BLUE RIDGE GROTTO of the National Speleological Society

BRG Meeting Minutes 1/19/24

Jersey Lily’s; Roanoke, VA

 

Attendance:

Nick Schmalenberger – Chair

David Socky – Vice Chair

Kelly Perkins – Treasurer

Marian McConnell – Secretary

Carl Cornett

Lynn Ott

Barry Ferguson

Helene Ferguson

Susan Burr

Trish Geiger

Margo Soucek*

Jeff Huffman

Bob Alderson

John Pearson

Lisa Graves*

*Guest

 

Trip Reports:

 

·         Dave Socky

o   12/6/2023: Hoover Cave, VA. Participants included David Socky, Rick Lambert, Keith Sweeney, Billy Pickett, and Tom McIntyre. This was our first trip where we dug open Hoover Cave. We moved large rocks by hand, with straps, and with a electric winch. I was the first one in and determined that there was more then enough cave to survey. We ended up surveying 205 feet and left one lead which I didn’t think would do anything. 

o   12/13/2023: Hoover Cave, VA. Participants included David Socky, Rick Royer, and Joe Zokaites. Rick Lambert and Keith Sweeny supported us from the surface. This was supposed to be a short trip to check the remaining lead on Hoover Cave. The short story is that the lead went! Yeah – virgin cave!! See the article on Hoover Cave in this issue of the Dump. We surveyed 516 feet for a 5.5-hour day. 

o   12/16/2023: Participants included David Socky, Joe Zokaites, Rick Lambert, and Keith Sweeney

o   Hoover Cave, VA. Our goal for this trip was to check the pit at HL4, while Rick and Keith did geology and biology. Joe dropped the pit with the 50-foot rope tied off to a large piece of breakdown. Once down, it didn't take him long to determine that it was dead bottom. We did two shots with a depth of 22 feet.

o   Hoover Pit, VA. We drove over to this blow hole and pulled some rocks out with webbing and then used technical digging to open up the top so we could get in. It was vertical. We rigged a rope and Joe went down to discover it was dead bottom. We surveyed it to 55 feet deep. 

o   12/20/2023: Collins Cave, VA. Participants included David Socky, Joe Zokaites, Rick Royer, Bill Koerschner, Rick Lambert, and Keith Sweeney. Another blow hole in the Warm Springs Project area. We were able to move enough rocks out of the way by hand. Rick Royer was first in – it was a 15-foot vertical climb down and had enough passage to survey. Joe and I went in and we surveyed a total of 129 feet in two levels. After finishing this cave, we moved to the south a little and worked on another blowhole. This one took some technical digging. After a few hours of work, Rick Royer was able to get in, but it was still too small to see if it went. Joe and I had to pull Rick out since he had no footholds. We left this dig for another day.

o   01/04: No Thanks Brad Pit, KY. Participants included David Socky and Stephanie Petri. This cave was on Tom Woods property in KY. Steph and Tom were looking for help to survey this cave. I was able to help out since Olive Hill was right on the way back from my visit to Colorado Springs. We surveyed the whole cave except for a lower-level low loop around that goes under the entrance. It will add another 50 or 60 feet to the length of the cave. The survey length for the day was 397 feet.

o   1/10: Glass Menagerie, VA. Participants included David Socky, Rick Royer, and Amos Mincin. Rick Lambert and Keith Sweeny and others doing surface support and surface geology and other entrance work. Rick and I surveyed the whole cave since the notes from the previous survey had been lost. Amos Mincin worked on a dig at mid-level. We will have to return for the dig since straw will be required to continue, but it does show some promise. We finished the survey. It was not as muddy as it had been in the past, probably because of the lid that had been put on the entrance, keeping rainwater out. The drops were tight, but doable. They had been tighter, but the last drop was opened up. Keith Sweeney got stuck trying to go down the last drop and took 40 minutes to do a change over and extract himself. I had no problems going down the widened lower drop. It was a cold and very windy day. We changed clothes in our cars to keep warm. We surveyed 203 feet in six hours of caving. 

o   1/13 McClungs Cave, WV. Participants included David Socky, Nathan Otto, Tatiana Olin, and Kat Taylor. WVACS project weekend. We had 5 teams in the cave. Three in Seven Fingers and Kelly McCarthy and crew in the Crystal Pool lead in the same area where my team surveyed. Kelly's team got over 1000 feet of survey. We did side leads in the IBN survey (main passage parallel to the Wafflefoot). Mostly loops that tied back into the main passage. Some upper level stuff. Our final section was at the far end of Wafflefoot, and upper-level crawl over the main passage which wasn't even shown as a lead on the old map. It did eventually get too tight but is new cave. We surveyed 580 feet on a 12-hour trip.

