March 2020, V55, #3 The Carbide Dump

March 2020 March Vol 55, No 3 No 55, Vol

18 The Carbide Dump March 2020, V55, #3

The Carbide Dump is published monthly by the Blue Ridge Grotto of the National Speleological Society in Roanoke, . Distribution date is approximately the second week of each month. An issue may be skipped if insufficient material is received. Contributions of articles and artwork are invited and will be gratefully acknowledged. Art work originals will be returned. Contributions should be sent to the editor. Regular and associate grotto membership ($10) includes a Carbide Dump subscription. Subscriber rate is $10.00. Exchanges with other grotto and organizations are invited. Direct exchange mail to Mary Sue Socky. EXCHANGE MAIL EDITORS TRIP COORDINATOR Mary Sue Socky David & Mary Sue Socky Susan Burr 6572 Woodbrook Dr 6572 Woodbrook Dr 4544 Cordell Dr SW Roanoke, VA 24018-5402 Roanoke, VA 24018-5402 Roanoke, VA 24018 H: (540) 989-7693 H: (540) 989-7693 H:540-989-5809 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] or [email protected] email: [email protected] The Blue Ridge Grotto holds its monthly meetings every third Friday of the month at 6:30p at Jersey Lily’s Roadhouse, 1650 Braeburn Dr. Salem, VA 24153. See the Grotto meeting announcement in this issue. GROTTO OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES

Chairman Vice-Chair Secretary Treasurer Safety & Techniques Susan Burr David Socky Marian McConnell Trish Geiger Dan McConnell H: 540-989-5809 H: 540-989-7693 C: 540-309-4707 C: 540-761-9998 C: 540-597-7909 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Opinions expressed in The Carbide Dump are those of the editors, unless otherwise acknowledged. No part of this publication may be reproduced, except by the National Speleological Society and its various internal organizations, without the written consent of the Blue Ridge Grotto. You can access the Carbide Dump electronically at: https://blueridgegrotto.org/carbidedump.htm Copyright 2020 by the Blue Ridge Grotto

Contributors: David & Mary Sue Socky, Marian McConnell, Susan Burr, Trish Geiger, Meredith Hall Weberg, Nick Socky, Bob Gulden, David Smallwood, Nikki Fox, Greg Springer, Brian Sakofsky, Amber Lehmann, and Jerry Fuller. Cover: Alex Faunce in Big Muddy passage in McClungs , WV. Photo by Nick Socky

March 20: BRG meeting, 6:30p, Jersey May 16: Cricket Maze Cave, Berkeley June 19: BRG meeting, 6:30p, Jersey Lily’s Roadhouse, 1650 Braeburn Dr. Co. WV Open House; noon-6pm. Pub- Lily’s Roadhouse, 1650 Braeburn Dr. Salem, VA 24153. lic welcome. Contact Meredith Weberg Salem, VA 24153. March NCRC- classes in Blacksburg, [email protected] for info. June 19-21: -o-Rama, Great Salt- VA, CANCELLED UNTIL FUR- May 18-22: UNESCO Karst 2020, petre Preserve, Mt. Vernon, KY; details THER NOTICE https://caves.org/ Western Kentucky University, Bowl- at http://karstorama.com/ commission/ncrc/ncrc-er/index.html ing Green, KY. July 11-12: WVACS Classic at the April 17: BRG meeting, 6:30p, Jersey May 15-17: SERA Summer Cave WVACS field station in Renick, WV Lily’s Roadhouse, 1650 Braeburn Dr. Carnival, Camp Tubb, Rock Island, July 20-25: WVACS pre-Convention Salem, VA 24153. TN. See http://bit.ly/SERA2020 Camp 2020 at the WVACS field station April 17-19: 2020 May 18-22: UNESCO Karst 2020, in Renick, WV. Spring Cleaning, Grottoes, VA. Free Western Kentucky University, Bowl- July 27-31, 2020: NSS Convention, Camping. See flyer p.27. ing Green, KY. See https:// Elkins, . See the website: unescokarst2020.com/ for more info. April 26: Catawba Murder Hole Cave, https://caves.regfox.com/nss- VA. Rappelling Day in the Daylight convention-2020 Cave (entrance pit) from 9a-5p. Bring June 28- July 2, 2021: NSS Conven- vertical gear if you have it; if not, Dano May 22-25: Speleofest, Lone Star tion, in Weed, CA. See the website: and Marian will have some available. Preserve, Bonnieville, KY; details at http://louisville.caves.org/ http://nss2021.caves.org/ May 1-3: Spring MAR/VAR at Grand speleoregistration.shtml Caverns, Grottoes, VA. Hosted by 7 Valleys Grotto & Charlottesville Grotto. June 12-20: NCRC Rescue Operations & Management Seminar (weeklong), May 9: VA Cave Board Meeting, @ Camp Pinnacle, Voorheesville, NY. Natural Bridge State Park, VA. Register at this website: https:// May 15: BRG meeting, 6:30p, Jersey ncrc.regfox.com/ncrc-2020-national- Lily’s Roadhouse, 1650 Braeburn Dr. seminar Salem, VA 24153.

