The Carbide Dump

January 2017, V52, #1

January 2017 Vol 52, No 1

The Carbide Dump 2

January 2017, V52, #1

Feb 17, 2017: *BRG meeting, 7:30p.

Feb 18: VAR Sinkhole Conservation

work—see p. 7 this issue; please RSVP

for weather updates & reschedules.

Feb 24 to 26: MystiCon: Sci-Fi Con-

vention in Roanoke, VA which includes

a screening of the Murder Hole video.

Click this link for more info.

April 28 to 30: Spring VAR. Hosted by

Tommy Carpenter and friends at the

Thorn Creek Campground in Pendleton

County, WV. Contact Tom at 703-517-

9218 or ibaskateboarder@yahoo.com

for more information.

Spring 2017: Spring MAR. Hosted by

the Philadelphia Grotto, for their 70 an-

niversary. No contact at present.

June 19-23: NSS Convention, Rio Ran-

cho, New Mexico. On Facebook click

on this link for info.

NOTE: the US Fish and Wildlife Service is closing wild caves and mines on feder-al lands until more is known about White Nose Syndrome, a fungal disease that is killing bats. Learn more about decontam-inating your cave gear and preventing the spread of White Nose Syndrome

(WNS) in bat colonies by visiting HERE

January 20, 2017:*BRG meeting, Dave

& Mary Sue Socky’s house*, 7:30p.

Jan 22, 2017: The MURDER HOLE

video, Roanoke South County Library,

6303 Merriman Rd SW, Roanoke, VA

24018. Showing 3pm–4:30pm. FREE.

Contact Marian McConnell mari-

an.mcconnell@gmail.com or 540-309-

4707 for more info.

Jan 26-29, 2017: Winter Adventure

Weekend @ Carter Caves State Park,

Olive Hill, KY. Contact Coy Ainsley,

606-286-4411 or click this link for info.

June 30-July 4: Mid-Atlantic Karst

Conservancy 20th Anniversary celebra-

tion.

July 23-29: International Congress of

Speleology, in Sydney, Australia. For

more information, click on this link.

Sept 22 - 24: Fall VAR. Hosted by the

Pine Mountain Grotto at the Mountain

Institute on Spruce Knob in Pendleton

County. Contact John Taylor at 606-546

-6735 or jtaylor@unionky.edu for

more information.

Chairman Vice-Chair Secretary Treasurer Safety & Techniques

Bob Gulden

H:540-384-6159

caverbob@aol.com

Susan Burr

H:540-989-5809

pondlady97@cox.net

Mary Sue Socky

H:540-989-7693 sockymss@cox.net

David Socky

H:540-989-7693 sockydr@cox.net

Dan McConnell

H: 540-966-1345 danomcconnell@live.com

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 Al Stewart.

EXCHANGE MAIL/TRIP COORDINATOR EDITORS

Al Stewart David & Mary Sue Socky

2528 Montgomery Ave. S.W. 6572 Woodbrook Dr. S.W.

Roanoke, Va. 24015-4204 Roanoke, Va. 24018-5402

H: (540) 989-0483 H: (540) 989-7693 C: (540) 529-1591

email: sockydr@cox.net or sockymss@cox.net

The Blue Ridge Grotto holds its monthly meetings every third Friday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at a location to be

determined shortly. Temporarily, it will be at the Socky’s house. See the Grotto meeting announcement in this issue.

GROTTO OFFICERS AND COMMITTEES

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: http://blueridgegrotto.org/carbidedump.htm

Copyright 2017 by the Blue Ridge Grotto

Contributors: David & Mary Sue Socky, Nick Socky, Lee Slover, Janet Tinkham, Tommy Carpenter, Earl Suitor, and Jerry Fuller

Cover: The ‘Nixon’ formation in Locomotive Breath: Because it’s ‘transparent’ and ‘crooked’. Photo by Dave Socky

The Carbide Dump 3

January 2017, V52, #1

ANNOUNCEMENTS BRG Meeting Minutes – can be read

on the BRG webpage at:

http://blueridgegrotto.org under the

‘BRG Organization’ button.

