Blue Ridge Grotto of the NSS
MEETING MINUTES
September 20, 2013 - 7:30p – Vinton
Firehouse
Meeting began 7:42p
Attendance:
Marian McConnell – Chair Dan McConnell Al
Stewart Jen Perdue
Mary Sue Socky – Sec. Susan Burr Doug Feller Pat Sims
Dave Socky – Vice Chair Alan Staton *Heather Bostic *Jason Burke
Stephanie Petri – Treas. *Mariah Kelly *
denotes guest.
Trip Reports:
6/23:
BRG trip to McClung’s/Lightner Entrance, WV.
Went to 3rd
Breakdown, found the map was wrong, found virgin cave, 10 ½ hr. trip. Dave Socky was
leader, Nick Socky, Stephanie Petri, Tommy
Polson.
7/3:
Piercy’s Cave, WV. Dave Socky and Phil Murray. It took 10 hours to survey 54’ of passage,
and they did a lot of digging in the Airblower.
Stephanie Petri and Alan Staton at NCRC (New York). Alan Staton was an instructor, and this was
Stephanie’s first NCRC Week-long. It was
one hard week!
7/7:
Clarksville Cave NY. This cave
actually flooded while Stephanie and NCRC folks were training in it.
7/9:
Knox Cave, NY. NCRC. Stephanie was the “patient”.
7/10:
Knox Cave, NY. NCRC
rigging and hauling class.
7/11:
Clarksville Cave, NY. NCRC did
several “mini mocks” in this cave.
7/12:
Knox Cave, NY – this was the site of the “Mock Call-Out”. The “patients” were all rescued.
7/13:
Maxwelton Cave, WV. Yet another
survey trip for Dave Socky, Errol Glidden, Harry & Larry Sowers, Larry Fisher and
Ken Haynes. The 11 hour trip netted 174’
of survey.
7/19:
While hiking in Maine, Dave Socky, Steve Palermo, and Bob Abbitt
did a 30 min. trip into Ice Cave, ME, near Baxter SP.
7
/20: Stephanie Petri, Doug Feller, Susan Burr, Carl Cornett, Ivy Lidstone, David Tudge went to Steele’s
Cave,WV. Ed Saugstad met
them there. Susan got stung by yellow jackets. They needed a hand line to get in. There was lots of biota in Steele’s
: lots of spiders, salamanders,
crayfish. Some sections were full of
bugs/midges/gnats, etc. but, after all, this is a stream cave…the water
was low… Oh yeah, they saw the other entrance, too.
7/21:
Dixie Caverns Cleanup. Stephanie
Petri reported that participants: Mary Sue Socky, Marian McConnell, Heather
Bostic, Stephanie Petri, Susan Burr, Cyndi Hutchison, Bob Gulden and Nicole
Gulden spent 4 hours cleaning some gross stuff off the formations and walls
throughout the cave. More always needs to be done at Dixie. Thanks for your help!
7/31:
Brian Williams, John Tinsley, Rebecca Stewart, Stephanie Petri did a tour of Cave
Spring Cave, Rockbridge Co. VA & Crossroads Cave, Bath Co. VA to
help with John’s USGS job to study speleothems & seismic activity.
8/4:
Dave Socky, Joe Schock and Miranda Schock visited Peiper’s
Cave, PA. (Dave’s first PA Cave)
8/7:
Dave Socky & Charles Kahn did Cave Sim Cave
at NSS Convention in Shippensburg PA.
See video on YouTube.
8/10: Aaron Moses took Stephanie Petri on her first
bust ass cave trip in Memorial Day Cave, WV. Stephanie hated the “Puppet Buster”, a 150’
keyhole from Hell. Further in, they
bolted a high lead, and closed some loops.
It ended up being a vertical, technical 10 hour trip,
and Aaron’s first trip in since he broke his leg (rockclimbing).
8/22: Carl Cornett and Dave Socky checked out 2 new
caves in Botetourt Co. VA. The owner’s son
named them Church Cave and Little Pipe Cave. The caves are not reported or known by the
VSS, need to be surveyed.
(Trip
Reports – cont.)
8/24/2013 Fountain Cave, VA. 6
hour trip. 386.3 feet Surveyed. David
Socky, Mary Sue Socky, Gretchen (Red) Schock, Carol
Tiderman. Started survey of Fountain Cave.
I did sketch, Mary Sue lead tape and back sites, Red front sites, Carol helped
with tape. We surveyed the front part of the entrance room
8/24: Stephanie Petri, Doug Feller, Susan Burr,
Heather Bostic, & Eric Hill had lots of fun in Rehoboth Church Cave, WV. The mud slides were ridiculously
slippery. Heather got a little skinned
up; she will be fine.
8/29:
Dan & Marian McConnell visited Mystic Caverns AR, during their
vacation. Mystic is very pretty.
Brian
Williams went CRF cave diving in Mammoth Cave, KY. Stephanie Petri was a cave sherpa
for the trip, where she met Pat Kambesis and many
other CRF cavers.
8/30:
Stephanie &Brian visited Sand Cave, KY (at 8:30a) to sample a piece
of history from the Floyd Collins tragedy.
8/30:
Gear haul-in Day to Roppel Cave, KY to
set up at the Logsdon River sump dive.
8/31:
Dive Day in Roppel Cave, KY. The sherpas stayed
until the 3rd diver submerged.
The divers had a very successful trip.
They checked Swicegood Ave., Simmons Pit,
etc.; were in the cave (both air and water) for 22 hrs.
8/31:
Bat Night at Mammoth Cave, KY.
