Web Edition	San Francisco Bay Chapter National Speleological Society Volume 40, Number 1 January 1997
In this Issue: What is Project Caving California Operations of the Cave Research Foundation. Lilburn Cave Cartography Progress in 1996 Caving Quilt T-shirt Solicitation Hawaii '96 Trip Report Training Policy for 1997 Description of Sessions and Workshops Vertical System Workshop SFBC Meeting Minutes	Cover Photo by Bill Frantz

The Editor invited me to gin an essay describing the Cave Research Foundation (CRF), one of several project caving operations that is active in the California area. As it is important to me, I have chosen to broaden this mission to include a discussion of what project caving is and to urge all cavers to consider becoming seriously involved with one or more caving projects somewhere, whether or not it happens to occur under auspices of CRF. The requested second essay describes CRF and its California operations.

"Project Caving" as practiced within the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the NSS and, I suppose, elsewhere in the Western Region and beyond, means that you have chosen to combine your interests, skills, and talents in caving with a goal of achieving something beyond a purely subterranean recreational pursuit. The goal may be to make a map of the cave (the most basic means of defining the geographic extent of the cave resource), or to study some aspect of the cave system such as its hydrology, archeology, paleontology, history, biology or geology in order to advance our scientific knowledge of a cave system or of caves in general. Perhaps the goal is to collect and organize information that will benefit the owner or manager of the cave by enabling informed decision-making concerning some aspect of the cave or land-use above the cave. Perhaps the goal may be to help to erase the damage that cavers inevitably inflict on caves, or to learn to conduct rescues in caves. The list of potential projects is as varied as cavers themselves; the venue may involve caves worldwide. Project caving at best achieves useful and lasting benefits in exchange for the recreational pursuit that otherwise adversely impacts the cave environment or consumes the cave resource. (Pause politely while project cavers everywhere bask in a moment of gloating concerning their intrinsically superior philosophy and attitude).

So what projects are out there? As you read this, cavers from the SFBC and the Western Region of the NSS are in Borneo, on an international caving project to locate, explore, and study the caves of Guonong Buda area. An International Congress of Speleology convenes in August in Switzerland. Locally, the activities of the Cave Research Foundation (organized in 1957) which, since 1976, has studied caves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks and more recently the Lava Beds area (described in a companion essay). CRF has mapped much of the Mammoth Cave System in central Kentucky, now more than 350 miles long and the longest cave in the world. But there's lots more!

Other California cave projects (not a comprehensive list, sorry)include: the Church Cave Mapping Project, making sound progress mapping this impressive cave resource on National Forest land near the Kings River (the best local contact for this project is Eric Miles of the SFBC; the project coordinator is Ray Hardcastle, in southern California). The grandfather of active California caving projects is organized as the Klamath Mountains Conservation Task Force which has been exploring and mapping the fabulous karst resource in the Marble Mountains in northwestern California on the order of 25 years (Project Coordinator is Steve Knutsen; a local contact is Cindy Heazlit). The Western Region sponsors projects from time to time; currently, it's organizing and directing a cave rescue group affiliated with the National Cave Rescue Commission of the NSS. Mr. Joel Despain, Cave Management Specialist at Sequoia National Park, frequently organizes projects including the recent mapping and restoration projects at Crystal Cave, a show cave operated by the Sequoia Natural History Association. Diablo Grotto manages Windeler Cave under a special use permit granted by the US Forest Service and seeks participants from time to time. Clearly, project caving is alive and well in the Western Region. Almost all of these activities proceed under the banner of the National Speleological Society. There are activities available for all skill levels; you can grow as a caver. Why not get involved?

California Operations of the Cave Research Foundation - an overview

If you think you may be interested in participating with CRF in helping with or initiating studies of karst areas in California, please contact John Tinsley, Peter Bosted, or one of the other PI's noted above. Joint-venturers are always being sought. The CRF field schedule is published in the SFBC newsletter and is available from Tinsley upon request.