Trip Reports: When you report on cave

trips at the BRG meetings, please submit

briefly written cave trip reports to the

grotto Secretary – it helps with getting

everyone’s names and trips in the

minutes. Thanks!

People asking for directions to caves –

Unless you personally know and trust

the person, give them directions to show

caves like Dixie, Natural Bridge, Luray,

Grand, etc. Protect the wild caves!

SAFETY & TECHNIQUES

Eventually BRG will have an indoor

SRT at the River Rock Climbing Gym in

Wasena/Roanoke, VA. In the meantime,

if someone wishes to offer a practice or

training, please let folks know!

CAVE CONSERVATION

WNS Decon Protocols 2016: Im-

mersion of clothes, gear in HOT water

(60C)(140F) for 20 minutes will kill

WNS spores.

VA and WV Cave Closure Dates

Virginia

Winter closure dates: Oct 15-Apr 15

Summer closure dates: Apr 15-Oct 15

West Virginia

Winter closure dates: Sept 1-May 15

Summer closure dates: Apr 1- Sept 15

Many caves that were open for the sum-

mer season have now closed. Please hon-

or all cave closures. Contact a grotto of-

ficer if you want to verify the current sta-

tus of a cave you may be planning on visit-

ing.

ROCKS BRG member’s survey projects in vari-

ous regional caves is progressing. We

hope to I.D. cave locations at Natural

Bridge State Park in January or February

2017.

Closed Cave List: See this link for a

listing of open and closed caves in the

VAR.

Perry Saltpeter, Botetourt Co. VA -

has been gated for hibernating bats and

endangered species. Summer access

(with landowner permission) is still be-

ing worked out.

Breathing Cave, Bath Co. VA—is

CLOSED for the winter months. Sensi-

tive landowner situation; when cave is

open for the summer months, please stay

on MARKED TRAIL (no bushwhack-

ing, no shortcuts!) or the owners will

close the cave year-round.

Sites Cave and Cave Rat Cave, WV

entrances have been fenced, with locks

and access is now controlled by Earl

Suitor 703-431-2661. Cave is open Jan

1 - Aug 31 of each year, is closed the

rest of the time at the owner’s request.

Treasurer's Report - David Socky

December 31, 2016

General Fund: $3,166.08 Conservation: $ 160.64 Cave Bucks: $ 112.64 Equipment: $ 235.36 Joe Fagan Brick: $ 10.00 Total: $ 3684.72

The January 20, 2017 meeting of the

Blue Ridge Grotto will be held at

David & Mary Sue Socky’s house (call 540-989-7693 for directions if

needed). 6572 Woodbrook DR SW,

Roanoke, VA. This is a temporary

location until we decide on a new

’official’ meeting place. The meeting

begins at 7:30p.

PROGRAM - This month’s program

will be two short videos from the NSS

Video Salon: The Hunt for Bat Boy,

Episode 1 (2016), and Thunder Hole

(2015).

Grotto Trip

TBD

BRG Meeting

Notice

Goodwin Trip Dec 2016 By Lee Slover

(Lee is the owners’ son-in-law, one of

the guardians of the Goodwins gate)

Happy New Year!

Well, we went in Goodwins Cave, VA

the other day and it was very interesting.

It was snowing outside, and after a

struggle getting the lock off, we made it

inside where it felt warm. One of the

friends had never been in anything like

this before so he was a bit slow at first.

We made our way all the way into the

large cavern and started to look for bats.

Sorry to say there was nothing (maybe

some old droppings). However, we did

see very small bugs, kind of like gnats,

and a couple of beetles. Also, there were

two piles of animal feces that were al-

most dog size. Lots of white fungi and

some green on the walls. It was also

very strange that the lake and inside was

very dry (the lake was the lowest I have

ever seen it). There were water drippings

all over the place, but no running water.

On our way out I did see one cave crick-

et. It decided to jump on the newbies’

face as she crawled out. She screamed a

little. it was great.

Locking the gate was a bit difficult but I

found the hole and all is good.