March 2020, V55, #3 The Carbide Dump 19

12 members and guests at the February BRG has 51 members and 5 subscrib- 21, 2020 BRG meeting. We enjoyed ers for 2020. watching an excellent video of the his- The March 20, 2020 meeting of the Know of a potential caver? Bring them toric sump dive connecting Maxwelton Blue Ridge Grotto will be held at: to a BRG meeting, sponsor them on a and McClung’s Caves, WV on Jersey Lily's Roadhouse 1650 Brae- BRG activity, do lots of fun things 8/31/2019. The resulting new cave sys- burn Dr, Salem, VA 24153. Dinner with the best cavers around ~ or appetizers with socializing starts at tem, named the Great Savannah Cave 6:30pm with the meeting starting System, is over 42 miles long! Cave Softly and Safely soon after. MEMBERSHIP PROPOSALS – The program will be a Jason Delafield, NSS # 67806, spon- Member Updates slide program of recent caving trips sored by David Socky, was voted in as by members of BRG, compiled by BRG’s newest member. Congratula- Jason Delafield NSS #67806 Dave Socky. tions, Jason! 1857 Elbert Rd. SW Brandon Phibbs, NSS # 69665 sub- Roanoke, VA 24018 540-819-0475 (cell) mitted his BRG membership letter, indicating his interest in joining, com- [email protected] mitment to cave safety & conservation, and desire to hang out with BRG cav- New Email Addresses ers. Susan Burr is Brandon’s sponsor; Cheryl Feller - [email protected] Date & Time: Saturday, March 21, Mary Sue Socky seconded the motion. Doug Feller - [email protected] 2020. Meet at the Hanging Rock Or- Brandon’s membership will be tabled ange Market at 8:30 am. until the March 20, 2020 meeting. Leader: Mystik Miller Coordination: NCRC Contacts needed Susan Burr 540-989-5809 [email protected] BRG Meeting Minutes – can be read 2020 BRG Rescue Roster - Randy Mi- Requirements: Horizontal trip. Basic on the BRG webpage at: chael wishes to step down as Rescue caving gear. Beginner cave trip. https://blueridgegrotto.org under the Contact. He has given BRG a year to ‘BRG Organization’ button. find his replacement. Limits: 15 cavers NSS Membership: The BRG Rescue List is still needed. Would you like to join Ideally, BRG should have five contact This is a small horizontal easy cave or renew with the NSS? See this link for details. people on the list. (we currently have near the . It is a dry four people.) cave, but has a lot of crawling. Esti- mated time in-cave approximately Treasure's Report A BRG rescue contact person: three hours. 2/21/2020 • Needs to know the BRG cavers and can make decisions on who to Cave Bucks $ 31.64 “call”. Can quickly and discretely Conservation $ 91.01 contact those cavers who can re- Equipment $ 133.87 spond to a rescue. Obituaries General $3,192.88 • Does not necessarily need to be a Total $3,449.40 responder; a less active caver can Irma Gulden passed away in February help the grotto by coordinating from 2020. Irma was Bob Gulden’s mother a phone. and Dusty’s grandmother. Blue Ridge • Knows how to work with BCRG, Grotto sends the Gulden family their NCRC, and local rescue agencies. thoughts and sympathy. Long Cave Lists • Knows how to work with media maintained by Bob Gulden USA Long & Deep, World Long & inquiries. Bill Keith, NSS # , died 2/21/2020. Bill was a former BRG member, a long Deep, & World Big Rooms www.caverbob.com/usalong.htm If you are interested, please let Marian - time caver, a founder of Triangle Res- McConnell or Mary Sue Socky know. cue; Bill had served on the Virginia www.caverbob.com/usadeep.htm Cave Board and the Cave Conservancy www.caverbob.com/rooms.htm of the . BRG sends the Keith www.caverbob.com/wlong.htm family their thoughts and sympathy. www.caverbob.com/wdeep.htm

20 The Carbide Dump March 2020, V55, #3

Info on Cyclops Cave Preserve BRG members had several good ques- caves are open to sport caving, alt- LOT to discourage unauthorized re- tions about the “Save Cyclops Cave” hough some are closed at certain turn visits.) SCCI fundraiser. Mary Sue Socky wrote times of the year for varying rea-  With all SCCI cave preserves, we Amber Lehman of SCCI: sons.) have a limited number of permits “BRG is very interested in your email • All SCCi preserves require a permit, issued per day, which is deter- request to help Save Cyclops Cave. as will Cyclops. We have an online mined by the board and plugged From reading your site, the Cyclops permitting system that is super easy - into our online permitting system. Cave preserve will be 66 acres. It con- and all permits are free. We do not  We are going to work with VA tains a lot of cave adapted creatures, is "vet" who accesses our caves - you cavers managing the Cyclops part of the important watershed, and do not have to be a SCCI member to Cave Preserve - since they know needs to be protected from vandal- access our preserves. We do have the property better than anyone ism. Yes, a significant cave like Cyclops language that states that a certain else. We fully intend on having is deserving of protection.” level of competence is required to Brian Williams, Wes, Will, Steph, access caves that require vertical Dave, Scott McRae & John Chris- Here are Amber’s complied answers to skills. tie involved in that process. They the list of questions: • Management Plan/Management are the folks that reached out to Team: Like all SCCI preserves, us, after all - to save this cave. • SCCI wishes to purchase Cyclops Cyclops will have a comprehensive • The short deadline – May 1, 2020 - to Cave, Russell Co. VA and adjoining management plan that could include acquiring the property was a stipula- land for $150,000.00. This is not a anything from accessibility, gating, tion of the current property owner, long-term lease. fences, parking, when it will be open/ and one SCCI agreed to do their ab- • The land is rural farmland – Other closed etc. SCCI preserves that have solute best to honor. than an old barn, there are no build- gates are managed in accordance to • $48K has been raised so far. ings or utilities on the property. that specific cave. All of them work • go to savecylops.org to help us reach • The cave will likely be gated to pre- in conjunction with our permitting our goal to save this beautiful cave. vent future vandalism – it seems to system. When a person receives a be the only way to keep the vandals permit via the SCCI online system, So, BRG and VAR cavers, send in your out. they will automatically receive in- support and your donations to Cyclops • Cyclops Cave will be OPEN to sport structions on how to access the gate - Cave TODAY. caving, as well as cave survey, re- i.e. gate code. (Very popular pre- search and study of biota. (All SCCI serves have their gate code changed a