Lilburn Cave Cartography Progress in 1996

This was another good year for cartography at Lilburn Cave, in Redwood Canyon, Kings Canyon National Park, California. The CRF fielded six expeditions involving cartography: April 28-29; May 25-27; June 22-24; July 4; August 3-4; and November 9-10, 1996. There were a total of twenty-one trips into Lilburn Cave, with a total of about 4500 feet of new passage being surveyed using about 500 stations. The average shot length of only 10 feet is indicative of the relatively small and tight nature of the new passages being discovered. Another 800 feet of re-survey was done for various reasons (tie-ins to existing survey points, improving sketches, accidental re-surveys, etc.). The total length of Lilburn Cave(excluding redundant surveys and tie-ins) is now 15.83 miles (25.48 km), with a total of 7000 stations set. Most of the new discoveries in Lilburn were the result of having newly-available quadrangle maps of the relevant region. Having the cave split into various levels allows better determinations of what leads have been surveyed, compared to the previous map where all levels were put on a single map. At the very upstream end of the cave, several new passages were mapped in the West Stream area, and a new connection was made with the Kleinbottle Complex. An aid climb was made up a dome to reach several hundred feet of new passage that ended in granite boulder chokes. Several passages north of the Hex Room were surveyed, and another aid climb up a 60' chimney was made (unfortunately the passage at the top didn't go very far). Two new passages were found near the Lake Room: one with tantalizing air movement at the small hole at the end. Quite a bit of mop-up survey was done in the South Seas Junction area. The largest number of new stations set was in the southern end of the cave. The upper maze south of Davis exit was re-investigated after many years of no visits, and several connections were found back to the lower level. High level passages near the Yellow Floored Domes continued to yield quite a bit of virgin passage (as judged by the extremely unstable boulders in some of these areas). A circuitous route was found on the last trip that led to a large room near the top of the Yellow Floored Domes. Many leads remain to be checked out in this area, although aid climbing may be needed to pursue the largest-looking one. One survey trip was made into the 140'-long, newly re-opened, Ellis Dig Cave, with a complementary survey being made of the surface terrain above this cave. The surveyors for 1996 were Peter Bosted (11 trips), Brad Hacker (10 trips), Merrilee Proffit, (5 trips), Jed Mosenfelder (4 trips), Joel Despain (4 trips), B. Frantz (3 trips), Boris Galistky (3 trips),Lynn Jesaitis (3 trips), Robin Beane (2 trips), J. Cherez (2 trips), A. Fortini (1 trip),M. Rames (1 trip), P. Nelson (1 trip),Bill Farr (1 trip), Carol Vesely (1 trip),Cindy Heazlit (1 trip), M. Reeves (1 trip),D. Reeves (1 trip), A. Sevi (1 trip), E. Gnos (1 trip), Greg Cotterman(1 trip), C. Plokar (1 trip), L. Wells (1 trip), and Mark Scott (1 trip).

The map-drawing effort continued well in 1996, with both Peter and Brad each producing about ten more quadrangles, as well as updating the existing quads with the new surveys. Jed has turned over the quads he was going to draw to Brad. Presently there remain about 10 quads to be drawn in the Attic area (part of the D series), three in the Curl Passage (F series), the Pandora area quads, and some of the River Pit quads. Thus the quadrangle project is about 75% complete. Plans for 1997 include finishing the quadrangles and making computer-generated color plan and profile maps of the entire cave to fit on an 11" by 17" sheet, with the colors indicated depth below entrance (for the plan), or distance from the viewer (for profile).This would be similar to the grey-scale map produced previously, but now using color.

Caving Quilt T-shirt Solicitation

Greetings, A few of us have discussed creating a caving quilt to raffle off at the regional. The funds raised by the raffle would be donated to the Western Region rescue training cache. I talked with Pat Garner this last weekend, and she has volunteered herself and her quilting guild for the task of creating the quilt. Based on her past experience, she thinks that we could raise around $1000.00! Now, where everyone comes in... The quilt would be made out of caving theme T-shirts. So I need donations of as many different caving T-shirts as can be found. A variety of new and old would be best. We need around 20 shirts. If you have any shirts that you have outgrown, etc., please either bring them to the meeting in Fresno, or get them to myself or Frantz's. There is a lot of prep work needed for using T-shirt material, so we need them ASAP. Pat would also like to do a border around the edge of the quilt to make it commemorative. Something like "Western Region NSS, 1997 - blah blah blah". Your suggestions in this area would be appreciated. Western Region Cave Rescue - We've got you covered. (har har har)Thanks!

