SPRING VAR 2012 REPORT

by Peter T. Hertl

The 2012 Spring VAR (NSS Virginia Area Regional Caving Event) was held in a farm pasture North of Lewisburg, WV.  The weather during the night was still a bit nippy, but daytime temps were enjoyable.  Of course, you only had to worry about that if you were on the surface!

There were about a dozen signup sheets for trips ranging from 2 hr children’s trips to some fairly rigorous vertical trips.  Each signup sheet had a brief description of the trip and a stated limit on the number of participants so the group size was appropriate to the size and difficulty of the cave.  Additionally, there was a Vertical Training Clinic offered and the “Grapevine” entrance to the nearby commercial cave LOST WORLD CAVERNS was also rigged for descents and climbs all day.

I chose to go on a 10 person trip to Norman Cave, a part of the 20 mile Bone-Norman Cave complex.  Bone is VERY dry, and connects to Norman by a narrow passage called “The Pinch”.  We did not do a through trip on this occasion, and our trip was limited to the Norman Cave side, which is primarily an active stream passage.

The group met at 9 am and made the approx 20 mile drive to the cave.  Parking was not a problem, and the trail to the cave is short.  We were underground before 10 am, and after a short orientation by Jeff, the trip leader, we proceeded deeper into the cavern.  The climb-down into the stream passage was not too bad, and the waterfall that starts the stream passage had a strong flow and was very loud.  After enjoying the falls, we proceeded down stream.

As stated on the sign up sheet, we did get wet.  Most of the trip was spent walking in the rapidly flowing water which ranged from ankle deep to waist deep.  Fortunately, the waist deep part was only in two short sections, and did not prove to be much of a problem for anyone on the trip.  There were a couple of other areas called falls that were a little loud, but qualified more as rapids than actual waterfalls.

On the way in we made one side trip off the stream passage to visit the Carmel Room.  I’m not sure why it is named that, but perhaps it was the color of the large flowstone and curtains that were the main decorations observed. The room was a popular stop and we took a lot of photos of the main formation and its’ reflection in the pool of water at its base.

Toward the end of the trip, slower members of the party took their time returning upstream toward the entrance, and some of the group started to get a little cold from the water, and sought refuge outside the entrance.  This gave Todd and I a chance to spend a good bit of time in the West Virginia Room located near the first waterfall.

The room is fairly heavily decorated compared to the other parts of the cave we had seen, and we spent most of the time taking photos.  We also carefully examined what had been billed as broken formations.  They were indeed broken, but it looked as though the damage had been caused by breakdown falling from the ceiling rather than vandalism.  Perhaps this had happened during the recent earthquakes that occurred in the Virginias, and if so, was the second such damage within caves I have seen this year.

If you did not make it to Spring VAR… too bad… you missed it.  However, the next such regional cave event is Fall VAR.  The time and place are being planned now, so watch for the announcement in the near future.

Last run on the Sink...Mudding in Hell

Date: 14 Jun 2013-16 Jun 2013

I arrived after some prep time at Carlin's place in Durham, with a much distressed soon to die water pump in the car. After the gear move to his car, we were off. The drive up pretty uneventful, smooth sailing and a good time to eat a sandwich. Next day, we got to the cave around 930-1000. The trip in was tight and muddier than I remembered. The path seemed longer, for some reason. We got in and Carlin lead off to get some sketches while I caught up. This trip was a lot harder than I wanted it to be. Once at recovery junction, we made some plans to traverse a few points on the left, getting cross section sketches along the way. The sketching did not take long, just about 10-15 min, I assume. When done, it was back to recovery junction and off to the pit traverse. Across that, and a few squeezes later, we ran headlong into more mud. It made the slopes in there a whole lot tougher to climb. At one point, I found it easier to rely on my mechanics skills to scoot myself up the slope by hanging on the ceiling. My choice in packs for my gear at this point was becoming a pain in the... At any rate, it was the death of that one on the way out. The path onward was one full of surprises. I had some trouble due in large part to no traction from my boots. But hey that happens. The points that were needed for surveying will still have to wait until someone else does them. When there at the critical junctions, there was a lot more mud and it was tight, Carlin opted not to press on, I volunteered being there and all. But we passed on them due to the conditions of the cave. I think that was the wiser choice. We did have some fun on the way out at the section now dubiously titled Muddy Flags, all puns intended. The giant slide was the best, and the quickest way down. It got a little scary, truth be told.The next week, my ribs quit hurting about Wednesday. In closing all in all a good trip, scary at times. I'll be ready for the next non-Cold Sink trip just as soon as I get new boots and a good gear pack, because confidentially this one was ridiculous. Sunday---That for me was Water pump Showdown. Nothing a mechanically inclined tech can't handle. Job started about at 1500 completed 1820..No worries, just sweat and pain on sore ribs. A few cuts and a sunburn or two, nothing major, really. Just a well placed oh S*** in traffic when the pump died from being jammed. So far, no leaks.

-Martin G.