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January/February
1992
At
the beginning of January, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 64.6 miles. By
the end of February, Wind Cave's length was increased to 65.5 miles. The total
amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.9 miles. Approximately
1 mile of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.9 miles
of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
On January 4, Jim Nepstad, Mike Wiles and Dave Springhetti made a trip out to
the Gypsy Road area. They surveyed 524 feet, noting a small room with what seemed
to be an abnormally high temperature.
January 10, Paha
Sapa Grotto members, Rick Bogue, Marc Lamphere, Lon Sharp and Dave Anderson surveyed
190 feet in the YUK survey. Kevin Smith inventoried 15 stations along the Candlelight
tour.
January 11 was the monthly Colorado Grotto trip to
Wind Cave. Rich Wolfert, Dave Lester, Randy Brown and Bob Stucklen surveyed 343.5
feet of new cave in the FT survey. They reported leaving leads and airflow in
this area. Tim Johnson, Christian George, Randy Macan and Eric David inventoried
24 stations in the BX survey near Deep Confusion. Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl, Kirk
Haley and Jerry Hassemer surveyed 491 feet in the YG and EE surveys. They surveyed
the Flapjack Room, a room with a fairly large aerial extent, but only 2 feet tall!
Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Dennis Kendrick and Peter Wilson surveyed approximately
400 feet in the KPA survey near Mystic Hall. Clarence Williams and Pat Jablonsky
inventoried 18 stations in the Snowdrift Avenue area. While checking a high lead
in the upper-middle level of cave, Pat had a handhold break. She fell about 3
feet and hit her jaw on the wall, fracturing her jaw and loosening some teeth.
This is another reminder to be careful when climbing in the loose, upper-middle
level of cave. Carl Pagano, Amy Johnson, Tim Moreland, Brian Smith and Jim Myers
surveyed 165 feet in the PIT survey near Mammoth Canyon. Robert Phillips, Vern
Carlson, Bill Hawn, Murray Vogal and Steve Huck surveyed 580 feet in the MH survey,
leaving leads. Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Stuart Marlatt surveyed 288.8 feet
of cave in the OFF survey near Selenite Avenue. They also inventoried 21 stations
in the OF survey. Paul Burger, Dawn Reed and Jon Turnbull went out to Gypsy Road
to survey. Unable to locate the survey tape left previously, they pushed the LOK
survey 200 feet further west.
On January 18, Darren Ressler
and Michelle Youngquist surveyed 221.1 feet in the DM survey near the Citadel.
February 8, was the monthly Colorado Grotto weekend at Wind
Cave. Skip Withrow, Kevin Reynolds, Steve Posey and Brian Smith went out to the
Colorado Grotto section and surveyed a connection between two surveys. Ted Lappin,
Vi Allured and Pat Seiser surveyed 300 feet in the BED survey, near the north
end of Half-Mile Hall. Robert Phillips, Bill Hawn and Dirk Haley surveyed 174.6
feet in the VC survey near the Rescue Pit. Doug Kent, Alan Williams, Mike Behn
and Ed LaRock surveyed 218 feet in the OJ survey near the north end of Half-Mile
Hall. Margo Butner, Nancy Houdeshell and Carol Boyles inventoried 22 stations
in the NP survey. Bill Yett, Charles Lawrence and Cam Seibolt pushed cave near
CM23 but were unable to find much cave. Christian George, Chris Sodergen, Tim
Johnson and Doug Hansen inventoried 31 stations in the DD, DF and KD surveys.
Mike Prazier, John Peters-Cambell, Erin Zumpf and Max Mauer inventoried 33 stations
in the SD and RF surveys near the Lakes. Pat Jablonsky, Frank Leskinen, Clarence
Williams and Sandy Kraemer inventoried 6 stations near Snowdrift Avenue. Dave
Lester, Rich Wolfert, Amy Johnson and Bob Stucklen surveyed 355 feet, continuing
the FT survey, leaving leads. Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Becky Ward inventoried
33 stations in the OF and MR surveys near the Master Room.