Hawaii '96 Sept. 24-Oct. 4

Participants: Bill Liebman, Doug and Hazel Medville, Terry and Mercy Raines

Day 1 (Tuesday)

Our initial goal was to find and drop some pits high on the 1855 flow near Relay Junction, spotted by Doug and Hazel on their last trip. We walked high up but didn't find them. Bill split off and ended up going all the way to the vent, some three miles above the road. We found lots of entrances but few that went. We rigged a handline with the pitons and Doug and I climbed into a puka with a lava falls, which lead into a breakdown floored, low and uninviting passage - not what we'd come to Hawaii to push. In some crappy rock we rigged a ladder and dropped a whopping eight feet into a tube going both ways. We mapped some 450' in this one, not very memorable, before heading down.

At the bottom we heard from Terry and Hazel that they'd found a line of entrances along the edge of the, the far west edge of the 1855 flow. We hit one high up that we surveyed the next day, some 300' of walkway to stoopway passage with red rillen-pahohoe floors. Further down we came to our main entrance of what would become Redemption Cave, as it rescued the day from being wasted. It had a large, well-decorated passage that led to a low squeeze that Doug did but we decided to leave that for later. We did a series of largish passages that had a number of side passages before wrapping things up just before dark.

Day 2 (Weds) Bill's folly; orange crust; Redemption 2

Bill was convinced he had a great lead, some huge puka, and we all set off up the 1855 flow to check it out. Well, on the way up I saw an entrance I'd never seen, above Hammer Cave. It was a 3 x 8 fissure ringed with orange crust which dropped some 8' into a down flowing tube. I followed it through about 300' of stoopway to a junction with a larger passage, with air, before turning around. I exited, saw the others far upflow and joined them. Turned out Bill couldn't find his puka, thought he was too high, so I led the others over to my find to do some mapping.

All but Bill came in and began a survey. The upflow end of the main passage choked after a couple of tight squeezes and downflow proved to only go a couple of hundred feet, but all agreed it was a nice little tube.

We returned to Redemption around 4:00 and began a survey through the main passage and beyond Doug's squeeze. This led to some good-sized passage and a tiny skylight which was above a good lead. I reached out and placed one of Doug's green flags on the chance we might locate this entrance and enlarge it.

Day 3 (Friday) thought of the day: shit happens

Today we rode west of relay junction to the first left turn which heads to a cinder cone. The topo shows three pukas in a paleo-flow here. Unfortunately it required traversing about 3000 feet of and clinker to reach this flow, which took about half an hour. But upon reaching the flow, Terry, Doug and I quickly located the first large puka. I located a couple of entrances upflow before we headed in. This puka had a huge entrance heading upflow, some 45' wide and 25-30' high. The floor was covered in green moss coated breakdown. We noticed a definite wind even in this large passage. We surveyed in some 400' to what appeared an end, but a 10' climb-up led to a low tunnel howling a furious wind. This tunnel was walled in pure white crystal, with brown shark's teeth stals poking through the crusts. A 15' crawl led to a climbdown on some broad aprons with a 20' drop in the middle. We continued on in the main passage, which opened up again to be some 25' tall and wide. After a couple of hundred feet we saw light above a steep breakdown slope, which Doug climbed up. He found himself in the next large puka above the one we'd entered, which was clear to me when he described the 15' high lava falls which poured in on one side. Continuing onward, we soon saw light again pouring in through an unreachable skylight. Here there were some very large shark's teeth stals and something very unexpected in this remote spot: a mummified chicken, perfectly preserved for who knows how long. Terry held it up for a photo. Beyond we crossed some nice red pahoehoe floors before reaching a breakdown termination of this pleasant passage.

Back at the spot we'd climbed down to from the wind tunnel, we entered a pleasant tube which continued walking/stooping for several hundred feet, again with the elusive wind. A hundred feet before its end was an upper level passage which we followed through some squeezes to emerge from under the breakdown into the mossy carpet entrance.

