From: "ashohn" Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:19:40 -0000 Subject: [wvusg] Meeting Minutes Meeting Minutes for Feb 25: Meeting was called to order at 8:02 PM Old Business - - Financial Report: $557.42 in the bank *John Harman was payed back for the survey instruments. *The WV Caver bill was payed. *$25 was given to the GVKS rope fund. The money will go to buying bolts, hangers, or various other expenses. - Terra Incognito: The next deadline in NEXT WEDNESDAY, so if Abby Hohn has asked you to write something please turn it in by Wednesday March 4th. *On Mar 25, the Grotto will vote on a few photos, which will go into the newsletter. Abby Hohn will prepare a selection. - It was suggested that from now on, someone should write up a trip report for every trip the Grotto goes on. (A trip scribe will be designated for each trip). - This Saturday (the 28th) a few members of the Grotto (Kyle Mcmillan, Jay Taylor, Abby Hohn, Dan Brooks) are going down to Bowden. We will be leaving Morgantown between 8 and 9 AM. Contact Kyle Mcmillan for more information. - A trip to Greenbrier Co is scheduled for the weekend of Mar 7th. Possible trips included Bone Norman and Friars Hole. - The Shovel Eater trip will be in early April preferably on an off weekend. This is an advanced vertical trip, so anyone who wants to go will need to be able to pass a rebelay. *We might want to consider setting up a rebelay at Army Rock...or...Rick Finley has bolts already set in some boulders in his back yard. Dave Riggs will contact Rich to see if a few Grotto members can come over sometime to practice passing a rebelay. - Gayle Suppa order copies of "On Rope" and "Cave Geology" for the Grotto. They will be brought to each meeting along with "Alpine Caving Techniques" so all members have access to them. Currently Kyle Mcmillan has "On Rope" and "Alpine Caving Techniques" and Abby Hohn has "Cave Geology." New Business - - On Mar 14, the Mon Grotto is going to Sharp's cave and the WVUSG is invited. They will be meeting at the Ski Barn (at Snowshoe, not Canaan) at 10:30 AM. - Dave Riggs brought in the 2009 Karst Field Studies pamphlet. These are field classes in Kentucky, which involve learning about cave geology, speleology, cave archeology, and other subjects. Each class is a week long with multiple trips into uncommonly traveled parts of Mammoth Cave. The info is all on line. - Spring VAR is at Grand Caverns this year of the weekend of Apr 24-26. - ISS/NSS is going to be in Texas in July. It'll be a huge event, possibly the largest caving convention for years and years to come, so it's probably worth the cost and the trip. There will be lots of talks, vendors, and trips. The registration fee is $275 and there will be other expenses like camping fees. Trip Reports - - Dave Riggs spent about a week in Kentucky, going into 3 caves, including Mammoth Cave, where he learned about the damage caused by human presence in the cave, such as passage modification. - Kyle Mcmillan met up with some Nittany cavers and went to Tytoona Cave in Pennsylvania on Saturday. It's a moderately decorated cave with a lot of history, but the water was so high that it prevented them from getting back to the good stuff. - John Harman, Gayle Suppa, Nikki Green, Brian Masney, and Abby Hohn went down to Tucker Co Survey last Saturday. They went to Close Mountain Cave, which was discovered in '78 by a group who simply marked a coordinate. It wasn't returned to, despite some attempts, until just a few years ago, when teams were searching the area for the body of a man, who had committed suicide after being diagnosed with cancer. The body wasn't found, but the cave was. The team surveyed about 600' of passage. Some of the passage was 12' tall and 25' wide and the cave floods all the way up to the ceiling. The meeting was adjourned at 8:51 PM