BLUE
RIDGE GROTTO of the NSS
Monthly Meeting Minutes – via Zoom
May 21, 2021
Attendance:
Marian McConnell – Chair Lauren Appel – Vice Chair Dave Socky –
Treasurer
Mary Sue Socky – Secretary Meredith Weberg Bob
Gulden & *Orion Gulden
Lynn Ott John
Fox Nick
Schmalenberger
Susan Burr Jeff
Huffman Doug
Feller
Jen Suggs Kevin
Johnson *Carrie
Doupnik
*Carol Tiderman *Larry Manning *Brianna Bennett
*Mark Minton *Vonnie
Droms *Brian
Bailey
(* denotes guest)
Meeting
called to order 7:03p by Chair Marian McConnell.
After
introductions, there was a short run through of recent cave trips:
4/17/2021 – BRG trip to Lowmoor Cave, VA. See article in May 2021 CARBIDE
DUMP.
4/17: McClung Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky, Nikki Fox, and
Jay Hedemann on Team 1 and Nick Socky, Alex Faunce, and Eli Meyer on Team 2.
Team 1 surveyed the missing section of the entrance canyon while waiting for
the other team. Then we all headed to the start of Seven Fingers off Freeman
Ave. Team 1 team started at the junction, while the other team went in to the
first major junction and surveyed toward Team 1. Nick and team surveyed until
about 6pm at which time they had to leave. Nikki and Dave continued surveying
for another couple of hours. Good trip. Surveyed 1042 feet in 11.5 hours.
4/18: Lowmoor Cave, VA
Survey Trip. Participants included
David Socky, Mark Minton, Yvonne Droms, and Bob Alderson. We surveyed cave
passage at the top of two high leads in the mine. These were high leads that
Mark, Vonnie, and Bob had bolted up to a couple of years ago, but never
surveyed. We did some lead checking too, but nothing really went without digging.
It was a fun day in which we surveyed 600 feet on a 7-hour trip.
4/24: Dry Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky, Nikki Fox, and
Carl Amundson on Team 1; Nick Socky and Eric Pelkey on Team 2; Greg Springer,
Chris Coates, and Ethan Bohyer on Team 3. Surveyed a total of 2300 feet between
the three teams. The water was lower this time and the survey in the upper
levels at the First Bypass was a lot warmer. Carl Amundson, Nikki Fox, and Dave
surveyed 776 feet of complex first level rooms and passages. We must have done
about a dozen loops. And what we did was just the tip of the iceberg. It was a
good 11-hour trip. Dry Cave is now 8.34 miles.
4/25: McClung Cave, WV. Participant: David Socky. Solo trip to correct an
error in the PSS survey. PSS4 to 5 had a foresight & backsight error of
14.5 degrees. Found out it was the backsight that was incorrect. I was in the
cave for 40 minutes. The survey was at the start of the first canyon section of
the entrance canyon. Surveyed 44 feet on a 40-minute solo trip!
4/28: Kelly Knob Caves
63 & 67, VA. Participants
included David Socky, Bob Alderson, Bill Koerschner, and Mary Lee Hendricks.
Hiked up the AT from a dirt road past Clover Hollow Cave. Went north on the AT
for 2 miles to Kelly Knob. At the Kelly Knob overlook are a lot of big rocks
and in the big rocks are several talus caves. We surveyed the two largest
caves. The first one was long enough that we were totally out of the twilight
zone. We spent all afternoon looking for caves and surveying the two largest.
Between the two caves, we surveyed 315 feet.
5/1: Maxwelton Cave,
WV. Participants included David
Socky, Nick Socky, Kelly McCarthy, and Nikki Fox. Sweetwater camp trip! We
surveyed loops and upper levels in downstream Sweetwater in the Electric Slide
area. After exclusions, we got 1009 feet of new survey. Saturday was a long
11-hour day. Travel time to and back to the Electric Slide was long - close to
three hours. We were almost to the camp near the downstream sump. We were in
the cave for a total of 45.5 hours.
5/8: McClungs Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky, Nick Socky, David
Smallwood, and Marty Abercrombie. We surveyed the big side passage to the west
past the 30-foot drop after the Dad Crawls (near Crystal Canyon). Big borehole
passage. We got enough new footage to push Great Savannah Cave System to over
47 miles. We surveyed a total of 1531 feet for a good 11-hour trip.
5/12: McClung Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky, Bob Alderson, and
Bill Koerschner. We surveyed the north extension of Outer Mongolia. It started
out big, but soon got to a series of tight crawls and small rooms you could
stand up in. We finally got to a crawl Dave couldn't
fit in. It was about 9 inches. It was decided it would take too long to dig
out, so Bob and Bill went ahead and surveyed while Dave waited. They took a loooong time and for only 9 stations. We surveyed a total
of 594 feet for a long 12-hour day.
5/19: Mark Hodge Dig,
VA. Participants included David
Socky, Mark Hodge, Amos Mincin, Keith Sweeny, Rick Lambert, Mark Minton, and Yvonne
Droms. This was a dig on the Carmichael property, only a mile or so from Mark
Hodge’s house. There had been two other digs and this one we used about 15 or
16 straws and opened things up where we were at the top of a narrow deep
canyon. Rocks rolled down for a long way. The canyon is too narrow to fit in but
shouldn't take much to get through. One more dig
session according to Rick Lambert. It was a fun and productive 8-hour day.