WVACS Pre-Convention Camp 2020 BRG Donations and Renewals for 2020 July 20 to 25, 2020 BRG supports other caving and conser- We also gave $75 to CaveSim in May vation organizations by being a mem- 2019 (travel expenses). Do we want to West Virginia Association for Cave ber or by making donations. donate again this year? Studies (WVACS) is hosting an NSS Convention pre-camp from July 20th- We no longer have Haunted Cave to Helping SCCI purchase Cyclops Cave th raise money, but we can find some should also be considered in our budg- 25 at the WVACS field station located funds to help bats and caves. et. (See article on Cyclops Cave.) in Renick, WV. The 2020 Donation List was discussed Is this proposal too much? Not The field station is about 15 minutes at the 2/16/2020 BRG meeting. The enough? Was an organization over- north of Lewisburg and 2.5 hours south discussion was tabled so the proposed looked? of Elkins on route 219. donation information could be shared This will be a topic of discussion at the There will be cave trips, a few meals, with the grotto. March 20 BRG meeting. and other activities. Facilities include Proposed 2020 Donations showers, flushing toilets, limited bunk MAKC - $25 (dues) space and plentiful camping. NCRC – Eastern Region - $25 Cost will be $10/day. Virginia Cave Board - $50 WVCC - $50 (dues) For more information contact Jessica ACCA - $25 (dues) Reep: Total of $175.00 Email: [email protected]; phone: 540-429-5861

March 2020, V55, #3 The Carbide Dump 21 The End of the Lead Windy Mouth Cave, Greenbrier Co, WV - February 1-2, 2020 By

The end of the lead… to the first rimstone falls Eight months ago, I wandered up to which dropped about 6 WVACS for the first time, and was inches before dropping lucky enough to hop on a trip with Dave again over a clean rimstone Socky, Bill Koerschner, Joe Zokaites slot. Smallwood-the-brave and Evan Madill. Nick Socky sent me to dropped over the ledge into check on a number of leads, as he’s the stunning pool room known to do, and the 5th one turned into beyond. It seemed like the JCC passage. That lead has now slightly green water sur- come to an end. rounded by a ring of flow- stone on the walls. Small- Nick Socky, Nikki Fox, Silas Springer, wood feared for his life David Smallwood, Dave Socky and I seemingly slipping into the headed into Windy Mouth on a grey cold, wet oblivion. I had to afternoon, at an early 12 pm on Satur- rescue all the gear off his day. We leisurely headed to camp to body before he ended up drop our gear off and then split apart. not needing the assist. The Windy Mouth Camp with Nick Socky, Brian Sa- The two Daves and I headed out towards drop from the waterfall was kofsky, and Nikki Fox. Photo by David Smallwood JCC while the other team apparently about 7 feet into about 4.5 went to cotton-cushioned, dry and com- feet of water. Smallwood took his cam- by me apparently just looking at it. fortable passages elsewhere; or so we era and filmed the pool and around the There were a few expletives thrown thought until we heard the Daft Punk corner to the sump. He found a tight slot around during the next couple hours. later on. Upon arrival at JC 40 and JCC above the sump though couldn’t get up Luckily we all made it out alive, though 1, we made quick work of reshooting the treacherous walls that crumble with the passage took us down to the stream JCC 4 through 14, then picked up the the slightest touch. which could possibly connect with the continuing canyon. Smallwood com- Rainbow Pebble Creek down JCC. We mented that most people leave a nasty Papa Socky finished his sketch and we headed back towards JC 40, and noted surveyed down the steep JCD slope and lead, while I left a fantastic, open and decided to go downstream first. So beautiful canyon. the dig up to the north of the passage looked to be about 30 feet long and much for the rest of us staying dry… With Papa Socky sketching, Smallwood would need some work to dig out; how- This turned out to be a nasty, low, stream pebble crawl. The stream contin- on point and me on cross-sections, we ever is quite promising with an hour’s continued downstream Rainbow Pebble work for the next group. Moving back, ued forward needing a belly crawl and a and found it got a little narrower and Smallwood glanced upstream from JCC (Continued on page 23) tighter for a few shots before opening up 10 and saw that it would need a survey again to walking passage and we contin- group with wetsuits. We regrouped at ued getting 30 ft shots. Smallwood came the JC/JCC junction and Smallwood started to defrost. Deci- phering of the Davinci Code Nick gave us on leads, we headed to the next opportunity. You know that huge, gaping 40-foot diameter hole in the side of the main pas- sage we passed? Papa Socky and Smallwood figured out it was drawn in as a wall on the previ- ous survey. We figured we would give it a try… what could go wrong? Remember the treacher- ous walls I spoke of earlier? This part of the The crew getting ready to go caving. L-R: Nick cave is full of it! The Socky, David Smallwood (taking photo), Dave cave continued to break David Smallwood braving the cold Socky, Silas Springer, Brian Sakofsky, Nikki Fox. below us, above us, and water. Photo by Brian Sakofsky.

