What Happened at the last meeting

November 27, 2006

There were 16 adults at the grotto meeting last night: Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, Jeremy Rowan, Janelle Humphrey-Rowan, Jodanna Humphrey, Mary Schmidt, Dave Riggs, Don Humphrey, Alan Carpenter, Rocky Parsons, John Barth, Kevin Keplinger, Justin Keplinger, Carl Werntz, Chris Eleyette and Doug McCarty.

Items discussed were:

1. Christmas Party: Reminded folks that the party will be at Bob and Mary's house in Morgantown on December 27th (a Wednesday) . Bring a food item to complement the meat and cheese tray, and, if you choose to participate, a cave-related gift costing no more than $15. Directions will be sent out to the list serve.

2. Post Christmas Trip to Sinnett Thorn on Saturday, December 30th. We will rendezvous at the Dollar Store in Franklin at 9:30am. The party is limited to 15 people. So far we have Kevin Keplinger, Josh Keplinger, Justin Keplinger, John Barth, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, Alan Carpenter, Carl Werntz, Rocky Parsons, Brian Masney and Doug McCarty 

3. Nominations for Officers. Bob and Doug asked to be relieved from their posts, but, alas, it didn't happen. Nominees are Chairperson--Doug McCarty, Vice Chair Jason Thomas, Secretary/Treasurer Bob Griffith, Board Member Justin Keplinger. To make it official, ballets will be sent out.

4. Surveying training/practice on Rich and Jill's plot of ground on Snake Hill Road in Monongalia County will take place this coming Saturday in the AM. Contact Rich for more info.

5. T-shirts: Your unworthy chairman continues to screw that up--what else is new.

Trip Reports

(a.) Adopt-a-Highway: Doug reported that Alan C. and he were the only ones there. They picked up 3 bags of garbage and 8 tires.

(b.) Elkhorn Mountain/Sites: Mary Schmidt gave a report on the multi-grotto trip that was so large they split into two separate group. They did Elkhorn Mountain in the am and Sites in the pm. There was a dead deer at the bottom of the drop in Sites.

(c.) Simmons Mingo: Bob gave a trip report on a trip he and Llew Williams took the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. They continued to explore and familiarize themselves with the cave.

(d) Shavers Mountain: Rocky reported that nothing but ridgewalking occurred in November. Kevin reported finding a cave entrance on Shavers blowing a plume of steam 15 feet into the air. Rocky believes that is Beenettle Cave (found by Ralph Hubbard in the summer of 2005 and still unexplored)

(e) TCSS: Nothing happened this month

(f) NYDC: Dave reported on a recent push trip done by him, Brian masney and Jason Thomas. The going passage becomes high and narrow canyon passage that is only traversable in a very small crawl over 20 feet of exposure—the very narrow canyon. Dave pushed it until his common sense told him it was no longer safe.

What's Up for the Future?

1. TCSS: Whether we do Tucker County in December is up in the air for now. If the weather is good, we will do something. If not, we won't. We discussed our overall strategy--to finish surveying our two closed caves in Tucker, to survey in Elk Lick and publish when the Cave Hollow survey is done.

2. NYDC: The next step is to do some dye tracing. That is unscheduled at this juncture.

3. Shavers Mountain: will probably be cancelled in December because there is nasty weather predicted.

Because of the Christmas Party there will be no grotto meeting in December!!

The next meeting will be at the normal time and place on January 29th

There were 8 people at the grotto meeting last night: Bob Griffith, John Barth, Dave Riggs, Rich Finley, Brian Masney, Mary Schmidt, Alan Carpenter and Doug McCarty

Items discussed were:

1. WV Caver printer: the problem is resolved for now.

2. Bridge Day: Bridge Day occurs on Tucker County Weekend, so the official TCSS Saturday will be the following Saturday-October 28th. Grotto members (and ssignificant others) who are planning to rappel on Bridge day include: Brian Masney, Dave Riggs, Mary Schmidt, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, Jason Thomas, Melissa Parker, Rich Finley and Jill Pyle. 

3. TCSS: 
     a. There will still be a mini Tucker County Survey on the 21st-Alan Carpenter and Doug Mc will be going up the   

         Blackwater Canyon. Anybody not jumping off the bridge can join them (contact Doug).

     b. The official Tucker County Survey will occur the following Saturday (October 28) as mentioned above. We have a 

          NEW meeting place. City Café-which is now located directly behind Sheetz in the building that used to house  

          Mama's Kitchen. We will meet at 9am.