Just wanted to give you all an update

and status of the cave.

Have a great year.

Lee

The Carbide Dump 4

January 2017, V52, #1

PAY YER 2017 DUES!!

It's that time -

2017 BRG dues are $10.00 for regu-

lar or associate members, $5.00 for

additional family members. Discount

for members under 18. Subscriber

fee is $10.00 per person.

Make checks to Blue Ridge Grotto.

Families, additional dues payers –

there will be printed info on your

family rate at the BRG meeting.

If you mail in your dues, please in-

clude a piece of paper with your cur-

rent address, phones, email, NSS

number (and NSS expiration month),

and primary grotto affiliation.

You can pay for multiple years.

Pay your dues at the January Grotto

meeting, or mail them to the grotto

treasurer:

David Socky 6572 Woodbrook Drive SW Roanoke, VA 24018

These cavers have paid for 2017: Tom Beaman Sharon Bruce

Susan Burr

Joseph Caldwell

Carl Cornett Bill Cuddington (Life Member)

Martin DiLeggi

Joey Fagan (Life Member)

Bill Farlow Doug & Cheryl Feller

John Fox

Cole Frantz

Trish Geiger Bob Gulden,

Dusty, & Nicole Gulden (sub)

Jeff Huffman

Cyndi Hutchison Ben Johnson

Dan & Marian McConnell

Greg McCorkindale

Randy Michael Lynn Ott (sub)

David Ratliff

David & Zan Rose

David, Mary Sue, & Nick Socky Al Stewart (Life Member)

John Taylor

Bob Thren

Dave Wickersham

BRG Needs A New Home (Part 2)

The new year is here, and no new home

for BRG has been found yet (The Janu-

ary meeting will be at the Socky’s

house).

We can do a couple of things in the in-

terim: meet at member’s homes, or meet

at an area restaurant.

Member homes to consider:

Bob Gulden’s basement, 3369 Bradshaw

Rd, Salem, VA. (off Rt. 311, near Ma-

son Cove Elementary School)

Dave Socky’s place, 6572 Woodbrook

Dr. Roanoke, VA. (off Rt. 221, S of

Cave Spring Corners)

Lynn Ott’s place, 1907 Stone Mill Dr.,

Salem, VA (off W. Riverside Dr, near

Green Hill Park in W. Salem)

A suggested restaurant is Jersey Lily’s

Roadhouse, 1650 Braeburn Ave, Sa-

lem, VA (at Ridgewood Farms, across

Electric Rd. from Lewis Gale Hospital).

We would be required to order food,

dinners in order to reserve a meeting

room.

Meeting at people’s houses – we can

keep the same meeting time and day.

No time limit.

Meeting at restaurant - we can possibly

keep the same day, but should begin

meeting earlier to accommodate dinner;

will be required to purchase a minimum

number of dinners (instead of rent).

It would be nice to have a centrally lo-

cated ‘official’ place to have meetings at

a set day and time.

Our current meeting info (since 1969)

has been the 3rd Friday of each month,

7:30p.

Also, keep in mind that BRG donated

$100 per year to the previous meeting

place. So, while we cannot afford a high

monthly rental fee, we are quiet, we do

clean up after ourselves and have

thanked our host with a small gift from

time to time.

Do you belong to a club, know of a

church, a business, someplace in the

Roanoke Valley where the monthly

BRG meeting can be held? Is there a

community center at your apartment

complex that can be used?

Any suggestions and ideas should be

forwarded to Chair Bob Gulden caver-

bob@aol.com or Vice Chair Susan Burr

pondlady97@cox.net

Please keep looking, asking around.

Spring VAR 2017 (from the Region Record & VAR Website)

The 2017 Spring VAR will be held

April 28-30 at

Thorn Springs Park, Franklin, WV.

REGISTRATION: Registration info

coming soon.

CAMPING AREA: There are plenty of

wooded campsites around the park, next

to a babbling brook. Camping is includ-

ed with registration. The campground

has a bath house with flush toilets and

hot showers.