22 The Carbide Dump March 2020, V55, #3 Great Savannah Cave System Maxwelton - Covert Creek Camp Trip - February 21-23, 2020 By

Team 1 — Nick Socky, Dave Socky, and were soon at Covert Creek Silas Springer and then finally made it to Team 2 — Carl Amundson & Nikki Fox Team 3 — Joe Calderone camp close to 4 hours after leaving, at 1:30am. Nick Friday was the only one who wait- Nikki Fox and Carl Amundson entered ed up for us. We changed the Scott Entrance first around 6:30pm, into our dry stuff and went then Nick and Joe Calderon started in right to bed. around 8:30pm. Silas Springer and I were last in at 9:40pm. Water levels Saturday were normal on the way in so I was After a leisurely breakfast hopeful the Foxhole would still be dry. and coffee, we slowly got But when we saw the slick mud and our gear together. Joe was Nick rigging virgin pit. Photo by Dave Socky puddles in the lower part of the GOD feeling under the weather passage, I knew there would be water. I and decided to just stick around at camp, degrees. The final tie-in was a narrow took a quick peek into the Foxhole and it leaving Nikki and Carl to do High looked like it was totally sumped shut! Hopes. Nick, Silas, and I did the short crawlway at stream level with a short belly crawl before reaching the main My first thought was “where was our climb out of camp and headed for up- other 4 team members who had entered stream Covert Creek about 11:30am. Covert Creek. earlier? They wouldn't have gone Our first goal was the / The other way was up a flow stone slope through a total sump, would they?” I formation slope east of BBE34. Nick in which Nick put a couple of nails in pulled my pack out, crawled in a little had a drill and bolting stuff to get up, but order to get up. The passage here was further for a closer look. On inspection, I it turned out it wasn’t necessary. Taking more simple, but still high and sloping. could see that the water wasn't all the his boots off to avoid muddying the cal- Eventually, though, it straightened out way to the ceiling. And then I could see cite, he was able to get high enough to that there was at least 5 inches of air see that there was really no lead. (Continued on page 23) space. It would be cold and yucky, but doable. I grabbed my pack and slithered With that lead killed, we checked further through. It was definitely an eye and ahead. Nick did the funky climb up to mouth dip, but not as bad as I had seen it the upper level at BBE35 and checked before. I turned around and helped Silas out the top of Chris’ Rainwell. It turned with his huge pack. He made it through out it wasn’t the same one we had found ok. The PI Passage was a slimy, slippery from the bottom at BBE37. It was a vir- mess, but going slightly downhill it was gin pit. Nick put in a bolt and rope at the pretty easy because we slithered through funky climb up so we wouldn’t have to the crawls with very little friction. There free climb the exposed route. We then was a lot of water in the PIE Passage - rigged the pit and finally started survey- pools I'd never seen before. ing at 3pm, since there was passage be- low. We finally made it to Sweetwater and Our tie-in was BBE40 where we started the SFT survey (for ‘Silas’s First Trip). At the bottom of the 40-foot pit were two leads. One heading off the north east and the other going south-south west. The first lead actu- ally tied back into the main survey at BBE31. It took us 25 stations to do the tie-in. A stream pas- sage below with an up- per level ‘boneyard’ type passage above. Every- Carl Amundson going through the Foxhole. thing was at a steep an- David Socky rappelling into pit. gle of about 35 to 40 Photo by Nikki Fox Photo by Nick Socky.

March 2020, V55, #3 The Carbide Dump 23

(Great Savannah Cave continued from page 22) Sunday and became a very nice 4-foot-wide by 8 Nikki and Joe got up around 7am on -foot-high meandering canyon with a Sunday and left early. Everyone else mud floor. Very pleasant and easy to slept in until 8:30am or so. We had a survey. The canyon continued south leisurely breakfast, packed up, and slow- south-west as a nice walking passage. ly got ready to head out. We headed out We agreed to stop at 50 stations, and about 11:30am. We changed the probes sure enough, we reached a flowstone at Covert Creek and in Sweetwater. We choke right at SFT50. However, you pretty much stayed together all the way could see through a hole that the passage to the Foxhole with Carl leading the opened back up and continued at what way. The Foxhole was still just as high looked like a 4 foot high by 3 foot wide and cold, but it didn’t seem as bad as on canyon. Plus, there was good air flow. It the way in. No one really had a problem would take one or two straws to get going through. At the 12-foot nuisance through. We left this as a very good climb, we let Nick and Silas run ahead lead. while Carl and I brought up the rear at a We turned around at 8:30pm and were leisurely pace. We finally got out a few back at camp by 9:40pm. Nikki and Carl minutes before 4pm to a beautiful sunny were not back yet. Joe was feeling better and warm (60F) day. and had inventoried all the hardware. We took an easy stroll down Default The numbers: Way in our camp clothes and shoes 884.4 feet of survey (really just slippers) until we got to the 50 stations first climb up. Back at camp, we had dinner, added up footage, and told tall Survey time: 5.5 hours In cave for 42 hours tales. Just a little after midnight, Nikki and Carl showed up. They had surveyed 440 feet of nice walking passage, but it ended in a total flowstone choke. How- Silas Springer taking a photo of ever, there are still several leads up in nice formations. the High Hopes area. Photo by Nick Socky.

