March 3 & 4: Bentley’s and Clarksville Cave, visited by a group from the BU Medical School. Wading across the lakeroom (Clarksville) wasn’t successful (very wet!). A single bat was observed in Bentley’s Cave. The bat’s name is Alfred.

Pat Conners, Keluo Yao and Dave Crusoe joined John Dunham and Morgan Ingels on a dig of Corkscrew Cave. Several additional feet of dirt were hauled, to open several additional feet of passage.

The local television, YNN, station filmed preparation and some of the initial exploration, although we found the lowest sections of the Mystery Passage/Lake almost entirely sumped – a ~1 inch air-space for 70-120 feet. Several attempts were made to push the passage, and a group from New York was finally successful in pushing the near-sump to access the rest of the cave. Mapping will happen later this year when the water level decreases.

YNN’s televised report is online, http://hudsonvalley.ynn.com/content/top_stories/575029/cavers-explore-howe-caverns-for-a-good-cause/, but leaves out some of the juicy narrative describing the long, low-airspace near-sump.

We thank Howe’s Caverns for hosting the fundraiser (and for a hearty lunch!) and Grotto member Pat Conners for sparking the conversation that led to the fundraiser. In entirety, cavers present raised approximately $2,035, augmented by another $6-8,000 collected by Howe’s since the hurricane.

Read more: US Fish and Wildlife Service

November and December 2011 saw quite a few trips to the Berkshires to explore and cave. The Coon Hollow karst was the destination of some trips. Members Tom Kinsky, Pat Conners, Aaron Tester and Dave Crusoe were active on these trips.

In December, 2011, member Dave Crusoe visited Grutas de Cacahuamilpa in Gurrero, Mexico.

In December, 2011, one of our members returned to his home state Utah to explore and map several caves.

With the exception of the end of the streamway at the very back, we hit the entire cave (and had fun getting stuck in the gunsight, but made it with ease through the rest of the squeezes). Daniel bravely rescued a gigantic (11”) salamander from its inky depths.

We met up with some awesome guys (and girls) in Grenada, and hit a few different small systems while there.

Afterward, we headed out to Sorbas, near Almeria, for more. Awesome stuff! The full trip report will be published soon. In the meantime, a small photo album is online.