Family Oregon Caves Conservation Trip July 2013

Written By Lisa A M Bauman
Photos by Khalvin Cook & L. Bauman

Hosted by Hester Mellonee (Cascade Grotto), this group included three small children WVG members and two adults. The children were: Andrew Cook, 10 years; Isaac Bauman, 8 year; and Rebekah Bauman, 7 years. The group collected water from the cave to wash formations free from debris carried in by visitors. Formations gleamed after the crew was done. Mallonee gave the group a tour of the entire cave which included her amazing repairs of the caves flowstone. What a way to teach children about conservation! Thank you so much Hester for educating the next generation of cavers!

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2013 NCA & Western Regional

Written By Lisa A M Bauman
Photos by Khalvin Cook and L. Bauman

This event was hosted by the WVG and it was quite a hit! It featured "Bob's Vertical Caving Workshop" by Robert Johnson, WVG Vertical Chairperson; "Let Sleeping Bears Lie: Archaeology in the Dark Zone of Lava Tube Caves in Southwest Washington" by Cheryl Mack, Gifford Pinchot National Forest Planning Team Archeologist; "LIDAR - A New Tool and Concern for Locating Caves" by Matt Skeels, Oregon High Desert Grotto Chairperson; "The Sandy Glacier Caves Project: Documenting 14 Trips to the Caves" by Brent McGregor, Famous Photographer and Cave Explorer; and "Lava, Lava Everywhere: Lave Caves in the Solar System" by Hester Kate Mallonee, Geology Scientist educated at Boise State University. 

The event also featured an newly revised guidebook with the addition of many new caves and full color pages and glow-in-the-dark t-shirts both edited and designed by Lisa AM Bauman, WVG VIce Chairperson/NCA Secretary and Graphic Design Specialist educated at Portland State. Khalvin Cook, Koch, Bauman, and Dennis Glasby wrote the articles in the guidebook. 

Claude Koch was the Event Organizer and Trip Leader for many sensitive and protected caves in our area. Sandy & Gerald Zimmer managed registration and meal plans. So many more people helped in this amazing event that haven't been mentioned. Please feel free to share your story in the comments.

Camp

Camp

"Lava, Lava Everywhere: Lave Caves in the Solar System" by Hester Kate Mallonee, Geology Scientist educated at Boise State University

Taken before "Let Sleeping Bears Lie: Archaeology in the Dark Zone of Lava Tube Caves in Southwest Washington" by Cheryl Mack, Gifford Pinchot National Forest Planning Team Archeologist

Camp

Camp

Camp

Trip Registration

Camp

Taken before "Let Sleeping Bears Lie: Archaeology in the Dark Zone of Lava Tube Caves in Southwest Washington" by Cheryl Mack, Gifford Pinchot National Forest Planning Team Archeologist

Registration

"Lava, Lava Everywhere: Lave Caves in the Solar System" by Hester Kate Mallonee, Geology Scientist educated at Boise State University

NCA Regional Meeting

NCA Regional Meeting

Pillars of Fire Kids Trip hosted by Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman

Pillars of Fire Kids Trip hosted by Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman

Pillars of Fire Kids Trip hosted by Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman

Pillars of Fire Kids Trip hosted by Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman

Poachers Cave Trip hosted by Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman

Poachers Cave Trip hosted by Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman

Deadhorse Cave Trip hosted by Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman

Guidebooks

Written By Lisa A M Bauman
Photos Contributed by L. Bauman and Nenita Luper

The WVG partnered on the second day with the OG on this trip to remove debris and non-native grasses dumped into a sensitive cave in Washington. Robert Johnson, WVG Vertical Chairperson (known as Vertical Bob), rigged up this helpful pulley system that reduced the time and effort to remove the heavy bags. It also reduced the impact to the cave. Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman (WVG Vice Chair) worked below the cave to load the pulley system. Our new member Jeff along with Ruth and Ken Stickney helped with the rigging and previous day's efforts too. Thank you all for taking action and working together to conserve this valuable resource. Thank you Oregon Grotto for inviting us along!