(The End of the Lead continued from page 21) base of the Waterfall wetsuit to continue, and I encourage Room. We each took our Smallwood to the miserable side passage time climbing the water- off to the right. On a cross section for fall with the assist of the one point in this passage, there didn’t webbing, and moved to- end up being a sketch at all, just a scrib- wards the crawl into camp. bled expletive on the page! We came In the crawl, we were back to the upstream side, and its quite greeted by the deep base possible that Smallwood was low on of Daft Punk coming from oxygen because he started to not make camp, and I rose up to see sense in his LRUP’s which caused ridic- Nikki dancing in her frog ulousness and laughter for the rest of the onesie. survey. Upstream continued in a low Camp life was sweet, Brian Sakofsky setting a station. water crawl or mid-way in the canyon comfortable and full of Photo by Dave Socky on the deceitful walls. We left this lead laughter as we shared sto- for the next, brave team. ries. With the camp lit up by strings of LED lights, Silas tallied up We headed out of the cave at with me Fed up with the cave fighting back taking a slow pace. Silas and Nick flew against us, we headed back up the steep our numbers and found that our teams surveyed about 970 feet. Their team ahead to survey a short lead just past slope towards out packs and headed Hero Hall to ensure we collected over back towards the waterfall room. Route- stayed dry though struggled through some tight leads (with Silas taking most 1000 ft for the trip. Eventually I finding was a bit more challenging than emerged to the mouth of the cave to join we expected, especially after Smallwood of those). As a team, we decided that my raw knee didn’t quite qualify for an everyone else in the warm sunshine next disappeared down a hole that I didn’t to the calm Greenbier River. like the look of. Dave and I took anoth- American Caving Accidents, and that er route and found the toilet flush-like Silas needs to find a battery-powered Until the next trip… climb up to the main passage. We waited rice cooker for caving projects. Hilarity Daft Punk and yelled for Smallwood to no avail, ensued and we soon quieted down in our only to find him waiting for us at the respective plastic domiciles until Small- wood woke us up to Eminem at 9 am.

24 The Carbide Dump March 2020, V55, #3

1/18: Porter’s Cave, VA. BRG Grotto 1/22: Butler Cave, VA. Participants includ- no rain. I stayed at the field station that Trip - Leader: Doug Feller, Susan Burr, ed David Socky, Bill Walker, Mark Hodge, night. Sunday morning, I did a little drive Lauren Appel, Jeff Huffman. Bill Walker, and Amos Mincin. We did some infrastruc- over to the BCSS Homestead and picked Jason Delafield. We went in with the in- ture work for the Butler Air Dig by taking in up my cook kit. Hoped the gate and hiked tention of finding the passage in the area a new sled and an additional square bucket. up to the Homestead. It was cold, but no past the keyhole & the natural bridge back Mark put in an extra stabilizing bolt on the rain. Nice little walk. there & do a drop down into a passage front rope crank. We went to the dig face and 2/1: Windy Mouth, WV. Participants prior to getting to the keyhole. We have found a big pile of dirt and clay on the floor never done this before. We explored all that hadn’t been removed. So, we added included David Socky, Brian Sakofsky, and Dave Smallwood for team one. Nick around in the area back there. We never another track, and using the new sled, we Socky, Nikki Fox, and Silas Springer for actually found the passage we were look- removed the pile of dirt to the dump spot at ing for so we headed back out through the the start of the Air Dig. It took about 8 buck- team two. We spent Friday night at WVACS. On Saturday morning, we drove keyhole & Doug decided we would go up ets and an hour or so of work. Mark then to the cave and entered at about 12:30pm the drop & then do the passage the oppo- took us on a tour of the Crystal Gallery, site direction. We were pretty sure we where we took a bunch of photos. It was a and made our way straight to the Windy Mouth Camp. We dropped off our extra knew where the drop down was. Doug nice 5-hour cave trip. camp gear and then headed to our survey managed to get up it first with no real 1/25: McClungs Cave, WV. Participants issues. I went next...well I had issues! It is for the day. The goal was to kill leads in included David Socky, Chris Coates, Brian JD and JC surveys, about an hour or so basically straight up & the hand & foot Young, Adam Lake. Coleman McHose, Ben from camp. It was a section of the cave I holds were small & minimal. Luckily for Shaftler, and Edgar Villarreal also went in, me Jason came up & offered assistance by had never been to before. An interesting but didn't get any survey done because their mix of stream passage and dry upper lev- helping keep my foot in position or help- DistoX2 was out of calibration (front and els. Some walking, some crawling, and ing move it to the next spot. Eventually back sights didn't agree with the same instru- Doug dropped a hand line as I got close to some stemming. Certainly not as hard as ment). They did check the rigging for the pit getting into the upper levels. We got to the the top. It was very helpful to make it the into Big Muddy Canyon. There was a boul- JC survey and split up. Brian, Dave, and I last bit. The others used the hand line, der available for a natural rig point. About a which made the climb easier. We contin- went to JCC1 and redid the data for JCC1 70-foot rope would be needed to rig the to 14. Not a bad side lead. Mostly walking ued on but it we didn't pop out where we drop. We went in the Lightner entrance, with some water. At JCC14 I started expected. Guess one day we will find the where Chris permanently rigged the entrance passage. Doing this just meant we had to sketching. The passage got smaller and drop (no rope at the surface, though). We narrower and we got into the water, but do the keyhole one more time. After we got through the keyhole again, we contin- went in about 10:30am and made our way mostly it could be avoided. But by JCC22 directly to the end of our last survey of we found a couple of rimstone pools. The ued to do the normal “tourist route.” 1/11/2020 (the WFD survey). It took about 3 second rimstone pool dropped down into 1/18: Butler Cave, VA. Participants in- hours. I sketched, Brian Young did cross deep water. It was a seven-foot drop, with cluded David Socky, Mark Minton, and sections, Chris was point and back sights, the water being 3.5 to 4 feet deep. Dave Yvonne Droms. This was the dig I'd been and Adam Lake was front sights. The upper Smallwood took the hit and was the only to before with Mark in Lower Complaint level passage we were in before dropped one to get wet, going around a corner and on July 7, 2019. The one that required down into a stream passage at the start of our finding a sump. We put two shots into the only one dig session to remove a rock survey. We went upstream. Low, but wide sump. We made our way back toward our which was blocking the way. Eight dig for a long way. Some walking, some crawl- other leads. At JC51 we found a way to sessions later, we still needed just one ing, and a muddy floor. The passage headed the lower level stream passage that hadn't more session to fit through, but we had north-north-east but after a long way, got been surveyed. We had passage going run out of battery power. Damn. During smaller, and doubled back, heading south both upstream and downstream. We went the digging, Vonny collected a small and sometimes even south west. We finally downstream first, eventually getting into white bug for the biologists to identify. stopped at about 8:30pm when the passage water with low head room. But before we There was not much room where we were got even smaller and headed back north east. had to crawl in the water, there was a dry digging, plus there was a large rock on the We figured we were only about 400 feet bypass to the right. After a few stations we upslope which was in danger of falling from the Meat Grinder. We headed out a few got back to the water, after which the pas- and blocking our way out and/or pinning minutes past 9pm. The trip out was a lot sage turned into a belly crawl in water. No someone’s leg. It was possible to just faster than the way in. I was out the entrance one wanted to continue. We concluded maneuver around it. While digging, the just a little past 11:30pm. It was a good 13- that this was a wetsuit lead, so we turned large unstable rock eventually fell down, hour trip with 1528 feet in the book. We met around and went upstream. High canyon blocking our way out. However, it wasn't up with the other group at the short climb passage with deep water below. Wider so large that we couldn't move it out of the where we leave our vertical stuff. Cole was passage above with ledges allowed us to way, but it was too big and thick to ham- the last one and going up the rope as we stay high and out of the water. But soon mer into pieces. Mark took care of it with arrived. Instead of surveying, they did some the ledges disappeared, and the canyon got a dig session. I mucked the pieces out. But reconn work, especially checking for what narrower. It was also 11pm and we had then the drill battery ran out of juice, so kind of rigging would be necessary to get agreed we would meet back at camp at we had to call it a day. After one final down in the Little Muddy and Big Muddy midnight. It was time to stop the survey look, it was determined that the lead still passages up in the north end of the cave. and head back to camp. We would be late, looks real good and is definitely worth Everyone was pretty quick in climbing the but not too bad. It did take about an hour returning. ropes - there was really no waiting around. to get back, arriving at 12:30am. The other Outside it was just a little above freezing but (Continued on page 25)

