texascavers Digest 19 Feb 2014 22:12:02 -0000 Issue 1933
Topics (messages 23430 through 23437):
UT Grotto Meeting February 17th
23430 by: Andrea Croskrey
23431 by: Andrea Croskrey
Deep Cave Survey Report - 2/15/2014
23432 by: Joe & Evelynn Mitchell
Re: Deep Cave survey Feb 15, 2014
23433 by: Logan McNatt
Joe's report
23434 by: David
Last minute reminder--Houston meeting tonight!
23435 by: Mallory Mayeux
a new technology
23436 by: David
22nd International Conference on Subterranean Biology
23437 by: George Veni
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Howdy Texas Cavers!
There will be a UT Grotto meeting this Wednesday February 19, 2014. At
this week's meeting we will get to hear from one of our newest members,
Lindsey Eaves. She'll be sharing her work, as a part of a six member
expedition team, to excavate and evaluate early human fossil remains in
Rising Star Cave, an excavation site in Cradle of Humankind World Heritage
Site, South Africa. Hope to see you there because this sounds like a talk
that shouldn't be missed!
We will now 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
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--- Begin Message ---
Sorry, February 19th is Wednesday, not the 17th.
On Mon, Feb 17, 2014 at 11:50 AM, Andrea Croskrey <acrosk...@gmail.com>wrote:
> Howdy Texas Cavers!
>
> There will be a UT Grotto meeting this Wednesday February 19, 2014. At
> this week's meeting we will get to hear from one of our newest members,
> Lindsey Eaves. She'll be sharing her work, as a part of a six member
> expedition team, to excavate and evaluate early human fossil remains in
> Rising Star Cave, an excavation site in Cradle of Humankind World Heritage
> Site, South Africa. Hope to see you there because this sounds like a talk
> that shouldn't be missed!
>
> We will now 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
>
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--- Begin Message ---
This is a preliminary report on the Deep Cave survey of February 15, 2014. Look
for a more detailed report in a future issue of the Texas Caver.
This weekend marked the resumption of the project, which had been on hiatus
since last May. We had one of the highest turnouts ever with a full 20 survey
team members and Rob Bisset who generously donated his weekend to make and
install new front and back screen doors on the cabin. Now we can enjoy the
breeze inside with no bugs! Thanks Rob!
There were a record 6 survey teams set loose in the cave. Most of the focus of
this trip was tie-ins and clean up of old survey and re-survey of the main
tourist route between the Entrance and Helictite Room. The re-survey is needed
since some sections of this route are poorly surveyed or not surveyed at all.
But with so many teams, there was also plenty of new passage to be found, too.
Geary Schindel, Aaron Wertheim, and Vicky DeLeon, and Gregg Williams worked on
the Tourist Route resurvey from the Hall of Masks up to the Entrance Room which
remains to be finished next time. The team also carried out a number of
geological measurement of the fault strikes and dips through this area and also
measured the position of the chert nodule layer through the Swiss Cheese
Corridor.
Don Arburn, Steve Gutting, and Tom Florer continued the Tourist Route survey on
down through the Forest of Columns and into the Corkscrew. They completed about
half of the corkscrew with the remainder of the route into the Helictite Room
left for next time.
Back down in the lower part of the Entrance Room, myself, Tom Rogers, Gerry
Geletzke, and Betsy Ferris had the objective of re-locating the A40's survey
which appeared to have some promising leads along it and at the end. After much
searching and unsuccessfully attempting to recreate some of the shots, we found
some E-survey markers. After hunting around a while, I determined that the A
and E survey were direct overlaps, resulting in a large negative length for our
survey for the day! We spent the rest of the day struggling to break even,
first by tying in a portion of the A survey we could find with the E and G
surveys. We then went lead hunting and found one that connected to the KC
survey and tied that in to the E survey. Going on to the end of the E, we tied
into the KA survey. Following an additional lead off of KA, we surveyed down
into a grim and sharp coral crawl, which eventually ended in a pit.
Out at the west end of the cave, Bennett Lee, Pam Campbell, and Wade McDaniel
went to make an attempt to locate the missing "Big Room" from the 1965 survey.
Their survey led them from what I considered the most likely starting point
through a tight squeeze and eventually to the LB survey without finding any
"Big Room". They then spent considerable time searching around and examining
the old map. Eventually they starting finding things that matched up and
finally solved the puzzle - the "Big Room" was in fact Metropolis and not an
unknown room. The 1965 map shows what we now call the Metropolis Room twice in
completely separate areas of the cave. They must have entered it from different
directions and just did not realize it was the same room.
