45.1 SPRING 2015 ESSO

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1 ESSO Bee Newsle er of the ESSO Gro o of the NSS Eastern States Speleological Organiza on INSIDE THIS ISSUE Page 1 Trip Report: Potential Pits Mapping Project Page 2 From the Editor Message from the President Page 3 Event Calendar Page 4 Bolting Project Update Promoting the Grotto Photos at CCSRP Page 5 Winter Adventure Weekend 2015 Page 6 Grotto Committees Trip Report: a trip to establish landowner relations and investigate potential pits Jeff Rickman Sheila and Keith had been invited to inves gate a few pits on a friend of theirs property. They met up with Jeff at McDonalds in Grayson and headed out to Carter City. The property was located off of Brushy Creek Rd. By chance Brian Saul, Mark Walker, Mike Rz, and Jeff Rickman had met the landowner before and remembered him being very friendly and open to cavers. A er a bit of small talk the landowner led us up a small road to the top of a sec on of pasture and pointed the way to where he had spo ed the pits. (con nued on page 6 ) MAPPING PROJECT The mapping project is currently underway and is making good progress. The goal of the project is to collect and organize cave and landowner informa on in one loca on and for the informa on to be userfriendly and accessible. The first mee ng was held in February at Steve Duncan s house. (con nued on page 6 ) Above: Sheila Stephens rappelling in to a pit 1

2 The ESSO Grotto of the National Speleological Society PRESIDENT: Jeff Rickman VICE PRESIDENT: Adam Wilson TREASURER: Sheila Stephens SECRETARY: Brian Saul FROM THE EDITOR Hi everyone, February marked one year since I joined ESSO Grotto, and I have to say that it was the best decision ever. Although I still have much left to learn, I have learned more than I ever thought possible in the past year. I want to thank everyone for continued support and contributions to the ESSO Bee and also for everyone s patience for this edition. My plan is for the Bee to be quarterly / seasonal, so the next edition will be ready by July s meeting. Please send all photos, articles and suggestions to: lesli.burdette@gmail.com. Also on behalf of every ESSO member, I would like to say congratulations to our recently appointed officers! We are looking forward to a fun and exciting year! Thanks, Lesli Burdette, Editor lesli.burdette@gmail.com Message from the President Greetings everyone, I have a few things to go over before you dive in to this edition of the ESSO Bee. First of all I would like to thank our editor for undertaking this most difficult task. Let s all remember that we can make her job a little easier by filling her inbox with lots of awesome content. We love to see old and new photos as well as trip reports both past and present. I for one would love to hear some stories from the early days of ESSO. Also, we have been kicking around the idea of having a Grotto day every month on the weekend following the Grotto meeting. These Grotto days could be held on Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Activities could include caving, hiking / ridge walking, map comparison, vertical practice, or anything else you could think of. We will likely start in May. If anyone has any suggestions on trips or activities for the Grotto, or would just like to voice your opinion on something, please feel free to contact me directly. Jeff Rickman jrickmana@gmail.com (304)

3 APRIL Saturday, April 25th...Volunteer Day, Cave tours.....carter Caves MAY May 2nd-3rd...Mammoth Cave Restora on Camp.. Mammoth Cave, KY Sunday, May 3rd...Annual Canoe Trip.Tygart s Creek, Carter Caves May 7th 10th....SERA.....Jamestown, TN UPCOMING EVENTS & CALENDAR Monday, May 18th.ESSO Mee ng......flatwoods Library May 22nd 25th...Speleofest......Louisville, KY JUNE Monday, June 15th.....ESSO Mee ng...flatwoods Library Saturday, June 20th....Annual ESSO Picnic.....Carter Caves June 25th 28th....KOR....Mount Vernon, KY 3