February 29, Paul Burger, Pat Seiser and Dave Springhetti surveyed 100 feet near
Deep Confusion. March/April
1992 At
the beginning of March, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 65.5 miles. By the
end of April, Wind Cave's length was increased to 66.4 miles. The total amount
of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.9 miles. Approximately
0.25 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.9 miles
of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
The monthly Colorado Grotto trip occurred on March 14. Randy Macan, David Coles,
Chris Collins, Wes and Max Mazur surveyed 321.7 feet in the DZ and DZA surveys
near Jarbidge Pool. Doug Kent, Barry Berg and Cheryl pushed leads off of Martels'
Madhouse, surveying 352 feet in the BEB survey. Carl Pagano, Brian Smith, June
Golaz and Tim Moreland surveyed 327 feet in the BIG and FX surveys. These surveys
are in the Atlas Underground Hempworks area. Dave Lester, Rich Wolfert, Randy
Brown and Dave White surveyed 359.7 feet in the FKJ and FB surveys east of the
Hempworks area. Bill Hawn, Steve Huck, Bob Phillips and Murray Vogel surveyed
244.7 feet in the LP' survey near the Blue Bayou. James Wilson, Clarence Williams,
Frank Leskinen, Pat Jablonsky and Kathy Petty surveyed 97 feet in the NS_H survey.
Jim Clark, Kirk Haley, John Peters-Campbell and Ian Peters-Campbell resurveyed
the erroneous RB survey. Kevin Smith, Steve Smith, Becky Ward and Vern Carlson
surveyed 538.1 feet in the GK survey north of the Master Room.
Bob Kobza, Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison and Harry Burgess went out to the Southern
Comfort Zone to push the maze at the end of Delusions of Grandeur. Continuing
the LOL survey, they pushed through the tight maze and into a passage 30 feet
tall and 30 to 70 feet wide. Since the cave passed 66 miles while surveying this
passage they named it Route 66. Following the air down this passage pushed the
cave further south to a small, mazy zone with no easy way on. A total of 1168
feet of cave was surveyed.
The April Colorado Grotto trip
occurred on April 11. Bill Hawn, Murray Vogel and Eric Dutton inventoried an impressive
amount in the SB survey, 46 stations from the Magic Hole to the Lunar Tubes. Dave
Lester, Rich Wolfert, Brian Smith and Bob Stucklen surveyed 659.2 feet in the
XI surveys near the Wretched Hole. Becky Ward, David Coles, Max Mazur and Wes
Allen surveyed 175.8 feet in the NH survey near the Master Room. Steve Smith,
Kevin Smith, Jeff Fowler and James Fair surveyed 394 feet off of Christmas Tree
Park in the BBA survey. Pat Seiser, Vi Schweiker and Ted Lappin resurveyed the
XX survey in the Colorado Grotto Zone. They reported airflow and lots of leads.
Jon Hollman, Ryntha Johnson, Aaron Birenboim and Randy Winans surveyed 127.5 feet
in the XXA survey.
On April 27, 1992 Jim Nepstad located
a blowing hole near Cold Brook Canyon. This hole may be related to Wind Cave as
it breathes in accordance with the Wind Cave winds. Its location along the contact
of the Minnelusa and Paha Sapa formations if also promising as that is where both
the Snake Pit and Blowhole entrances are located. Bob Kobza and Stan Allison returned
with Jim only to find that the hole is home to a 50 foot long, vicious, rattlesnake
(well at least that's what it looked like to me!). May/June
1992 At
the beginning of May, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 66.4 miles. By the
end of June Wind Cave's length was increased to 67.5 miles. The total amount of
new survey accumulated during this two month period was 1.2 miles. One survey
was eliminated from the cave, as it had a 10% loop closure error; this resulted
in a 0.1 mile loss in length. Approximately 0.38 miles of previously surveyed
passage was inventoried along with the 1.2 miles of inventory accomplished in
conjunction with the new survey.