March 2020, V55, #3 The Carbide Dump 25

(Quick Trips continued from page 24) 2/8: McClungs Cave, WV. Participants sage. Our goal was to survey the bypass to team had gotten back 15 minutes before us. included David Socky, Carl Amundson, Nik- the main Serpentine Way that starts at E30 We had dinner, talked, told stories and finally ki Fox, and Nick Schmalenberger. Dave and comes out in the Harry Sower Room. We crawled into sleeping bags about 2am. We Socky reports—It was a WVACS weekend. did see some tricolored bats near the start of got up at 9am, had coffee and breakfast, and We entered Lightner entrance at 11am and our survey. We were unsuccessful in doing slowly got ready to head out. We started made our way to the end of our last survey the full bypass because there were tight spots about 10:30am. Nick and Silas ran ahead and without any issues. It took 3 hours. The water at both ends that none of us could even come surveyed an easy lead which got an addition- levels where about the same as two weeks close to fitting through. By the time we had al 70 feet, giving us over 1000 feet for the ago. The survey continued small and then got surveyed both ends of the bypass, it was 5:30 weekend. Windy Mouth is now 15.47 miles smaller. One spot in the tube had a large pm, too late to start anything new. Our exit long. We exited the cave by 12:45pm. It was piece of breakdown across the whole pas- was uneventful, and we were out of the cave close enough to call it a 25-hour camp trip! sage. There was just barely enough room for by 6:30 pm. We surveyed a total of 443 feet me to fit through. I figure it was just a little on a seven-hour trip. 2/1: Crossroads Cave, Bath County, VA - over 9 inches because I think I bruised by Bill Walker, Lauren Appel, and Jeff Huffman 2/18: Windy Mouth, WV. Participants in- sternum. The passage continued as a small entered the cave around 10:45 a.m. and exit- cluded David Socky, Nick Socky, and Sa- tube, but eventually it got better. Lots of ed the cave around 5:15 p.m. Our intentions mantha Joy as team 1. Joe and Carol Zo- crawling. We found the section of mud flow- were to check and excavate a blowing air kaites, and Bill Koerschner as team 2. Bill, ers and mud cities which I remember from lead that Bill had remembered from a previ- Joe, and Carol went to pick up leads in the when Rick Shortt, Carl Cornett, and I did it ous trip, as well as, possible leads on a map. Dusty lower levels. We surveyed a small side 11 years ago. After a while, we actually We checked out the blowing air lead to the lead in the main passage that got us almost reached walking canyon passage - about 3 to left of the Front Room. We never found the 100 feet. We then headed to 2nd Canyon and 5 feet wide and 7 to 8 feet high. Very nice, area that Bill remembered from 10 years ago. surveyed upper levels for over 400 feet. We but still everything had a thin coating of mud. Next, we proceeded through Lost and Found finished that off and then headed to the E Nikki wanted to turn around at 7 pm but and stopped right before The Sewer. Lauren survey passage closer to the entrance. We agreed to continue until we got 30 stations. and Bill checked out a couple of leads that surveyed close to 100 feet downstream in the We stopped at 30 stations, but the canyon were indicated on the map. This area con- stream passage below the main canyon. We continued as walking passage. We ran ahead tained passage way that was not surveyed on then headed out to meet the other team at a little until we came to an intersection and the map. We came across a group from VCU 7pm. We met up with them just before the an old survey station, 2569. We went to the in this area that were making their way back entrance crawl. We really lucked out that it right, but it got small and canyony, with a to the entrance. Next, we made our way to didn't rain either on the trip in or the trip out. number of small gnarly spots to squeeze the Campsite and waited right before the through. Nikki went ahead a little but turned Floorless Canyon. We waited while a group 2/22: VPI Banquet, VA. Lyn Ott and about around at a crawl which kept going. We did- 120 other cavers attended the VPI Banquet in of around 8 cavers from the Charlottesville n't find the tie-in but figured we were close. Christiansburg at the Celtic Hall. Grotto made their way down from the Floor- We headed out around 8pm after a little less Canyon area. We then stemmed across (date?) Put Back Nugget Cave in Wythe snack. It was a long trip out, but we eventual- the canyon until we could walk. Two dead County, VA – Brandon and friends are ly got out at around 12:15am. It had snowed bats were encountered in these areas. We checking out old caves. Didn’t go past the lightly and was 29 degrees F. It was a good looked around the area to the left after the sump; wore wetsuits and less than 2” clear- trip in which we got 714 feet of survey in canyon. However, we decided to go check ance. Brandon & his friends named the cave 12.5 hours. out an area on the right side of the canyon at Put Back Nugget because of the story the the stream. On the map there was a lead that 2/15: Cave Hollow Arbogast, WV. Partici- owner told him. The current owner wasn't the had "goes" written beside it. Bill climbed up pants included David Socky, Wayne Perkins, one who put the nugget back. It may have the muddy embankment and indicated that it and Brian Masney. Because of the new snow been a previous owner back in the day. would need digging. At this point, we decid- on the Forest Service Road, we only drove (dates?) Key Cave, Glade Cave (twice), and ed to leave since we had been in the cave halfway up the mountain, parking at the Hamilton Cave, VA. by Jacob Whitlock with around six hours and Jeff had forgotten to turnoff for the river campground and then give his wife a later than usual call back time. hiked up the steep part of the Forest Road. the Madison University Student Grotto. We exited the cave and drove around looking We entered the cave about 11:20am and pro- at the terrain. ceeded directly to the Serpentine Way pas-