4. The WVU Library has provided Dave with a list of Karst Kavers they need copies of in order to complete their collection.

5. A reminder about the Orientation to Cave Rescue class on Oct. 14-15 at Laural Caverns. For info click here

6. Dues is due. Dues is important if you want to continue to receive the WV Caver.

7. NYDC-Brian Masney, Dave Riggs and Greg Springer are doing a survey/push trip to try to connect New Years Day with Druid this coning Saturday--Sept. 30th. If you want to go contact Brian. This will be tough caving-but it could be a significant moment in local caving history!

8. T-shirts: Your unworthy chairman continues to screw that up.

9. Simmons Mingo/Bradshaw Run: Llew Williams is interested in going back to these caves. Of the people at the meeting several said they too would be interested, but not until some time in November.

10. VAR: Dave was the only grotto member to go to VAR. He did not attend the business meeting. 

11: TAG Fall Cave In: Several grotto members are going to the TAG Fall Cave In: Brian, Dave, Jason and maybe Mary Schmidt. They plan to do Ellisons.

12: Surveying: Rich and Jill have bought a 2 + acre plot of ground on Snake Hill Road in Monongalia County. Rich needs some surveying (not for official purposes) done to help him put up a fence. He suggested that we could us that to teach surveying to Mon Grotto folks who want to learn and WVUSG folks. He also has some boulders that need "removed". We will set a date to do a little boulder removal in the first few weeks of October and plan a survey class in conjunction with WVUSG.

13. Dave showed us a handy-dandy bar moving rod he got for his rack at VAR. Hopefully it will work in real life as advertised.

14. We had a good discussion about the French wrap.

15. We discussed the Harr #2 Trip

The next meeting will be at the normal time and place on October 30.

There were 15 adults at the grotto meeting last night: Don Humphrey, Jodanna Humphrey, Brian Masney, John Barth, John Tudek, Dave Riggs, Mary Schmidt, Alan Carpenter, Carl Werntz, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, Jeremy Rowan, Janelle Humphrey-Rowan, Jason Thomas and Doug McCarty.

Mary Schmidt officially joined the grotto--welcome!

Topics discussed were:

1. OTR: Bob Griffith, Ralph Hubbard and Doug McCarty will rendezvous at Walmart in Elkins at 10:30am on Thursday and caravan to OTR. Bob will be bringing the tarp. We will try to claim a location near where we were last year--with access to the road. If anyone who wants to join us Thursday morning--we will leave Walmart promptly at 10:30.

2. Cave trips during OTR: Bob Griffith, Mary Schmidt and Brian Masney plan to help the Gangsta Mappers with the Cassell Cave Survey on Saturday. Doug McCarty and Ralph Hubbard will be spending most of their caving time in Shavers Mountain Cave--starting Friday. Llew Williams would like to do another shot at Simmons Mingo, and several other folks are interested.

3. WV Caver printer problems. Doug McCarty will go the WV Caver meeting at OTR on Saturday. Anybody else who wants to come ought to. A suggestion was made that there could be an e-mail version of the Caver.

4. Dave Riggs said the WVU Library West Virginia Collection has a wide but incomplete collection of Karst Kaver’s (the old Mon Grotto newsletter) and WV Cavers. They would like photocopies to fill in empty places in their collection. Alan Carpenter will see if he has the issues they want. If not the issues should be in the Mon Grotto library.

5. VAR. Either Dave Riggs or Bob Griffith, or Mary Davis will represent us at the VAR meeting.

6. John Tudek will be doing a pre-beginners weekend for the WVUSG on the weekend of Sept. 9-10. If anyone wants to go along contact John through the list serve.

7. There is an Intro to Cave Rescue class at Laurel Caverns on October 14-15. All cavers who have never done so are encouraged to attend. We don't have contact info yet--it is not yet on the NCRC Eastern Region web site.

8. T-shirts: Your unworthy chairman is going to send the design to John Tudek to see if he can fix it up right.

9. Dues: Remember that you need to pay your $15 dues at OTR (or thereabouts)

10. TCSS. There are surface things that need to be done if anyone wants to come out on Tucker County Saturday and not cave.

11. Alan Carpenter gave a report on the recent old US 33 Adopt-a-Highway. Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, Carl Werntz also showed up. They got 4 bags of garbage.

12. Carl Werntz gave a report on the cave rescue component at the Wilderness Medicine training at Canaan. The cave they used was Moore. The victim was Mary Davis. Other cavers who helped were Bob Griffith, Mary Schmidt, Don Ferguson and Doug Moore.