On May 2, Paul Burger,
Stan Allison, Myk Coughlyn and Mike Wiles made a trip to the far end of the Southern
Comfort zone near Route 66. After mopping up a few leads, Paul led them into a
mazy, walking section of cave called Toon Town. Total survey was 1189 feet in
the LLB, LDL and LWD surveys. In addition, the cave was pushed approximately 350
feet further south.
Also on May 2, John Scheltens, Andy
Flurky, Ed LaRock and Mike Behn surveyed 536 feet of cave in the BT area. They
reported that the area had beautiful aragonite and flowstone.
May 9 was the Colorado Grotto trip to Wind Cave. Margo Butner and Nancy Houdeshell
inventoried 11 stations in the UQ survey off of the Model Room. Steve Smith, Kevin
Smith and Robert Phillips surveyed 212.5 feet in the BBAA survey near Christmas
Tree Park. Bob Kobza, Stan Allison and Paul Burger surveyed 1263 feet in the LOS,
LTG and LTO surveys off of Gypsy Road. One passage they surveyed, Barnacle Straights,
had calcite coating on the wall similar to Jewel Cave! Mike Frazier, Martin Smith,
Bill Koershner, Win Wright and Carol Boyles surveyed 321.7 feet in the SEZ and
SEY surveys off of the Silent Expressway. Christian George, Eric Show and Don
Denton surveyed 420.1 feet into the HH and HI surveys in lower level cave off
of the DD survey. Dave Lester, Bill Yett, Randy Brown and Dawn Reed surveyed 187.4
feet in the FTA, FTB and FTC surveys in the Colorado Grotto section. Max Mazur,
Randy Macan, David Coles, John Williams and Becky Ward surveyed 427.5 feet of
lower level cave in the DZB, DZ and DY surveys. Jon Hollman, Shane Zumpf and Al
Pangburn surveyed 246.5 feet in the XXA and XXB surveys off the XX survey in the
Colorado Grotto Zone.
On May 30, Jim Nepstad, Stan Allison,
Mike Wiles and Myk Coughlyn surveyed 1063.8 feet of cave in the Route 66 area.
Survey designations from this trip were LDL3, LDL10, LLL, LOL62 and KIK51B. Most
of their time was spent pushing in the Toon Town area attempting to follow the
air. The air was left going into a mazy area, but they managed to push the cave
100 feet further south.
June 13 was the Colorado Grotto
weekend at Wind Cave. Dan Hansen, Rich Wolfert, Pat Seiser, Steve Mosberg and
Steve Parks surveyed 216.5 feet in the DR survey near the Xerox Room. Nancy Houdeshell
and Tim Moreland inventoried 20 stations in the UQ survey. John Hollman, John
Mitchell and Randy Brown surveyed 242.9 feet in the FSH, SVP and SCP surveys in
the SH area of tight North Zone. Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips, Jurray Vogel, Steve
Huck and James Fair inventoried 6 stations along the travel corridor in the Elephant
Trunk area. Kevin Smith, Steve Smith and Becky Ward surveyed 190.9 feet in the
DIE survey heading south from the Master Room. They also inventoried 23 stations
of the OF survey.
Two radio location trips were done in
June with the help of Paul Wightman's radio expertise. On June 18, Jim Nepstad,
Bob Kobza and Stan Allison did radio locations at the Pile-Up, Southern Comfort
and Blind Faith. All three locations were between 300 and 400 feet deep.On June
24, Mike Paulick (Binky), Bob Kobza and Stan Allison did a radio location at the
Root Cellar in the North Zone. This room proved to be only 18 feet beneath the
survey, and rock pounding could be heard between the surface and the cave! July/August
1992 At
the beginning of July, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 67.5 miles. By the
end of August, Wind Cave's length was increased to 68.3 miles. The total amount
of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 0.8 miles. Approximately
0.18 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 0.8 miles
of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
July 11, was the Colorado Grotto weekend at Wind Cave. Bill Hawn, Bob Phillips
and Steve Smith inventoried 37 stations in the Silent Expressway, along the SE
survey. Kirth Haley, Randy Winans, David Wright and Eric Simonds surveyed 105.5
feet in the PE survey. This area is located off of the PD survey. Dave Lester,
Kevin Smith, Becky Ward, Steve Lester and Linda Gentitle surveyed 203.3 feet in
the LG survey in the Windy City Lake area. They also inventoried 6 stations along
the L* survey. Jim Wilson, Bill Yett, Aaron Birenboim and Dina Venezky surveyed
601 feet in the JX survey. They discovered a large room with a very low ceiling.
