BLUE RIDGE GROTTO
OF THE NSS
Roanoke, VA
Monthly Meeting Minutes 3-15-19
Jersey Lily’s
Attendance
Susan
Burr, Chair |
Marian
McConnell, Secretary |
Trish
Geiger, Treasurer |
Mary
Sue Socky |
Carl
Cornett |
Bill
Walker |
Dusty
Gulden |
Nicole
Gulden |
Odin
Gulden* |
Bob
Gulden |
Brandon
Phibbs* |
Lynn
Ott |
Keith
Goggin |
Jason
Delafield* |
Joe
Fagan |
Joseph
Caldwell |
Doug
Feller |
|
*Guest
1. TRIP REPORTS:
a. [Susan Burr:] 2/16/19 BRG
Grotto trip to Rapps Cave, WV – Doug
Feller (leader), Trish Geiger, Jeff Huffman, Lauren Appel, Bill Walker, John
Fox, Brandon Phibbs, Dominique Dziadowicz, and Susan
went. Of course we had a little trouble opening the gate. Explored all over.
Trish was our WVACS person and it was very nice changing at the WVACS Station.
b. [Susan Burr:] 3/2/19 Organ Cave, WV – Doug Feller and Susan
joined the Greenbier Grotto – Ed Swepston (leader),
Ed Saugstad, Mystik Miller, and newbie James. Ed of
course knows that cave. We got to go in and out the commercial entrance. Not
sure what area we went to, but the Octopus Room or area was one of the places.
We did have to climb up and onto a scary ledge, which wasn’t really that scare
once you got on it. We mainly did a loop in the cave so we didn’t have to come
back across the ledge. We got to see a waterfall that I don’t think is normally
active near the tourist trail.
c. [Susan Burr:] 3/5/19 Porter’s Cave, VA – Jeff Huffman and
Susan went to dig open the gate that we couldn’t get open back in January. When
we got there it looked like someone had tried and mostly did get the gate dug
open. Only is that they apparently put a bunch of really large/heavy rocks over
the gate. After Jeff and I got the rocks off we finished chiseling the packed
mud and debris from around the gate. Jeff had trouble with the lock but finally
got it off and the gate did open. We both went in to help refresh my memory of
the route I want to take a group of Scouts later in the month. I also was
teaching the cave to Jeff. We did the normal tourist route, NOT going through
but to the Keyhole, then back to Grand Avenue and the Natural Bridge where we
explored around a bunch and practiced taking pictures with and without the
flash. Then off to the Formation Room that also has fossils in the ceiling,
then on to see the Big Slit, which has a lake right before you get to it. After
this we explored several passages we normally don’t take. It was fun guessing
where we would end up and I was usually right or at the very least, I knew
where we were when we got to a junction. After that we headed out the dry
waterfall exit.
d. [Dave Socky:] 2/15: Maxwelton Cave, WV. Participants
included David Socky, Nick Socky, Keely Owens, Corey Hackley, Nikki Fox, and
Chris Coates. This was to be another camp trip to the Retreat to pick up where
we had left off in January. Nikki and Chris had gone in earlier and when Nick
and I showed up at 9:15pm, Keely and Corey were ready to go in. Nick and I got
geared up at the upper parking area because of potential snow and ice over the
weekend. Nick parked his Honda Fit up by the road. We were in the cave by
9:50pm. I led the way until the first drop, at which point I let Nick take the
lead so I could cool off. After we did the second drop and started into the
narrow, muddy, crawly canyon, I started to slow down. I had indigestion and I
felt a little nauseous. My energy levels seemed low. We got through the
stemming section when I told Nick to go on a head because I really had to use
the bathroom. Well, god, it was diarrhea! I actually took care of business at
the top of a 15 foot deep canyon with a stream flowing below. I had hoped that
it wouldn’t stink too much when we come out. I finally caught up with Nick at
the drop into Cove Creek. It was 11:00pm – it had taken me over an hour to get
there. I felt bad and didn’t seem to have any energy. I had to make a decision.
After a brief discussion with Nick, I decided to turn around and go back. I was
worried about ruining the trip for everyone else, and if I was sick, the trip
in, but especially the trip out would be hell. And the diarrhea had me worried.