Infrared goggles were provided at the Mammoth Cave Historical
Entrance, so the cavers could really get to see the bat colony
emerge from the cave entrance!
9/1:
Divers emerged around 11a, exhausted.
Pat Kambesis, Stephanie Petri & other sherpas went in and totally derigged
the cave. They were finished & OUT
by 4p. Brian, other divers did not have
to go back in to help de-rig.
9/2:
Dan and Marian McConnell visited Onyx Caverns, AR. It is a tired old commercial cave, but it’s
still cool.
9/5: Dave and Mary Sue Socky took a commercial tour
of Wind Cave, SD.
9/8:
Brian Williams and Stephanie Petri led a BRG float trip to the Smith River, VA. Also on the water were Susan Burr, Carl
Cornett, Ivy Lidstone, Doug Feller, Nicole and Dusty Gulden, Jen and Robert
Perdue, Heather Bostic, Eric Hill. They
all had fun on 6 miles of cold river.
8/23:
Not Quite Caving but Crazy Anyway:
Dave Socky, Stephanie Petri and Rick Shortt did the “Triple Crown” Hike. Leaving at 4:30a, they
hiked for 17 hours and summited Dragon’s Tooth, McAfee’s Knob, and Tinker
Cliffs”. Yup, that’s 34.2 miles
of hard hiking, ending in the pouring rain after dark.
Upcoming Trips:
·
9/21: BRG trip to
Maxwelton Cave, WV. (Non-Vertical). Stephanie Petri, Dave Socky are leaders.
·
9/21: Melrose Caverns
project, VA.
·
9/27-29: VAR/YTR held
at Poor Farm Festival Grounds, Williamsburg, WV. Hosted by VPI Cave Club.
·
10/5-6: Grand Project.
Last weekend Fountain Cave will be open until the spring.
·
10/10-13: TAG
·
10/19: BRG trip to
Culverson Creek Cave. Doug Feller will
be leader.
Program: Guest Speaker Alan Staton on “Heart
Attacks and How They Pertain to Caving”. Excellent PowerPoint!
Extra:
Dave Socky’s 3-minute video
of the “Night Blast Celebration at Crazy Horse Monument, SD.”
BUSINESS
MEETING
TREASURER’S
REPORT (submitted by Stephanie Petri):
7/20/2013 Balance Sheet
Petty Cash 110.00
General Fund 3,797.69
Conservation 266.55
Equipment 235.36
Cave Bucks 194.30
TOTAL
BALANCE: $4,603.90
BUSINESS MEETING (cont.)
NEWSLETTER
–Thanks for the articles! We need
covers. Extra hardcopies of the DUMP are
available at meetings.
MEMBERSHIP –
membership lists are available at meetings.
Bring folks interested in caving to the BRG meetings.
ROCKS
– 2 new
caves in Botetourt Co. VA to be surveyed soon (DRSocky). Some leads in Bland Co. VA (SPetri)
SAFETY
& TECHNIQUES – no report.
MEMBERSHIP
PROPOSALS – Heather Bostic, sponsored by
Susan Burr. 2nd
by Stephanie Petri, MSSocky.
Heather’s membership letter was accepted, tabled until October 18
meeting.
OLD BUSINESS:
·
Porter’s Tree: Glen Todd
(RASS) Oct. 26,
2013 to remove the tree over the Porter’s Cave Gate. Meet at cave 10a, be prepared for digging,
cutting, dragging, and caving afterwards.
Contact Susan Burr to volunteer.
·
NSS Fundraising (Final Report )–Steph. Petri has send
off the payment and wording for the BRG brick.
·
BRG Cave Trip Guidelines (final report) –
no further revisions, updated document
will be printed, available for members. (
·
Donation to
Vinton Firehouse (final report). – Steph. Petri will send check to them as soon
as she gets the address. (Note: MSSocky wrote letter, SP wrote check, stuff
was mailed 10/2/2013)
·
BRG BASH Kit –
Alan Staton volunteered to look at it, will recommend on restocking. (Thanks, Alan!)
NEW BUSINESS:
·
Roanoke City
Go-Fest is Oct. 18-20. Does anyone want
to “man” an info booth? Stephanie Petri
will inquire.
·
Want to buy a
Bridge? Natural Bridge, hotel, and cave
are to be auctioned 11/14. (Note: date has been changed to Dec. 18. )
·
Does BRG want to
send out Cave Owner Christmas Cards this year?
If so, designs are needed. BRG
will send out 2013 cards. Bring your
designs, photos to the Oct. meeting.
·
BRG Officer nominations are in October.
ANNOUNCEMENTS,
MAIL BAG, ETC.
·
Former BRG member
& past BRG President Leonard C. McGann died. Al Stewart and Randy Michael, representing
the cavers went to Leonard’s memorial service. Leonard was 61 yrs. Old.
·
3-D Maze Cave is closed.
Owner is in nursing home, kids are afraid of lawsuits. (orig. Nikki Fox)
·
WNS Decon
protocols – HOT water (122 F) for 20 min.
will kill WNS spores.
·
NSS Convention
2014 will be in Huntsville, AL It’s going to be a GOOD ONE!!
·
TAG Fall Cave-In
will be Oct. 10-13 on Lookout Mt. GA.
·
MURDER HOLE book by Marian McConnell is available and is selling
like hotcakes!
o NSS members can get discount if they order MURDER
HOLE through the NSS Office.
Meeting adjourned at 9:18p.
Minutes Submitted by
Mary
Sue Socky
BRG Secretary