[Texascavers] Punkin Cave survey report
This past weekend, 28 February to 2 March 2014, 25 cavers from all over Texas (and one Canadian!) gathered at the TCMA fieldhouse in Carta Valley, Texas, for the 21st survey expedition to Punkin Cave. It was the first survey trip since December 2012, and we were more than ready! I had taken time during the break to go through all the survey notes, and had compiled a list of 192 leads, so we had a lot to work on. To sum it up, it was a great trip. The weather was fantastic, the company superb, and we got lots accomplished both on the surface and below. Gill Ediger and Galen Falgout headed out early on Thursday evening to start working on some juniper-clearing on Friday morning. I got there about lunchtime with Lee Jay Graves and Chris Vreeland. We unpacked all the group groceries for the weekend and cleaned and organized the cabin (it was still pretty messy from the group that was there the previous weekend). Don Arburn and Ann Scott arrived shortly afterwards, and pitched in with the cleaning and organizing. Ann spent about an hour cleaning the disgusting mess left in the shower and bathroom sink. Matt Zaldivar arrived about that time. Meantime, the rest of the crew migrated over to the little blowhole along the road to the campsites. Lee Jay found this years ago, and a recent resistivity study by George Veni showed it to lead to a sizeable void below. We all came early to start the dig, armed with numerous implements of destruction. And so we began, with Don shooting a time-lapse video until it got too dark out to see. The rest of the group eventually straggled in, mostly around 10 oclock. The usual b.s. ensued, tents were put up, and inside bunk space coordinated. Beers were consumed, tall tales told, and everyone eventually dropped off to sleep, eager to start the next day and the caving ahead. In the morning I crawled out of bed around 7 to start breakfast, a cheesy ham and potato casserole, fruit, yogurt, coffee, and tea. Eventually everyone else awoke, survey teams formed, gear got organized, survey leads and previous notes were gathered, and waivers signed. We held a brief team meeting to talk about our objectives, our survey standards, and cave entrance/exit protocols. All the surveyors then hiked to the cave, where we had ropes rigged at all three anchor points. But we also had a surface team: Ediger, Graves, Scott, Arburn, Maya Liu (sidelined with an injured foot), Sue Schindel, and Keenan Smith (Bryces dad, who was heading over to Devils River SNA for some fly fishing). Most of the surface folks were either going to work on the new dig or another by the Punkin/Deep road, and agreed to dinner ready for us by 7:30. David Ochel led Matt Zappitello and visiting Canadian Chris Batgirl Omura back to Superstition Maze to knock off more leads near the connection with Davey Jones Locker. They were able to set 12 stations for 31.1m of new survey, an average of 2.59m per shot. They also took care of rigging and derigging the cave, which we all greatly appreciate. Geary Schindel led his daughter Aspen and Andrea Croskrey over to the West Maze to work on the numerous leads there. The surveyed 34.22m in 12 shots, averaging 2.85m per shot. That area is a crazy boneyard, with leads everywhere. I eventually lead my team and Dale Barnards team back through Superstition to the Woost Woom area, where we were thwarted by hibernating bats. Altogether we saw three different species, including a half-dozen Townsends big-eared bats, a hundred or so tri-colored bats, and well over a thousand cave myotis. We left that area, still trying to find the tie-in stations to begin Dales survey. We eventually found him some leads to survey, and his team, including Chris Vreeland, R. D. Milhollin, and Matt Zaldivar, set 8 stations for 17.81m (2.23m per shot). But they were the only team that didnt leave any unfinished leads where they surveyed. My team changed objectives because of the bats, and headed through Area 51 to a lead we left a year ago. With the help of Yazmin Avila, Ron Rutherford, and Galen Falgout, we surveyed 22 stations for 58.62m, averaging 2.66m per shot. Galen hammered through a particularly gnarly spot, allowing us to connect back to the Western Maze. We made a second connection to the WM survey, and also to the AFT survey that we were trying to find earlier with Dale. Oh well. We exited through the Western Maze thanks to Galens intimate knowledge of that area, and also left many great leads for the next trip. Will Quast took Kris Peña, Anna Klis, and Bryce Smith down to the deepest part of the cave, Fifty Fathoms. After resurveying a couple of shots near the Ninth Layer of the Abyss, they extended the survey a few more shots downward, thereby deepening the cave. They surveyed 20.49m in seven shots (2.93m per shot), of which only 13.8m was new footage. But the cave is now over 3m deeper! We all got back to the fieldhouse before dark,
Re: [Texascavers] In Kentucky, a Family at the Center of the Earth
A fine article. My favorite signature in MaCa is Nick the Guide in the Snow Ball Dining Room. Nick was a Bransford and a relative of Jerry Bransford who I have met several times. Preston - Original Message - From: Diana Tomchick diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu To: Cave Tex texascavers@texascavers.com Sent: Friday, February 28, 2014 5:35 PM Subject: [Texascavers] In Kentucky, a Family at the Center of the Earth In today's New York Times Travel section, comes an article about the Bransford family of Mammoth cave guides. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/travel/in-kentucky-a-family-at-the-center-of-the-earth.html?ref=travel Diana - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
