BLUE RIDGE
GROTTO of the National Speleological Society
BRG Minutes
for 6/21/24
Jersey
Lily’s; Roanoke, VA
Attendance:
|
Dave Socky, Vice Chair |
Kelly Perkins, Treasurer |
Marian McConnell, Secretary |
|
Susan Burr |
Barry Ferguson |
Helene Ferguson (Sub) |
|
Doug Feller |
Lynn Ott |
Mary Sue Socky |
|
Margo Soucek* |
Calvin Long* |
Abbey Mays* |
|
Alexander Koch* |
|
|
*Guest
TRIP REPORTS
Dave Socky:
5/18: McClung Cave, WV. Participants included
David Socky, Nick Socky, Joe Zokaites, Alex Faunce, and Rebekah Dawn. Mop of
leads in entrance canyon. Nick. Alex, and Rebekah went up the climbing pole
passage to do the lead back there. Rebekah came back because it was too tight
for her. We first did the short stream canyon passage under the main route. We
did a loop, coming back up through a small hole in the breakdown. We then went
to the 'Pillar' come-around after the first section of canyon. That took about
5 shots and involved some fun mud climbs with exposure, but not too bad. We
then went to the left side lead just after the second section of canyon. Before
we started, Nick and Alex caught up with us and Nick decided to push the lead
to see if it went, and survey out if it ended. It went!! After some initial
tight wet stuff it opened up in places to hands and
knee, stoop walk, and even a little walking. There were about 5 ninety degree
turns which were a little tight. But Nick turned around in going passage after
~200 feet. Wow! We decided we didn't have time and would save this lead for
WVACS Classic. We made our way slowly out with a stop at Musser's Mess. We were
out by 4:40pm. We had surveyed a total of 643 feet on a fun 5-hour trip.
5/25: Mud Pot Cave, VA. Participants included
David Socky, Bob Alderson, and Keith Sweeney. See article in the June 2024
Carbide Dump.
5/25: Massie #1 Cave, VA. Participants
included David Socky, Andrew Newton, Spencer Adams, Rick Lambert, Jacob
Whitelock, and Billy Pickett. Outside
was Bob Alderson, Keith Sweeney, Jim Schurman, and maybe a few others. We did whooping four stations and decided today was not the day to
survey the cave. It was more vertical than expected plus there were just too
many cavers in the cave, making it difficult to do anything. The entrance is a
10-foot climb down which can be free climbed, but we used a cable ladder as a
handline. At the bottom is a tight crack with a big rock in the way making
entry annoying. It's a 2 foot squeeze which opens into
a low long room with a number of holes in the floor, plus a canyon which drops
to a lower level about 15 feet down. One of the cavers dropped his pack down
the hole, but Andrew (or Spencer) free climbed down and retrieved the pack. He
said it was pretty tricky getting back up. Rick Lambert, at a different
location, said his drop was vertical and would need a rope. It was at this
point that we decided to come back, rig the cave properly for safety, and then
survey. It was 4pm already anyway. We were in the cave for maybe an hour and
surveyed 24 feet.
5/26: Butler Cave, VA. Participants included
David Socky, Bob Alderson, Brian Mayfield, Kat Wood, and Hope McAdams. See
article in the June 2024 Carbide Dump.
6/1: Boar Hole Cave, WV. Participants included
David Socky and Greg Springer. We were supposed to go to Dry Cave, but we
couldn’t find a third, so Greg Springer and I went to Boar Hole Cave to dig and
survey. On our dig, we actually busted through into virgin cave, but it
devolved back into a muddy dig which would have taken us too long to get
through, so we switched over to surveying a nice canyon passage. We got 37
stations and 400 feet. It was a fun 10-hour trip.
6/7: McClung Cave, WV. Participants included
David Socky, Nick Socky, and Paul Walko. We went in the Lightner entrance to
check the lead for my survey the next day. The lead was downstream Freeman Ave
to the turnoff for Second Breakdown. At the turn off is a small hole in the
breakdown which leads to a big trunk passage. We made sure this was the right
place. Nick rigged two bolts and a rope since the down lead was vertical. Nick
went down to check it out and reported there was perhaps 600 feet of passage. My survey trip for Saturday was a go.
6/8: McClung Cave, WV. Participants included
David Socky, Silas Springer, Vivian Belenky, and Elena Berman (team 1). Paul
Walko, Peter Anastasiov, Jake Salzman, and Ryan
Ketzner (team 2). This was a WVACS Classic survey trip to McClungs. We went
into the Lightner entrance. Downstream Freeman Ave to the turnoff for Second
Breakdown. At the turn off is a small hole in the breakdown which leads to a
big trunk passage that no one really knew about. It is not obvious. It is
vertical to get down, about 12 feet, but we had a rope which was installed the
day before. I went in first with my team. The vertical hole through the
breakdown was pretty tight, but not as bad as I had feared. Once down, we were
in a 40-foot-wide trunk passage with a 20 foot
ceiling. We went down the passage a bit and started surveying. Paul tied into a
station at the turn off and eventually tied into the start of our survey. We
worked for 2 hours, finishing most of it. We surveyed 491 feet on a 6.5-hour
trip, but there is still more that needs to be done. We headed out around
3:30pm and made it back to WVACS in time for dinner.
