General Meeting Minutes – March 28, 2017

Introductions

The question posed this month gave us a chance to show off how well-traveled our group is. Among the nearly 20 attendees, we have visited 335 U.S. states, 87 countries, and 48 continents.

Program

After going over the basic mechanics, safety, tools, and ethics of setting bolts in caves, Carlin led us outside the museum for a bolting demonstration. Several people drilled into the concrete blocks that he’d lugged along, while others convinced the local constabulary that we were on the up-and-up.

After the program we spent several minutes being herded and photographed by someone from Walter Magazine for a piece that might come out in May.

Business

  • We have now acquired a campsite for the grotto’s annual trip on August 26. Cave to be determined.
  • If there’s enough interest, we will likely continue the social outings between monthly meetings, with the next one taking place in a couple weeks.
  • Yearly dues are $15 per individual, or $22 per family. Pay one of the officers or pay online using PayPal.
  • April’s meeting program will help you decipher those charts that come with your headlamp instructions.

Trip Reports

  • Mike went to the BCCS pancakes weekend. Inclement weather discouraged surface digging, so they opted to go into Helictite Cave to work on the Supersweet Dig. It’s not really all that sweet any more, but it maintains the speleo-ingenuity that’s characteristic of projects in the area. They moved the equivalent of about 80 five-gallon bucketfuls of spoils. There is still air flow, but no breakthrough.
  • Carlin dealt out some guilt for being the only TriTrog to go to Perkins Cave for the recent survey weekend. No one expressed remorse after hearing about the 800-Foot Crawl he had to navigate just to get to the area they’d be surveying. He claimed that it opened up into walking passage in every direction, with plenty of surveying left to be done.

Upcoming Trips

  • Apr. 1 – SnoCone survey (Dave)
  • Apr. 15 – Grand Caverns Easter Restoration (Ken)
  • Apr. 28-30 – Spring VAR
  • May 6-7 – Scout trip to Rehoboth Church Cave (Emily)
  • May ?? – beginner trip (Mark)
  • June 18-23 – NSS Convention in NM
  • Aug. 26-27 – TriTrogs annual fun trip