13. Doug McCarty Gave a TCSS trip report--two insurgences were found and one of the upper leads was surveyed.

14. Doug McCarty gave a Shavers Mountain trip report. He, Rocky Parsons and Jeff Stutler dug their way through the silt and are in the main passage.

15. Bob Griffith gave a trip report on the Molers Cave trip with the Sierra Club.

16. Alan gave a trip report on a Boy Scout trip to Big Springs Blowing Cave.

17. Dave Riggs gave a trip report on a Boy Scout trip to New River Cave (Giles County VA)

18. Brian Masney gave a great trip report on the New Years Day Cave/Druid Cave survey. NYDC and Druid are now apparently paralleling each other--and are very close together.

19. Brian and Dave gave a joint trip report on Hellhole. Dave and another caver climbed and measured the 247 feet Southwest Dome. Brian helped sherpa equipment out in the mid-week, and since he was there, climbed and photographed the 300+ foot dome that had just been bolt climbed. These are now the two biggest drops in WV.

The next grotto meeting will be at 3 Ways Inn on Monday, September 29 at 6:30pm (for diners) or 7pm (for fasters).

1. NYDC Survey/TCSS: Because of scheduling problems the NYDC survey trip and Tucker County Survey will have to be on the same day--Saturday, August 19. We were hoping to change one or the other, but it can't be done.

2. Adopt-a-Highway: Will be on Sunday, August 13th. Meet at Bowden Cave parking lot at 2pm. The more people who show up, the easier it will be.

3. Wilderness Medicine: Carl is conducting an intro training in cave rescue on Saturday, August 12. There could be as many as 25 trainees. The training will be done at Moore Cave. Kevin and Justin will join them to help out. If anybody else wants to help, contact Carl--or be at the Moore cave entrance at 1:45pm

4. Bob White Register: Brian will get a register book to Kevin for the register

5. Clino/Compass: Brian got a Suunto combined clinometer/compass for the grotto off of Ebay for $116.33

6. Scaling pole: We discussed purchasing materials for a scaling pole, but decided to forgo it and use an aluminum ladder for now.

7. T-shirts: Your unworthy chairman is lagging woefully behind on this.

8. Moler's Cave: Bob and Mary are taking to Sierra Club to Moler's Cave in Jefferson County

9. Big Springs Blowing Cave: Alan is taking a small scout group to Big Springs Blowing Cave Saturday, August 5. They will get there about 9:30am. Anybody who wants to go with them contact Alan.

10. Simmons Mingo:  John Barth gave a trip report on the Simmons Mongo Cavapaloosa.

11. TCSS: Doug gave a brief trip report on Tucker County

12. Druid Rigging Trip: Brian agave a brief trip report on the Druid rigging trip--they rigged five drops in anticipation of a connection with NYDC and a through trip.

13. NYDC: Brian and John Tudek took Mark--the landowner where we park our cars--into NYDC. He apparently found it interesting, but didn't like the entrance.

14. Barton Cave: Dave gave a brief trip report on the beginner trip to Barton in which the beginner was unable to come.

15. Parsons Advocate Article: We all looked at the front page article on cave surveying in Tucker County in the Parsons Advocate--featuring a "burly" Kevin Keplinger. It included a picture of Josh Keplinger rappelling into Tombstone Cave and one or Brian Masney's Tucker County photos.

The next grotto meeting will be at 3 Ways Inn on Monday, August 28 at 6:30pm (for diners) or 7pm (for fasters).

There were 15 people at the grotto meeting last night: Don Humphrey, Jeremy Rowan, Janelle Humphrey-Rowan, Jodanna Humphrey, John Barth, Brian Masney, John Tudek, Dave Riggs, Rich Finley, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, John Trotto, Mary Schmidt, Laura Whetzel and Doug McCarty. This was Mary and Laura's first Mon Grotto meeting. Mary is a member of the Mountain State Grotto and MARG, and Laura was introduced to caving and to our group at the Celebration of the Outdoors .

Topics discussed were:

1. Doug Mc is still lagging behind on the t-shirts. If, at the end of the week, Doug has not yet gotten the Adobe Illustrator file of the logo correct he will e-mail it to John Tudek, who will give it a shot.