UPCOMING TRIPS
Tomorrow Sat. 5/22/2021: McClung
Cave, WV. This is NOT a beginner
trip. Email Susan Burr pondlady97@gmail.com to sign up.
May 2021 Grotto trip – to
be announced. A lot depends on the
weather.
BUSINESS
MEETING
5/21/2021 BRG Treasury
Report, – Dave Socky, Treasurer
Cave Bucks $
196.00
Conservation $
0.00
Equipment $
133.87
General $3,453.31
Total $3,783.18
*Cave Bucks: All Cave Bucks donations are voluntary; funds go to cave conservation programs.
Committees:
NEWSLETTER (Dave & MarySue Socky)
got out the May 2021 Carbide Dump. Thanks for your support; please send
in articles, photos, and reports! FYI,
there will be NO August newsletter.
MEMBERSHIP
–BRG currently has 55 members and 5 subscribers (total of 60) for 2021. Best of all, new folks are interested in
caving!
ROCKS – (D.
Socky) nothing.
SAFETY & TECHNIQUES – (D. McConnell) Nothing. Dan will be getting a hip replacement in July
2021.
MEMBERSHIP PROPOSALS – None.
OLD BUSINESS –
·
Grotto
meetings – would you be willing to attend an “In Person” BRG meeting? People seem to be looking forward to
meetings. So much that it was decided to
make our next BRG meeting 6/18/2021 a “real” meeting.
o
Marian
or Mary Sue will contact Jersey Lily’s-Salem to see if we can have our old room
back.
o
Will
BRG be continuing the Zoom meeting format at the ‘sit down’ meeting?
§ Dave was unsure of the meeting room Wi-Fi capabilities,
but he will try to hold a Zoom meeting concurrent with the regular monthly BRG meeting.
o
If
you can find a different place for the BRG meetings, let Marian McConnell know.
§ Proposed Grotto Get-Together at the Rowland
family’s Mill Fall Farms, near Bedford Lake, VA.
Dave
Socky sent a survey to BRG members to see what dates were preferred.
Respondents
overwhelmingly chose Saturday, August 7, 2021
with a rain date of Aug. 8.
§ Meredith Weberg was very pleased with the seven Zoom talks on caves and bats for the International
Year of Caves & Karst (IYCK), held on May 8, 2021. Meredith Weberg, Janet
Tinkham, Carol Tiderman, Vonnie Droms and Mark Minton were some of the speakers. . The talks will be posted to https://vacaveweek.com/iyck/
§
NEW BUSINESS –
§ BRG has received membership
renewal notices from WV Cave Conservancy (WVCC) and the American Cave
Conservation Association (ACCA).
o
After some discussion, Dave Socky moved and
Meredith Weberg seconded that BRG renew both memberships with the same rates as
the previous year. WVCC, as
institutional member for $50.00, and basic membership $25.00 in ACCA . MOTION
PASSES.
§ Calendar conflict: Sept. 17, 2021 is
the date for the monthly BRG meeting and the start of Fall VAR.
o
The membership decided NO September meeting; see you at Fall VAR!
§ Meredith Weberg
brough up the useful Caver
Alert Information Sheet, adopted by
NCRC and it also has a link through the NSS website. Be prepared! Please use this for your cave trips. https://ncrc-er.caves.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Caver_Information_Sheet.pdf (see attachment)
Announcements:
§ NSS BOG
Voting deadline is May 25. Vote! The NSS needs good leadership.
§ The NSS is planning an on-line
auction during Convention. Details will be announced soon.
§ OTR 2021 – WILL HAPPEN!!!!!
§ Pandemic
Caving –Let’s be healthy going underground . Rules have been posted in the Carbide
Dump.
§ Switching from
winter to summer cave closures for bats (maternity colonies). Other caves may be open for summer
visitation. please respect all cave
closures.
VA - Summer closure dates - Apr.15 -
Oct.15 WV - Summer closure dates:– May 15 - Sept.1
2021 CAVER
CALENDAR:
·
May 28 -30, 2021 - Salem Rock and Mineral Show @ Salem Civic Center Tickets $7 adult.
·
May 28-30, 2021 –
Speleofest, in KY, hosted by Louisville Grotto. Speleofest.com
·
June 6-12: VA
Cave and Karst Week. Stay tuned for
info on outdoor talks!
·
Next BRG meeting
is June 18, 2021 In Person! 6:30p.
We will try for Jersey Lily’s- Salem.
·
July 16, 2021 BRG meeting, 6:30p. We will try for Jersey Lily’s- Salem.
·
July
25 – July 30 2021 NSS Convention will now be
virtual only.
·
Aug 7 – Grotto
Get-Together at the Rowland’s property near Big Island, VA (Bedford Co.)
·
Aug 13-15, 2021 Karst O Rama @ Great Saltpetre Cave
Preserve, Mt. Vernon KY
·
Aug 20 – BRG meeting, 6:30p, Jersey Lily’s-Salem.
·
Sept 17 – NO BRG meeting!
Go to Fall VAR!!
·
Sept 17-19, 2021 Fall VAR @ RASS Fieldstation
in Bath Co., VA
·
Oct 1-3: NCRC
Orientation to Cave Rescue (OCR), Martinsburg, WV.
·
Meeting adjourned 7:36p. Followed by the program, “Team Mex 1982 – A Caving Adventure in Mexico”. Narration
by Dave Socky and Doug Feller, photos by Dave Socky.
Cold Beer!
Minutes
Submitted by
Mary Sue Socky, Secretary,
Blue Ridge Grotto of the NSS