CABINS: Thorn Springs has about 10

cabins, and the VAR has reserved most

of them. They will be available for an

extra fee through registration.

HOTELS: There are 2 motels in Frank-

lin WV, only a few miles away, if camp-

ing doesn't suit you.

SATURDAY NIGHT: Dinner by Bat-

tarbees Catering, will be served in the

big pavilion; BYOB. Program: Murder

Hole Cave, by Dave Socky. John Fox

will DJ the party.

SUNDAY MORNING: VAR meeting at

9am. Hopefully there will be coffee.

CAVE TRIPS:

McCoys Mill Cave is within walking

distance of Thorn Springs.

Kee Cave is 5 minutes away.

Blood Cave is 5 minutes away.

The NSS Trout Cave Preserve is 5

minutes away.

Conservation trip in Seneca Caverns.

Several led cave trips (Sites Cave,

Shoveleater, Elkhorn Mt. Cave, etc,)

are being planned, too.

To Be Announced: Information on

vendors, outdoor activities.

The Carbide Dump 5

January 2017, V52, #1

Holiday Caving 2016 Story and photos by Nick Socky, NSS # 34313

Now that I am finally home I can post

the pictures from my six days of caving!

The first set of pictures is from The Bed-

rock And Bats Extravaganza which

started on December 27th and ended on

December 29th, 2016. The main project

that I worked on was the re-survey of

Minnie Corvins Cave down in Wythe

County, VA. This cave was originally

estimated at 400 feet in length, but Ran-

dolph Colby,

Erin Cantrell,

and I were able

to survey it up

to 750 feet in

two days, fin-

ishing the cave.

It was also

home to a bea-

ver (that was

not home) and

many MANY

spiders. I hope

to have the

map drawn later this week.

The last day I got to do a two-person

survey with Alice Jaworski in Speedwell

#1 Cave, VA where we finished some of

the previously unmapped cave and then

help finish the front half of the cave.

This survey yielded another 200 feet of

passage.

Over all, from December 27th through

the 29th, nearly 1000 feet of cave was

surveyed and 16.5 hours spent under-

ground! Thanks to everyone else who

participated in the event as well!

Then on Saturday, December 31, 2016,

Joe Calderone, Mitch Berger, and I went

to Windy Mouth Cave, WV, with the

goal of surveying 1000 feet and breaking

six miles! Sadly, we came up short (only

surveyed 760 feet - the cave is at 5.96

miles). But it was still a fun nine-hour

trip!

We started from the waterfall room back

toward the JC survey where we had a

mix of nice walking passage, some

crawly bits, cool stream passage, and

some phenomenal formations! Still about

1500 feet of passage to go before the

connection to JC is made. I am already

looking forward to going back to the

cave in two weeks! We did get out of the

cave in time to celebrate New Year at

WVACS with a small fire work show,

courtesy of Nikki Fox and Chris Coates!

Happy New Year 2017 Everyone!

Entrance to Minnie Corvins Cave

The Spider

Cool canyon passage with

Erin Cantrell

Speedwell #1 formations

Gypsum Flowers in Windy Mouth

Nice stream canyon in Windy

Mouth with Mitch Berger

Entrance to Speedwell #1 Cave

with Nathan Roser

and Jeramie Clifford

The Carbide Dump 6

January 2017, V52, #1

End of Year Caving (2016) Story and photos by David Socky

The last two months of 2016 was a

whirlwind of caving in addition to all

the holiday activities.

Windy Mouth Cave, WV: We’ll start

with Windy Mouth on November 19.

We managed to survey nearly a thou-

sand feet on a 12 hour trip with Nick

Socky, Tommy Polson, and I. We trav-

eled past the Waterfall Room and the

Blow Hole to do some work on the up-

per levels of the cave.

Our survey was in mostly walking pas-

sage and included a nice room and wa-

terfall with an old gold line rope and

rusty cable ladder.

This area of the cave is two hours from

the entrance and is certainly colder and

wetter than then rest of the cave, but

there is so much more to survey!