2. Bob White register: Kevin wasn't able to make the meeting, so we don't know the status of that yet.

3. Grotto clinometers: Brian Masney will check on Ebay and elsewhere and make the purchases.

4. TRA letters need to be in.

5. Tucker County: Doug reminded people that we have lots to do in Tucker County, and that if people don't want to survey, there are other things they could do. Come one, come all.

6. Because the next NYDC survey will be on August 19th, we are going to try to move Tucker County weekend in August—more info will be forthcoming.

7. Brian and Dave gave a NYDC trip report.

8. Brian, Dave, Bob and Mary (Davis) gave a TAG trip report

9. Bob and Dave gave a trip report on having helped several cave biologists sample the biota in Beaverhole Upper and Lower, Coopers Rock Cave and the Maiden Run Caves. 

10. Doug gave a brief report on the Celebration of the Outdoors.

Cave Trips Planned:

1. Simmons Mingo/Bradshaw Run weekend will be July 29-30. Some of us will camp. Day trippers will rendezvous in a place yet to be determined. These are both beginner level vertical trips. More info will be forthcoming.

2. There will be a beginner trip for Laura at Bartons Cave on Tuesday, July 11. We will rendezvous at 6pm at the gas station/store at the bottom of the mountain where the road turns off to go to Laurel Caverns.

The next meeting will be at 3 Ways Inn on Monday, July 31 at 6:30pm (for diners) or 7pm (for fasters).

There were 11 people at the grotto meeting on Monday: Don Humphrey, Alan Carpenter, John Barth, Kevin Keplinger, Josh Keplinger, Justin Keplinger, Ben Mirable, Brian Masney, John Tudek, John Trotto and Doug McCarty.

Topics discussed were:
1. Celebration of the Outdoors at Coopers Rock: We are officially signed up to do this, but the New Years Day/Druid Survey trip is the same day. That'll make us short handed. Bob, Mary and Doug are the only ones committed to come at this point. We need any one who can to come out and help us.

2. T-Shirts: Doug has lagged behind on this. He just got Adobe Illustrator, and will get it done before the June meeting.

3. Bob White register: Kevin Keplinger has the register and will put it into Bob White. We're doing so to find out how many people are going into the cave, if the belong to a caving organization and where they are from

4. Cave Mountain DVD: John Trotto gve out several copies of the Cave Mountain DVD

5. We discussed changes that will be made with the web site and the list serve.

6. It was moved and approved that we replace one of the grotto clinometers and also get another set of instruments--perhaps a tandem

7. Alan Carpenter has a meter survey tape if anyone needs to use survey in meters.

8. Brian gave a trip report for the New Years Day Cave push trip. It was brutal, but they broke through. A survey trip is planned for June 10th.

9. A trip report was given for Tucker County Survey. 

10. Llew Williams and Dpug Mc are going to Simmons Mingo on Saturday, May 27. They will meet at the gas station/convenience store in Valley Head at 10 am. Anybody who would like to join them can feel free to do so. Llew is going to camp Friday evening.--if anyone wants to join him.

11. Tucker County: Doug Mc will be camping in Tucker County (on the Dry Fork) the week of June 18-24. If anyone wants to join him for an evening or a day, he will be doing Tucker County Survey stuff.

The next meeting will be on June 26th at 3 Ways Inn in Fairmont at 6:30 for diners and 7 for those not eating.

There were 11 people at the grotto meeting tonight: Don Humphrey, Alan Carpenter, John Barth, Jason Thomas, Brian Masney, John Tudek, Dave Riggs, Bob Griffith, Mary Davis, John Trotto and Doug McCarty.

Topics discussed were: 

1. Adopt-a-Highway/Bowden Beginner's trip was firmed up: We will meet at 9:30am at the Bowden parking lot on April 29th.

2. Celebration of the Outdoors at Coopers Rock: Doug expressed concern about it because there is nothing up to date on the internet about it--nor had he heard anything in Morgantown. Mary Davis will check and make sure it is happening and check to see if we're on the agenda. If so, it will be on June 10th--hours to be announced We will be taking  people into Coopers Rock Cave and doing vertical demonstrations, and giving a slide show and letting people try ascending on a treadmill.

3. T-Shirts: Our logo/patch file is a jpg. It needs to be made into a vector graphic in order to go on shirts. Dave Riggs will change it.

4. Bob White register: Brian will donate a Rite in Rain book, and we will give the book and and cylinder to Kevin Keplinger to put into Bob White.

