BLUE RIDGE
GROTTO
Meeting Minutes
February 20, 2015
7:30p at the Vinton Firehouse; Vinton, VA
David Socky –
Chair |
Bob Gulden –
Vice Chair |
Mary Sue Socky
– Treasurer |
Marian
McConnell - Secretary |
Dan McConnell –
Safe & Tech |
Pat Sims |
Al Stewart |
Bob Alderson |
Carl Cornett |
Doug Feller |
Dusty Gulden |
Nicole Gulden |
Odin Gulden* |
Rowland Family
(5 – all but Sarah) |
Colin Beck |
Jeff Huffman |
|
|
1. TRIP REPORTS:
a.
Warmer Noisy
Blowhole
on 1/10/15 (Bob Alderson): Dig and survey with Mark Minton, Dwight, Vonny Droms, Ralph.
Surveyed about 300’.
b.
Unnamed Cave 1 on 1/13/15
(Bob Alderson): Zeb Lily, Vonny Droms, Phil Lucas. “Concealed Canyon.” 30’ climb, pulled nails
out, de-rigged canyon, climbed up tight fissure into nice sized room, threw a
rock up and over and hit Phil. Found 50’ pit but didn’t have gear to do. Dug into breakdown collapse, debris cone to
40’ pit. (Due to land owner relations, this cave is CLOSED; the owner has
permitted only these survey trips)
c.
Unnamed Cave 2
on
2/7/15 (Bob Alderson): Mark Minton, Vonny Droms, Phil
Lucas, Roger Barrody, Bill Jones. Put fluorescein dye
in stream, built cover for hole to keep dog from falling in. Saw the dye
appearing in resurgence in stream under ledge, then out of old resurgence below
the other cave on the hill, then out the cave across the stream, then
upstream. About ¾-1 mile, then went to
see if it was showing up at the waterfalls, but too early to tell. A few hours
later the stream was all clear. (Due to land owner relations, this cave is
CLOSED; the owner has permitted only these survey trips)
d.
Lowmoor on 1/17 (Dave
Socky): BRG Trip with 3 teams who did
surveys, including Hell’s Auditorium.
2134’ surveyed.
e.
Unnamed Cave 3
on
1/22 (Dave Socky): A big 100 lb. rock
fell on Dave’s leg causing a deep bruise which put him into a bit of shock, but
he was able to get out ok. Mark Hodge
pulled his back moving rocks. Phil Lucas
Zeb Lilly surveyed 200 feet while Dave and Mark exited. (Due to land owner
relations, this cave is CLOSED; the owner has permitted only these survey
trips)
f.
Unnamed Cave 4
on
1/29 (Dave Socky): With Phil Lucas, Mark Minton, Zeb Lilly, and Mark Hodge. Did a surface survey marking were all the springs
feed into creek. Then they dug in the cave across the stream, moving a lot of
rock. (Due to land owner relations, this cave is CLOSED; the owner has
permitted only these survey trips)
g.
Unnamed Cave 4
on
1/31 (Dave Socky): With Phil Lucas, Mark Minton, Zeb Lilly, and Mark Hodge. More
digging in the cave across the stream and initial excavation of the 2nd cave on
the hillside. (Due to land owner relations, this cave is CLOSED; the owner has
permitted only these survey trips)
h.
Agee Cave* [Owner has
not given it a name yet so going by Owner’s name temporarily.] on 2/1 (Dave
Socky): With Brian Williams and Stephanie Petri. North of Fincastle – cave is 86’ long which
was surveyed in 3 shots. Filled with trash, tires, bottles, old cement bags;
would be a good conservation project.
i.
Lowmoor on 2/1 (Dave
Socky): David Socky, Stephanie Petri, Brian Williams
(720 feet). Team 2: Bob Alderson, Joe
and Carol Zokaites (453 feet). Team 3:
Nick Socky, Joe Calderone, Amy Skowronski, and Rebecca Stewart (327 feet).