·         Nick Schmalenberger – 11/25-12/9/23 – Cueva de Águila with Rolland in Mexico

·         Susan Burr

o   12/16/23 - James Cave 12/16 (see article in Carbide Dump)

o   12/31/23 - Lowmoor with Glenn Hugus, Tony Smith; 17 people

·         (date?) Bob Alderson - Cave for Pay, Xilitla in Aguila, Mexico; first cave since his accident.

·         Trish Geiger

o   12/1 Hato Cave in Curacao

o   12/11 Rio Secreto (Secret River) in Playa del Carmen Mexico

·         1/11 – Murder Hole and cave presentation at the Glebe - Marian, Dave, MarySue

 

·         Murder Hole presentations upcoming:

o   1/30 – Blue Ridge Library at 6p

o   2/10 – Eagle Rock Library at 11a

o   2/16 – Fincastle Library at 11a

o   2/24 – Buchanan Library at 11a

 

This Month’s trip – Cancelled for 1/20 due to extreme cold; may be rescheduled for 1/27; possibly to New River Cave, or another cave TBA. Will meet at HROM 8:30a.

 

Next Month’s grotto trip –    TBA

 

BUSINESS MEETING:

 

Treasury Report – Kelly Perkins, Treasurer – Dave Socky gave report since he has not turned over the office to Kelly yet; getting card signed at bank on Monday.

 

Fund Amounts

$      45.96         Cave Bucks

$        2.00         Conservation Fund

$    144.12         Equipment Fund

$ 3,672.52         General Fund

$  3,864.60       Total Funds – Note – this does not include the funds from Carl Cornett’s gear auction, which will put the total >$6000. John King owes $245 and is sending check.

 

Asset Amounts

$     152.00       Petty Cash

$  3,712.60        BRG Checking Account

$  3,864.60       Total Assets

 

Committees:  

●        Newsletter – January issue went out; thanks to all who contributed.

●        Membership – has 41 members & 5 subscribers. Be sure to pay your 2024 dues! (Carl Cornett paid his.)

●        ROCKS – Alleghany County Warm Spring project weekly that Dave Socky is working on. Note: It was asked what “ROCKS” stands for and Dave couldn’t remember. Marian asked if it’s “Really Old Cavers Know Sh*t)

●        Safety & Techniques – Nick said that Mystik said there will be NCRC training in upstate New York this summer, and in Covington, VA the summer of 2025.

 

Membership Proposals:  None

 

Old Business 

●       BRG Christmas cards were mailed out before Christmas.  The cover art was also on the December Carbide Dump.

●       Thanks to MarySue and Dave Socky for hosting the BRG Christmas party! Great turnout.

●       Marian confirmed on January 10th with Jersey Lily’s that BRG is reserved for our monthly meetings through November 2024.

 

New Business:

·         Thanks to all who contacted their legislative representatives to ask them the oppose Virginia Senate Bill 299 which would eliminate the Virginia Cave Board. The status of SB299 is that it was withdrawn 1/16/24; stricken at request of Patron in Agriculture, Conservation, and Natural Resources (14-Y 0-N).

·         Body recovery on 1/12/24 (Autumn Nicole Draper, 38, of Fairlawn, non-caver; no helmet or vertical gear) in Giles County, Sugar Run area in Wilburn Valley. Blacksburg Rescue Squad’s Technical Rescue Cave team responded and assisted. Giles County Sheriff’s office investigating; no details available out of respect for family of deceased.

 

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.

●        Winter closure dates for bat caves in West Virginia is September 1 – May 15.  

●        Winter cave closure dates for bat caves in Virginia is October 15 – April15.

●        VAR website is down; they are aware and working on it.

●        The 2023 Fall VAR was lightly attended (60+ people) but successful; parking and camping were not as much of a problem as expected.

 

2024 CAVER CALENDAR:

●        July 1-5, 2024 – NSS Convention in Sewanee, TN; John Pearson said the Geology and Hydrology field trips are already full; they may need to add more.

●        2024 TAG will be in Union Grove AL on the Lazy G Ranch; date and details TBD.

 

PROGRAM: “Canoeing in the Lower Canyons of the Rio Grande” over Thanksgiving by Kelly Perkins.

 

Cold Beer!