6. Brian Masney and Dave Riggs will represent the grotto at the VAR meeting.

7. Letterhead letters were given to a few people for TRA memberships. Three other people asked for letters

8. Cave Mountain DVD: John Trotto will make some copies and bring them and the original to the next meeting.

9. Sewerage Treatment plant: We discussed an official grotto reaction to the sewerage treatment plant that is supposed to be built on karst in Pocahontas County. Bob will write a letter. Mary said that because it is in the "public comment" phase, individual letters would help too.

10. Brina discussed, with lurid details, the New Years Day/Druid Project. There will be a major push trip on May 13. This will be very hardcore caving--many squeezes, much very low crawling and water. The hope it that they will break through into Druid. Any hardy souls who are interested should contact Brian.

11. Tucker County: I gave a brief trip report on our last Tucker County weekend, and stated that from now on we will spend the night camping by the river and for those so-inclined, make it a two day survey weekend--with Sunday being a day for less strenuous stuff.

12. No cave trips were planned because every weekend in May already has something planned. 1st weekend-Shavers Mountain Project. 2nd weekend-New Years Day Cave. 3rd weekend-Tucker County. Fourth weekend-a large contingent is going to TAG.

The next meeting will be on April 22nd at 3 Ways Inn in Fairmont at 6:30 for diners and 7 for those not eating. Remember that because of Memorial Day, the meeting this month is the next to last Monday rather than the last Monday

There were 14 people at the grotto meeting tonight: Don Humphrey, Alan Carpenter, Chris Carpenter, Jason Thomas, Brian Masney, John Tudek, Dave Riggs, Bob Griffith, Bobby Davis, Aaron Bird, Rachel Bosch, Jeremy Rowan, Janelle Humphrey-Rowan and Doug McCarty.

Topics discussed were:
1. Adopt-a-Highway: It will be on April 29th. We will meet at 9:30am at the Bowden parking lot. We will put stickers on our signs indicating we adopted the highway over ten years ago. We will go caving afterwards. (More explanation about this in item 7 below).

2. Celebration of the Outdoors at Coopers Rock:  Everybody was reminded to keep June 10th clear for this event. We will be taking people into Coopers Rock Cave and doing vertical demonstrations, and giving a slide show and letting people try ascending on a treadmill.

3. T-Shirts: We will order 50 initially. The cost is not yet determined, but they could be as much as $15 apiece. We'll see about that.

4.Vertical practice: Doug reminded people that we have bolts in place for a rebelay and a deviation in the Valley Falls/Rock Lake area. If anybody wants to go practice on a weekend or an evening, let Doug know.

5. Bob White register: Bob Griffith will order a Rite in Rain book and we will use the tube Don Ferguson made for the purpose more than a year ago.

6. We reminded folks about Spring VAR.

7. Beginner Cave trip: We got a phone call from a woman in Bruceton Mills who wants to join the grotto with her husband (he has caved about 12 times). We planned to do a beginner trip for them and their kids on the day of the Adopt-a-Highway. We had originally planned a Red Run trip, but everybody is so busy, this is the only weekend we can do this.. It was decided that when we have new folks interested, we will do beginner trips at the Adopt-a-Highways.

8. Grotto Library: It was requested that we make the grotto library more accessible. Doug Moore has been our loyal librarian for a number of years, keeping the material in the Karst Sports warehouse. Doug Mc volunteered to take on the task--and, over time, catalogue what's in the library and put it on the web page. 

9. Trip Report: TAG. Bob Griffith gave a trip report on his and Brian Masney's TAG trip two weekends ago. They did Cagle's Chasm, Green Well, Neversink, and Pettijohns Cave.

10. Tucker County: Brian, Dave Riggs and I discussed our latest adventure in Tucker County

11.Presentation: We watched Searching for the Crystal Wall a local documentary by Aaron Bird, filmed in Cave Mountain Cave, starring the Monongahela Grotto and friends. Many thanks to Aaron for coming and showing us the film. He gave us a copy of the DVD. We can make copies, but it'll be a gradual process. Thanks Aaron!

The next meeting will be on April 24th at 3 Ways Inn in Fairmont at 6:30 for diners and 7 for those not eating.

There were 11 adults and one child at the meeting tonight: BobGriffith, John Barth, Rich Finley, Dave Riggs, Bobby Davis, John Trotto, Jason Thomas, Carl and Shannon Werntz, Don Humphrey, Mary Davis and Doug McCarty.

