. John Cole from the NSS web site on the Luminary series—inventor of the rack. Some videos are better to watch in a group. 

Trip reports—Ken described his window-washing descent into the 4000-year old volcano Thingnookagigur in Iceland.

OTR—Pete, Carlin, Rob, and Mark D. did Stillhouse and Sinks of Gandy through trips.  A Northern long ears may have been spotted at the entrance.  They went downstream first where no one wanted to follow.  They eventually found their way to the big room.  They also encountered Mennonites in dresses in the Sinks of Gandy right before they’d be getting muddy up to their knees.

This group also visited Sharps Cave and found pack rat nests were very active. They found the waterfall and the sculpture gallery and both sides in under 3 hours, not to mention the Giant Flying Gourd Room and Halloween Hall.

Missed Opportunity Cave—Dave D., Carlin and Mark D. surveyed up to the 2700 feet mark, but the furthest station is only 1000 feet from entrance.  There may only be one more full day trip to the cave because they’ve now found all the walls. The stream is not passable, but you can travel above it.  Brian Williams and Steph Petri with Carlin jovially complained about the survey.  The four different levels from a very well decorated cave with a few places to sit up.  A jumble of breakdown sits in some areas, but Dave and Mark could stand up occasionally during their survey. Carlin kept on his wet suit the whole time, and it was really necessary. It’s the squeeze and maneuver that gets you wet.

Carlin also reported on a small cave in Marion. Stairstep Springs Cave had 3 entrances. A decent amount of water was flowing out, and they needed wetsuits. In the main entrance they found a cave salamander tail inside a spring salamander, as well as a bunch of salamanders and frogs. They finished the survey (80 feet).

Upcoming Trips

Sept. 27 – New River Cave survey (Ken, Pete, and Ava)

Oct. 4—Over the Edge (Mark D.)—Wells Fargo building in Raleigh (32 stories)

Oct. 9-12 – TAG Fall Cave-in near Menlo, GA

Oct. 10-12 – Fall VAR at Rich Mtn Battlefield, Beverly, WV

Oct. 18 - New River Cave survey (Dave West)

Oct. 30 –Bat Ranch Halloween (Rob)

Nov. 8 – Hancock Cave Bat Count (Ken)

Others?

For the program, we joked around while watching a video entitled Secret Cave. Then Mark treated us to the video about caving unicyclists, or were they unicycling cavers?

TriTrogs General Meeting Minutes, August 26, 2014

Emily G., Mark D., Mark L., Pete H., Rob H., Martin G., Ken W., and Ava P. were in attendance (either in the flesh or in the cybersphere). Because folks seem to know one another, Rob forewent/foregoed the introductions.

Mark D. began the meeting by describing one member’s imminent protests to a local municipality about his mosquito problem. Mark D. then told how this problem might be related to the lack of a drain under his shower and the impenetrable French drain beneath it. Somehow this led to a Happy Birthday song for Pete Hertl with the gift of a rubber ducky that shoots a laser from its mouth when it quacks.

Then we worked out the t-shirt and camping reimbursement issues with Rob. We only spent a few moments admiring Mark L. in the new T-shirt.

Mark D. then shared his vision for a beginners cave trip meetup. He plans to hold the information sharing meeting at Triangle Rock Club and then pick a cave to visit in late October or early November. He is looking for helping planning this, and Ken offered to share the slides he uses with scouts.

Doug Leapley is looking for someone to speak to a scout troop about caving. Ken will contact him unless someone else would like to.

Rob will fix the web site so that upcoming meeting dates are better displayed.  Mark L. shared the membership list and worked on getting updated on the membership list.

The next discussion was about problems with various LED headlamps and dealing with manufacturers when they break.

The TriTrogs are now looking for someone to host the 25^th Anniversary Party in early December. The date will be based on the host’s schedule.

Trip reports followed. The grotto trip marked the first wild cave for 4.5-year old daughter of Mark’s girlfriend.  He related that they got a little bit lost in the maze in Paxton Cave. In a key junction Mark chose the wrong way 5 out of 6 tries. Several climbing attempts didn’t go well for Lisa.  She eventually climbed up with footholds in the webbing.  When they explored the room, they found that there was an easy way to skip the climb just a few feet away.

Salamanders marked Mark’s trip to Friars Hole Cave. Emily had a different experience by entering at the Snedegars Saltpeter Entrance and didn’t see salamanders as she slogged through the sump.

Pete related the story of the grotto vertical trip to the Crookshank Entrance—getting there was an adventure. They wandered for hours before consulting the topo map. Then they short-rigged the pit, and Mike went down first.  Pete enjoyed the crawl through an earthworm bed. They crawled along the surface and occasionally got mashed by the crawling cavers. They got close to the waterfall, and the first pool was the commitment point.  It wasn’t that bad, but only Pete and Mike made it all the way. They found spring salamanders and something like the Jefferson salamander.

Martin said that his team got lost in the Snedegars Saltpeter Maze [ed. I would’ve described it as thorough exploration of the maze].  The base of the waterfall was a good place to finish the trip. Martin forgot his camera card, but he would’ve gotten good pics there. His brother Doug was wide eyed at one point, amusing Martin.

Ken shared a description of his two survey trips to Saltville Quarry Cave, surveying in cold water up to his hips. The survey topped out at 1202 feet. Pete mentioned that this is the season for blow out sales on wet suits.

