Monthly 2nd & 4th Monday / 7 PM   Bexar Grotto meeting.  Chester's Hamburgers, 16609 San Pedro.

Monthly 2nd Wednesday   Texas Speleological Survey Work Session in Austin  Contact Ron Ralph for details.

I have confirmed the following dates for the Rancho Diana Karst Survey for the spring:

Project Date for this spring are:
Saturday, February 6
Saturday, March 13
Sunday, April 25

We will be focusing on the 800 acre main tract of the property, where there are at least 3 unsurveyed caves, 2 possible caves and many un-ridgewalked areas but also doing some mop up on the Scenic Canyon tract including additional digging on Hold-On-Jill Cave.

More details will follow closer to the dates.

We will meet at 9:00 am and directions are below.

Rancho Diana is a 1300 acre tract owned by the city of San Antonio over the recharge zone north of Helotes.  It is in an area with dozens of known caves nearby, some of significant size and the property has great potential!  There are about 10 known cave and karst features on the property but most of it has not even been ridgewalked.  The goal of the project is to survey the known caves and to search the whole property to locate and survey new cave and karst features.  For each trip, we will split into two teams - a smaller survey team and a larger ridgewalking team.  We will start by working on the smaller, but less explored, 500 acre Scenic Canyon tract.

Each person will be required to sign a City of San Antonio indemnification release.  Also, please contact me to tell me you are coming (if you haven't already) so I can ensure we don't have too large a turnout since parking space might be a bit limited.

Let me know if you have any questions - hope to see you there!

Thanks,
Joe
210-859-2105

*** Rescheduled due to heavy rain ***

Hey Texas cavers,

The most remote lead in Honey Creek Cave will be pushed in a series of three trips in March 2010.  Help is needed to haul gear for cave divers Jean "Creature" Krejca and James Brown.  Please let me know of your interest in being part of one or more of these epic adventures.

March 13, 2010 - James and Creature's dive gear will be taken to the upstream HS Sump, a six hour in-cave trip, from the shaft entrance.  The gear will be left there for the dive the next weekend.  No other trips into the cave will take place this weekend.

March 20, 2010 - Creature and James will go to the sump and do the dive.  The sump is 1,435 feet long.  James and Creature have explored and mapped about 1,000 feet of air-filled passage beyond it to the next sump.  They will dive this second sump on this trip.  When they return through the long sump, they will stash their gear on the entrance side of the sump.

NOTE: This weekend is the weekend when the cave is open for other trips.  Entrance to entrance swim trips, the Grand Finale Loop, or anywhere else in the cave, is fine this weekend.  Anyone planning to do this should make it known of their interest and plan to have at least one person on your trip who has done your proposed trip before.

April 3, 2010 - A large group will go back to the sump and retrieve the gear.  No other trips into the cave will take place this weekend.

I am keeping track of who would like to be part of this historic caving.  E-mail me of your interest and ask me your questions.

Cavingly,
Bill Steele

This is a great time for all of us to come together to enjoy presentations, group meals, new works at the Map & Photo Salon, treasures at the TCMA auction, business meetings, and our favorite vendors.

You will notice that I have made a change in the date and the location of the convention and I believe it will all be for the best.  I approached the Texas Cave Conservancy (TCC) and they would love to have the Texas Speleological Association (TSA) Spring Convention in Cedar Park, TX.

The TCC headquarters will be a great place for the 2010 TSA Spring Convention on March 26-28th and here are some great things that the new location adds:

• An urban convention (seconds from Austin) where locals have the choice to go home to their fuzzy beds at night
• Nearby meeting facility seats 100+ and is suitable for digital presentations
• The option of having Saturday workshops on cave mapping, vertical, conservation, restoration, and cave photography (instructors permitting)
• Maps and photos will be set up in the headquarters and a room will be available for everyone’s personal evening slideshows
• Pets are allowed off leashes, at your own risk
• Loads of nice camping
• Caving available very nearby
• A nice, cozy place to hang out during the evening
• A party on Friday night hosted by the TCC
• Convenient cooking facilities for our wonderful cooks

Diana Tomchick & Bill Steele have graciously agreed to host the program this year and are no doubt ready to wow us with another year of great talks on cave geology, biology, conservancy, and exploration.

Stefan and the CCC (Caving Cooking Crew) are going to bless us again this year with a wonderful catered meal!  We are all lucky to have the cooks.

Lyndon and the Greater Houston Grotto have agreed to be the registration team.  Individual and family registration fees will be announced closer to the convention date.

If you would like to volunteer, please contact me directly at ellie.thoene@gmail.com.

Link to TSA site
Show your support to Texas Caving by attending.
This will be great!

Ellie Thoene
Your TSA Vice Chair

The Robber Baron open house is still scheduled for Sat., April 10 and will be a fundraiser for TCMA as well as giving some of the people who didn't get into the first open house and others who have requested a tour of the cave over the last year a chance to see it.  The announcement was sent out last last Saturday and 130 people are currently signed up (I am allowing a max of 200 this time vs. the 345 we had last time).

I figure we will need at least 20 caver volunteers to make it happen, so if you are available from 9am-3pm that day, please let me know if you can help!

Joe Mitchell joe.mitchell@tcmacaves.org

There will be a work-weekend, Friday-Sunday, April 16-18 at the Deep & Punkin Cave Preserve.  We will be removing the tin roof, purlins, and second-story steel uprights of the new porch per the TCMA Boards decision.  We will leave the structure as a single-story covered porch and begin assessing its future usability.  Its also time for some spring-cleaning around the cabin and campsites.  Afterwards both caves will be open for general caving.

• Cordless drills/drivers with hex drives for the sheetmetal screws
• Acetylene torches or plasma cutters with long hoses
• Leather gloves
• Eye protection
• Cutting protection
• Chainsaws
• Loppers

Please bring your own food and beverages as well as 5 gallons of water per person attending (in case the storage tanks need refilling).  This will be a hard and unfulfilling job but one that is necessary.  The more people that help, the faster we can get through this and go caving/ get intoxicated.  If you would like to come to the Preserve but NOT work on the porch, Don Arburn will have other short alternative projects for you.  Please rsvp with myself or Don Arburn if you can make it.

Thank you for any help you can lend and your support of the Deep & Punkin Cave Preserve.

Best regards,
Arron Wertheim, wertheim75@hotmail.com