By now we were cold and hungry and climbed back to the surface for lunch. The clouds around Mauna Kea were dramatic, now obscuring the telescope-riddled summit. After this we climbed to the downflow side of the puka and found a few hundred feet of large passage which soon led to daylight and another large puka (probably the third of those shown on the map). The downflow end of this puka was hopelessly plugged, dashing our hopes of following this pleasant tube line down the mountain.

One thing remained to survey, which was the upper entrance I'd found earlier. This began in a little lava lake which had oozed down into a 3x7 foot hole. The smooth pahoehoe crusts here were shattering like egg shells. A short climb dropped into a nicely decorated 15' x 10' passage with considerable wind, which we thought would lead us to the upper puka, possibly to emerge behind the lava falls. Alas, after only four stations this passage ended. But near the termination were some crusts of very brilliant yellow crystals, much yellower than those we'd seen in another Mauna Loa cave. This cave had some of the most intensely white walls I've ever seen in a lava tube. On one side was a large stals, a smooth bulbous accretion some 8' high and maybe 5' in diameter. Near the entrance were some very large dangling crusts, some tinted orange. We tried to get some photos before exiting, and I burned most of a roll here myself.

By now the weather was looking threatening and we decided to cross the AA before getting fogged in. We'd gotten some 1800' of survey in the wind tunnel system. The only thing left undone was checking the upflow side of the large puka with the lava falls, but this would have required a tricky climbdown or entering again through the lower puka, neither of which we were motivated to do now.

After returning to the car we greeted Hazel, who'd sat out to avoid the AA traverse. We went to start the engine and --nothing. Dead battery. And Bill, who was in the other car was nowhere to be seen. So Terry and Doug decided to see if they could flag down a car leaving the observatory. Doug waited at the road three hours and saw no one. Terry hiked down to the Saddle Road (11 miles) and got a ride back to the cabin. Meanwhile, Bill decided to come searching when we hadn't gotten back by 9, and had missed Terry on the way. We rode back and were eating by 11...

Thus ended day 3.

Day 4 (Saturday)

Barb Schaefer rode up to meet us this morning. Bill and Hazel rode off to Hilo to get gas, and as we found out later, took a flight over Mauna Loa. We piled in to her new Explorer and rode up to Doug's van. After some work we got the thing jumped, and rode out to the west to check a pit that Doug and Hazel had found earlier. This flow was a reddish pale flow, and an easy half hour hike got us to a large puka some 120' long, ringed with lava balls, with a huge entrance taking off downflow. We rigged a cable ladder using two pitons and a backup rope tied around a lava ball. The drop was maybe 20'. The large passage taking off was maybe 50' wide and 40' tall, with white walls and red crust near the bottom. The floor was mostly clinkery pahohoe with lots of white frosting. It stayed large for some 200', got low, then dropped some 20' down a lava falls heavily encrusted with white crystal and coral. At the bottom the floor was smooth and several large accreted blocks were cemented. In 100' the passage dropped from its maximum 40' tall to a tubular walking passage some 6' high, mostly white. This ended at a lava ball cemented in the middle. Just in front a line of yellow arced across the passage like a rainbow. we tried a bunch of photos in this area and a number on the way out. We checked the upflow side of the puka to find it plugged within one station. We climbed out, ate, and hiked down to the cars. Now 4:30, we decided to return to Redemption cave.

Doug was keen to find the spot on the surface where I'd reached out of a small opening and placed a green flag, as we had a good lead here. He'd figured out the distance and bearing from the main entrance using Compass, so he began a jiffy surface survey. Sure enough, I spotted the flag just about where it was expected. Doug immediately set about enlarging it with my piton hammer. I walked back to the car to get my forgotten gloves and spotted a couple of overhung entrances along the same line. Meanwhile Barb located another puka with ferns and moss growing in them, a first for the relay junction area.