Nick said that he had caught up with Keely and Corey, so he rappelled down and
disappeared down Cove Creek. I waited a bit in order to cool down and try a
regain some strength, then headed out. The trip out was long and slow. I was
being really careful because I was solo (If I hurt myself down in the bypass
canyon, my earliest rescue would have been Sunday afternoon), but also because
of my lack of energy. The more I went, the more I agreed that I head reached
the proper decision – I was in fact sick. The two pits I had to climb out where
not that hard, just slow. I finally made it out around 12:20pm. I got home
around 3:15am, took a shower and went to bed. All night long, I had watery diarrhea
every 10 to 20 minutes. So that pretty much confirmed that I had made the right
decision.
e. [Dave Socky:] 2/23: Lost World Caverns, WV. Participants included Dave Socky, Ed
Swepston, Mystic Miller, plus 10 students or so. We took the students on a wild
tour of the back end of Lost World Caverns to give them a little real world
experience in what can be involved in a cave rescue.
f. [Dave Socky:] 2/24: Uvala Sink above Max, WV. Participants
included David Socky, Carroll Bassett, Nancy (?), Bill Balfour, Pam Marth,
Cliff Lindsay, and David Scott. We searched the large sink above the Retreat
camp off of Sweetwater in Maxwelton. We found an insurgence in the north end of
the sink which will be a really good dig when things are dry. We also found two
small caves that where only 10 feet deep or so and didn't do anything.
g. [Dave Socky:] 3/2: Cave Hollow Arbogast, WV. Team one:
David Socky, Bob Hoke, Wayne Perkins, and Coleman McHose. Team two: Hope
Brooks, Eric Pelkey, Jay Balakirsky, and Dennis Melko. Team one surveyed 680
feet in the middle southern passage towards the Golden Spike Room, starting
from the ‘K’ survey. Team two planned on picking up in the Serpentine Way, but
one of the members didn’t fit through a pinch near the start, so they met up
with team one and we leap frogged toward the Golden Spike Room. Team two
surveyed a total of 423 feet. We finished up our survey where the canyon
passage opened up into a maze of large rooms and passages, just shy of the Golden
Spike Room. We finished the survey at 7:30pm, exiting the cave at 8:45pm for a
very productive 9 hour trip with a total of 1103 feet.
h. [Dave Socky:] 3/7: Maxwelton Cave, McClungs Cave, and
Ludingtons Cave, WV. Participants included Dave Socky, Nick Schaer, and two
West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) employees. We got
high accuracy GPS locations for Maxwelton Scott entrance, Maxwelton Cove Creek
collapsed entrance, McClungs Lightner Entrance, and Ludington Yates entrance.
Nick used a $10,000 GPS unit to acquire the locations. It took 1.5 hours each
at the Scott Entrance and at the Lightners entrance. The accuracy is supposed
to be good to 2 cm!
i. [Dave Socky:] 3/9: Brants Cave, WV. Participants included
Dave Socky, Chris Coates, Aaron Clair, Brian Young, Mountain Dave, and Larry
Fisher for a total of 6 cavers. The plan was for two to do the dig at the
bottom of the ladder drop and 4 to survey from the end of our last survey. It
was cold, but at least not raining or snowing. It had snowed about 4 to 5
inches on Friday, but all the roads where just wet. We got in without incident.
At the ladder climb, Mountain Dave and Brian Young went on ahead to work on the
dig while Chris worked on putting in bolts to replace the cable ladder with a
rope. Dave and Brian went ahead to explore because the dig was right below
where Chris was working and so would have been in the rock fall zone. We got
the rope in place in an hour or so and went on into the cave. Dave and Brian
went back to work on the dig. The rest of us soon got to the next drop, where
we discovered that the room with the ropes was filled with water! And the water
was deep. At the bottom of the rope, the water looked to be about 5 to 6 feet
deep but it looked like it got deeper further into the room. Aaron Clair
rappelled down to the edge of the water to confirm the suspected depth, and to
see how cold it was. It was cold - snow melt. We talked about bolting a
traverse along a slanty ledge, but we only had 6 bolts left. We considered bolting
as far as we could and sending Aaron Clair across with no clothes so he could
pull the end from the traverse to the other side to make a J hang. We would
then all cross doing the traverse and the J hang. We decided it would be too much effort, not
enough climbing gear, and would take too long, so we aborted the trip. The trip
out was uneventful. We were out by 3:30pm.