Science Trip 1: Then on November 20,

I participated on a science trip in Alle-

ghany Co., VA with Mark Minton, Jenn

Macalady, Yvonne Droms, Bob Alder-

son, Wil Orndorff, and Zena Orndorff.

Mark and I went to the back of the cave

looking for 'slime' for Jenn to collect.

Wil's team didn't go in all the way to the

back, but went a little past the GW sur-

vey, looking for biology and taking tem-

perature readings. They also left a num-

ber of data loggers (Hobos) to collect

temperature data in a number of places.

Southwest Virginia: (Thanksgiving

weekend,) On November 26, Nick

Socky, Bob Alderson, Andrew Lycas,

and I pushed an upstream water crawl

nearly five hours into the cave.

We all had wet suits. The water was way

down – even the entrance crawl was

noticeably lower than it had been two

years ago. Andrew led the way through

the cobble crawl. The water depth

ranged from 1 to 3 feet and the ceiling

height above the water ranged from 1 to

3 feet. The wet suits worked pretty well,

but we all got chilly. We all eventually

ended up wearing balaclavas, too.

Unfortunately, after 11 stations the

stream passage sumped out with impen-

etrable breakdown along the right wall.

We had found the end. Andrew and Bob

tried pushing the breakdown, but the

leads were just too tight. The water was

most likely coming out from under the

breakdown.

We did survey one side lead, but every-

thing ended there too. We did get close

to 500 feet surveyed. We exited the cave

at 3:30am, giving us a respectable 16

hour cave trip.

Catawba Murder Hole, VA: On De-

cember 3, Doug Feller and I led a sport

trip into Catawba Murder Hole for Larry

Manning, Mike Nally, and Simon

Rakoff - fire fighter/cavers from North-

ern VA. This was a trip setup by owners

Dan and Marian McConnell.

We rappelled off the high side, went into

the Screw Hole and then down into the

lower level, where there was no water!

We toured down to the Coriolis Sump

and looked at the mud canyon, which

would be no fun to climb down or back

up.

Science Trip 2: Another science trip on

December 9 to recover traps and data

from our trip on November 20. For this

trip Tom Malabad was the science per-

son with help from Mark Minton and

Yvonne Droms.

We also planned on surveying the lead

we had dug on in the very back of the

cave, through the Mouse Hole. But the

first thing we noticed is that the water

was up quite a bit.

When we got to the first near siphon, we

found that there was probably about an

inch of air space. It could have been

totally closed further in, especially since

there was not much air flow. But we did

have the bypass we could take to get

around the siphon.

We did the bypass and found the second

low spot was definitely sumped shut.

The water was a lot higher than we had

thought. We think the area got around 2

to 3 inches of rain on Wednesday.

We didn’t get any survey done, but we

were successful with most of the sci-

ence!

Maxwelton Sink Cave, WV: The

WVACS Christmas Party on December

10 is always a day for a short cave trip.

So Larry Fisher, Tom Feeney, and I sur-

veyed a miserable muddy, wet passage

that needed to be done which was near

the Latte Room. We finished the day

with 420 feet survey - past the point on

the old map. It still goes, but requires

some digging. It is virgin cave! We did

make it back in time for the party!

Paxton Cave: December 17 was the

Blue Ridge Grotto trip to Paxton Cave

with Doug Feller, Susan Burr, Patrick

Moore, and myself. We got in the cave

around 10:30am and made it back to the

First Formation Room without any prob-

lem. We didn't really find any obvious

vandalism, so we are not sure what the

reports were all about. Everything

looked fine.

We then went back past the Camel, the

Double D Crawl and finally to the

(Continued on page 7)

Susan Burr and Patrick Moore

in Paxton Cave

Dave Socky in stream Crawl.

Photo by Nick Socky

The Carbide Dump 7

January 2017, V52, #1

Shake off that cabin fever and join us!

This is an ongoing sinkhole cleanout

project that began at Spring VAR 2016.

After backhoe pulling lots of “stuff” out

of the sinkhole, we’ll work on burning

wood and condensing plastic to dispose

of properly. There is more brush and

wire to be pulled out of the hole.

