MACaver

[MA-Caver]

Cavers come from all walks of life. Doctors, engineers, blue and white collar workers, naturalists, biologists, computer geeks and what have you.
In such an interesting pool of people talent in other areas comes out. Writing, drawing, painting, poetry, and music.
Cave ballads have long been a standing tradition amongst cavers. Songs about the caves, the people who explore them. They're funny, sad, fun and many times take a familiar song and re-write the words to suit the situation.
Now caving music videos... like this one. A love song (with captions)...
[yt]2E8D9zOHg1M[/yt]

 

[MA-Caver]

..... stand by

 

[MA-Caver]

HAD to share these two pics of a proud caver papa who took his daughter on her first caving trip. Just too precious not to share.
Gotten permission first of course from the daddy ( a friend of mine) and here you go.

Said that she enjoyed her first cave a lot (evident from first photo) and did a particular crawl way three times.

She pouted on the announcement "time to go", evident from second photo.

Just a couple of AWWWW moments.

 

[Kacey]

She's a cutie!

 

[MA-Caver]

They found Superman's Fortress of Solitude and it's a dangerous place... click on video and other features ... very fascinating hole in the ground... I don't think I'd be wanting to visit THAT place anytime soon.

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/giant-crystal-cave-3569/Overview#tab-Overview

 

[MA-Caver]

I hope a number of people get to see this before it gets buried... but how romantic can you get?? Try a wedding down a 140 foot deep pit and a beautiful pit it is.
Check it out. http://brinabatandgraybat.blogspot.com/2008/05/perfect-day-may-1st-2008.html
Here is a stunning photo of the bride and groom down inside the pit.
Comments are appreciated. :uhyeah:

 

[MA-Caver]

Cave vandals caught and punished

by Caverdale on Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:48 pm
As the result of action taken today, October 23, before a federal magistrate in Salt Lake City, Utah, I received the following e-mail:
-------------
"Well, it was a very good day in court. We got guilty pleas from all parties involved in the June 2008 break-in at Crystal Cave. Total amounts recovered are $1475.00 in fines and $1919.30 in restitution. Thanks again to Dale Green who provided the trail cameras that made it all possible and to Ranger Carrie Pope who investigated the suspects. Yahoo!! Now I can forget about all those days hauling heavy steel and 275 lb. arc welders up that stinking hill."

Ray Kelsey
Outdoor Recreation Planner
BLM Salt Lake Field Office
-------------
Game trail cameras were strategically placed to capture anything passing by the way to the cave. At first they didn't work for various reasons, but mostly from operator error. Finally I got it right and caught 4 people on their way to a beer party in the cave. The leader is shown below. The photo is washed out because although I thought the lens was pointing directly north, it was pointed to the west and sun rays washed out the exposure somewhat. However, a little Photoshopping got what was needed. BLM Enforcement Officer Carrie Pope deserves a great deal of credit for eliciting oral and signed confessions from the culprits through some very ingenious methods.

I've been to this cave and while much of it has been trashed out and grafftiti, there are still some nice stuff. But the cave was gated mainly to protect a colony of bats that are on the "threatened list" Those guys brought beer and spray paint to add their own little mark on this cave. It's out in the middle of nowhere and thus they thought they could get away with it. HA!
Just because it's out in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean it gives it an O.K. to do what you want to it.
Game trail cameras were used to great effect here.

 

[MA-Caver]

Bat Lady Praises Winged Pest Killer

Grape growers learn value of natural insect controller



JEFF KAN LEE / The Press Democrat
A pallid bat is shown to Sonoma County Farm Bureau members Thursday by bat expert Patricia Winters. It's the only bat species locally that hunts on the ground, eating potato bugs and grubs.


By ROBERT DIGITALE
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/articl...350?Title=Bat_Lady_praises_winged_pest_killer
Published: Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 4:20 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, December 13, 2008 at 5:40 a.m.
She isn't a morning critter, which may explain why the female nestled in Patricia Winters' hand didn't look like a voracious predator of the night.
The Mexican free-tailed bat, which fit between Winters' index and ring fingers, nonetheless was billed as a formidable ally for the 50 farmers and pest controllers gathered Thursday in Santa Rosa.
"She's a little bat," said Winters, known to Bay Area schoolchildren as the Bat Lady. "But she can fly faster than any other bat in the world. And she can fly up to two miles high, and all she eats are crop pests."
This last fact mattered most to those listening at the Sonoma County Farm Bureau.
The grape growers and pest workers had gathered for a presentation on the value of bats in insect management. And Winters, president of the Forestville-based California Bat Conservation Fund, provided a nonstop fountain of facts as well as three live bats for viewing.
Winters showed graphics from Doppler radar and thermal imaging to depict billions of moths moving north from Mexico into southeast Texas at a height of almost two miles. Each night the moths run into what Winters called the largest concentration of mammals on the planet, an estimated 200 million Mexican free-tailed bats living in caves outside Austin and San Antonio.
Only 2 percent of the moths ever make it past the bats, which can fly at speeds of 60 mph, Winters said. One recent study estimated that the bats prevent about $1 billion a year in U.S. crop damage.


Kathy Cowan, who volunteers with Winters, said she has a standard argument for convincing women about the value of bats. She focuses on the work the animals do in pollinating tropical fruit and reseeding rain forests.
"If we didn't have bats," Cowan said, "we wouldn't have chocolate."

That's why I love the little critters. No bats, no chocolate, no chocolate no happy (single women), no single happy women... no sex. :wah:

 

[MA-Caver]

*blows off the dust from this thread....*


(is this thing on?)... test... test...


uhh..


Hello welcome back... thought I'd dust this thread off and post some pics of a trip I went on recently. I've been to this particular cave/pit before but it was during the night and thus didn't get to see it as I did just this past Sunday.


:idunno: just thought I post something that I thought was beautiful.
This pit is in Alabama, considered a "classic" by the cavers in the area. The depth is 162 feet. We arrived about 11 am and stayed til about 2pm. Timing is indeed everything.


Enjoy

 

[MA-Caver]

Went out caving again. Being unemployed and on a saturday and a generous friend who paid for the gas (and dinner afterwards) allowed me to knock a cave that I've wanted to do for years off my personal "to do" list.
This is Valhalla (no we did NOT find Thor's hammer ) This cave is infamous because roughly 25 years ago two cavers were killed when a piece of the ceiling broke loose and came crashing down on top of them, the first photo shows me standing next to said rock to give you an idea of the size. The rest are just pictures of the shaft and my rappelling and ascending (climbing) into/out of it. To see me look for anything red and tiny along the far wall ... that'll give you the idea of the size of the pit. Took me a leisurely 15-20 minutes to climb out of that. Wasn't rushing, I was enjoying.
The depth is -227 feet and it's free hanging after the first 10-15 feet.

Enjoy

 

[Big Don]

rappelling is a blast, but, ascending looks like work

 

[MA-Caver]

rappelling is a blast, but, ascending looks like work

Rappelling IS a blast but ascending isn't as hard as it looks. If you've the right system you can climb all day. One of the fellas that came with us... is in his mid-late 60's... he went up and down that particular pit (Valhalla) 18 times while we were there... that's going all way to bottom and climbing all way back up... made a combine total of 4086 feet that day (18 X 227). By the time I got up to the top... I found out just how badly in shape I was. But I'll go back there again and probably do better.
Go back a few pages on this thread you should find a bit about climbing systems.

Enjoy

 

[Sukerkin]

My word! There are two hopes of me ever having the guts to do that (with my fear of heights) ... and one of them is Bob :lol:.

Awe inspiring views my friend :bows: