the underground movementthe underground movement volume4,edition6 november,2006 page3 ccg officers...

The Underground MovementVOLUME4,EDITION6 NOVEMBER,2006

Wait a minute, those aren’t turkeys, are they?(Hey guys, don’t leave your trip leader!!!)

(lefttoright)Fred,Andy,Steve,Dave,and(Ken)PhotobyKenNicholsatOnesquethawCave

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The Central Connecticut Grotto (CCG)invites you to join us in the exploration,

study and conservation of caves.

The Underground Movement (UM) ispublished bi-monthly by theCentral Connecticut Grotto (CCG) of theNational Speleological Society (NSS).Contact the UM editor or individual author forpermission to reprint.

Editor: Steven Janesky (NSS #47988)C/o CCG117 Church StreetSharon Springs, NY 13459(518) [email protected] [email protected]

CCG MeetingsMeetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of each month, starting at7pm. These are reasonably informal, and generally consist ofa short business meeting followed by a caving presentation.Summer meetings are usually held at a member’s house inSouthington; please contact any CCG Officer for further infor-mation. Meetings for the remainder of the year are held atHRP Associates in Farmington. Non-members are alwayswelcome.

CCG Meeting DirectionsHRP Associates197 Scott Swamp RoadFarmington, CT 06032Contact Bob Simmons on (860) 674-9570 ext 134

-From Interstate Route 84, take Exit 33, Route 72 West to-wards Bristol.-In 2 miles, take the North Washington Street Route 177 Exit.-Turn right off the exit ramp onto Route 177, heading north.-In 2 miles you will come to the intersection with Route 6, a.k.a.Scott Swamp Road. (Tunxis Community College will be onyour right)-Turn right onto Route 6 east.-At the second set of lights (about a half mile down the hill fromRoute 177), turn right into the driveway for the Farmington Cor-porate Park.-You will immediately come to a “T” Intersection (stop sign),turn left.-At the bottom of the entrance drive you will come to a trafficcircle. Bear right, and you’ll see the 197 Scott Swamp Roadbuilding on your left.- The entrance to HRP Associates is in the inside corner of theL-shaped building, directly behind the three flagpoles. Try notto park in the far end of the parking lot as many of those spotsare reserved by the daycare next door for dropping off/pickingup purposes.-HRP Associates is through the right hand door as you enterthe building.

CCG DuesRegular Membership Dues: $5 per year(NSS members can opt to pay $20 for a 5-yearmembership)

Associate Membership Dues: $2 per year(Non-voting – intended for family, youth, or full-time stu-dent members)

Institutional Membership No Charge yearly renewal(Open to educational, scientific and conservationorganizations)

CCG WebsiteTheCCGwebsiteiswww.ctcavers.org

Thewebsiteisanexcellentsourceforgrottoinformation,events,history,andphotos.AseparateCCGmessageboardisathttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/ctcavers/,andisaccessibletomembersonly.Tosendagroupemail,[email protected]


http://www.ctcavers.org

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ctcavers/,



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CCG OfficersChair: Bob Simmons 860-738-1176

[email protected] Chair: Steve Millett 203-640-6703(Program and Activities) [email protected]: Norm Berg 860-621-2080

[email protected]: Steve Millett 203-640-6703

[email protected]: Norm Berg 203-621-2080(Web-monkey) [email protected]: Emily Ray 203-589-2376

[email protected]: Doug Truitt 860-298-8862

[email protected]: Garth Varian 203-453-5639

[email protected]: BobJacobs 860-429-7067

[email protected]

National Speleological SocietyThe National Speleological Society (NSS) is the national organization of which CCG is a part. CCG members areencouraged to join the NSS.The NSS website is at www.caves.orgThe NSS discussion board is at www.cavechat.org

2813 Cave AvenueHuntsville, AL 35810-4431

Phone: 256-852-1300Fax: 256-851-9241E-Mail: [email protected]

The Central Connecticut Grotto (CCG) invites you to join us in the exploration, study and conservation of caves

CCG CalendarEvents are not limited to what is on the calendar! Listings are subject to change. Check out the activities listed atwww.ctcavers.org, or contact fellow grotto members to create your own trips.

Remember our neighboring grottos in the northeast may have activities planned too – see the Northeastern RegionalOrganization (NRO) website at www.caves.org/regions/nro/ for links to other grotto websites.

Keep everyone updated on trips, events, changes, and other news by emailing the information [email protected].

