Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 00:30:08 -0400 From: "David A. Riggs" Subject: 2006-09-06 Meeting Minutes Minutes for the August 30, 2006 WVU Student Grotto meeting. There were 25 people in attendance at tonight's meeting. We had several returning beginners from last week and several first-timers show up. Welcome everyone! 1. Kyle will be at the climbing wall of the Rec Center tomorrow, Thr. Sept. 7, from 7:30 - 8:30pm to practice vertical techniques; all are welcome to come try ascending/descending a rope. There was a lot of interest in this, so we're going to try and make this a regular practice session, alternating days of the week to fit peoples' schedules. We need to find out if a WVU-belay-certified person must be present for us to do this. 2. John Tudek (happy birthday!) talked about the beginner-level trip that he is leading this weekend. The trip will only be Saturday, Sept. 9, with no camping. Meet promptly at 8:30am inside the front entrance of the WVU Rec Center. The trip will be to Bowden Cave near Elkins, which is about 2- 2.5 hrs south. Rides and equipment will be provided but you should RSVP with John at [1] if you plan on coming (let him know if you need or can provide a ride or gear). Expect to be home by late evening. Beginners see the gear list [2] and don't forget a complete change of clothes, 8 AA batteries, and garbage bag(s). 3. We heard trip reports from last week's Barton Cave trip. 13 people went and almost(?) everyone had a good time. 4. About 18 people said they were interested in going on Beginners Weekend (Sept. 15 - 17). I will call Seneca Shadows tomorrow to try and reserve cabins for us. Beginners, come to next week's meeting for final plans. 5. T-Shirts are in. Price is $15 ($17 for size XXL) and they are available in any color you like (as long as you like gold). See [3] for photo. Thanks again Nancy! 6. Nobody became a new member today because we didn't have any membership forms! They are available online at [4], and I have updated them for 2006 (they're still ugly). Kyle please print some of these up. Current members, your dues are due, your grotto is short on funds! 7. Bob Kilbert is arranging a rafting trip on the New River with an outfitter (at group rate) on Bridge Day (Oct. 21). Email him [5] if you are interested. Bob is an experienced whitewater paddler. 8. Geary Schindel, former WVUSG president (1981?), will be giving a presentation at next week's meeting, Sept. 13. He'll be talking about cave exploration by WVUSG in Druid Cave, caving in Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and/or Mexico. Geary graduated from WVU then studied karst science at Western Kentucky University - he'll be able to answer lots of questions for those who want to be a caver when they "grow up". 9. We discussed ideas for more special topics this semester, including: - Ray Garton has offered to give a presentation on paleontology, I will contact him to schedule a date. - Kyle wants to do some conservation work, perhaps with the WVCC [6] or a commercial cave. Jeff Bray, do you have suggestions? - Brian and I want to do an introduction to cave surveying and mapping - Dr. Rauch offered earlier (via email) to do a short presentation on geo-speleology. - Everybody seemed interested in doing vertical work. 10. We owe Nancy money for shirts and we're waiting to send money in to the WV Caver. I was not able to attend the WV Caver meeting at OTR, so I'm not sure if George Dasher will be changing pricing because of printing problems. President Kyle McMillan closed the meeting at 8:45 and we proceeded to BW3 for an after-meeting meeting. [1] John Tudek [2] http://caves.org/grotto/wvusg/gearlist/ [3] http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3720/1835/1600/wvusg_shirt.jpg [4] http://caves.org/grotto/wvusg/membership/MembershipForm.html [5] Bob Kilbert [6] http://www.wvcc.net/ - DR -- David A. Riggs