6/15 Mud Pot & Warm River Cave, VA.
Participants included Matthew Centofanti, Doug Duncan, Rick Lambert, Andrew
Newton, Jason Sargent, Jim Schurman, Dave Socky, Noah Synowiec, and Jacob
Whitlock. I acted as surface support for Noah and Jason to go in and retrieve
data loggers and dye traps and install new data loggers. There was also a team
in Warm River to do the same in the old downstream end (down the cable ladder).
While driving from Mud Pot to Warm River received a text message about a cave
rescue in Randolf County, WV. It was an entrapment in a new cave near Alpena.
Standdown within 10 minutes. Then a second caver rescue in Laurel Caverns, PA
was called for an 81-year-old man who had hurt his ankle. Didn't even think
about going on that one. The team from Warm River came out and we went back to
Mud Pot where Noah and Andrew went in to dump dye and swap the dry/wet data
loggers and install one in the possible cold pool. Finally finished around 7pm.
6/19 Massie #1 (Bear Cave), VA. Participants
included Dave Socky, Joe Zokaites, Bill Koerschner, Gracie Cornish, Rick Royer,
Rick Lambert, and Jason Sargent. Survey in Massie #1 (Bear Cave) and digging at
Triplet Cave (Bill and Jason). Joe, Gracie, and I started the rigging and
survey while RickR and RickL
picked up the dye monitor at the Warm River resurgence. The Rick's caught up
with us just as I was starting to sketch the first room where A4 was located.
Joe and Gracie put in a bolt and rigged the second ladder to go down to the
lower level. We put in a couple of shots in the upper level before going down
the cable ladder and continuing the survey in a steeply sloping canyon passage
which took off to the west. About 30 feet down was another 12 drop which was
easily climbable. After surveying another 30 to 40 feet we got to a point where
the only way on was up. Rick Royer and Gracie climbed up through a really tight
slot straight up. They got another 3 shots until it ended in a steep up slope
of mud. Back down near the bottom of the ladder was a tight lead in the north
wall. I didn’t even come close to fitting in, but Gracie squeezed in and got
into a small room with another 20-foot-deep pit. We rigged some webbing to
extend the ladder so it would reach into the new pit. Gracie climbed down where
the passage leveled out, but then got too tight. There was air blowing out so
this was a good dig. Rick Royer squirmed in to help Gracie get out of the pit,
giving her a belay. After a bit of struggle, both Rick and Gracie made it out.
We were at the entrance within a half hour. We had surveyed a total of 206 feet
in about 4 hours. We packed up and went over to Triplet Cave where Bill and
Sarge had done a good job digging. Bill is still excited about it so there will
be return trips to Triplet.
Susan Burr:
5/18 - Scott Hollow Cave, WV - Susan Burr,
Jeff Huffman- Leader, Mystik Miller- Leader, Kelly Perkins, Isaiah Hall- guest,
Larry Manning, Lauren Appel, Brian Williams, Nick Schmalenberger, We successfully did the Omega Loop, thanks in part to Mystik
being along. After we did the loop we opted to go see
the beautiful flowstone along Mystic River, that also has a waterfall & rimpools on top. Then we headed down to the “Scary Ladder.”
Yes, those who had not seen it before now understand what we mean by the “scary
ladder!” Next stop for most was the sump. I understand they saw a couple of
frogs there. I did not go with them. I headed back to the pretty flowstone with
Jeff because I wanted to take more pictures. Once the group was together, we
headed out & up “Drag Ass Hill.” Our time in the cave was about 5 hours
& 15 minutes. It was a beautiful day when we got out. Once changed we
headed over to the Farmer's Lounge in Pickaway for a nice dinner.
This Month’s trips – June 22 - TBA (Island Ford?).
Next Month’s grotto trip – July 20 - Culverson Creek? TBA
|
BUSINESS MEETING |
Treasury Report – Kelly
Perkins, Treasurer –
$ 110.96 Cave
Bucks
$
2.00 Conservation Fund
$
144.12 Equipment Fund
$ 6,555.49 General Fund
$ 6,812.57 Total
Funds
Committees:
●
Newsletter – Great issue for June! Next
month USPS postage increases to $0.73; we only mail out a few (9 or 10) copies
each month to those who do not have email.
●
Membership – currently we have 53 members &
5 subscribers.
●
ROCKS – Allegheny County Warm Springs
Project on Wednesdays and the 4th Saturdays of each month.
●
Safety & Techniques – No report (Nick
Schmalenberger is in Finland.) Note: There were 2 rescues last weekend; One in an
unnamed cave near Alpena, the other in Laurel Caverns commercial cave. Many of
us got notifications but didn’t end up having to go. Both patients were
extricated from the caves successfully.
