Wind Cave Happenings, January-March 2011
By Rod Horrocks 6/3/2011
From January through March of 2011, 28 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 16 trips to the Historic Section, 7 trips to the Club Room Section, 3 trips to the North Section, 1 trip to the Lakes Section, and 1 trip to the Half Mile Hall Section. During 16 survey and inventory trips, cavers surveyed a total of 3,922 feet or 0.74 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 245 feet per trip. During 8 resurvey trips, 1,719 feet or 0.32 miles of problem surveys were also resurveyed, with an average survey length of 214 feet per trip. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 135.39 to 136.13 miles.
Marc Ohms & Lee-Gray Boze 1/6/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the L' survey in the Cathedral Room in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 80 feet.
Marc Ohms, Lee-Gray Boze, & Matthew Chuvarsky 1/7/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P' survey in the Monument Hall area in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 236 feet and noticed a few leads for a future trip.
Wind Cave Weekend 1/8/2011
Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Howard Bartlett, & Peter Johnson
Jim led a survey trip to the Yukon Trail area in the Club Room Section. They named an area the Land of the Midnight Sun while surveying several strenuous fissures for 778 feet. They left some leads for a future trip.
Rod Horrocks & Duff McCafferty
Rod led a survey trip to the AT survey in the Golden Rope Room area in the Historic Section. They surveyed 506 feet and left a few leads for a future trip.
Andrea Croskrey, Jen Foote, & Phil Thommes
Andrea led a survey trip back to some leads on the JX survey near the boundary of the Club Room and the Half Mile Hall Sections. They finished their leads from a previous trip with 287 feet of new survey.
Mary Laycock, Sam Frankfort, April Oesterling, Erin Cubbon, Erin Niedringhaus 1/15/11
Mary led an orientation trip to the Wild Cave Tour Route.
Marc Ohms and Kelly Mathis 1/20/2011
Marc led a work trip to the drip sites on the Wild Cave Tour and in Room Draculum in the Historic Section. They downloaded dataloggers and changed batteries.
Wind Cave Weekend 1/22/2011
Dave Lambert, Derek Bristol, & Kevin Manley
Dave led a survey trip to the Boob Room area in the North Section to check leads along the KY and KYC surveys. The first lead they checked went to a moderate sized room with many leads. They surveyed 404 feet and left numerous leads for a future trip.
Rod Horrocks, Dean Faust, & Matthew Chuvarsky
Rod led a survey trip to the LK survey in the Historic Section to finish some leads left from a trip he had led back in 2003. They started by pushing leads off of the Phototrophic Passage in the morning. In the afternoon, they moved on to the Racetrack, where they found an area that reconnected to a lead they had surveyed that morning and they thought they had finished. Apparently, when Dean had set the terminal point at the end of a bellycrawl, he hadn't bothered to look up, or he would have seen going cave and the passage they eventually connected from. It was a great learning experience about the nature of Wind Cave. They surveyed 531 feet for the day and left many leads for future trips.
Marc Ohms & Lee-Gray Boze 2/3/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the Council Chamber on the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 68 feet of a bad loop.
Marc Ohms & Lee-Gray Boze 2/4/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P' survey in the Monument Hall area of the Historic Section. They resurveyed 190 feet while resurveying the north half of that old survey. They also added 56 feet of new survey to the caves length.
Matthew Chuvarsky, Erin Cubbon, Jordan Sjogrun, & Ted Firkins 2/8/2011
Matthew led an Orientation trip the Club Room for park staff.
Wind Cave Weekend 2/12/2011
Dave Lambert, Andrea Croskrey, Matthew Luckwitz, & Kavin Manley
Dave led a trip back to his discovery from the previous month in the North Section. Continuing their UI survey, they mapped an additional 507 feet and left numerous leads in this new area.
Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, & Pete Johnson
Jim led a survey trip back to the YS survey and the Yukon Trail in the Club Room Section to continue pushing leads from his last trip. They surveyed an additional 373 feet, most of it in a lead they had missed on the last trip.
Marc Ohms & Lee-Gray Boze 2/23/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Rescue Pit area in the Club Room Section to prepare for a search and rescue practice the following week.
Marc Ohms, Lee-Gray Boze, John Punches, & Anmar Mirza 3/2/2011
Marc led a work trip to the yellow trail in the North Section to finish the preplan for search and rescue operations along that route.
Marc Ohms, Kelly Mathis, John Punches, & Anmar Mirza 3/4/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Rescue Pit area in the Club Room Section to prepare for a search and rescue practice there the following week.
Marc Ohms, Lee-Gray Boze, Rene Ohms, Kelly Mathis, MaryBeth Wells, Erin Cubbon, Anmar Mirza, John Punches, Larry Shaffer, Dan Austin, Marty Reames, & Andrew Blackstock 3/6/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Rescue Pit in the Club Room Section to practice vertical raises and rigging.