texascavers Digest 2 Mar 2014 23:56:44 -0000 Issue 1941
texascavers Digest 2 Mar 2014 23:56:44 - Issue 1941 Topics (messages 23531 through 23535): In Kentucky, a Family at the Center of the Earth 23531 by: Diana Tomchick safety related - dusty caves 23532 by: David 23533 by: Lotus AMCS call for material 23534 by: Mixon Bill UT Grotto Meeting March 5th 23535 by: Andrea Croskrey Administrivia: To subscribe to the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-subscr...@texascavers.com To unsubscribe from the digest, e-mail: texascavers-digest-unsubscr...@texascavers.com To post to the list, e-mail: texascavers@texascavers.com -- ---BeginMessage--- In today's New York Times Travel section, comes an article about the Bransford family of Mammoth cave guides. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/travel/in-kentucky-a-family-at-the-center-of-the-earth.html?ref=travel Diana * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Diana R. Tomchick Professor University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Department of Biophysics 5323 Harry Hines Blvd. Rm. ND10.214A Dallas, TX 75390-8816, U.S.A. Email: diana.tomch...@utsouthwestern.edu 214-645-6383 (phone) 214-645-6353 (fax) UT Southwestern Medical Center The future of medicine, today. ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- This new thread will self-destruct in 48 hours There is an article on the web, suggesting that dust mask are ineffective at preventing the wearer ( caver ) from breathing in dust particles. http://news.discovery.com/human/health/face-masks-provide-false-hope-against-pollution-140228.htm It does seem like cavers visiting very dusty caves, should wear breathing respirators, that have a rubber seal around the nose and mouth and replacable canisters.Especially if you are going to be sturrying up the dust by digging. http://nsprod.blob.core.windows.net/material/204294/400.jpg Unfortunately, those mask appear cumbersome and uncomfortable, especially when exerting yourself, sweating, etc. David Locklear ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- An N100 (http://www.staples.com/office/supplies/StaplesProductDisplay?storeId=10001catalogIdentifier=2partNumber=422425langid=-1cid=PS:GooglePLAs:422425srccode=cii_17588969cpncode=33-265475753-2) or similar mask should be effective enough for most normal applications and won't be particularly cumbersome or obtrusive. If you need more protection than that you're probably in a bad-air cave and should probably be wearing a rebreather. Lotus stonerculture.com - All correspondence is betwixt solely the two parties directly involved. Any undue recipient has the task of returning this e-mail to its rightful owners; either the sender or intended recipient. Failure to represent yourself in a case involving a mistaken message will result in penalties not to exceed one hundred head of cattle, or equivalent trade value, per message. On Mar 1, 2014, at 1:34 PM, David wrote: This new thread will self-destruct in 48 hours There is an article on the web, suggesting that dust mask are ineffective at preventing the wearer ( caver ) from breathing in dust particles. http://news.discovery.com/human/health/face-masks-provide-false-hope-against-pollution-140228.htm It does seem like cavers visiting very dusty caves, should wear breathing respirators, that have a rubber seal around the nose and mouth and replacable canisters.Especially if you are going to be sturrying up the dust by digging. http://nsprod.blob.core.windows.net/material/204294/400.jpg Unfortunately, those mask appear cumbersome and uncomfortable, especially when exerting yourself, sweating, etc. David Locklear - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com ---End Message--- ---BeginMessage--- The Association for Mexican Cave studies seeks material for its forthcoming number 37 of the AMCS Activities Newsletter, for 2014. Articles are sought on any significant exploration or study of Mexican caves or karst. Articles may be accompanied by color photographs and should contain all pertinent cave maps. Shorter notes of a paragraph or so for the Mexico News section may also be submitted; they may be accompanied by a photograph or cave maps. Articles are published in English with Spanish abstracts; translation can be provided if necessary. Contents of recent issues can be found at amcs-pubs.org/http://www.amcs-pubs.org/nl/cat.html The deadline for material is April 25, 2014, but of course material will be welcome sooner. Material should be send toeditor@amcs- pubs.org. If there is anything that cannot be sent by e-mail, consult the editor for alternatives. The
[Texascavers] UT Grotto Meeting March 5th
Howdy Texas Cavers! At this week's grotto meeting, renowned TV personality Dr. Jean Krejca will be showing the ITV Studios film from her last trip to the magnificent karst in China, 'Mystery Caves of Guanxi'. As a bonus, she will be providing live commentary on the background details of the filming and taking questions. We will be meeting at 7:45pm in *Burdine 136*. Follow this link to a map of where the building is located on the University of Texas campus: http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/bur.html For information on Underground Texas Grotto activities, please see www.utgrotto.org Before the meeting, take advantage of Sao Paulo www.saopaulos.net for happy hour specials. Attendance by cavers varies but this area is the best place to park and meet folks walking over to the meeting. Then after the official meeting, we continue with the decades long tradition to reconvene for burgers, beer, and tall tales of caving at Posse East. www.posse-east.com Cavingly, Andrea Croskrey UT Grotto Vice Chair