Vi Schweiker, Ted Lappin and Rod Horrocks surveyed 180 feet in the BEN survey.
Airflow was reported going into a dangerous dig in this area located off of Martels'
Madhouse. Dan Hansen, Rich Wolfert, Mike Goar, Doug Kent and Alan Williams surveyed
129 feet in the FKJ3 and SKJ1 surveys. They were attempting to push east of the
Atlas Underground Hempworks area, but were unable to find much. Jim Meyers, Jamie
Meyers, Brian Raven and Pat Smith surveyed 192.9 feet in the JBM and BRR surveys.
They reported that this area contained extensive frostwork formations. Stan Allison,
Paul Burger and Skip Withrow surveyed 904.7 feet of upper level cave off of Blind
Faith in the LTK survey. Bat scratches were noted along this survey which is over
two miles away form the Natural Entrance.
On July 15, Art
and Peg Palmer, Bob Kobza, Brice Leech and Stan Allison made a trip to photograph
and make geologic observations in the recent discoveries of the Southern Comfort
Zone.
August 8, was the August Colorado Grotto trip. Due
to the conflict with the National Speleological Society convention, few trips
occurred. Bill Hawn, Robert Phillips, Steve Huck and Murray Vogel found an area
with several interesting forms of quartz. They surveyed 266.3 feet of cave finding
an easy route into the Toxic Waste area. Tim Moreland, Ingar Abarzua, Carl Pagano
and Bruce Albright surveyed 95.3 feet in the KCA survey near the Xerox Room. Bryan
Smith, Linda Gentile, Stacy Smyth, Randy Brown and Kim Dreyfuss surveyed 718 feet
in the QP, FO and FU surveys. This area is just off of the Fairgrounds Tour route.
On August 11, Stacy Smyth, Randy Brown, Mary and Mike Laycock,
Linda Gentile and Lisa Engleman survey 500 feet in the FU survey. They found newspapers
from the 1890s' as well as other historical items. On August 12, Stacy Smyth and
Randy Brown surveyed 45.1 feet tying in surveys in the FU area.
Several visiting cave scientists made a trip down to the Lakes on August 13. Yri
Dublyansky from Siberia, Katalin Takacs Bolner and Sandov Kraus from Hungaria,
Wolfgang Dreybrodt from Germany, Derek Ford, Susan Fuyedy and Craig Malis form
Canada all are involved in the study of hydro-thermal cave formation. John Scheltens
and Marc Lamphere led this trip.
Linda Gentile and Linda
Chandler surveyed 141.6 feet in the NB survey on August 28. They report there
is more to survey in this area.
Stacy Smyth, Keri Yankus
and Darryl Maleike surveyed 80 feet in the PO survey off of the Dreamland area
on August 31. September/October
1992 At
the beginning of September, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 68.3 miles. By
the end of October, Wind Cave's length was increased to 69.6 miles. The total
amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 1.3 miles. Approximately
0.6 miles of previously surveyed passage was inventoried along with the 1.3 miles
of inventory accomplished in conjunction with the new survey.
On September 5th, Stacy Smyth, Nate Fairchild and Meg Lamm did an after work trip
to the Dreamland area. They surveyed 130 feet in the Dreamland area. On another
evening trip Stacy Smyth, Nate Fairchild and Diana Wiggan surveyed an additional
114 feet in the PO survey. This survey has not been entered as there are loop
closure problems in this section of cave.