4 PLAN TO PROMOTE ESSO Recently, there has been much discussion regarding ideas to be er promote the gro o, including marke ng materials and se ng up booths at major cave related events such as KOR and SERA. Since January, President Jeff Rickman has been preparing business cards for distribu on. As of March, business cards were ready for prin ng. During the March mee ng, Jeff also discussed the idea of bumper s ckers and / or window clings, which was very well accepted by members in a endance. If you have any sugges ons or ideas, please send to Jeff Rickman at jrickmana@gmail.com. CARTER CAVES BOLTING PROJECT Last fall, several volunteer weekends were held to complete the bol ng phase at the future rappel sites at Carter Caves. The project has been ongoing for several years and is now nearing comple on. During the March mee ng, Coy discussed the progress of the project and future plans for trails and building addi onal steps to improve func on of the rappel site. Per Coy, rappel sites should be ready and open to the public by Memorial Day Weekend. PHOTO DISPLAY AT CARTER CAVES LODGE Renova on plans for Carter Caves Lodge include photo décor of various themes such as caves, wild life and flowers. At the March mee ng, Coy presented the idea of having an ESSO designated sec- on with a plaque dedicated to ESSO members for the long history of loyalty and service to the park. If you would like to submit photos for considera on, please to Coy Ainsley at coy@crawlathon.com. Above: new steps at rappelling site Right:: Installa on of bolts Photos courtesy of Adam Wilson 4

5 WINTER ADVENTURE WEEKEND WOW! Or should we say WAW! was Coy s opening line to his Staph thank you . With a record breaking 436 par cipants, over 150 trips and workshops, and $2,300 raised from dona ons and auc ons, WAW 2015 was undeniably the best the park has seen yet. According to Andy Niekamp, WAW registered more par- cipants on opening day of registra on in 2015 than for the en re event in 2010; needless to say, Winter Adventure Weekend has come a long way in 5 years. This year, many ESSO folks volunteered leading trips, events and workshops. To name a few: Mark Walker was a guide for the corrugated cave, Sheila Stephens and Keith Music lead tours through Bat Cave, and Jeff Rickman and Brian Saul ran the recrea onal tree climbing area while several others worked the high line pu ng on harnesses, helmets and working the ropes. Aside from tours and workshops, there was also a great turn out for the auc on, the squeeze box compe on, along with many beau ful submissions for the Photo Salon. Le : WAW 2015 shirts Keep Calm and Adventure On Photos courtesy of Adam Wilson; addi onal photos on page 8 Right: Highline team organizing rope, helmets and harnesses 5

6 Trip Report: a trip to establish landowner relations and investigate potential pits...con nued from page 1 A er a short walk we soon started seeing very promising features. The en re top of the hill was li ered with sinks, cracks, and small pits. No stone was le unturned. Every li le sink that was spo ed was inves gated. One par cular pit was about feet deep and able to be dropped to allow further inves ga on. The bo om was covered in a large debris pile consis ng of leaves and s cks of various sizes. All agreed that a digging project would be in order. By the end of the day we had accumulated enough digging projects to keep a dozen gro os busy for the next 10 years. If we all had Keith's energy the task could be accomplished in a day or so. A er about 3 hours of looking around we decided to pack it up. Given the amount of poten al for the area and the friendliness of the landowner we hope to return for a gro o trip and do some ridge walking in the future. Above: Sheila Stephens descending in to a discovered pit on the property; addi onal photos on page 7 MAPPING PROJECT (continued from page 1 ) At this point, the second mee ng is wai ng to be scheduled. Addi onally, many of the coordinates and maps need to be checked in the field for accuracy. If you have any cave related informa on or sugges ons for organizing informa on, please contact Steve Duncan. GROTTO COMMITTEES In the past, ESSO used a system of commi ees and nonofficer posi ons to achieve various goals and tasks. During the March mee ng, Jeff Rickman discussed reimplemen ng such a system to improve ac vism and increase membership. Previous commi ees existed for topics such as trip coordina on, safety, conserva on, ver cal, survey and several others. If you have any related sugges- ons or would like to volunteer for a commi ee or posi- on, please contact Jeff Rickman at jrickmana@gmail.com. 6

7 Above: Jeff Rickman and Keith Musick descending in to a newly discovered pit on the property Photos courtesy of Jeff Rickman 7

8 Top le : Rob Kline and Adam Wilson on highline Top right: Brian Saul Recrea onal Tree Climbing Bo om le : cave tour Bo om right: Rob Kline tearing down highline ropes Photos courtesy of Lesli Burde e, Jeff Rickman 8