we all climbed in to Doug's newly enlarged opening, a stretch for the ladies. We climbed down to our lead, a lower level passage. This was 5-7' high with smooth walls and pahohoe floor. After some 300-500' it intersected the upper level passage near the overhanging entrance we'd seen on the surface. It continued beyond in a walking height passage and dropped down a couple of small lava falls. The passage had broad overhanging aprons on both sides, some of which were fringed with rillen pahohoe. We found a couple of exitable skylights. We also hit several side passages. A good breeze lured us on to where we decided to exit. Here at this climb-up were some rillen-pahohoe stals on the ceiling, very bizarre. Terry and I continued below the climb-up and in 150' or so walked out an entrance some 300' from the cars, their license plates reflecting from our lights. The passage continued downward across the puka we'd emerged from and we decided to leave this for another day, it now being 7:30 or so and dark. The tube may well have continued right under out cars! Our total for Redemption Cave was now close to half a mile, with numerous leads remaining.

Day 5 (Sunday)

We got a bit of a later start since we had to check out of the cabins this morning. At relay junction, Doug, Hazel and I spent 20 minutes tying the lower end of Oozing Red (tiny entrance with a natural bridge of orange) into the lower entrance of Redemption. After this we split into two teams, with Doug Hazel and Bill going upflow from the lower entrance to pick up side leads along the way. I teamed with Terry and Mercy to push downflow. This was a questionable proposition since the tube would intersect the road shortly, and Barb had suggested the road crew would have filled the tube had there been any entrances nearby. I went upflow to photograph the unique erosional stalactites, only to find one of the three had been broken by the other crew. Fortunately the largest of them was still there so I did a shot of hem with Mercy modeling.

It took me a while to get into the swing of sketching again. We did one side passage then crossed the collapsed puka entrance into the unknown downflow passage. It continued on with large curbs (5' wide or more) on both sides and a pahohoe floor. Large stals were ever-present on the ceiling and even on the walls, where ribbed columns up to a foot long protruded from the walls. We followed good air to an intersection with a large passage 25' wide and 15' high. We continued downflow to a pair of entrances above a climb-up. A short crawl over red pahohoe coated here and there with patches of soft white frothy 'stuff'. We emerged to find ourselves about 50' below the road, right below where Terry had spelled out "Texas" with some red cinders. At Terry's suggestion, we named this the "Eyes of Texas" entrance. We went out to eat and drink and saw the others up above. I went up and conferred with them. They'd finished up all the side leads and were about to work in the upper redemption entrance. I walked over with Doug to the entrance that Barb had found the day before, about 300' east of the Redemption entrance. It had some large ferns and green moss at the bottom, with a red lava falls cascading over the edge. It overhung about 10' , requiring a ladder, and later Doug dropped it and found that it went big time. But this would need to be saved for another day.

Meanwhile we went back into the eyes of Texas entrance to continue our survey. Shortly beyond we hit a breakdown section requiring crawling but the passage stayed wide. But beyond it opened up and we had nice walking passage again. This area was very dark, devoid of the white mineralization typical of Mauna Loa tubes. Yet it was similar to the downflow ends of Oozing Red, Sunset, and Hanging Pack. Somehow the flows below the road were different. This was some of the biggest passage and the cave and the most intact tube. After some 1300' of survey, we arrived at a large room with the main passage degenerating into three smaller ones. Straight ahead was a seven foot climb up to a red, clinkery, overhanging, pahohoe shelf. This led into a narrow passage with tubes-within-tubes and to a room with much air coming from a couple of small holes. A side passage over some large coated blocks pinched. Out in the main chamber, Terry followed a small passage with air and found it too tedious to follow over the clinkery floors but said it continued. I wanted to pick up some side leads on the way back but Terry had run out of water for his carbide light so we headed out, finding Dug and Hazel in the car waiting and Bill off again in search of his elusive master puka. We packed up and left for Kona shortly before sunset.