The September
Colorado Grotto weekend was on the twelfth. Dave Lester, Randy Brown, Steve Lester
and Kirk Haley surveyed 397.9 feet in the PM survey off of Snowdrift Avenue. "Extremely
nice aragonite formations" were found in this area. Alaric Strauss, John
Mitchell, Christian George, Bruce Albright and John Miller inventoried 61 stations
along the B survey. This is the Snake Pit Entrance 800 foot long belly crawl.
Bryan Smith, Dan Hansen and Norm Thompson surveyed 211 feet in the XC' and CB
surveys in the Colorado Grotto Zone. Jim Clark, Veronica Stahl and Bill Yett inventoried
21 stations along the KK survey in Half-Mile Hall. Kevin Smith, Becky Ward and
Tim Moreland inventoried 41 stations along the FC, NO and TL surveys in the Land
of 10,000 Lakes area. Robert Phillips, Murray Vogal, Bill Hawn and Steve Smith
found an area with multi-colored crystals in their CWS survey. They surveyed 431.7
feet in this area above the Wind Gate. Aaron Birenboim, Rich Wolfert and June
Golaz spent time pushing beyond the Wind Tunnel, looking for a connection to the
North Zone. Nothing of note was found, but 37.9 feet were surveyed in the NWU
survey. Paul Burger, Harry Burgess, Dave Springhetti and Stan Allison surveyed
936 feet in the LRUD and LO surveys off of Toon Town. Harry found a wonderful
10 foot wide, 8-9 inch high, 70 foot long crawlway. Named Pervert Alley, this
sharp crawl led south to Vega, a good sized room under Highway 385. Vega contains
nice calcite rafts, and is the southernmost point in Wind Cave.
The October Colorado Grotto weekend was the ninth and tenth. Bill Hawn, Steve
Huck and Murray Vogel surveyed 53 feet in the TD survey. An interesting historical
resource was found in this survey, a 1937 silver dime! They estimated that another
200 feet of survey could be done in this area right off of the Fairgrounds Tour.
Dave Lester, Melissa Lester, Randy Brown and Steve Lester surveyed 339.8 feet
in the CAA and CM' surveys. They reported this area off of Snowdrift Avenue as
promising, and containing bat scratches. Robert Phillips, Jan Prendergast, Steve
Huck and Murray Vogel, surveyed 203 feet, continuing the VA survey south of the
Frostline. Christian George, Tim Johnson and Chris Sodergen went to inventory
an area that they had previously surveyed in the DF area. They inventoried 16
stations. Steve Smith, Kevin Smith and Bill Hawn surveyed 166.4 feet in the UO
survey. They were looking for a connection between the Janine's Pitfall area and
the Methodist Church area, but did not have any luck. Dough Kent, John Lane, John
Pollack and Tom Volkers went to an area north-west of the Figure 8 Room. They
surveyed 177 feet in the ZZA survey and reported that most things ended in this
area. Bryan Smith, Dan Hansen, Greg Glazner, Dan Wray and Jim Meyers mapped 713
feet in the AO survey. They found many historical items in this area right off
of the Fairgrounds Tours Route. Eric Dutton, Bob Evans, Janet Harms and Sean Durrum
surveyed 149.6 feet northwest of the Graveyard in the TS survey. Myk Coughlin,
Mike Wiles, Stan Allison and Paul Burger surveyed 1179 feet west of Gypsy Road
in the LTN4, LOG4 and LTP surveys. One passage they were surveying, the OK Coral,
pushed Wind Cave farther west.