Please sign up now for the re-mapping of Mystery (Surprise) Cave,certainly a worth while endeavor.


http://www.caves.org

http://www.cavechat.org

http://www.ctcavers.org,

http://www.caves.org/regions/nro/



MinutesoftheCCGMonthlyMeetingOctober2006

MeetingDate:10/17/06MeetingheldatHRPAssociates,Farmington,CTMinutesTakenBy:SaraHerman

ChairmanReport:N/ASecretary Report:corrected/changesTreasurer Report:Balance$1,607(approximately)Dues:$187addedtotreasuryMembershipReport:Thereareapproximately77membersSafety Chair Report:October28+29Pittsford,VTorientationforcaverescue.Veryimportantfornewcaverstoincreasesafetyawareness.Webmaster Report:Cleanupemaillist,nowwehavevalidemailaddressesandeverythingisworkingwell.Conservation Chair Report:CleanupatBaughCaveOld Business:HelmetsfromCJRtotaling14or15.Goodhelmetswithclipsforlights.New Business:Headlights.Nextmeetingwewillbringinclub’sequipmenttodoinventory.SaraHermanwillbringinheadlampcatalogue.PayingformembershipofUAYCEFdueoncemore.MoneygoestoclubsinUkraine.Allinfavorofmotiontopaydues(4years)Tworetroactiveand2future.MotiontopayNCCMembershipdues..AllinFavor!

Future Trips:1.WestVirginiaforNewYears2.OCR-VT3.Onesquethaw(1/22/07)4.MorrisCave(11/04/06)AndyOuimetteapossibletripleader(needtripreport,[email protected])5.EverettesCave(possiblyonthewaybackfromMorrisCave)(needtripreport,[email protected])6.Schoharie(12/9/06)7.Mappingacave-CompounceorRagged(12/2/06)(pleaseconsiderShelterCave<NSSNews>)

Past Trips:1.ClarksvilleCave2.OnesquethawCave3.Barytes-Wolferts-Howe4.Nature’sWay5.SchoharieCave6.GagesCave

Meetingadjourned@9:15p.m.

I would still like to lead a trip into Benson’s Cave before years end, any one interested should please contact Steve Janesky

Benson’s Cave (near junction) Benson’s Cave (Entrance Drop)PDF Creator - PDF4Free v2.0 http://www.pdf4free.com



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Learning to Sketch CavesBy Jansen Cardy

On Sunday August 6, I attended the Cave Sketching Workshop at the NSS Convention in Bellingham. Having faithfully(and sometimes accurately) read instruments on various survey trips, it was finally time to learn how to put pencil to water-proof paper for myself.

Most of my previous mapping trips have been led by one female sketcher or another (or as I prefer to call them, “SurveyMistress”). So it was appropriate for me that this class was taught by two of the very best - Carol Vesely and Pat Kambe-sis. Incidentally, I never registered for the class. While speaking with Carol the evening before, she suggested SteveHobson and I turn up in the morning anyway – there might be some no-shows. Amazingly, in a prepaid class of 12 therewere 11 no-shows! Their loss.

So the student body consisted of me, Steve from California, and our one registered attendee – Lucas Middleton. Lucas is ayoung caver from Carlsbad, New Mexico who really worked to get the most out of his first Convention. Our class startedout with an overview on cave mapping in general, along with symbols, techniques, plotting, sketching to scale, and so forth.Then we took a walk outside into the courtyard, where we started surveying point-to-point and sketching our imaginarycave.

Finally it was time to head to a real cave! After grabbing lunch at Subway, we hit the road for the 90 minute drive to ThreeMile Creek Cave in Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest. The weather was perfect as we negotiated the bumpy mazeof forestry roads. We parked near a stand of trees with a majestic view of snow-capped Mount Baker, and made the not-so-grueling 5 minute hike all 200 feet to the cave.

Three Mile Creek is a horizontal limestone cave, with a nice size entrance room. It was perfect for learning how to sketch.We began by setting a station outside the entrance, before working our way inside. Carol and Pat read instruments andtape for us, while providing constant coaching. The 3 of us busied ourselves scribbling and erasing in our new Rite-in-the-Rain notebooks. We started to define the walls, floor, drip-lines, ledges, ceiling height changes, and other details. Severaldays later I saw the ‘official’ map of this cave – just a pair of walls and very little detail!

Our sketches slowly began to take shape. After a couple of hours, it was time to wrap things up. Class dismissed! Ourfuture as cave sketchers was cemented with these parting words of wisdom – practice, practice, practice.

Captions: (all photos by Jansen Cardy)(Steve and Mt Baker) Steve Hobson parked near Three Mile Creek Cave, with Mount Baker in the background(Pat, Steve, Lucas, and Carol) At the cave entrance – Pat Kambesis, Steve Hobson, Lucas Middleton, and Carol Vesely(Lucas sketching) Lucas Middleton perfects his sketch(Cave sketch) The results of my first real attempt at sketching a cave




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NCRC in Vermont by Emily Ray

Over the weekend of October 28th-29th I went to the Orientation to Cave Rescue in Pittsford, VT. Of the approxi-mately 20 people who attended the course, I had the impression about half were EMT’s or paramedics and the other halfcavers (with some overlap). A fair number of the cavers seemed to have the same amount of caving experience that I have,about a year. I wasn’t the only person from CCG, as Ron Carlson also attended.

