General Meeting Minutes – February 28, 2017

Introductions

We introduced ourselves with examples of programs we’d like to see at future meetings. In attendance were Mark, Mike, Carlin, Peter, Robert, Yue, Katie, Emily, Grant, Jenny, Ken, Eric, Jim, and Esther. Program ideas included bolting, surveying, Martian caves, cave art, cave ecology, geography, safety, microblasting, microbrews, gear comparisons, and gear cleaning.

Business

  • The meeting minutes from the previous week’s officers’ meeting have been posted on the website.
  • Annual dues can be paid to a grotto officer or online via PayPal. $15 for an individual, or $22 for a family.

Trip Reports

  • Mike and Lisa went to a BCCS weekend in February and caved at Bobcat Cave. It turned out to be a great introduction to what sounds like a really nasty, unwelcoming cave. They went in with a scientist who was collecting… science stuff… so they got to move slowly and didn’t ever get really far. They did get completely slimed. And they found ten bats, nine of which had signs of WNS. The collected science stuff included a beetle and isopods.
  • Eric, Dave, and Emily formed one of two survey teams that ventured into SnoCone Cave one weekend. Eric described it as “trauma, trauma, and trauma; and then a really tiny hole.” To be fair, it was his first etrier, first survey, and first dig. That dig still blows. Meanwhile…
  • All ready to mop up this survey, Carlin’s team started with the rigging that he had left behind a year ago. They found what might be a bobcat footprint and about 20 baby salamanders, did some mildly scary vertical stuff, and went to check that one last wet lead. And it goes. From belly crawl to hands and knees to canyon passage. Then it keeps going, gets decorated, and keeps going. But the really fun part was not telling the discouraged dig team about it until dinner.
  • Mark led Yue, Eric, and two others on a beginner trip to Paxton’s Cave. They did a lot of crawling. And more crawling. But Mark got them to the Throne Room with relative ease and it did not disappoint. They meditated in the dark, held their lights up to the flowstone to make the formations glow, and were traumatized to varying degrees when they stumbled upon evidence of a reenactment of Toy Story.
  • Peter, Ken, Eric, and Emily joined up with three members of Walker Mountain Grotto for the Spring trip to Hancock Cave. They spent six hours doing a good bit of sporting caving. Ken posted a trip report.
  • Carlin, Dave, and Tanya surveyed in Stone’s #1 and left some unpleasant stuff for Ken to get back to. They also located Stone’s #2 which might make a good first cartography project for someone.

Upcoming Trips and Events

  • Mar 18: horizontal sport trip (Martin)
  • Mar 18: BCCS pancake digging weekend (Mike and Lisa)
  • Mar 18: ACC Perkins Cave surveying and sport trips (Carlin)
  • Apr 1: SnoCone survey (Carlin)
  • Apr 15: Grand Caverns Easter cleanup (Ken)
  • Apr 28-30: Spring VAR – lots of horizontal caves near campground
  • May 7: Girl Scout trip to Rehoboth Church Cave (Emily)
  • Jun 18-23: NSS Convention in New Mexico
  • Aug 26-27: TriTrogs annual fun trip

TriTrog of the Year Award Presentation

Congratulations, Mike Broome!

Program

Ken tested our knowledge of cave map symbols with a team competition. The survivors got to fight over the best chocolate bars.