Meanwhile, Saj Zappitello, Matt Zappitello, and Jill Orr also worked on finding
another lost piece of the 1965 map that connects the Junction Room to the
Square Ceiling Room. In this they were successful and also found another lead
that eventually connected from there into Metropolis. They then followed
another lead for two stations until calling it a day with going passage.
Ellie Watson, Galen Falgout, and Joe Schaertl went out the Four Seasons Room at
the far reaches of the cave to continue the survey there. This is a tougher
than average trip since it is about the farthest known location from the
entrance and you have to drag vertical gear all the way there. After dropping
the pit, they took off into the lead at the far end, but found that it ended in
a drain after only a few stations. They were undeterred through so decided to
check some possible leads at the top of the white flowstone slope near the drop
into the room. They did this by stripping down to their skivvies and barefooted
their way carefully up the slope and between the formations. A lead was found,
but all the coral was not conducive to the happiness all their exposed bare
skin, so they retreated, leaving it for a better equipped team. Dressed and
back at the top of the drop, the followed a lead which lead into considerable
passage, part of which came out directly above the Four Seasons Room and
another part eventually led to a new tie in with the LB survey just below
Metropolis.
Although everyone worked hard and lot of meters were surveyed, a lot of
previous survey was deleted since it either overlapped they new survey or
overlapped other surveys but had not yet been identified as such. In the end,
we had a net gain of 146 m, giving Deep Cave a new length of 4732.2 m. The
depth remains unchanged at 77.5 m.
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Joe, thanks for the report.
After almost half a century, resolving so many problems with the 1965 survey--especially the mystery of the Big Room (or two)--is a major
accomplishment. And near-naked cavers sacrificing their bodies to cave coral is hardcore.
An impressive effort--a sincere "well done" to everyone involved.
Looking forward to the full report soon in The Texas Caver, with photos, and
map (?).
LowGun
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--- Begin Message ---
I would like to make a motion, that the last post by Joe and Evelyn
Mitchell, be considered #5 in the Top 5 of all Cavetex post.
Anybody second the motion ?
Now, had one of the cavers dug the cave an inch deeper, then it might could
have been #4, ( but to late now. )
I think a report of that quality should have the author's signature, rank
and serial number on the bottom.
To get the 4th place or higher (such as The Bronze Medal ) there has to be
some really good humor, or a major new discovery, or get thrown in jail,
etc.
David Locklear
NSS # 27639
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--- Begin Message ---
This is a reminder that the Greater Houston Grotto has a meeting TONIGHT,
February 18! We will be having an optional pre-meeting dinner at Five Guys
Burgers and Fries at 6pm, at 9762 Katy Freeway, Suite 100, Houston, TX
77055.
The meeting is at 7:30pm at the Texas Rock Gym, 1526 Campbell Road, Houston
TX 77055. Larry Glasson, a former PBSS caver, will give a presentation on
his caving experiences in Lechuguilla, complete with pictures! If you're
in/around the Houston area tonight, don't miss it! We'll also review our
upcoming trip calendar.
Regards,
Mallory Mayeux
GHG Chair
http://greaterhoustongrotto.org/
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The YouTube link below shows something interesting that has been around in
research labs for 3 or 4 years, but
is starting to make some progress in the presentation to
real world applications.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOQQhdTKtq8
Theoretically, a caver or cave-tour guide would have a device mounted
on his helmet
or a tripod that could communicate with other devices as long
as there was a line of sight.
Since a 10 watt LED's can now project light more than the length
of most cave passages, this technology could be used for something
new and interesting.
I am thinking maybe in a commercial cave application for cave tours.
I think the key to the success of this is how much battery power it requires as
opposed to using other forms of data transfer.
Can anybody think of a cave related application ?
David Locklear
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--- Begin Message ---
Dear Friends,
The 22nd International Conference on Subterranean Biology will be held on 31
August to 5 September 2014 in Juriquilla, Querétaro, México. This meeting is
held every two years and I believe this may be the first time it is held in
Mexico. Juriquilla is about a 2-hour drive northwest from Mexico City and
surrounded by beautiful and diverse karst and non-karst landscapes.
Registration and more information for this conference is available at
http://sistemas.fciencias.unam.mx/~22icsb/html/.
Please share this message with anyone you think may be interested.
George
********************
George Veni, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Cave and Karst Research Institute
400-1 Cascades Avenue
Carlsbad, New Mexico 88220-6215 USA
Office: 575-887-5517
Mobile: 210-863-5919
Fax: 575-887-5523
gv...@nckri.org<mailto:gv...@nckri.org>
www.nckri.org<http://www.nckri.org>
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