Spent 5-1/2 hours underground and surveyed 1500’. Halfway done; cave is about
1.7 miles of passage. Wil Orndorff
indicated when Spring comes (April 15) it will be ok
to survey in the mine; there are small clusters of bats in the mine. There are
also old dates and signatures going back to 1884, 1919, and some old pine torch
tapers. Brian found some virgin passage.
j.
Unnamed Cave 2 on 2/11 (Dave
Socky): With Dave Socky, Phil Lucas, Mark Hodge, Mark Minton, Yvonne Droms. Lots of
breakdown, will be a lot of work. Lots of air coming out and water gurgling
below. (Due to land owner relations, this cave is CLOSED; the owner has
permitted only these survey trips)
k.
Maxwelton on 2/14 (Dave
Socky): David Socky, Larry Fisher,
Gordon Cole, and Tommy Polson. Brian
Williams and Stephanie Petri were on a separate photo trip with Ryan Maurer. Looking for a passage on the old map, but
couldn’t find it, very mazy. Pushed stream crawl, belly crawl in water. It went for 150’ and seems virgin. Stopped where the passage became a 12” belly
crawl in water. This will need a wetsuit.
Out at 8:30p and it was 5° F, but the group wisely left their clothes at
the bottom of the drop so they were warm climbing out of the cave. Route 219 was an ice rink! [Adam Lake on Sunday was in a head-on
collision on Route 219; he is ok but his car was totaled.]
l.
Natural Bridge
Caverns
on 2/6: (Mary Sue Socky) With Marian McConnell, India Akers, Bob Thren, Carol
Zokaites, Carl Tideman, Craig Hindeman,
inventoried the cave for bats (found 2 big browns and 1 tri-color) and areas
for conservation (green algae) before and during Spring VAR.
m. Catawba Murder Hole on 2/7:
Marian McConnell, Dan McConnell, Dave Socky, Mary Sue Socky (Entrance Control),
Carl Cornett, Michael Rowland, Ivan Sexton, Brian Williams, Stephanie Petri,
Nathan Williams, and Sabrina Simon worked on the Murder Hole video documentary
filming with Nathan’s drone, videos, and photos. Although the temperature got up to the 50’s,
it was very cold in the cave. They did see some bats which is a first since in
many years. [Dan and Marian think opening Percolator Pit has created a draw
through the cave because in cold weather there is a plume of air shooting up
out of it. They are considering putting
a “door” over Percolator Pit during the winter months.]
n.
Paxtons on 1/17: Doug Feller, Susan Burr, Trish Geiger, Marian
McConnell, Carol Duvall, and Jeff Huffman had a great trip – see article in Carbide Dump with photos.
o.
Island Ford on 1/24 and
1/31: Marian McConnell and Carl Cornett took
2 Roanoke City Parks & Rec groups in and had great trips both times. Good news is – quite a few bats – about 20;
mostly big browns.
Upcoming Trips:
a.
SRT
Class at River Rock Climbing Gym on 806 Wasena Ave. in Roanoke on 3/8 from
9:30a-5p – BRG Members get first shot at the 10 slots. RSVP to marian.mcconnell@gmail.com or (540)
309-4707. Bring vertical gear if you
have it. If you don’t, there will be
gear provided. If you don’t have vertical gear, at least bring a pair of
gloves.
b.
March
21 BRG Trip – TBA.
2.
PROGRAM: Short video of drone at Murder Hole, and
photos of Murder Hole, Paxtons, and Maxwellton by Dave Socky, Brian Williams, Stephanie
Petri, Nathan Williams, and Ryan Maurer.
3.
VOTE FOR
FAVORITE CARBIDE DUMP COVERS OF 2014:
Each member gets 5 votes.
4.
TREASURER’S
REPORT: (Mary Sue Socky)
$110 Petty cash
$0 Cave Bucks
$235.36 Equipment Fund
$160.64 Conservation Fund
$3521.90 General Fund
$4027.90 GRAND TOTAL
5.
COMMITTEES:
a.
Newsletter
– May be interesting in March as Dave Socky will be in China!
b.
Membership
– Membership cards are being given out to member who have paid dues. Packets will be sent out soon. We currently have about 65 members, thanks to
the Rowland family’s recent acceptance as 6 new members!
c.
