In attendance: Ken W., Zeke V.F., Martin G., Joanna Y., Emily G., Tine R., Howard H., Mike B., Monica S., April N., Jessica K., Kelly W., Skylar H., Steve T., Taylor T., Zane S., Pete H., Carlin K., Axel R., Diana G., Andre C., Lisa L., Lee O., and Elise S.
Zeke asked everyone to introduce themselves and mention a book, movie, etc. that first piqued an interest in caving or some totally outrageous source that you knew broke the Laws of Caving. Several mentioned Journey to the Center of the Earth (book and movie), but Emily recounted an auditorium of cavers laughing at the whole film. The 2021 movie Finding ‘Ohana features bats flying from a Hawaiian cave, and The Descent features monsters (maybe related to those in Ted the Caver). The nonfiction book The Life of the Cave by Mohr and Poulson was inspirational, and Pete was pulled in by a book about Schoolhouse Cave. Star Trek caves looked fake to several members until they recognized that some caves actually do have those flat floors. Carlin mentioned a PBS special that featured a cave connection trip as inspirational. Skylar shared a link to Jim Eyre’s book It’s Only a Game, and Zane mentioned Luminous Dead. Others took the opportunity to talk about other events that got them into cave exploration.
The introductions revealed several career-oriented cave explorers (archaeology, paleontology, and cave biology). We hope that we get to share time soon with y’all underground, and don’t be surprised if Taylor T. contacts you about sharing some of your work as a future meeting program.
Dues are $15 for one person or $22 for a family unit.
In the Business section of the meeting, Zeke highlighted two items from the April Officers Meeting:
- Members should look for a survey with questions about how we might start meeting in person again soon (no word yet from the Museum on their policies)
- Officers are considering again the anti-harassment policy that the NSS has in place and whether we should be making any modifications. The officers are also considering how to make it abundantly clear to all members.
No one shared any recent trip reports.
In terms of upcoming trips, Emily described her planned trip to Crossroads Cave while Pete Zeke highlighted the smells and temperatures from their February 2020 trip.
Kelly and Andre are planning a trip to the TAG caving area this coming weekend.
Skylar is planning to head to the Bat Ranch this weekend and offered up Links Cave as a possible trip.
The officers are not planning a big Annual Grotto Trip this summer. Look for a possible announcement about it being held in the Fall. A suggestion was presented that it might be joined with the Fall VAR event if that happens.
Mike Broome will be planning the next month’s program from his basement, perhaps with matching Sockys.
As the April program, Ken Walsh shared zoomed-in views of five world class cave maps (of course not by him) and mentioned some of the cartographic features that he was really impressed by.
Elise mentioned some of the web site management that she is doing right now and her desire to get more people involved in developing content and helping to make navigation easier.
Zeke concluded the meeting by thanking all the new people who had joined us this month and to those who are re-discovering caving after some time in the sunlight.