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:
- 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).
- 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).
- 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.