ROCKS
– See reports on Agee Cave, Jackson Cave in Bath County VA, and Lowmoor. Will
wait for spring to check out additional caves at Blue Ridge Vineyard near Eagle
Rock VA.
d.
Safety
& Techniques – Training on March 8th at River Rock. Let Dano
know if you have any suggestions for other training classes.
6.
MEMBERSHP
PROPOSALS:
a.
Jeff
Huffman – (sponsored by Susan Burr) – Susan was not at the meeting so Carl
Cornett offered to speak up for him. He
has been on at least 5 BRG trips and has attended at least 1 SRT class. Voted in unanimously.
b.
Lisa
Goggin – (sponsored by Mary Sue Socky) – Lisa was unable to be here; she is in
Texas. She is an NSS member and member
of other Grotto(s). Mary Sue is familiar
with her caving experience and dedication to safety and conservation. Voted in unanimously.
c.
Colin
Beck – (sponsored by Susan Burr) – Susan was not at the meeting; the Board had
discussion with Colin via email and requested that he come on a few more BRG
trips and attend at least one SRT class before we vote on his membership. He is currently a Subscriber until he gains
more experience.
7.
OLD BUSINESS:
a.
Return
to Blue Ridge Vineyards to check out other caves – will do later when weather
is better.
b.
Vinton
Firehouse Renovations – currently underway.
Should be done by March.
c.
Blacksburg
Cave Rescue Group update – Stephanie Petri was not at the meeting; she is on
the Equipment Committee. Dave Socky,
Brian Williams will be involved as well.
8.
NEW BUSINESS:
a.
Proposed
gas pipeline routes impact on caves, karst, farms in Catawba and other areas
(e.g. Blacksburg). Marian received
information from some families in Catawba (Butch & Betty Kelly and Frankie
& Louise Garman) who may be impacted by this. Much discussion going on through the Virginia
Cave Board as well; the February 21st VCB meeting in Luray was
postponed due to the winter storm until April 11, 2015. More information will be available after that
meeting.
b.
New
River Cave Challenge – Consider donating to the New River Cave Preserve. The
cave was already purchased but we are trying to pay off the loan. John Taylor donated $100 and BRG contributed
$250; but anyone can donate more. Al
Stewart donated $300. Wil Orndorff is
the Manager of the preserve.
c.
Natural
Bridge Conservation Project – India Akers came to the October 2014 BRG meeting
and has asked for help – we’ve provided maps, coordinates, etc., and visited
the show cave last month to do an inventory for conservation projects before
and during VAR. Anyone wishing to join
Mary Sue and Bob Thren before Spring VAR should contact Mary Sue (date
TBD). Mary Sue is waiting for India to
respond in order to set up a date. Carl
Cornett and Bob Gulden volunteered (so far).
d.
Come
to VAR on April 24-26 – great facilities and lots of caving trips such as
Dollhouse, Isabella’s Stairsteps, Island Ford,
Lowmoor, etc.
e.
Stay
out of Shovel Eater and Germany Valley caves unless you have permission!
9.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
a.
Watch
“Expedition Unknown” with Josh Gates on 2/26 at 9p EST (Travel Channel) to see
footage of Murder Hole. This episode will attempt to link the Beale Treasure
mystery to Murder Hole. Dave Socky was
one of the videographers; and we will get a DVD of the episode after it airs to
watch. Viewing party date TBD!
b.
BRG
has been asked to take Connie’s (Dixie Caverns) nephew into New Dixie Cave on
May 16th.
c.
October
3rd – possible VAR at Grand Caverns.
d.
Murder
Hole books are still available from Marian in
paperback and hardback; NSS members get a discount.
e.
SECC
bought Stephens Gap Cave (near Huntsville, AL).
f.
A
2-day Land Conservation conference will be held at Natural Bridge on April 30 –
May 1 (see flyer).
g.
Possible
program – we received the 25 minute DVD for the 2015 NSS Convention in
Missouri.
Adjourned: 9:10p