BLUE
RIDGE GROTTO of the NSS
Monthly Meeting Minutes – Jersey Lily’s Salem, VA
August 20, 2021
Attendance:
Marian McConnell – Chair Lauren Appel – Vice Chair Mary
Sue Socky – Secretary
Lynn Ott Karen Kastning Nick
Schmalenberger
Susan Burr Doug
Feller Jeff
Huffman
Trish Geiger Tom
Beaman *Mary Lou
Holland
*Briana Bennett *Kelly
Perkins *Ian
Pelletier
*Alex Belcher *Erin Bejjani *Larry
Manning
Jacob Whitlock (*
denotes guest)
Meeting
called to order 6:42p by Chair Marian McConnell.
Trip reports:
2021: Jacob Whitlock,
at James Madison University, has been caving with the MUSG student grotto,
visiting Hamilton Cave, WV, Key Cave, WV, and Paxton Cave, VA.
June 2021: Briana
Bennett and friend Jeff (NLN) visited Greenbrier Poor Farm Cave, WV. Nicely decorated cave.
7/17 and 7/24: Nick
Schmalenberger, Martin DiLeggi, Rolland Moore have been working on a dig
near Arcadia, VA. After removing rocks and debris, they have gotten to a
series of stairstep pits 40’ down, &
40’ horizontal. It’s going!
7/17: Trish Geiger, Kevin and Carrie Johnson, Cyndi
Hutchison, and Mary Sue Socky visited Island Ford Cave, VA for a slow
paced, easy two-hour cave trip. Everyone
had fun. Salamander trails were seen in
several pools, but no salamanders (or bats) were seen.
7/23: Larry Manning
and Glen Hugus were checking out caves, including Crossroads Cave, VA to
be used for the NCRC National Weeklong class, which will be held the week of
July 16, 2022.
7/24: Susan Burr, Doug Feller, etc. visited Patton Cave,
WV – and finally found the Football Room!
Water levels were non-existent.
There were dry pools of dead fish and tadpoles in the stream. They rescued a fish (Saving Nemo).
8/7: BRG Summer Fun Day at Bedford Lake, VA. Dan & Marian McConnell, Susan & Todd
Burr, Doug Feller, Trish Geiger, Lynn Ott, Mary Sue Socky visited Michael &
Rene` Rowland’s beautiful place in Big Island, VA. They have acres of trees, water lily ponds, a
‘swimming pond’ and a waterfall at one end of Bedford Lake. Thanks for inviting us! BRG gave them a nice, big bat house which
hopefully they will put on a tall pole and let the bats do their thing – it’s
perfect bat habitat at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains!
8/8: Nick Schmalenberger, Jason Delafield and Paul Walko
visited Pig Hole, VA. They did
several leads past the Eliminator; encountered some tiny canyons, too.
8/14: Nick Schmalenberger, Jason
Delafield, Paul Walko, Matt Vest, Alex Faunce & Eli
Meyer visited Banes
Cave, VA during VPI Summer Picnic.
Paul had a camera device called the Caveatron,
which did some interesting 3-D mapping……See <http://caveatron.com/>
for more info.
8/15: Briana
Bennett, Alex, Belcher, Ian Pelletier, and Mystic Miller visited Norman
Cave, WV. They found low stream
levels. Norman Cave is now managed by
the WVCC.
8/17: Trish Geiger
and others went on a ranger-led New River Trail State Park trip to Bertha
Cave, VA. This short but nice cave
is now gated.
8/20: Nick Schmalenberger and Martin DiLeggi worked on a
dry stream dig – they dug and pulled rocks until it rained, and the
stream started flowing again.
UPCOMING TRIPS
Tomorrow Sat.
8/21/2021: BRG trip to Piercy’s Cave, WV and Piercy’s
Mill Cave, WV. WET
Beginner Trip. Contact Susan Burr pondlady97@gmail.com to sign up.
Bring a complete change of clothes for the ride home!
Next Month’s Trip – TBA.
BUSINESS MEETING
8/20/2021 BRG Treasury
Report – Dave Socky, Treasurer
Dave Socky is currently
vacationing out west, climbing mountains and living it up by visiting hot
springs and extravagant spending at Motel 6.
Below is last months’ (July 2021) report.
Cave Bucks $
196.00
Conservation $
0.00
Equipment $
133.87
General $ 3,323.63
Total $3,653.50
*Cave Bucks: All Cave Bucks
donations are voluntary; funds go to cave conservation programs.
Larry Manning donated
$5.00 to cave bucks at the August
meeting.
Committees:
·
CARBIDE DUMP
– won an Honorable Mention in the NSS Cover Arts Salon! (Jan 2020 V55#1). There will be a Sept. DUMP.
·
Membership – We have lost a caving
friend and BRG member. John Fox, NSS
17432FE passed away Aug. 12, 2021.
R.I.P. There are currently 54
members and 5 subscribers.
·
ROCKS –no report. See Treasurer’s report.
·
Safety & Techniques – S&T Chair Dan McConnell is doing well,
recovering from a hip replacement. He is
entertaining thoughts of getting underground or doing something at River Rock
in 2022.