Day 6 (Monday)

Down in Kona now, we bid adieu to Terry and Mercy who left to tour the island. Hazel, Doug, Bill & I went just north of the airport and went left on Kaiminilani (SP?) drive, then right on to an unnamed but dead-end road. Just above were two puka entrances. We began at the further one. The obvious way on led to nice walkway which died after some 500'. The floor was dusty and showed signs of extensive use - fire rings, a wall at the entrance with offerings, and some petroglyphs at the entrance. The walls of this cave had extensive crusting and other white mineralization, and lots of stals, albeit smaller than Mauna Loa. Back in the entrance puka, there was an opening on the side that we followed. Only later did we realize that the entire side of this puka was artificially walled closed, some 20' long and 12' high! We now surveyed into borehole, with several junctions of other good-sized passages. Much of the floor was breakdown. Points of interest included heavily encrusted walls with some stalagmites up to eight inches high, and a loop in a large room up and down through some fissurey passage that seemed more solutional than lava tube in nature. At the end of one passage was the inevitable crawl over some very sharp stuff that no one was happy with, and a surprisingly active concentration of drippiness. This largely ended the survey except for a couple of side leads. Back at the climb-down from the puka, the other direction led down even deeper into a 250' segment of large walking passage with very flat floors and much evidence of cultural use. There were piles of macadamia nut shells, some altar-like constructions, and a 3' high circular construction that could have been a fire ring. However, I noted that the ceilings weren't blackened as might be expected had this been the case. There was also a pile of unidentified bones near this. The passage ended in breakdown, apparently quite close to the other puka we'd passed on the way over.

We left about 5:30 to cool off in the surf at Disappearing Sands beach. Great body surfing but some of those waves will kick your butt!

Day 7(Tuesday)

We got a late start this morning after an aborted attempt to arrange a flight. So we ended up about 1:00 at the puka near the Wall Cave system. Not much to say about this cave - we did several passages that were just plain UGLY-breakdown floors, barely walking height, no formations. Doug and I were keen to wrap it up when Bill pushed one last passage and presto - we connected to the "cultural passage" in Wall Cave, making that cave almost 3,000' long. Around 4:30 we met up with Barb Schaefer and hiked out towards Keohole bay. She led us along an ancient Hawaiian trail, stopping first at a small cave with numerous large op'ee (limpet) and cowrie shells, a midden site. She dug out a little hook carved out of human bone that she'd found here and stashed for safety. Next we visited a 100' segment of tube open at both ends, with tall curb linings over 10' tall. The bridge over this passage contained a couple of skylights and there were numerous bones and some walls. Down a line of pukas we went, stopping at a more delicate bridge that various individuals (myself excluded) were talked into walking across for photos.

Shortly beyond we reached a puka with borehole that led to our goal: a lava tube with a lake of blue-green water at its end! It was in a large curving passage with broad aprons on both sides, and the water looked as deep as 15' in spots. It was sufficiently inviting looking that some of us wanted to jump in, but I contented myself with a multiple flash photo, with everyone (4) helping. All the flashes seemed to work and with luck we got some good shots.

This done, Barb asked us if we wanted to see another cave we could swim in. We walked down to the coast and along it for half a mile to a water-floored puka only some 50' from the surf. A wooden ladder extended into the water, which was clear and blue tinted, as in the previous cave. Glowing eyes of shrimp beckoned us. Only Barb and I stripped down and jumped in the water. I poked into some roofed-over tube which extended only 50' or so. It was a refreshing way to cool down for the long hike up the hill and back to the cars.

After returning we went to Cafe Pesto, a trendy Kamuela restaurant, and then on to Barb's, where we watched shots of tubes in the Hawaii flows. She had some nice shots of pig-tail formations in some caves from the Kona region. We shot home soon after, knowing we had to get up early the next morning.

Day 8 (Weds)

We began the day with a two hour flight over the flows to look for entrances or "pukas" as they're called in Hawaiian. We flew over Doug's areas in the 1801 Hualalai flows, spotting more and more leads. We then headed for Relay Junction on Mauna Loa, though we were climbing very slowly due to our weight and a lack of wind. So we headed over to Hualalai and looked at various pit craters, including Na One, which I recognized. Our visibility was excellent. At Relay Junction, I was struck by the multicolored flows and just how long the puka lines extended above and below. We shot lots of pictures and Doug was quite pleased to see all this stuff.