Bring your gloves, we'll need a couple of

rakes, shovels, and chainsaws, wire cut-

ters for barbwire, 5-gallon buckets, some

tarps to drag the material on - they may

be destroyed in the process.

Dress appropriately as there is not any

shelter to get out of the cold.

A pot of chili and water will be provid-

ed. Additional food/snack contributions

are always appreciated.

Work will start around 9am and cleanup

will end before dark.

Please RSVP with contact information

if you would like to be notified of

weather cancellations. Otherwise, it

will be your responsibility to check

VAR: The Region Record Facebook

page or VAR list serve for updates.

Sinkhole Conservation Work Saturday, February 18, 2017 (weather permitting) - By Janet Tinkham

Directions: (google address or GPS)

676 Melrose Rd. Rockingham, VA

From the North

1. 81south to exit 257 toward Mauzy/

US-11/VA-259/Broadway 0.2 mi

2. Turn left onto Mayland Rd (VA-259)

374 feet

3. Turn right onto N Valley Pike (US-

11 S) toward Harrisonburg Via Rte

11 5.6 mile

4. Turn right onto Melrose Rd 0.7

miles

5. Look for white arrow sign with pink

flagging on the right for turn into

driveway

6. Follow signs through the gates for

parking.

From the South

1. 81 north to exit 251

2. Take exit 251 onto US-11 N (N

Valley Pike) 1.8 mi/

3. Turn left onto Melrose Rd 0.7 mi/

Melrose Store is on the corner of Rt 11/

Melrose Rd. They have a public bath-

room.

NSS Cave Vandalism Program Hello, fellow cavers,

In case you’re not already aware, the

NSS offers a reward for information that

leads to the legal conviction of cave van-

dals anywhere in the United States. The

NSS will consider a reward of up to

$1000 cash for information leading to

a local, state, or federal conviction of

any person or persons for acts of cave

vandalism.

The Cave Vandalism Deterrence Reward

Commission oversees this reward. I

have recently been appointed as the new

Chairman of the Commission, and I have

four other NSS members on my commit-

tee representing different regions of the

U.S.

Here's what you need to know about it:

1. If you see vandals in the act of van-dalizing a cave or otherwise are able to track down the identities of cave vandals, report it to the appropriate local authorities. You may need to cite your local cave protection laws, so here's a link (click here) to cave protection laws for all the states that have them:

2. If you see something, say something.

3. If your assistance leads to a convic-tion, we want to hear about it:

Email

Web page

Facebook – Yup, we also have a presence there, “Cave Vandal-ism Deterrence.” Check it out.

Lastly, please help spread the word that

this reward exists. You might let your

fellow grotto members know about this

reward. As you know, cavers are our

eyes & ears underground to keep vandal-

ism in check. The NSS takes vandalism

seriously, and it wants to reward those

who are helping to put an end to it.

Cave Softly! Sarah Richards

Chair, NSS Cave Vandalism Deterrence

Reward Commission

Christmas Room. We ended up doing a

good sized loop, going through a bunch

of crawls and then getting to a section

where there were tall narrow canons

with no way to get down to the bottom.

We eventually found our way to the

climb down, and back to the Camel.

After that we went to the Anthodite Gal-

lery, took some photos, then made our

way to the Big Room. We were out of

the cave by 2:00pm. A good 3.5 our trip.

Locomotive Breath: My final trip of

the year was a great survey trip into Lo-

comotive Breath, VA with Ed Saugstad,

Dave Collings, and Bill Murray.

It was a great 8 hour trip where we sur-

veyed 661 feet of mazy passage, back to

the Mutiny Section. We tied in to the G

Spot survey and then went up into the G

Spot survey to look at the dig.

The G Spot dig was real tight, uphill and

had very sticky yucky mud, but I still fit.

The dig would take a lot of work.

That finished our day - we exited at

6:30pm, finishing our last cave trip for

2016!

(End of Year Caving continued from page 6)

Cool formation in Locomotive Breath