A good friend of the Germany Valley Grotto and local caving stud Rick Lambert is also know as the Chairman of Highland County Grotto. We were happy to learn from Rick last week that he intends to start up a new effort in the valley to focus new attention on Apex, Ruddle, and Convention 2000 caves. All three of these great caves have the potential to become much more than they presently are, and Rick and his buddies are set to put their backs into the effort. We want to be the first to wish them the best of luck and success in their endeavors.


Rick Lambert, notorious cave stud, rappels into Harman Pit, Germany Valley, West Virginia

On May 14th, a survey team returned to map and push in Shovel Eater cave. Equipment problems cancelled the survey effort but a new pit was dropped and a dig at the bottom pursued. That dig broke through and has led to a tremendous amount of large cave, including several pits, the deepest taped to 130 feet. Read the first report in this series at: this link


Bob Kirk sets bolts at the top of the 130 foot Patrick's Pit in Shovel Eater Cave - photo by Mark Passerby

Two weeks later the survey began in interest and the newly discovered "Patrick's Pit" was rigged and dropped. The pit taped out to a whopping 130 feet, and led to an offset 45 pit at its base. Overall depth for the cave was pushed to 432 feet and the survey was caught up to the point of latest discovery. Full report and photos at: this link

June 11th, another weekend and another survey in Shovel Eater cave. And guess what, more pits too. Another deep pit puts the team down into a huge void, so large they can't see the far wall. Going in one direction the push down through a massive hall and climb down canyons until they're yet again, out of rope. This also establishes a new deep point for the cave at -457 feet below the entrance. And it still goes down from there! Check out the photos and full report at: this link

On June 25th Barry Horner and Tom Barton returned to Shovel Eater and tried to push their way into the large black void seen on the previous trip. Instead they were forced downward through three more drops, including a nice 85 footer. But it paid off handsomely with a nice segment of borehole that headed south for a few hundred feet. Photos and the first draft working map are embedded in the full report at: this link

Bob Kirk and Adam Burd kept the survey going on a lightly attended July 9th weekend. The made it down to the borehole and surveyed a couple hundred feet into a very big dome, named the "Big Tease". Their nice collection of photos, trip report, and an updated working map can be seen at: this link

Finally, on July16th, Jeff McCracken and Tom Barton made a short trip in to survey some of the mid-level passages that have potential to penetrate the large black void noted previously. Alas the passage they mapped bypassed the void and took them to yet another new pit, this one taping out to 65 feet. The left going leads at the bottom. A short report and the updated working map is available at: this link

Now you're up to date on Shovel Eater Cave.

Our second trip since breakthrough and wouldn't you know it, we didn't bring enough rope. The 101 footer that I brought was enough to get down two drops, but after a short piece of borehole passage the third drop stopped us for the day. Good air though, and good leads left to push. Check out the illustrated report for more details.


Tom Barton and Devin Kouts with virgin borehole in the back ground, Shovel Eater Cave - photo by Rick Orben

After twenty years of on again, off again attention a recent spate of trips to the dig face in Shovel Eater cave have finally bourne fruit. A nice drop of 40 feet with two more pits estimated at 50 feet each were the reward for eighteen consecutive trips of hard rock digging. See the illustrated report on the PSC website and check out the photo album for pics of the new cave passage.


Miles Drake on the first drop discovered in Shovel Eater Cave - photo by Mark Passerby

An excellent demonstration of persistence in the face of unknown possibilities exists below the wooded flanks of North Fork Mountain here in Germany Valley. It's called the "Shovel Eater Dig" and it has kept a team of hard digging cavers on tenterhooks for almost two years. On March 26th Tom Barton, Mark Passerby, Lee Passerby, David Crenshaw and Devin Kouts all made the 4x4 schlep to Shovel Eater and put in another full day of rock removal and crevice following. Will this commitment pay off? We'll just have to wait and see.


Tom Barton works the dig face in Shovel Eater cave. See more photos from the dig's history in the Shovel Eater photo album.

The intrepid Pawel Skoworodko from Speleoclub Warsaw (or Speleoklub Warszawski), Poland first met Mark Stover and Robert Monczka while helping out on the Bill Stone expedition to Cheve in Mexico last year. Pavel was such a cool guy that Mark and Robert invited him to the States for a couple months of caving and fun. It turns out that Pawel has a great photographer's eye and after returning to his home country he posted some of his Germany Valley photos to Speleoklub Warszawski's gallery. Incidentally, while Pawel was in action in Memorial Day cave last November and December a virgin canyon passage bypass that he pushed was named in his honor, the Polish Loop.

Lewis Carrol and Pawel Skoworodko return from Memorial Day Cave, Germany Valley, West Virginia

Andrew Medley took a few of his chums to bop and crawl around in a perennial favorite here in Germany Valley, Harper's Pit. They took lots of pictures and I must say, what a nice looking bunch of cavers. Hope they'll come back to the valley for a visit, then we can show them around to some of our other favorites.


Andrew Medley and friends are ready to climb out of the Harper's Pit entrance drop - photo credit - Andrewmedley.com

And they thoughtfully put together a very attractive photo album to tell the tale of their trip. Enjoy it here.


Joann Smith guides in Memorial Day Cave

On March 12th Tom Barton, Rick Orben, Jim Gildea and Barry Horner returned to Shovel Eater to continue the dig effort beyond the small break through reached in our effort two weeks prior. While they dug, I was taking in the warm temperatures of Napa Valley, too far away to participate, but wishing them well all the same.

By the end of the day they had knocked a lot of rock off the right hand wall (going in) and widened the breezy crack in the floor enough that they could get in a half body length. To summarize, the air still blows very strong from the crack, and they now have a respectable echo returning from the depths of the crevice. We could be getting close to another breakthrough soon.