Kim, Alisha, and Jeff raising bags out of the cave. Photo By Nenita Luper 

Ben and Rebekah Bauman waiting to be lowered into the cave by Khalvin Cook. Photo By Nenita Luper

Robert and Jeff rigging to pulley system. Photo By Nenita Luper

This is the load from the previous day. Photo By Lisa A M Bauman

Alisa, Ruth Stickney, Khalvin Cook, Gene Hancock, Gary Pietre and several more are with Robert Johnson riggng the ropes. Photo By Lisa A M Bauman

Khalvin Cook loved being lowered into the cave. Photo By Lisa A M Bauman

Khalvin Cook and Lisa Bauman help load the mess from below.  Photo By Nenita Luper

Rebekah Bauman, one of our youngest members enjoys the rigging. Photo By Lisa A M Bauman 

There was still time for fun. Nenita Luper is taking a ride on the rigging. Thank you Robert Johnson for the awesome set up. It allowed us to move faster and quicker and also leave less impact on the cave! Photo By Lisa A M Bauman

Ruth, Ken, Alisa, Oscar, and Kim bagging up the debris. Photo By Lisa A M Bauman

Ruth Stickney doing the rigging. Photo By Lisa A M Bauman

Alisha, from the OG and Jeff, our new member. Photo By Lisa A M Bauman

WVG and OG’s 2014 Vertical Practice

Written by Bob Johnson, (Vertical Bob), WVG’s Vertical Chairman, OG’s vertical person

This year the Willamette Valley Grotto (WVG) decided to have a joint vertical practice with the Oregon Grotto (OG). We like to have a vertical practice in the winter time, because that time of year is when the bats hibernate and we needed something to do then. Since March 15 was the date we decided on, we needed a place to do the vertical practice that was indoors.

This year Tom Peterson negotiated a great location for the event. Thanks Tom for asking them! The location was in the Portland Bindery, 3342 NW 26th had 30 foot ceilings! John Wendland, the President of the company, allowed us to place eye bolts in the rafter and to use their lift to help us tie the ropes up.

Twenty-three people attended and signed the Waiver of Liability document. We collected $60 in donations and it was given to John Wendland, the President of the company, as a token of our thanks for allowing us to use his warehouse. He said that we were welcome to come back next year. Thanks John! The event lasted from 9:00 AM to 5 PM and then we packed it all away.

Below are some more of the pictures of the event. Thank you Tom for the use of all your pictures in this writing. All of us had a great time and we are looking forward to the next time we do this.

The warehouse had an upstairs with a loading area opening where I could demonstrate the way to rappel over a cliff. There are two different ways where the rope could tie off, one at a higher place and another one on the ground. Both of these I wanted to demonstrate how I do them. The first set of pictures is where I was showing my way of going over the edge. In the right picture I have my left hand on my lower bars and my right hand will soon be at my hip.

In the next set of pictures I’m showing how to go over the edge when the rope is on the ground. Here I have tied off my rack and I will next swing over the edge (basically it’s a controlled fall.) 

This next picture is after the swing over. I had two demonstrations planned for the practice. The above one at 10 AM and a rebelay at 1 PM. I rigged the rebelay so that it could be made loose or it could be made tight. I showed both ways. The tight one was a lot harder to do, so don’t make those. Not shown. 

The idea, in this picture, was to climb up the left rope, switch to the rope that I’m on and then rappel to the floor on the right rope. After that, you do it in reverse. I only saw two try it. There were 10 ropes to the 30 foot ceiling and 2 ropes on the rappel wall for the climbers at this vertical practice. We had a long climb on a 300 foot rope and several ropes with knots to pass and one tyrolean traverse to struggle with. 

Photo by Tom Peterson

Photo by Tom Peterson

Photo by Tom Peterson

Photo by Tom Peterson

After the practice was over, I had a little fun swinging on the ropes. Photo by Tom Peterson