On Saturday, starting bright and early, we had sessions on recognizing a rescue situation and what to do next, set-ting up a hierarchy to organize the rescue, and the importance of communication during the rescue. Through all of this,many of the instructors referred to the 36 hour rescue at Keyhole Cave, which sounded particularly nightmarish for the in-jured caver. We had several sessions on medical issues for rescues. Apparently tight, cold, wet Northeast caves are perfectfor getting hypothermia. We definitely didn’t absorb all the information in the sessions and we really weren’t intended to,but I think everyone there absorbed a fair amount of information about hypothermia willingly or not.

After the classroom sessions, we had some hands on sessions, including carrying a patient (our incredibly braveinstructors- I would have been exceedingly nervous to be carried up a flight of stairs and back down again in the dark by agroup of beginners) in a sked around an obstacle course. Even in a warehouse were we could all stand up and movearound it took an awful long time to properly wrap up our patient in the sked. I think one of the lessons of the course is howlong it takes to do everything in a cave even when you want to move fast.

On Sunday morning we had a mock exercise in one of the local caves (Pittsford Ice Cave) and I had the unusualexperience of being in a cave at 9:45 am, well before noon. I suppose you need to be prepared for anything if there’s a res-cue. We were each assigned tasks by Incident Command and I went into the cave (which is small but nice, by the way) aspart of the “hasty search.”

We found the first patient and I stayed with her, while the other caver went back out to find another group to go lookfor the other injured caver. I spent the next couple of hours with someone doing a very good impersonation of a very diffi-cult, emotionally deranged injured woman in a cave. Buying into the exercise, it was frustrating to not be able to do muchmore than wait for hours with someone who was pretty irrational, but still needed a lot of help. As a team we got both ourinjured patients out alive, including the second injured caver who conveniently hit his head around a tight corner near somewater.

The most obvious lesson from the weekend is that I don’t ever want to get injured in a cave, because any sort ofrescue, even perfectly organized with excellent communication and agreement between all parties will take a miserablylong time. I may be making the nature of the rescue sound grim, but the weekend itself was a really good experience. Theamount of details and practicalities the NCRC (National Cave Rescue Commission) and the people who volunteer at res-cues have to handle in order to get an injured person out of a cave are highly impressive.

After our mock rescue, one of the paramedic students who had attended the rescue training, but never been in acave, unbelievably after the weekend of horror stories we’d all been showed, came into her first cave and liked it! Hopefullyshe’ll come back for more caving.

Pictures on page 7




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PhotosbyJohnDanyew




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Thirty new feet of Cave has been discovered in Onesquethaw Caveby Ken Nichols and Steve Janesky (cover photo) this November. Theraging waters must have washed out a large amount of sand, clay anddebris from this fissure right after the first belly crawl, leaving a 15 footdeep pit in the floor, of which one must climb upwards to continuethrough the cave. We found a small passage (virgin) three chert lay-ers below the existing main passage that drops into a small pool thatcontinues underwater downwards for about 5 feet and onwards. Wa-ter levels at the time of the find were very high, though during mid-winter levels, the CCG has a great chance of finding more passagebeyond this pool. The passage has enough room to pass anothercaver and to turn around in. It is also about 30 feet above the level ofthe barnyard, though the water resurges within the cave just beforethe otter slide. A grade 5 map should be made ASAP, before anotherspring rain should fill it back in (or not). Many of the caves sand barshave shifted, making it a new experience to those who have visited itin the past.

Steve Janesky

A Word from Vice-Chair Steve Millet

I plan on actually making it to the grotto meeting meeting next week. Hopefully there will be a decentturnout. I've got a few things I'll want to talk about. Our favorite Met grotto member Scott Sala waselected president! (of the grotto not the country , yet...). He has been working along with me joining ourevents to ensure good turnouts. I'm done with school pretty soon so will have less weekend responsi-bilities (except for ice climbing). I'm really looking forward to New years in WV this year and am hopingto go down with a large roup. If anyone is looking for a map of pretty much anything, let me know. I'verecently come across some good resources to very rare stuff. I'll bring some pictures to the meetingalso to share if we have nothing else to share. Cramp said he will possibly be doing a slide show of hisrecent trip to Rome where he helped explore and document some parts buried Ancient Rome at thechristmas meeting.On a side note, go to google videos and watch "Journey towards the center of the earth" by bill stone.Either search for it or trythis link:http://video.google.com/videoplay? docid=5797001505961 854840&q= bill+stone& hl=en

Caving, its kinda like fun... Only Different

HAPPY THANKSGIVING CAVERS


http://video.google.com/videoplay?


the underground movementthe underground movement volume4,edition6 november,2006 page3 ccg officers...

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