| April 2025 Minutes | | Meeting was held on April 01, 2025 | | Minutes recorded by: Brian Alger |
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| Attending | - Lee Ann Dean (Host)
- Skinny Reynolds (Host)
- Piper Weekly
- Matthew Plett
- John Johnston
- Juliette Cloutier (Guest)
- Matt Brasher
- William Tucker
- Dakota Mason
- Michelle Brooks
- Brian Alger
- Gunnison Brasher
- Jenson Brasher
- Darcy Phillips (Guest)
- Nichole Alton (Guest)
- Tim Kohtz
- Pierson Miller
- Levi Ramsey
- Ryan Marshall
| | Old Business | - Covered last month's minutes
- Sam Seaver - No further updates
- Lee Ann is doing a great job of keeping track of the loaner caving gear. She mentioned that this has been a great benefit for people interested in trying out caving for the first time.
| | New Business | - William Offered vertical training to anyone who wants it. He has a large garage where a rope can be rigged and vertical techniques can be practiced. They just need to give him a call to work out the details.
- Pierson has a background in rock climbing and gave a quick overview of caving vs rock climbing. William added that cavers climb ropes rather than rocks.
- William brought up the topic of an electronic Survey Workshop series that can be attended via Zoom, (https://sacs.caves.org/presentations.html). The last presentation talked about drawing on a tablet, and the use of a Disto X or Bric V4 or V5. The Bric is available for $999 from Inner Mountain Outfitters.
- Lee Ann has several LAG patches. She has been giving them to members when they reach their first anniversary as a member. Dakota "finally" got hers.
- Lee Ann mentioned that Carol Belski of the SWR (Southwestern Region of the NSS) is looking for trip reports.
- McKittrick cave is now open to permitting.
- There is a possible trip to Carlsbad Caverns to work on algae removal.
| | Trip Reports | - Lee Ann, John and his boys attended the SWR on McKittrick Hill. Lee Ann and Matt each gave a quick report of the trip. Then Gunnison and Jenson who each did an incredible job of giving a trip report of their time in McKittrick Cave.
- John - Gave an entertaining trip report for the restoration trip to Carlsbad Caverns.
- William - Trip report for the restoration trip to Carlsbad Caverns. After a year of planning, it finally happened on March 15-23. An estimated 1,500 gallons of water was pumped out of the cave pool into blowup swimming pools. The pool was then cleaned and the water was put back into the pool. The park was happy with the work along with the 100s of visitor interactions. The project is considered complete.
- Pierson - Report from Yeso trip. Did some digging in Alien Crash Cave with no breakthrough. Also surveyed in Tummy Trouble Cave.
- Lee Ann - Caverns of Sonora, the mural paintings molded again. They were cleaned and moved up to the pavilion. They were photographed and a vinyl print will be made to place back in the entrance building. Ideas are being tossed around on how to keep it from growing mold again due the high humidity level coming out of the cave.
| | Upcoming Trips | - May - Merus Cave Mapping
- April 26-27 - Yeso
| | Program | - Lee Ann gave a hands on presentation of some items she learned at the Small Party Rescue Training event she attended at Caverns of Sonora. She showed how to make a harness out of webbing, a body belay technique, how to recover from hypothermia and a carabiner/webbing hoist system that allows up travel but not down travel.
| | Next Meeting | - May 6, 2025
- 7:00 PM
- Alger residence
3403 89th St
Lubbock
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