BLUE RIDGE GROTTO
July 20, 2012
Vinton Fire Department; Vinton, VA - 7:30p
Attendance:
Mary
Sue Socky – Vice |
David
Socky |
Dusty
Gulden* |
Nicole
Gulden* |
Al
Stewart |
Marian
McConnell – Secty |
Carl
Cornett |
Morris
Figueiredo * |
Susan
Burr |
*Guest
1. TRIP
REPORTS:
June 2, 2012 – Tawneys – Nick went on a 5-hour trip with Sarah Iler, Elliot
George, and Malinda Britt.
June 16, 2012 – McClungs – BRG Trip - Dave
Socky, Joe Zokaites, Ricky Short, Alan Staton, Susan Burr, Nick Socky,
Stephanie Petri. Good trip with a great
group. No one had any problems during
the vertical, either in or out. The
climb down was really easy with the cable ladder and the champagne squeeze was
no problem. Ricky and Susan took some
really good pictures in the Tuffa Trail. We then went to the second breakdown only to
discover that Dave hadn’t looked at the map close enough. The way to the leads he
wanted to check were ¾ of the way back to the climb down into Freeman Ave. They found the turn off to the lead on the
left (going back). It was a pretty tight
belly crawl in sticky dry mud, but everyone fit. Even Joe made it, who was the thickest in the chest. They found the most promising lead after
going past it. It was a wide crawl that
got lower and lower. Dave got to the
point where he was starting to stick and knew he couldn’t go much further
without getting stuck. Ahead, in about
5-6’, was a 1” rib of rock in the ceiling which was perpendicular to the
passage. Dave knew he couldn’t make it
past that. But it did look like it might
get a little better after that. It did
seem to keep going. He backed out and
shamed Nick into checking it. He got
past the rib and said it bent slightly to the right and got lower and
narrower. He said it was about 5-6” high
and maybe 1-1/2’ wide. There was no way
anyone would fit in that crawl, and there was no air. It was a dig at best. They continued on in, climbing up through
some breakdown and then heading S/SE towards Freeman Ave. It looked like they would connect in. They
had to go through a long 100’ belly crawl with a tight spot at the end, but
then the passage opened up and then spilled out into the junction with Freeman
Ave. – up at the ceiling, with a 70’ drop to the floor. There was a piece of webbing with a carabiner
around a rock, which had been used for a pull-down. The rock was loose! They took the webbing and biner out. Needless to say they went back out the way
they came in. Rick took some more
pictures in the Tuffa Trail and they were out at
6:30p. It was a good trip.
June 17, 2012 – Dave Socky, Nick
Socky, Mary Sue Socky, went to Natural
Bridge VA for Father’s Day. Walked
under the Natural Bridge (prevented some redneck vandal from vandalizing under
the bridge) and reminisced about being able to rappel the 215’ drop long ago. Looked at Saltpeter Cave (owners no longer allow you under the drip line),
and the Lost River (still low and
every wet). On the way back they checked
out a hole in the hill above the
port-a-johns; it would have been a very short thru-trip in a remnant karst
feature, but no one wanted to disturb the spiders.
June 22, 2012 – Maxwelton Cave – WVACS Pre-Convention Cave Camp – Tom Malabad,
Ellen Hofler, Amos Mircin,
Shari Lydy, Peggy Palmer, Art Palmer, Dave Bunnell,
and Dave Socky – a good 9-hour trip. They
went to the 12’ nuisance drop and then downstream Cove Creek for about
200-300’. Good trip enjoyed by all.
June 23, 2012
– Catawba Murder Hole –
Pre-Convention Trip – Dan & Marian McConnell, Jane Furkert, Mark &
Jeri, and Fofo & Jen.
Dan was still recuperating from neck disc surgery, so he and Marian only
went to the middle level. The rest went
to the lower level and had a great trip.
Left the rigging inside the cave for the next week’s
trip.
June 23, 2012 – Mary Sue, Carol Zokaitis, let a Karst
& Cave Seminar in the Lewisburg, WV Library to share information about
cave conservation and safety for the general public.
June 25, 2012 – Culverson Creek/Wildcat – NSS Guided Trip – Dave Socky, Nick Socky,
Dan Bishop (Rapunzel), Alan Staton, Jane Furkert (from New Zealand), Rick and
Talon Speact, and 10 others (total of 17 people with
7 vehicles!). The trip lasted about
5-1/2 hours. The water was really low,
with about 3 feet of air space into Dread Pool.
They all went together past Dread Pool and into the McLaughlin
Passage. After about 300’ they split
into two groups because Gene, the older guy, was slow. Alan and 4 others helped Gene. The rest totaled 11. They went all the way to the breakdown, at
which point they decided to head back instead of trying to find the way through
(they didn’t want to miss the Howdy Party).
Within 15 minutes they ran into the slow group, so they sat down and had
lunch to give them a chance to get ahead.
They caught up with them just before Dread Pool. Gene and 4 others headed out while the rest
went down Death Canyon to the first breakdown. On the way back they stopped by
the Lost Waterfall. It was pretty cool,
with nice warm water. It was a good trip
in spite of the large size.
June 26, 2012 – Mary Sue Socky and John
Pearson led the JSS “Caving with the Prez” trip to Higginbotham’s #1 Cave, WV. Mary Sue’s group did a through trip out Higginbotham’s #3 entrance
(up the telephone pole). They thanked
the owner for allowing them to visit the cave.
(This note appeared in the Caver Codex daily newsletter: “The older JSS kids did an outstanding job of
helping the little ones cross the ‘scary’ places in Higginbotham’s #1 on
Tuesday. Be sure to praise the JSS
teenagers; they are our future.”)