After the flight we joined John Rosenfeld from PA. who had looked into a vent on the side of Hualalai called Puhai Pelee. It was a 20 minute walk down from the upper road, 190. It had several deep sinks filled with vegetation and two had deep holes. After some circuitous route finding we were standing at the edge to the pit and throwing rocks. They didn't seem to go all that far. We rigged it with a 300' rope John had brought. Unfortunately the airlines had lost all of his caving gear, but we were able to loan him some. We were able to rig a largely free drop on two trees right at the edge to the pit proper. After some convincing John went down first. After 15 minutes we heard a clear "off rope, come on down!" and down I went. The drop was pretty clean except for some loose rocks near the lip. Large tube extended in either direction. About 70' down the rope rubbed a bit as the pit narrowed into a tall fissure, and here I placed a pad. At -125', I found John on a large, rock-strewn bottom. There appeared to be more drop in either direction, but loose rocks and a lack of rigging for a rebelay (should a brought the pitons down) made this problematic. I acted as a re-anchor and John chimneyed out en belay. He shined his light down and estimated it went another 80', but without a means to re-rig the rope to avoid the loose rocks at the lip it seemed most prudent to leave it for another Obviously it would have to await another day.

With the pit done for now, we de-rigged and carried all the rope back up. we then went for a brief snorkel down at Kaahulu Beach Park, lots of fish but less coral than I'd remembered. We finished the day with a Hawaiian buffet at the Keauhou Beach Hotel.

Day 9 (Thursday)

We picked up John in the morning and headed up for one last day of Mauna Loa caving. Our main goal was the fern cave entrance that Barb Schaefer had found. We rigged a cable ladder with a 12' drop and split into two teams, Doug and Hazel going upflow and John, Bill and I going downflow. We progressed slowly as John wasn't used to sketching. After seven stations it was growing noticeably colder - on Mauna Loa, generally a sign that the cave will die. And so it did, after some 10 stations, breaking into several smaller passages too small to follow. We backtracked to pick up a side passage and I kept thinking I heard voices. Sure enough, Doug and Hazel had begun a side passage which was connecting into ours. They'd found another entrance which avoided the cable ladder climb. This entrance had an oozy red lava falls coming in and some bizarre stals consisting of rounded balls on stalks with smaller stals dripping from the bottom. This was the end of the survey and we all exited. So despite the proximity of this entrance to 4500' Redemption Cave, there was no connection. Yet Redemption is currently the longest mapped cave on Mauna Loa.

To finish off the afternoon we went looking for some caves that had shown up on the air photos as being near the road. First we went to a pair shown just east of the furthest relay tower. These yielded only a 150' walking passage going downflow in the upper one and some 50' in the lower one. Next we drove back towards the Saddle Road and turned west on the unpaved Kona-Hilo Road. At .95 mile we reached an area chock-full of cave entrances. North of the road we followed a passage downflow from a puka for about 600'. It began as a large borehole some 30' wide and 20' high, going through a skylight lighting up the pure white walls before plunging into blackness. Soon the smooth pahohoe floor gave way to breakdown and eventually it died before reaching another entrance. On the other side of the road was a series of large pukas looking some 25' down into a large passage, though it was broken by the proximity of so many entrances. Realizing we had plenty to do for the next trip and many more, we headed down the mountain to get Bill to the airport for his evening flight.

Trip motto: Been there, done that, can't remember shit!

Training Policy for 1997

SFBC training sessions and workshops are open to any member of any NSS grotto, or any cave related agency. Unless specifically stated, they are NOT open to the general public. There are numerous reasons for this, including, but not limited to:

1) Quality of Training. There are a limited number of individuals that are available to teach proper caving techniques. Restricting session size means that each individual can receive the attention needed for a good learning experience.

2) The time it takes to train properly. Training safely in caving skills takes several months. It is impossible to learn everything in a single session. Gaining good skills in caving takes a high level of perseverance and commitment. This is partially demonstrated by joining and participating in a grotto.

3) Wear and tear on the equipment. A good deal of equipment is furnished by the SFBC. This is extremely expensive to maintain and replace. It is therefore only available to the people who support the training cache.