With regard to upcoming trips, see the list below:

August 28-Sept. 1 – Old Timers Reunion

September 13 – Carlin and Dave in Missed Opportunity

September 20 – Bugfest (contact Pete Hertl if you can help)

September 27 – New River Cave survey (Ken, Ava, and Pete)

October 10-12 – Fall VAR at Rich Mtn Battlefield

November 8 – Hancock Cave Bat Count (Ken)

After a long break, Mark D. shared a fast forward version of the Amazing Caves video and the Making of Amazing Caves.

TriTrogs General Meeting Minutes from July 22, 2014

The meeting began with introductions. We discovered that Emily makes interesting sounds, Sue is visiting her daughters, Steve was around when the local grotto was the UNC outing club, Anuj transferred to UNC-Chapel Hill, Ken knew Sue when he started caving, Mike is wearing a salamander, Pete was sitting there, Martin has been here since 2011, and Carlin was born in a cave.  Rob was born in an IHOP, but Rachel denied it. Mark D. has caved seven years.

The member dues are $8 for the rest of 2014, and half that for family members at the same address. Rob shared the T-shirts, but the blue was too dark and didn’t contrast the black enough for the cave to be visible. The company has agreed to reprint the shirts, so Rob accepted new orders at $14 apiece.

Brick buying campaign for the new NSS Headquarters. Mark heard the speech 1800 times at Convention. Each brick will be cut with three lines of twenty characters each, and the TriTrogs could get together to sponsor a block containing individual bricks. The campaign does not seem to have an end date. Someone suggested TriTrogs bricks carry the phrase “Caving ‘til extinction.”

How to Cave meeting: Mark D. hasn’t thought about it much or the meetup group advertising he’d use. Matthew Weiss is going to help, but Mark would appreciate help from anyone else who may want to join them.

Pete is looking for volunteers for BugFest at the museum on September 20. It’s organized into two-hour shifts (reward of a nice T-shirt), and working two shifts or more gets volunteers free food. Pete organizes the Orthoptera display and will teach volunteers what they need to know at the event.

In terms of trip reports, Mark D. mentioned that Sue, Emily, Lee Olsen, Tanya, and Pete went to the NSS Convention. Convention was good, and Pete set records on rope climbing. He won 300 feet of rope, and Mark further awarded Pete the dead flower centerpiece from the banquet. One seat had the carabiner under it.  Mark detailed his 137-foot entrance pit trip to War Eagle Cave—the cry of Auburn University— near the small Crimson Tide Cave. A lower entrance had frogs and fish in it.  One spot on the map is labeled 40-foot domes but Mark found some new passage that was off the map if you climbed up.

Cathedral Caverns: Pete H. went on commercial cave tour with an ill-behaved mass of school children. Pete’s camera was shaken by the kids who were jumping on the railing. He related a good cave tour with reasonable lighting, although he questioned its ability for a civil defense shelter with 10,000 people inside. The tour guides can tell the weather in advance by a cloud near the entrance. The $5 fee for NSS members was money well spent. Mark had a tenth-grade tour guide who asked him questions about the cave, but Emily couldn’t understand her guide’s speech.

The CaveSim broke when Emily went through.

Pete went to Neversink Cave with double drops to see the glow worms. He had to wait 15-20 minutes to see the modest, continuous glow.  He even saw them on the cave floor but mostly those close to him. Mark took the vertical workshop and learned something at every station.

Hungarians, Australians, Slovenians, and other countries were represented at the NSS Convention. Pete mentioned next year’s convention in Missouri.  The 2016 Convention is in Nevada.

Carlin went with Dave and Andrea to Perkins Cave.  Buford, Bill Grosse, and Carlin surveyed 500 feet.  Jason’s team surveyed almost 900 feet.  The weekend total was 1900 feet.  Carlin, Dave and Andrea also scoped out Water Cave for dive opportunities.

Mike Broome went to Grand Caverns with his family.  His family had fun, and the NSS discount was good.  They let his family stay late to see the movie and Mike shared survey stories with the tour group.

Ken described finding some small caves in Hemlock Gorge near Prettyboy Reservoir.

Upcoming Trips

July 25-27 – Missed Opportunity and Saltville Quarry Cave Surveys

-Harper’s Ferry climbing with Rob

August 16 – TriTrogs Annual Trip to Friars Hole Cave

August 28-Sept. 1 – Old Timers Reunion

Oct. 10-12 – Fall VAR at Rich Mtn Battlefield

Others?

After the break, the program was “European (and Worldwide) Cave Photography - From a Publisher's Perspective,” presented by Sue Widmer. Below you’ll see the notes I took from her slides.

Sharpness

Composition

Lighting

Good model placement

Audience appeal

High res file

Purpose

Not in 72-dpi(stamp size)

sharpness

Tripod mounted

Model not moving

Focus

Perfection

Composition

Cave features prominent (even for the critters)

Interesting perspective

Balanced

Contrat—photoshop can adjust

Scale (sometimes)

Lighting

-well placed flashes (firefly triggered or radio triggered flash units)

-avoid burnouts (cannot be fixed)

--ambiance (how do I feel in a cave)

--use of assistants and models to hold/aim flashes

---variety of models—give credit to everyone who helped

Good model placemnt

--location in composition

--stance/action

--included for scale or to demonstrate action

--patience

--facial epression-attitude

--experienced and trained models/assistants

audience appeal

is it interesting to look at?

Is the cave the main focus?

Is the formation or passage special or unique enough to hold the viewer’s attention for a month?

Wow| factor

High resolution

Raw or tif file

Needed for printing, crpping and enlarging (300 dpi)

Better for photoshop enhancement

30-100MB

purpose

calendar

society/scientific/report photo (as Sue publishes)

club newsletter

trip documentation

friends and memories