On October 24, Stan Allison,
Harry Burgess, Mike Wiles and Myk Coughlin traveled to Vega, the southern-most
point of Wind Cave. Pushing east, they pooped through a tight Crawl (named Eughx!),
that led to Cosmos. Cosmos is an area of square-shaped passages that average 15-20
feet wide and 10-12 feet high. Small pools were found, and walking leads were
left going in all four directions. Most importantly, good airflow was observed
in this area. 2003 feet was surveyed in LO25-69 before Mike's compass stuck, approximately
1000+ feet of cave was seen but not surveyed. Parts of this new discovery extend
under Highway 385. November/December
1992 At
the beginning of November, the surveyed length of Wind Cave was 69.6 miles. By
the end of December, Wind Cave's length was increased to 70.8 miles. The total
amount of new survey accumulated during this two month period was 1.2 miles. The
total amount of new survey done in 1992 was 6.12 miles. 131 stations of previously
surveyed passage were inventoried (approximately 0.6 miles). In addition, 1.2
miles of inventory was accomplished in conjunction with new survey. The total
amount of old passage inventoried in 1992 was approximately 3.0 miles.
On November 7, Jim Nepstad, Paul Burger, Bob Kobza and Stan Allison surveyed 1574.5
feet in the LO70-78, LO55A-M, LO49A-D, LO51A-D and LO64A-E surveys. Early in the
trip a connection was found between Toon Town and Cosmos, this connection saves
15-30 minutes of tight cave. At the end of the trip, Stan found a tight lead going
south that lead to walking cave.
November 14 was the monthly
Colorado Grotto trip. Myk Coughlin, Stan Allison and Mike Wiles surveyed 1305
feet in the TM survey and in spurs off of LO36-49. The TM survey went out through
the Strait Jacket, the tight crawl pushed the week before. The Strait Jacket led
to the Asylum, an area of walking passages. The airflow in the Asylum seemed to
be going into breakdown chokes. Max Mazur, Mike Mazur and Monte Buchanon surveyed
144 feet in the BU14A-D survey. Skip Withrow, Ed LaRock and Mike Behn surveyed
330 feet in the KYG survey. The KYG is north of the Coke Room. Eric Dutton, Sean
Durrum, Bob Evans, June Golaz and Carl Pagano surveyed 203 feet, continuing their
TS survey they started in October. Apparently they pushed all leads in their survey
off of the Graveyard area. Steve Smith, Bill Hawn, Vern Carlson and Steve Lester
surveyed 369.4 feet in the VH survey near Janines' Pitfall. Kevin Smith, Pat Malone
and John Mitchell inventoried 64 stations from Santas' Frosted Forest to the Chimera
Room. John Hollman, Bruce Albright and Phil Molzer surveyed 181.4 feet in the
FSH area. Dave Lester, Randy Brown and Kirk Haley surveyed 521.2 feet in the CM'10,
CO and UT1 surveys. These surveys are in the Snowdrift Avenue area.
On November 22, Carol Boyles led a group of Explorer Scouts to do inventory near
Snowmans' Heaven. They inventoried 17 stations along the E survey.
The December Colorado Grotto trip was December 12. Steve Smith, Kevin Smith, Bill
Hawn, Robert Phillips, Steve Huck and Steve Lester surveyed 562 feet in the VH4
and AI34 surveys. This is in the Janines' Pitfall area. Dave Lester, Randy Brown,
Kirk Haley and Jim Wilson surveyed 506.9 feet in the UL and UP surveys. Several
pits ere found that dropped approximately 30 feet into Snowdrift Avenue. Rich
Wolfert, Bob Stucklen, Clarence Williams and Tim Moreland surveyed 161.1 feet
in the NM25 and NWB surveys, near the Wind Tunnel. Doug Kent, Sean Durrum and
John Lane surveyed 317 feet in the OFA survey off f OH55. Bill Yett, Louise Hose
and Carl Pagano inventoried 50 stations in the AE, CG and UD surveys in the Colorado
Grotto Zone. They also worked on checking several surveys determining that the
VD survey should be surveyed. Stan Allison, Myk Coughlin and Mike Wiles surveyed
418.2 feet in the NG survey off of Cosmos. They checked many leads between Cosmos
and Gotham City, but could not find anything going. |
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