SAFETY ALERT FRIARS HOLE feet of vertical relief before you get CAVE February 2020 down to the river borehole. WVACS plans to check out the entrance WVACS Project Cavers report that a after the Spring rains have ended. There collapse at Friar’s Hole, the Southern are multiple plans for stabilization al- Entrance, located after the first drop ready in the works. occurred on January 18, 2020. Further questions may be directed to They HIGHLY recommended that no WVACS at [email protected]. one enter at this time. They suggest that spring rain will hopefully settle the large Thanks, breakdown. The big unknown is that no Bru Randall one knows what is under that break- Resource Coordination Section Chief, down . . . did it fall into a void? At this Eastern Region, NCRC point in the cave, there is another ~70

26 The Carbide Dump March 2020, V55, #3

To be considered, a cover must be original, Currently here’s how voting has been: not previously used or reprinted. Covers may be photographic or non-photographic; a Jan=7, Feb=6, Mar=1, Apr=1, May=7, Every year, the NSS Convention offers a few other rules apply. June=3, July=5, Aug=7, Sept=5, Oct/Nov=8 “Cover Art Contest”. Grottos submit their Voting ends April 17, 2020. favorite newsletter covers from the previous The covers are much more stunning in color year to be judged and selected for awards. – look at them on-line for the best viewing. Vote Well, and Vote Often! Most recently, the CARBIDE DUMP won Below are covers from the 2019 CARBIDE Click on this LINK for online viewing of merit awards and honorable mentions for DUMPS – vote for your favorite five covers, covers from the BRG Website. newsletter covers. and send your votes to co-editor Mary Sue BRG cavers know how to pick them! Socky at [email protected] You do not have to be a BRG member to vote.

Jan. 2019 v54 n1: Delicate Feb. 2019 v54 n2: Massive Mar 2019 v54 n3: “Patterns” from Cave Apr. 2019 v54 n4: “Iron Straws” from formations in Second Canyon formations above the Retreat in Hollow Arbogast Cave, WV. Windy Mouth Cave, WV. area, Windy Mouth Cave, WV Maxwelton Sink Cave, WV Photo by David Socky Photo by David Socky Photo by Nick Socky Photo by David Socky

July 2019 v54 n7: “Virgin Stream Passage August 2019 v54 n8: Nick Socky lighting up May 2019 v54 n5: “Bone Yard June 2019 v54 n6: “High Ahead!” - Eric Pelkey looking upstream in the cave bacon in the High Hopes section of Contortions” - Katie Person Hopes Formation” - Beautiful Echo River, into virgin cave in Maxwelton Maxwelton Sink Cave, WV. doing inventory in a bone yard virgin formations in the upper Sink Cave, WV. This is currently the most Photo by David Socky in the Mystery Room of Carls- level of the High Hopes Room remote area of Maxwelton, 8 hours from the bad Caverns, NM. Photo by in Maxwelton Sink Cave, WV. entrance. Photo by Dave Socky David Socky Photo by David Socky.