Rod Horrocks, MaryBeth Wells, & Erin Cubbon 3/7/2011
Rod led a resurvey trip to the BL survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed the whole loop from BL1-11, resurveying 351 feet and at the same time adding an additional 152 feet of new survey.
Wind Cave Weekend 3/12/2011
Jim Wilson, Tim Moreland, Roger Harris, & Sam Squillace
Jim led a trip back to the Yukon Trail in the Club Room Section to continue pushing leads along the YS survey. They surveyed 328 feet in a series of fissures that proved to be very strenuous.
Marc Ohms, Kelly Mathis, Lee-Gray Boze, & MaryBeth Wells 3/17/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P' survey in the Monument Hall area of the Historic Section. They resurveyed 351 feet and added 75 feet of new survey. They left a couple of leads for a future trip.
Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, April Oesterling, & Matthew Chuvarsky 3/18/2011
Marc led a work trip to the Lakes Section to download data loggers and record lake levels from the staff gages. They found that What the Hell was down 0.16' while Calcite Lake was up 0.08'.
Matthew Chuvarsky, Erin Niedringhaus, Ted Firkins, & Erin Cubbon 3/20/2011
Matthew led a work trip on the Red & White Trail in the Club Room Section to shoot video for a podcast.
Marc Ohms, MaryBeth Wells, & Erin Cubbon 3/21/2011
Marc led a work trip to the drip sites on the Wild Cave Tour and in Room Draculum in the Historic Section. They downloaded dataloggers and changed batteries.
Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 3/22/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P9 survey on the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section to correct a blunder. They resurveyed 59 feet.
Marc Ohms, Kelly Mathis, Lee-Gray Boze, & MaryBeth Wells 3/28/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the P survey on the Candlelight Tour Route in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 384 feet.
Matthew Chuvarsky, Erin Cubbon, & Ted Firkins 3/30/2011
Matthew led a work trip to Capitol Hall in the Historic Section to photograph an Alvin McDonald signature. They were unable to find the signature they were looking for.
Wind Cave Happenings, April-August 2011
By Rod Horrocks 12/16/2011
From April through August of 2011, 32 caving trips were taken into off-trail portions of Wind Cave; including 16 trips to the Historic Section, 13 trips to the Lakes Section, and 1 trip each to the Half Mile Hall, Club Room, and Colorado Grotto Sections. The 32 caving trips also included 17 work trips for the purpose of research, resurvey, or hydrologic monitoring. During 15 survey trips, cavers surveyed a total of 3,897 feet or 0.73 miles of previously unsurveyed passage, with an average survey length of 243 feet per trip. During 1 resurvey trip, 117 feet of problem survey was resurveyed. The new survey raised the length of the Wind Cave survey from 136.13 to 136.86 miles.
Marc Ohms & MaryBeth Wells 4/14/2011
Marc led a resurvey trip to the AP' survey in the Historic Section. They resurveyed 117 feet and found a few leads for a future survey.
Marc Ohms, Matthew Chuvarsky, & MaryBeth Wells 4/25/2011
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to get a water sample, place a dye bug, and get staff gage readings of the lake levels.
Rod Horrocks & Josh Nelson 5/16/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Attic in the Historic Section to survey some side leads off of the AT survey. They mopped up several short crawls for 270 feet, leaving a few leads for a future trip.
Rod Horrocks & Allen Takahashi 5/26/2011
Under a Special Use Permit, Rod led a researcher to the Wild Cave Tour Route in the Historic Section to look for potential places to set up a very low frequency receiver for a week-long experiment.
Rod Horrocks, Roger Harris, & Ken Geu 5/28/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Golden Rope Room and the Attic in the Historic Section to map unsurveyed leads. After mopping up 172 feet in the Golden Rope Room area, they went up to the Attic to push a side lead off of AT17. This quickly dropped into a virgin fissure that led to 460 feet of additional survey that eventually popped out in the floor of the Attic near station AT11. They left a few leads for a future trip.
Marc Ohms, Michael Johnston, & Andrew Wallace 6/8/2011
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to obtain a water sample for Dr. Hazel Barton's microbial work and to read the staff gages.
Jim Wilson, Skip Withrow, Tim Moreland, & Srdjan Pasjic 6/11/2011
Jim led a survey trip to the Yukon Trail area in the Club Room section to survey leads off of the YT survey. They surveyed 185 feet and found a promising lead for a future trip.
Marc Ohms, Blythe Carter, JoAnn Miller, & Kali Armstrong 6/16/2011
Marc led a work trip along the Pink/Black trail in the Colorado Grotto Section to conduct a rescue pre-plan along that off-trail route.
Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Toni Gould, & Jerri Keiser Frederick 6/20/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Pendent Room area on the UU survey in the Historic Section to survey leads. They found a 30-foot deep pit and several going leads while surveying 205 feet.
Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Toni Gould, & Jerri Keiser Frederick 6/27/2011
Rod led a survey trip back to the Pendent Room area on the UU survey in the Historic Section to push the leads left from their last trip. After surveying a balcony that overlooks Rome on the Wild Cave Tour, they decided to name the balcony Palitine Hill, after the hill that overlooks the city of Rome. They surveyed 413 feet for the day and left a large lead for their next trip.
Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Toni Gould, & Jerri Keiser Frederick 7/11/2011
Rod led a survey trip back to the Pendent Room area on the UU survey in the Historic Section to push the leads left from their last trip. After tying into Rome in the Historic Section they pushed some leads that eventually connected down into the Roman Catacombs area. They mopped up 242 feet and left a few small leads for a future trip.
Art & Peg Palmer 7/12/2011
Art led a leveling survey from the Hornets Nest in the Club Room Section down to the base of the Boxwork Chimney as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Marc Ohms, JoAnn Miller, Josh Nelson, & Toni Gould 7/12/2011
Marc led a survey trip to the JD survey in the Historic Section to push leads. They surveyed 166 feet in one lead and left a few leads for a return trip.
Art & Peg Palmer, Phyllis Boneau, Scott Christenson, Adam Lipkin, & Carol Lucero 7/14/2011
Art led a geologic tour to the Palette Room area in the Half Mile Hall Section for one of the Black Hills NSS Pre-Convention camp trips.
Art & Peg Palmer, Drew Crane, Walt Vennum, Kevin Strong, & Shelly Arreguin 7/15/2011
Art led a geologic tour to the Lakes Section for one of the Black Hills NSS Pre-Convention camp trips.
Rod Horrocks & Oscar Calhoun 7/15/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the Attic in the Historic Section to push leads off of the AT survey. They mopped up several side leads for 236 feet and left a dome climb for a later trip.
Jason Walz, Tami Motif, Angela Morgan, & Phyllis Boneau 7/15/2011
Jason led a survey trip to the north edge of the Historic Section to push leads under an area he had previously surveyed and named Central Air. They surveyed 56 feet.
Art & Peg Palmer 7/25/2011
Art led a leveling survey from Buffalo Gap to Base Camp I in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Art & Peg Palmer 7/27/2011
Art led a leveling survey from Base Camp I to What the Hell in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Marc Ohms, JoAnn Miller & Lucas Wassner 7/28/2011
Marc led a survey trip back to the JD survey in the Historic Section to continue pushing the leads from their last trip. They surveyed 142 feet and left a few more leads for a future trip.
Art & Peg Palmer 7/29/2011
Art led a research trip to photograph and collect calcite wall crusts and floor deposits in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Art & Peg Palmer, Jim Paces, John Stamm, & Jeri Frederick 7/31/2011
Art led a research trip to observe calcite wall crusts and floor deposits in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Marc Ohms and JoAnn Miller 8/3/2011
Marc led a survey trip to Way Back Room area in the Historic Section to survey leads off of the NY survey. They named the Dead Mans Bakery while surveying 249 feet. They left leads for a future trip.
Art & Peg Palmer, Jeff Hughes, & Jennifer Back 8/3/2011
Art led a research trip to observe calcite wall crusts and floor deposits in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Jeri Keiser-Frederick, & Toni Gould 8/8/2011
Rod led a survey trip to Lonely Palace area in the Historic Section to push leads off of the LP survey. They surveyed 200 feet and left a few leads for a future trip.
Art & Peg Palmer 8/14/2011
Art led a research trip to map calcite wall crusts and floor deposits in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Art & Peg Palmer, Josh Nelson, & Toni Gould 8/16/2011
Art led a leveling survey from What the Hell to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Marc Ohms, Kali Armstrong, JoAnn Miller, & Kim Acker 8/18/2011
Marc led a work trip to Calcite Lake in the Lakes Section to obtain water samples, replace a dye bug, and take staff gage readings of the lake levels.
Art & Peg Palmer, Josh Nelson, & Toni Gould 8/18/2011
Art led a research trip to photograph and collect calcite wall crusts and floor deposits between What the Hell and Calcite Lakes in the Lakes Section as part of a USGS Paleo-environmental study.
Marc Ohms, JoAnn Miller, & Kali Armstrong 8/25/2011
Marc led a survey trip to the Way Back Room in the Historic Section to push leads off of the NM survey. They mopped up 222 feet and left leads for a future trip.
Rod Horrocks, Josh Nelson, Jeri Keiser-Frederick, & Toni Gould 8/29/2011
Rod led a survey trip to the north end of the Attic in the Historic Section to push leads off of the MY survey. Pushing into a previously un-entered bellycrawl, they found two cave levels separated by three feet of rock in some sandy Upper Middle Level cave. They surveyed 212 feet in the area, which they named the White Cliffs of Dover. After mopping up a few side leads off of the MY survey, they surveyed up into a high fissure that led to an extensive upper level area for an additional 220 feet. They ended the day with 635 feet of total survey and several good leads for a future trip.
Marc Ohms, JoAnn Miller & Kim Acker 8/31/2011
Marc led a survey to some leads off of the Y survey in the Historic Section. They mopped up all the leads for 216 feet, leaving no known leads in the area.