Members are required to sign a trip waiver, just like on a caving trip. It is the responsibility of the participant to aggressively investigate, understand, and follow safe caving practices.

Description of Sessions and Workshops Vertical System Workshop

This will be geared toward any vertical training need that a member has. It may include discussions of safe vertical practices, different rigging systems, different vertical systems, vertical equipment, and the design of safer vertical systems. Assistance will be provided to members in the selection, design, building, and tuning of their own vertical system. There will be no ropework. It is strongly advised that beginners attend one of these sessions before going to a vertical session. Climbing Skills Workshop Caving in California rarely involves walking down a flat, sandy floored passage. Many times cavers are forced to scramble over unstable or exposed passages. Participation in this workshop will strengthen climbing skills and assist in giving the student confidence in moving through the underground environment. Students will practice climbing, chimneying, stemming, and mantling. Vertical Practice/Pinnacles These sessions are a practical application of techniques learned in the Vertical System Workshops. Students will spend time becoming familiar with their rigs, and increasing and maintaining their vertical skills. Survey and Cartography Workshop California has a lot of exploration going on. This workshop will teach the techniques needed for creating a cave map. Students will learn how to survey inside of a cave, techniques for taking good (error free) data, and how to utilize the data to create an accurate map. There will also be an introduction to computer aided mapping and drawing as time permits. Advanced Vertical This is for the student that has mastered change overs and knots. Topics covered will include: deviations, pendulums, traverses, massive gear failures, pickoffs. European Training This will be a warm up session for the grotto members going to the International Congress in Switzerland. The focus will be on rebelay, frog systems, and cable ladders. There will be some discussion on the subtle differences between the British/French/Swiss vertical systems. Anchors and Rigging This will be a session on how to choose an anchor, how to rig an anchor safely, and how to detect a failing anchor. Students will learn how to rig SRT and rebelay. They will also learn the differences in anchors for each of these rigging systems. Self Rescue California cavers often travel to remote areas, and must take care of their own problems in the event of a rescue. This will be an all day training in one of the modules designed by the Western Region Self Rescue Committee.

SFBC Meeting Minutes

There was no meeting in December, instead there was the annual Christmas Party. Notes concerning the Auction, etc. at the party will be printed next month.

Date: Jan 14, 1997
Time: 7:30 PM to 10:30 PM
Meeting: January Executive meeting
Location: Steve Ruble's house
Attendance: 11 Grotto members and one AAA tow truck driver
Special topic: Annual Trip planning meeting.

Notes:

See notices in the upcoming newsletters about future trips planned by interested grotto members. If you would like a particular trip planned, and it isn't, you should have been at this meeting. If you find yourself listed as a trip leader, and this is a surprise to you, you should have been at the meeting. Discussions were also made about upcoming monthly programs. If any member has a special request for an interesting program, or would like to volunteer a good program, please be sure to get in touch with the grotto chairman as soon as possible. All in all, those of us in attendance had a good time. See you all at the next grotto meeting, January 28th at Telegen in Redwood City.

Correspondence Received:

The grotto received a couple of letters that may be of interest to the members:

November 18th, 1996

To: Western Region Grottos of the NSS

Re: Moratorium on visiting Bat Cave

Dear Cavers,

It has come to my attention that Western Region cavers are still visiting Bat Cave (AKA "Half-Mile Cave").

As per my request a the 1995 Joint Regional meeting at the Lava Beds NM on 10/8/95, Bat Cave was not to be visited during 1996.

Please honour our mutual agreement to stay out of the cave now and during this coming year as well, in order to minimize disturbance to the bat populations.

With your cooperation, and with the help of the soon-to-be-installed gate, the Forest Service and us cavers hope to see the return of the bats to their cave!

Many thanks!

Jim Wolff

Vice-Chair

Shasta Area Grotto

This newsletter is a monthly publication of the San Francisco Bay chapter (SFBC) of the National Speleological Society (NSS). Any material not specifically copyrighted may be reproduced by other Internal Organizations of the NSS without permission provided credit is given to SFBC and the author. Opinions expressed within this newsletter are not necessarily those of SFBC, its board members, or the NSS.

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