September. 2019 v54 n9: “Connection!” Brian Williams emerges from Oct/Nov. 2019 v54 n10: Frostwork in But- the McClungs sump that has been connected to Maxwelton Sink Cave, ler Cave, VA. Photo by Nick Socky creating the Great Savannah Cave System, WV. Photo by Nikki Fox

March 2020, V55, #3 The Carbide Dump 27 Grand Caverns Spring Restoration Field Camp It's that time again! 29th Annual Spring Restoration at Grand Caverns April 18, 2020 Come one, come all! Come to VAR’s If you have specialized tools you want to annual fun- and work-filled weekend at use on any of these jobs, label them be- Grand Caverns in Grottoes, Virginia. fore you bring them. Garden tools might Saturday, April 18 is the main work be nice, but most tools will be provided. day. Do bring work gloves. And cave gear in If you enjoy cave conservation and the case we’re not too tired later to perhaps camaraderie of fellow cavers, join us for go caving. Directions: another day of "giving back to the cave" As usual, work will begin promptly at 9 From I-81, take Exit 235 to SR 256, at beautiful Grand Caverns. a.m. on Saturday morning. Lunch will [turn left if traveling South on I-81, and right if traveling North on I-81, toward Please RSVP to Meredith Hall We- be provided around 12:30. Work will resume until 5:30 or so. Dinner will be Grottoes]. Travel East on SR 256 for 7 berg [email protected] so we can miles to Grottoes. At the intersection of make sure we have enough food for provided around 6. It will be our annual pasta feast with salad and dessert. If you Dogwood Avenue (Rt. 825), turn South lunch and dinner on Saturday. RSVP [Right] on Dogwood. Travel South on deadline is March 30. have special food needs, let us know when you RSVP and we will try to ac- Dogwood Ave. for 1,000 ft. Turn Right Free camping both Friday and Saturday commodate them. into the Entrance of Grand Caverns nights near the pavilion with the large [Grand Caverns Drive]. This weekend is sponsored by the Con- fireplace. Semi-primitive. Food other If arriving Friday night to camp, turn than meals provided on Saturday by the servation Committee of the Virginia Region (VAR) of the National Speleo- right immediately after passing the en- VAR Conservation Committee is on logical Society. Primitive camping, so- trance gate to the big pavilion with the your own. cializing with fellow cavers, and food big fireplace. What we will be doing this year: and beverages are provided for Saturday If arriving Saturday morning, continue 1. Hauling gravel, what else! lunch and dinner! And, best of all it's all straight until you get to the parking lot free to all volunteers! for tours. Meet at the pavilion by 9 a.m.! 2. Break up areas of built-up gravel. Please RSVP to Meredith Hall Weberg Caverns Toll-Free Phone Number: (888) 3. Replenishing the water in the pools. [email protected] so she can plan 430-2283. for food. Please RSVP by March 30th if 4. Weed the flower boxes on the way For more information, contact: up to the Caverns and around the you want to eat (and please let us know if you are a vegetarian)! Meredith Hall Weberg, entrance building. [email protected] 5. Remove any downed branches Bring clean (deconned even!) cave along the hill going up to the Cav- clothes and gear and any tools you think erns. might be useful.

The Great Savannah Cave System By Greg Springer

A number of milestones for the Great Savannah Cave System (The connected Maxwelton Sink Cave and McClungs Cave) have recently been achieved.

➢ The system passed 42 miles and is at 42.26 miles. ➢ Maxwelton passed 24 miles and is at 24.10 miles. ➢ The Sweetwater extension of Max passed 10 miles with 10.07 having been surveyed beyond the Fox Hole. ➢ The Covert Creek "wing" passed 10,000 feet and is at 1.98 miles. ➢ The resurvey of McClungs is now 3.38 miles

28 The Carbide Dump March 2020, V55, #3

The Seven Valleys and Charlottesville Grottos invite you to the 2020 Spring MAR-VAR to be held May 1-3, 2020 at Grand Caverns in Grottoes, VA.

REGISTRATION: Pre-registration price is $33 for adults and $25 for children 5-14. Children under 5 are free. To qualify for the pre- registration price, registrations must be post marked by April 15, 2020. We cannot guarantee dinner or a t-shirt for those who do not make the pre-registration deadline. On-site registration is $38 per for adults and $30 for children 5-14. See http://var.caves.org/index.php/events/spring-var for online registration forms.

T-Shirts: T-Shirts will be available but guaranteed only with pre-registration. Shirts will be light grey 50:50 cotton: polyester with the design embedded in this form. Cost is $15 XS through XL and $17 for larger sizes.

CAMPING/HOTELS: We will be camping in a 10+ acre mowed grass field, with a sand volleyball court and several pavilions, one with a large fireplace. Campers can be accommodated, but there are no hookups. A permanent outbuilding with sinks and flush toi- lets will be augmented with porta-potties.

Pets are welcome but must be kept on a leash and restrained at all times. No pets (with the exception of service ani- mals) are allowed in the caverns, gift shop or pool area.

The nearest hotels are in Harrisonburg, VA. Being a college town, there are many to choose from.

Friday: We will open the weekend on Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. for those who want to come for a long weekend. Cave on your own on Friday.

ACTIVITES: Commercial Caves: Caverns at Natural Bridge, , , Fountain Cave (free), , Seneca Caverns, Smoke Hole Caverns, , Lost World Caverns, Organ Cave, Shenandoah, and Natural Bridge State Park. Wild Caves: Led trips to Butler Cave, Fountain, Madisons, and Endless Cave. Other trips to be an- nounced. There will also be a Vertical Workshop sponsored by ER-NCRC and a Basic Survey Course, plus a Gear Swap at 11am on Saturday.

VENDORS: IMO, Highline Ropes, Caver Connection, and Speleobooks.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Saturday night's dinner will feature pulled pork sandwiches, mac and cheese, vegetarian green beans, coleslaw, rolls, oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, and assorted soft drinks and water. We can only guarantee dinner to those who pre -register.

SPEAKER & PARTY: Doctor Dan “How Old is the Appalachian Karst?” talk DJ by John Fox BYOB Discretely

SUNDAY MORNING: The Pennsylvania Cave Conservancy (PCC) be serving breakfast (pancakes, sausage, OJ/coffee for just $5.

The ever-popular VAR Business Meeting will start at 9am in the large pavilion.

Hope to see you there!

March 2020, V55, #3 The Carbide Dump 29