speleonet

Ultima Patagonia 2006

Excellent 40 page PDF here on Federation Francaise de Speleologie's 2006 expedition to Patagonia's Madre de Dios archipelago. Scroll down for info on the 2008 expedition.

Ron Simmons' Legacy

Those of you who caved or knew Ron may want to read this.

Ron Simmons' Legacy:

Cavers who knew Ron Simmons were devastated to hear of his death in
Allen Mill Pond cave in February. A life member of the NSS, Lew Bicking
award recipient, cutting edge explorer, and accomplished photographer,
Ron was of one of the caving community's most outstanding members,
contributing significantly to the development of caving techniques and
our knowledge of numerous cave systems. He was a hero and friend to many
of us, and will be missed. However, even after his death, Ron will
continue to contribute to cave exploration and speleology, and be a hero
to the Society and its members.

The NSS is honored to have received a generous legacy from Ron Simmons.
As the beneficiary of his life insurance policy, the NSS International
Cave Exploration Fund received about $105,000. That legacy quadruples
the value of the fund, and will greatly increase the amount of
investment income it will earn annually. This, in turn, will increase
the number and value of Exploration Grants we can award each year to NSS
members to support their cave exploration projects.

Additionally, the Society received nearly $70,000 from Ron's retirement
account for the Publications Special Features Fund, which editors may
use to print extraordinary issues of the NSS News and the Journal of
Cave and Karst Science.

I want to encourage NSS members to consider following Ron's example.
Please remember the Society when you craft your will and establish
beneficiaries for your retirement accounts and insurance policies. Like
Ron's, your legacy can live on with the NSS, and you can continue to
contribute in a meaningful way to caving, cavers, and speleology long
after you've left us.

If you have any questions about how to include the NSS in your estate
plans, don't hesitate to contact me. Donors designating $10,000 or more
for the Society will become members of the NSS's prestigious Stephenson
Group and will be recognized annually in the Members Manual.

Scott Fee

The 2006 Alpine Karst book is now available

2006 Alpine Karst

MORE INFORMATION

Publications details: Size:  8.5 x 11
No. of pages:  170
Maps: 70
Color Cover and Back
Photo images 127
Retail Cost:  $19.00 (includes shipping)
Note: International orders email for shipping cost and options
Publisher: Cave Books
Editor:  Tina and Joe Oliphant
Copy Editor:  Red Watson

Description: This issue of Alpine Karst continues the classic stories of mountain cave exploration, science, and innovative alpine caving techniques.  Read about blood, sweat, and tears, skis, toboggan, and innovative approach to technical dome climb.

Find articles on science and exploration of Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming.  There are serious articles on Deep Caves of Croatia and Castleguard Cave, Canada.  Other international articles are represented in the Swiss Pre-alps and Albanian caves sections.

For people interested in gear Jay Kennedy critiques the Petzl Nest Rescue Stretcher and Alan Warild explains how he tunes his SRT/Frog system.

A generous amount of photos and maps accompany the publication.

For more information or to order the publication go to: www.alpinekarst.org

The Cowtown Underground

Just added "The Cowtown Underground" to the NSS Grotto Newsletters Online Typelist.

Featured in the June 2006 issue "2006 Arroyo Grande Expedition: Caving in the Mountains of Chiapas" by RD Milhollin.

Jamaican Caves Organisation: March 2006 Expedition DVD

This DVD takes you along with the JCO as they explore five caves in Jamaica's lush outback with surface/sub-surface video and stills.

St. Clair Cave:JCO members push a well know cave through a flurry of bats to discover going stream passage... with bad air.

Vaughansfield Cave: A machete to the entrance and then... thwarted by breakdown.

Smokey Hole: This is Jamaica's deepest cave at 195 meters. Video footage down through the entrance up to the edge of the 135 meter pit that bottoms it.

Rudist Rock: It's a muddy, sinuous, stream passage that leads to a well preserved series of fossils of the ancient Rudist tree.

Dunn's Hole:  Now we go into a 190 meter deep sinkhole, leading the viewer into Jamaica's largest cave chamber: 200 m long, 100 m wide and 80 m high.

Help support the JCO and click through here...

'True Tales' author builds a home on the web

Author Paul Jay Steward has a new website . His most recent book is "True Tales of Horror in the Caves of the World" (which I highly recommend). It's jam packed full of gory details the cover promises and is the kind of book that can be read and re-read in bits and pieces over time, yielding years of spine tingling satisfaction. A second volume is possibly in the works.

His site has links to caving related articles he's written as well as links to sites which sell "True Tales".

The Cave Divers by Robert F. Burgess

The Cave Divers by Robert F. Burgess

'Robert Burgess succeeds in conveying the excitement, eloquently painting pictures of the sights and describing the intellectual challenges and satisfactions, masterfully mixing adventure with history, sociology, archaeology and some hard-learned lessons in physics. There are chapters with unexpectedly happy endings and others detailing tragic mistakes made in this unforgiving environment... it is easy to see why this book earned a 'Book of the Year' award from Forward Magazine... As a photographer, Burgess is able to add another dimension to this book... Burgess' photos cover many decades and many caves... Overall, the book is a delight, entertaining and an easy read. It's a great vacation book, full of adventure, divided into chapters that can easily stand alone or mesh together...[Burgess] masterfully glides the reader through tales of history that cavers and non-cavers will enjoy.'

Susan Brillhart Book Review IMMERSED. The International Technical Diving Magazine

Cave Housed Neanderthals, Humans, Hyenas

New findings published this week in the Proceeding's of the National Academy of Sciences reveal further evidence of possible interbreeding of Neanderthals and modern humans.

A single cave in France was home to Neanderthals, modern humans, and hyenas at roughly the same time 40,700 years ago, according to a new study.

The finding, primarily based on analysis of fossil remains, confirms earlier speculation that Neanderthals and humans competed with carnivores for food and prehistoric real estate.

It also strengthens the link between humans and Neanderthals, suggesting they did socialize and interbreed, despite some DNA evidence to the contrary.

... full text via discovery.com.

... Frank Frazetta's dramatic interpretation of what Neanderthals might have looked like. If you've seen any of the Conan book covers then you've probably seen Mr. Frazetta's work.

Grotto Newsletters

I've added a link-list (right hand column) of Grottos that have their most recent newsletters available for download. I located these via this page on the Cleveland Grotto site. I only included the ones which are actively posting the newsletter (but many of the sites have links to old newsletters).

If you are a member of a grotto which is currently making its newsletter available online and is not on this list - email me with the link and I will include it.

Email me with your links, photos, reports etc.... speleonet@hotmail.com.

Abstracts on Nakanai Range Caves

For further reading on the caves and karst of New Britain you might want to track down some of these publications...

Hoblea, Fabien; Audra, Philippe: Speleo-morphological study of the Muruk-Berenice system (Nakanai Mountains; Papua-New-Guinea): results of the expedition of 1995 and project for 1998. Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Speleology, 1, Symposium 8: Karst Geomorphology, Switzerland, 429-432, 1997.

From January to March 1995, the French caving and diving expedition "Hemisphere Sudler moins mille" took place in the Nakanai mountains (East-New Britain, Papua-New-Guinea). The main speleological aim was to continue the exploration of Muruk hole (alt. 1,480m): after diving a sump at the depth of 637 meters, the exploration stopped at -1,141m.