Items discussed were:
1. Helmets: We have the new helmets. For now, we will hang on to the old helmets as well.
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2. Adopt-a-Highway: Because of the prospect of snow and people with busy schedules, we will do this in April. After the clean up we will drive to Tucker County and put a Cave Protection sign in Red Run Cave--and then go caving in Red Run Cave. The date is yet to be determined because people's schedules are so full. Be thinking about it and bring a prospective date in April to the next meeting.
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3. Fairmont State: We will be putting some posters up at Fairmont State University--date yet to be determined
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4. T-Shirts: Carl suggested we check out a place in Morgantown for reasonably priced t-shirts. Doug will do so.
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5. Vertical practice: we are going to do an intermediate/beginner vertical practice/training on small (maybe 25 feet) privately-owned cliffs in Marion County near Valley Falls State Park. The reason we are doing it there is so we can set bolts for rebelays and rig deviations. We could not set bolts at Coopers Rock. We will also rig ropes so beginners can practice or learn. Once again, the date is yet to be determined. My inclination would be to do it on either the second or third or fourth Sunday of March. That way we would avoid Project Saturdays. If you are interested in either beginning or intermediate vertical learning/practice, send an e-mail to the list serve and tell us your preferred date. We'll work it out via e-mail.
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6. Come Out and Play Expo: We have been invited to participate along with the WVU Student Grotto. We will be doing vertical demos and giving people a chance to try ascending gear. This will be on Saturday March 25th at the WVU Rec Center. I'm not sure what times. We'll send out the info when we get it.
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7. Tucker County Survey Time: It was announced that the Tucker County Survey will meet at 8am from now on and leave Big Johns at 8:20 sharp. We are doing this so we can get more time in surveying in our project cave .
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8. WVaSS cave registration: We discussed the great new WVaSS web site through which one can now report new caves.
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9. Bob White Register: We are going to buy a Rite in Rain book and put it on Bob White as a register. Our grotto will maintain the register.
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10. Spring VAR: We discussed Spring VAR and gave out pre-registration forms to whomever was interested.
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11. Festival of the Outdoors: at Coopers Rock in early June. We are going to participate once again. We will lead people into Coopers Rock Cave, give a slide presentation, do vertical demos, and give people the opportunity to try ascending. Carl will be the point person on this.
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12: Big Bear 24 Hour: This isn't caving, but a 24 hour bike race. Carl says it is a lot of fun, and that they may need stretcher bearers. If anybody wants more info contact Carl via the list serve.
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13. Wilderness Medicine Conference: On the afternoon of August 12th, there is a perspective field trip to a cave--probably Moore Cave. We may have some involvement. We'll keep you posted.
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14. Sharps Trip Report: It was discussed that the group moved too fast for beginners on the way to Catfish Hall. It was agreed that that had happened and that the problem was with communication in that it is hard with a group that large in passage like that for the person in the lead to know what's happening in the rear. That and another instance of miscommunication/misunderstanding illustrated the fact that, as a group, we need to communicate better--especially on beginner trips. And not just with good intentions--we need to discuss the issue in greater depth at a future meeting.
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15. We discussed the smell of paint solvent in a Tucker County Cave the weekend before last.

The next meeting will be at 3 Ways Inn in Fairmont on March 27th at 6:30 for diners and 7 for those not eating.

There were 11 people at the grotto meeting last night: Don Humphrey, Kenny Pearson, John Barth, Kevin Keplinger, Justin Keplinger, John Trotto, Jason Thomas, Dave Riggs, Brian Masney, Rich Finley and Doug McCarty.

Items discussed were:
1. Adopt-a-Highway: We need to schedule an Adopt-a-Highway clean-up, but decided to wait until the next meeting to schedule it.

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2. Grotto Helmets: We still haven't picked them up. Brain volunteered to
do so.

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3. Sharps Caving trip: We planned a trip to Sharps on February 25th. Those who are inclined will camp at Oil Drum Falls the night before. We will meet at the Ski Barn at the base of Snowshoe Mountain at 10am. We might go over and see what's up with a couple of other caves in the vicinity as well.

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4. Grotto T-Shirts: Inspired by WVUSG, we had a preliminary discussion about doing grotto t-shirts. Everyone liked the idea.

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5. List Serve: We decided that from now on when someone joins, as with the VAR list, they need to send the list an introductory e-mail stating who they are with a short bio.

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6. Fairmont State: We will put posters up at Fairmont State and look into possinly doing a presentation to porspective cavers.

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7. Trip Reports: We had trip/progress reports on Tucker County, Cheat Canyon and Shavers Mountain.

The next meeting will be on February 27th at 3 Ways Inn in Fairmont.