j. [Dave Socky:] 3/9: Persistence
Cave, WV. Participants included Dave Socky, Chris Coates, Aaron Clair,
Brian Young, and Mountain Dave. There was still time left in the day, so we
decided to check out a collapse in Persistence Cave which is just up the hill
from Carroll Bassett's house. The cave was dug open about 10 years ago and
surveyed to around 2500 feet. But then about 5 years ago after a big rain, a
collapse occurred near the bottom of the pit which is close to the entrance.
The entrance is nearly in the creek (which had been diverted and is normally
dry). The entrance is a short 7 foot vertical culvert with a small crack at the
bottom which you have to squeeze down. It's about 7 feet deep. At the bottom it
opens up a little where there is the 40 foot pit. The top of a pit is a narrow
slot which is somewhat awkward to get through, but after 6 to 8 feet, it opens
up. The bottom is bigger, about 15 feet in diameter. There is a slot that goes
down and around to the left. It was a tight squeeze which Chris did. We didn't
get to the collapse because no one wanted to get wet. So we climbed back up the
pit and out the cave. We were essentially tag pit bopping in WV.
k. [Dave Socky:] 3/10: Boarhole Cave, WV. Participants
included David Socky, Nick Socky, Kelly McCarthy (teachers), Chris Coates,
Brian Young, Rob Wardell, Wyatt Hall, Silas Springer, and Casey Tucker. We
surveyed in the Boarhole Boulevard as one big survey class. Nick and Kelly
roamed around to help the sketchers while I did the ‘reference’ sketch which
the students used to compare against what they were doing. Everyone did very
well. We surveyed for about two hours for 6 stations and about 200 feet of
survey. We would have done more, but half the crew went to Windy Mouth the day
before for a 13 hour survey and didn't get back to the field station until
nearly 4am, so there were a lot of tired cavers.
l. [Jason Delafield:] 2/16: Giant Caverns, Narrows, VA. Went with
Nathan Carney (sp?) and 5 other VPI cavers and
explored the two main rooms. Permission is supposedly that as long as you have
a bat sticker on your car and you park off the driveway you can go into this
vertical cave. Landowner was a retired Dentist; assuming he is still the
owners.
m. [Jason Delafield:] 2/23: Pig Hole, VA. Did the normal drops and
climbed out (did not exit via the culvert).Very muddy.
n. [Jason Delafield:] (3/2):
WVACS, McClung’s, WV (Lightner
Entrance) and Tufa Trail.
o. [Jason Delafield:] 3/10: New River Cave, VA with Lauren Appel,
Jeff Huffman, and Nick Schmalenberger. They entered the cave around 10:45 and
exited around 4:45p. Objective was to make it to the Supper Room where Jason’s
friend fell during a previous trip. They believe the fall was close to 20 feet.
They did not stop at the Forest Room. Instead they proceeded and went down the
China Slide, through the Blow Hole and up the waterfall. Jeff and Lauren
decided to stop at Tuxedo Junction. The area was tight and one needed to be
flexible to be able to maneuver the Junction. Jeff and Lauren told Jason and
Nick to proceed to the Supper Room while they waited in the area before the
Junction. Jason estimated a time of one hour before his return. Jason and Nick
returned shortly after an hour. We exited to a beautiful view of the New River
on a warm afternoon.
p. This month’s trip 3/16/19 to Rimstone Falls Cave in Greenbrier County,
WV led by Mystik Miller. Meet at HROM at 9am.
Limit of 10 cavers.
q. 3/17/19 VERTICAL PRACTICE:
Practice will be held Sunday, March 17th from 2-6p at the Socky’s house on
their backyard tree/deck. Jason Delafield and Carl Cornett will be offering the
training.
r. 3/23/19 there will be a trip to
Giant Caverns in Narrows, VA with
Jason Delafield.
