March 2020, V55, #3 The Carbide Dump March 2020 Vol 55, No 3 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, Virginia. 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 caving 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 Cave, 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: Karst-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 Grand Caverns 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, West Virginia. 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 Greenbrier River. 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 Virginias. 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.