June 26-28, 2012: Lots of cavers visited the CaveSim
(portable artificial cave from Colorado) in the High School gym during the NSS
Convention. Thanks to
BRG for donation $150 to help transport it there.
June 27, 2012 – Windy Mouth Cave, WV – 3 hour trip by Nick Socky, Daniel Bishop,
Jennifer Wagner, and Alex Booker. Ended
up swimming in the river to get there and was only in the cave about 1
hour.
June 29, 2012 – Lost World Caverns, WV – Daniel Bishop, Jennifer Wagner, and Nick
Socky went for 2 hours to get air conditioned from the heat. They did the tourist trail loop 2 or 3 times.
June 30, 2012 – Catawba Murder Hole – Post-Convention Trip – Jane Furkert and Pat
Sims led a group in, which was the day after the big wind storm (derecho). Jane brought out a huge backpack of trash
from the lower level, and also washed all the gear during the week afterwards.
July 4, 2012 – Smokehole, VA - 2-1/2 hours quick 4th of July trip to
the lost section; cooled off in the water exit.
Tommy Polson, Nick Socky, Daniel Bishop.
July 7, 2012 – Smokehole, VA – 3 hours, went back to the big room and pocked
around a lot. Normal
VPI trip; Nick Socky.
July 14, 2012 – Cricket Maze, WV– with Kim Fleischman,
Dusty & Nicole Gulden, and Jay Balakirski.
July 14, 2012 – Tawney’s – 2.5 hours – did normal tourist route. Tommy Polson (Socrates, wanted to see the
cave and complete his Bat Ranch Trio), good 2-person trip; did everything minus
the basement and Falas room. Lots of other groups in the
cave.
Upcoming Trips:
August 4, 2012 – Fountain Cave dig and trail tweaking.
August 18,
2012 – Annual BRG Summer Party at Dan & Marian McConnell’s. Those interested in practicing vertical work
in the Daylight Cave of Catawba Murder
Hole are welcome to come around 9a. Party with Pot Luck from 2-6p. Please RSVP to Marian at 540.309.4707 or marian.mcconnell@gmail.com.
September 15,
2012 – Possible trip to Breathing Cave?
2. PROGRAM:
“Mesa Juarez, Mexico” – This video won the 2012 Best of Show at the NSS
Convention video salon.
3. TREASURER’S REPORT:
Petty Cash $115.00
General $3,646.21
Conservation $266.59
Equipment $225.36
Cave Bucks $159.30
TOTAL $4,407.46
·
NSS
Convention Wrap-Up – Jeff Bray reported that 1320 cavers attended the
Convention in Lewisburg. Those from BRG
had a blast! We entered some Carbide
Dump covers this year but none won; however, Marian’s song “Mayacon
Theme Song” won a Merit Award (1st Place) in the Cave Ballard Salon
·
$150
was sent to CaveSim for transporting the unit to
Convention.
·
August
11 – Annual Celebrate Catawba. There is
a $10 fee to have a table there; we have done this every year for the past 3
years – do we want to do again? Yes –
Marian will do and any BRG member is welcome to help. It’s from 10a-3p at the Catawba Civic
Center. Lots of other organizations,
vendors, music, etc.
·
Annual
BRG Summer Party on August 18th at the McConnell’s.
·
Breathing
Cave, VA – new access policy. Do not
part in the old parking area; use old trail or part of the road. New homeowners are upset their land is being
trespassed upon. Use new parking area , trail only, or cave will be closed.
·
Fall
VAR Dates have been moved again to September 21-23. This conflicts with Whitesides pre-Bridge day
final practice, BRG meeting/trip, Roanoke City Go-Fest, Perkins Cave, etc.
·
River
Rock Climbing gym – email came out about it
today. You can vote online.
·
Moved,
seconded, and group passed unanimously to only keep sending potential members
info for a maximum of 3 months. If they
want to join they can either be a subscriber or apply to be a member.
·
Carl
moved and Susan seconded to cancel the September21 BRG meeting. Passed unanimously.
·
Dan
and Marian were visited on July 8th by Julia and Steve of Wilderness
Adventure Eagle Landing; they inquired about taking their cave leaders on a
trip in, as well as potential cave trips for intermediate cavers. Dan and Marian shared with them their policies
(no one in the cave without Dan and/or Marian) and no one in the lower level
who is not vertically competent. They
expressed an interest in partnering with BRG (e.g. on rescues and training;
especially since we visit some of the same caves) and sending someone each
month to the BRG meeting – Marian gave them info about the BRG meetings and
invited them to come. Marian also
discussed BRG policies about not giving out cave locations, etc. Dan and Marian are taking their cave leaders
on a trip into Murder Hole on October 21st.
·
Welcome
back to Carl Cornett!
·
New
book, Caves and Karst of the Water Sinks
Area, by Phil Lucas, available for purchase (about $90) if you order by
July 25th.
·
NSS
website is great – check it out! www.caves.org
·
Recent
cave rescue in Glade Cave, VA on July 16th; a guy got stuck behind
some rocks for about 5 hours. The cave
is in Rockingham County,
VA, very muddy.
·
Recent
caver obituaries: Patty Daw and Tony McGee.
New WNS Decon protocols –
·
Submersion in Hot Water: Effective at sustained
temperatures ≥50ºC (122ºF) for 20 minutes will kill WNS spores. (update from the NSS/USFW
site 6/25/2012)
·
2012
OTR Info available at desk. The theme
will be the Knights of the Blue Moon with a Monty Python flavor.
·
Perkins
Cave, VA Open House on September 22nd – info available to sign up.