2. TREASURER’S REPORT (Trish
Geiger):
Cave
Bucks $ 31.64
Conservation 110.64
Equipment 169.95
General 3,535.01
TOTAL 3,846.94
3. COMMITTEES:
NEWSLETTER:
Carbide
Dump is out; kudos to the editors! Send photos, art, articles!
MEMBERSHIP: We have 38 regular members, 10 associate
members, and 4 subscribers for a total of 52.
Get your packet from Mary Sue that has current membership listing,
cards, cave rescue call-down list, and BRG Trip Guidelines.
ROCKS:
Nothing to report.
SAFETY
& TECHNIQUES: The only date Marian was able to get from River Rock Climbing
Gym for a vertical practice is Sunday, April 28th, which is during
VAR. If we don’t get enough (minimum of
6) interested, we will wait until the winter to try to schedule another
class. Mary Sue will send out an email
asking anyone to contact Marian by Friday, March 22nd if they are
interested in the class, and helping set up/take down.
MEMBERSHIP
PROPOSALS: None.
4. OLD BUSINESS:
BRG
BYLAWS AMENDMENTS:
Lengthy
discussion about the proposed amendments. The quorum minimum may be unrealistic.
The amendment was dropped for now. Since
there was no agreement, we will re-address it and re-propose. Keith Goggin will
work on some potential wording.
The
addition of the NSS Sexual Harassment policy is required, but apparently still
requires a vote. Susan made the motion and Joey Fagan seconded it that the
policy be adopted, as required by the NSS. All members present voted yes.
BRG
AUCTION ON-LINE: No one bid on anything, so the items will be donated to VAR
for door prizes.
ROANOKE
CAVE AND KARST DAY: Scheduled for the Science Museum of Western Virginia
(Center in the Square) on Saturday, June 8th. Anyone interested in
helping should contact Marian McConnell. Details to follow.
VOTE
FOR CARBIDE DUMP COVERS: Be sure to use your 5 votes to vote for your favorite
covers for the 2019 Convention Salon.
DISCOVERY
CHANNEL DONATION: We received the $150 donation for helping with their filming;
we will share half ($75) with VAR (Carol and Craig) who assisted.
5. NEW BUSINESS:
BRG
June 21 Meeting? This will be during the NSS Convention; it was decided enough
BRG officers/members will be here to hold our regular monthly meeting.
6. ANNOUNCEMENTS:
·
THAI
RESCUE CD: Lynn Ott donated a copy of Gene’s CD to BRG so you can check out and
view.
·
CRICKET
MAZE CAVE: Open House will be held in Hedgeville, WV.
For more info contact Lynn Ott, Meredith Weberg, or the Gulden’s.
·
Apr
6, 2019: Spring Restoration Weekend, Grand Caverns. Contact Meredith Weberg by 3/24 so she can
plan for Saturday dinner.
·
Apr
13: Celebrate Cliff Lindsey’s 50th! 50 years of caving, hanging around Bill
Balfour, etc. 1-5p at Organ Cave, WV.
·
Apr
19: BRG Meeting at Jersey Lily’s
·
Apr
20: VIRGINA CAVE BOARD: The next meeting will be on Saturday, April 20th at 11a
at the Virginia Deaf & Blind office in Staunton.
·
Apr
25-28: Spring VAR, Camp Powhatan,
Draper/Radford, VA. Hosted by JRG
·
May
3-5, 2019: PSC Spring Party, Upper Tract, WV
(See flyer)
·
May
11-18, 2019 – NCRC Weeklong Cordon, IN
·
May
18: Over the Edge downtown Roanoke. Volunteer to help the rappellers. 2-day
commitment; volunteers get to rappel for free. Benefits Big Brothers/Big
Sisters. The building used will be the higher education building. More info
TBA.
·
June
8 – Cave and Karst Day at Science Museum in Roanoke
·
June
17-21, 2019: NSS Convention in
Cookeville, TN.
·
Oct
7-11, 2019: NCKMS meeting in Bristol, VA
(see flyer)
·
Nov
3, 2019: 11:30a, VSS Meeting, Natural Bridge State Park, VA
7: PROGRAM: Photos of Lynn and Gene’s trip to
Australia for the International Caving Convention in 2017.