Membership Proposals: none currently.
Old Business
·
NOTE: after 7/16 meeting, Fall
VAR was cancelled, and a NEW Fall VAR/MAR is scheduled for OCT 15-16-17, 2021,
at Grand Caverns, VA. New site, new
dates. See new business and announcements.
·
Porter’s Project (Susan Burr): Project is currently on hold.
·
Al Stewart wants his caving books auctioned
off to the BRG community; all proceeds go to BRG. See list (attached).
·
Grotto Gear - Chinstraps: After researching, Mary Sue Socky ordered 4
replacement chin straps from Karst Sports.
They ‘bolt on” to the helmet suspension (be sure to tighten the nuts
before each caving trip). They are more
comfortable & feel sturdier than the old chin straps. Susan Burr replaced a
broken head light with one of Joseph Caldwell’s donated lights.
New
Business
·
BRG member John Fox, NSS # 17432 RE,FE died Aug 12,
2021. Karen Kastning wrote a nice
obituary for him. John was an amazing, multi-talented and well-liked
person. Please see attachment.
·
VAR has been moved, both date and site. NEW VAR/MAR
has been moved to Grand Caverns, VA Oct. 15-17, 2021.
o After discussion on
changing reservations and moving grotto officer nominations, Susan Burr
motioned that we switch Sept. and Oct. BRG meetings; the
next BRG meeting will be on Sept. 17, 2021, at Jersey Lily’s Salem. Grotto nominations will take place at the
Sept. meeting. (All current officers can
serve one more year.)
o Marian McConnell
seconded motion. Vote: 9 members votes YES. Motion passes.
·
Note: after meeting, the BRG Secretary changed the
monthly reservation at JL’s. BRG is now booked for Friday, 9/17.
·
There will be NO October BRG meeting. Go To VAR/MAR! Do a day trip; it’s only 2
hours from Roanoke!
Announcements
·
Virginia
Cave Board Meeting at 11:00 a.m. at
the Williamson Road Branch Library, 3837 Williamson Road, NW, Roanoke,
Virginia, 24012 on Saturday, August 28, 2021. The
public is welcome.
·
NEW – In-person Sewanee Mt. CaveFest
2021 (TN) has been cancelled due to Covid19 concerns.
·
Mark Hodge
has resigned as VAR Chair. Vice Chair
Kim Fleischman will be acting VAR Chair until elections are held.
·
NEW!! Oct 15-17 –FALL
VAR/MAR, Grand Caverns, VA. Visit
the event website for information & a link to the registration form at http://var.caves.org/index.php/events/fall-var
·
NCRC Orientation to Cave Rescue (OCR) will be held at the Blacksburg Rescue Squad in Blacksburg, VA Oct. 22-24, 2021.
<https://ncrc-er.caves.org/events> The cost
is only $60. The only pre-requisites are the
proper equipment as listed here:
<https://ncrc-er.caves.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/erNCRC_BlacksburgVA2021_OCR_Info.pdf> There is
of course a significant chance the course may be postponed depending on what
happens with the Delta variant. However, as of now we anticipate the
class is a go. Thanks, Wil Orndorff.
·
The
Martinsburg, WV OCR October 1-3 is full and there is now a waiting list, so if
Blacksburg VA is within your driving range, please consider signing up or
switching from one class to the other.
·
Pandemic Caving – let’s be healthy going
underground. Rules have been posted in
the DUMP.
· Winter closure for bat caves in WV begins Sept. 1, 2021. Please respect all cave closures.
·
(Winter cave
closure for bat caves in VA begins Oct. 15.)
2021 CAVER
CALENDAR:
Aug
28 – Virginia
Cave Board meeting, Williamson Road Library, Roanoke, VA.
Sept
2-6 –
OTR, Dailey, WV.
Sept 17 - NEW! BRG meeting, 6:30p, Jersey Lily’s-Salem. Nominations.
Oct 1-3- NCRC
Orientation to Cave Rescue (OCR), Martinsburg, WV.
Oct 7-10- TAG Fall
Cave-In. Hosted by Dogwood City
Grotto.
Oct
15
– NO BRG
MEETING…
Oct 15-17 – NEW!! FALL VAR/MAR, at Grand Caverns, VA. Hosted by 7 Valleys Grotto and
Charlottesville Grotto.
o Pre-registration is now open! (See attachment)
Oct. 22-24 - NCRC
Orientation to Cave Rescue (OCR), Blacksburg, VA.
Nov 13 – WVCC Banquet,
Lewisburg, WV.
Nov
19
- BRG meeting, 6:30p, Jersey Lily’s-Salem.
Elections.
Jul 16- 21, 2022 – NEW! NCRC National Weeklong, which will be
held in Covington, VA.
Meeting adjourned 8:03p.
Program: Lauren Appel tried but could not get the
computer/TV interface working, so there was a Cave Pack demonstration/show and
tell, instead. Comments: “pack and contents were too clean” and “where
are your candle & waterproof matches?”.
Cold Beer!
Minutes
Submitted by
Mary Sue Socky, Secretary