Membership Proposals: Abbey Mays and Alexander Koch. Both were voted in unanimously as BRG’s
newest Associate Members. We now have 55 members!
Old Business
·
Blue Ridge Grotto
Google Groups - blueridgegrotto@googlegroups.com; as of 4/13/24 we have have about 10 who have not signed up for the BRG
Google Group. The Officers have made
individual calls and sent messages to those people to give them a final
chance. If they don’t accept the
invitation, they will no longer receive the emails (meeting announcements,
newsletters, etc.)
·
CAVESIM – will be in
Roanoke July 12 & 13 and in Blacksburg on July 14. BRG voted to donate $250 for the July events
and passed around a sign-up sheet for those willing to volunteer once we know
what the times and duties will be July 12 and 13. (It will be in Blacksburg on
July 14). Mary Sue gave
out flyers and will send out info tonight re how to sign up to volunteer. You
will need to contact Zenah Orndorff at cavesim.va@gmail.com to
sign up for times and dates in Roanoke or Blacksburg.
·
BRG FLYERS AND STICKERS:
The BRG 500 flyers and 250 each of the 2 styles of stickers came in. Kelly
brought them and all those present got to take some. They look fantastic –
thanks to Kelly for coordinating this, and Dave for helping with artwork, etc.
[See photo.] Marian
suggested they be entered in the 2025 NSS Convention “Symbolic Emblems” Salon.
·
BRG CAVING EQUIPMENT –
We need to set up a date and time to go through it all and see about
replacing/upgrading it; especially the helmets and lights. Nick suggested we have a BRG day where we do
that and also practice some vertical work off the tree in the Socky’s backyard.
Tabled until October.
New Business:
·
(Note: BRG Officers (Nick Schmalenberger, Dave
Socky, Kelly Perkins, Marian McConnell) did not meet in June (Nick on travel).)
·
Who would be
interested in helping (as leaders or volunteers) sponsor a VAR in Spring of
2025 in Bath County at the RASS property? Tabled
until July meeting.
·
Next BRG Officers
Meeting will be on July 16 at 5:30p at Wasena Tap Room. BRG members are welcome
to attend; just let Nick Schmalenberger know a day or two in advance so we can
make sure we have enough chairs.
·
Susan has checked on
Bertha Cave, VA near Foster Falls State Park (about an hour south of Roanoke
near Claytor Lake) and doing a special trip for BRG. They would do a group rate
of $10 per person and drive us to the cave (3.5 miles). BRG did a trip to Lone
Ash Cave (several miles from Bertha Cave) around 1995/1996 with Leonard McGann.
Announcements:
●
Healthy Caving – let’s be healthy going
underground. Rules were posted in the DUMP.
Please send verified cave info updates for https://var.caves.org/index.php/conservation/closed-caves/closed-cave-list to Brad Blasé.
●
We are in summer bat closure, only a few caves
are closed for bats, so cave elsewhere. VA = April 15 – Oct 15 (maternity
colonies) and WV = May 15 – Sept 1 (maternity colonies).
●
Catawba Murder Hole
Cave is CLOSED
●
Card was passed around
for Nina Martin (whose husband Jeff died from an accident) of Inner Mountain
Outfitters for everyone to sign.
2023 CAVER CALENDAR:
●
June 21-23 – Karst-O-Rama; Great Saltpeter Cave
Preserve, Livingston, KY
●
July 1-5, 2024 – NSS Convention in Sewanee, TN.
●
July 12-13 – CaveSim in Roanoke – volunteers
needed – contact Zenah Orndorff zenahviola@gmail.com
●
July 14 – CaveSim in Blacksburg, VA
●
July 16 – BRG Officers Meeting at Wasena Tap
room at 5:30p.
●
July 19 – BRG meeting 6:30p Jersey Lily’s Salem,
VA
●
July 31 – TRA Membership applications must be
received by TRA Secretary by this date
●
August 16 – BRG meeting 6:30p Jersey Lily’s
Salem, VA
●
August 29 – September 2 – Old Timers Reunion
(OTR)
●
September 20 – BRG meeting 6:30p Jersey Lily’s
Salem, VA
●
September 20-22 - Eastern
Region NCRC is offering a weekend course, Orientation to Cave Rescue (OCR) held
at the Elkins Fire Dept. and camping will be at the OTR site in
Dailey. See https://ncrc-er.caves.org/ for updates on registration and class info.
●
September 27-29 – Fall VAR @ Hungry Mother
Lutheran Camp; Marion, VA by www.outofboundsgrotto.org
●
October 3-6 – TAG Fall Cave in – Tommy’s Lazy G;
Union Grove, AL
●
October 3-6 – CaveSim may return to Roanoke
during GoFest
●
November 7-10 – Karst Waters Institute 4th
Appalachian Karst Symposium, Lewisburg, WV
●
November 9 – WVCC Banquet, Lewisburg, WV
Cold Beer! About 8p.
Program: Slide
program produced by Mark Minton about Warm River Cave in Alleghany County, VA (20 minutes) Great photos!