NCRC Weeklong 2010, Mentone, AL

[NZcaver]

Hey, you could fly into DC and drive down with me

Not completely out of the question, but frankly the all-night driving followed by attending the update with sleep deficit does not sound very appealing.

[Bill Putnam]

I'm thinking of flying into Chattanooga, but I can't book flights until I know where I'll be leaving from. Situation normal for me!

If you fly into Atlanta you can catch a ride with me or Tim or one of the other Atlanta residents.

[NZcaver]

I'm thinking of flying into Chattanooga, but I can't book flights until I know where I'll be leaving from. Situation normal for me!

If you fly into Atlanta you can catch a ride with me or Tim or one of the other Atlanta residents.

Thanks for the offer, Bill. Maybe it will be me who owes you a beer this year?

Once I know where I'm coming from, I'll start to look at flights and figure things out. The Atlanta connection might actually work. You playing with level 3 again this year, or doing the TOFE thing?

[Bill Putnam]

I'll be with the TOFE class this year. I never do the same thing two years in a row. Plus I'm really excited about the new Field Exercises class. It's just the thing that NCRC has needed for a long time now.

There are lots of flights in and out of Atlanta, but sometimes it's actually cheaper to connect through Atlanta and end in Chattanooga, Huntsville, or Birmingham. All four cities are within about 2 hours driving time from the seminar site, and all have folks who will be attending that you can catch a ride with.

[Carl Amundson]

I'll be with the TOFE class this year. I never do the same thing two years in a row. Plus I'm really excited about the new Field Exercises class. It's just the thing that NCRC has needed for a long time now.

Ha, well you'll get me for two years in a row...
I'm looking forward to this class.
Will there be a "minimal equipment day" or will we have full cache all the time?

[Stridergdm]

I'll be with the TOFE class this year. I never do the same thing two years in a row. Plus I'm really excited about the new Field Exercises class. It's just the thing that NCRC has needed for a long time now.

Ha, well you'll get me for two years in a row...
I'm looking forward to this class.
Will there be a "minimal equipment day" or will we have full cache all the time?

You will be given 2 shoelaces (per person), a rusty old iron pulley, two of those large "carrying carabiners" you can find at Home Depot and 3 unmatched dirty socks. That's day one.

Day 2 they take away the pulley.

[NZcaver]

You will be given 2 shoelaces (per person), a rusty old iron pulley, two of those large "carrying carabiners" you can find at Home Depot and 3 unmatched dirty socks. That's day one.

But wait. Isn't that a list of your own personal gear you bring along every year? The so-called "Moore cache?"

[Stridergdm]

You will be given 2 shoelaces (per person), a rusty old iron pulley, two of those large "carrying carabiners" you can find at Home Depot and 3 unmatched dirty socks. That's day one.

But wait. Isn't that a list of your own personal gear you bring along every year? The so-called "Moore cache?"

Hey, at least some of don't own at least one of every piece of gear out there. *I* don't need a shipping container for my caving gear. Unlike SOME people here.

[NZcaver]

Hey, at least some of don't own at least one of every piece of gear out there. *I* don't need a shipping container for my caving gear. Unlike SOME people here.

Did you hear that, Dr Jay? He's insulting you. Are you going to take that??


Of course you know deep down he has a bad case of gear envy. Like every other jealous caver, I guess.

[caverdoc]

Shipping container? It's called a Jeep Compass, so basically it's a shipping container with it's own engine, etc. The CPU that directs it is a version 2.1 and sometimes need to be rebooted.

Actually, it's rebooted every day. About 0630...

Your gear envy is...laborious. Now, back to stroking my new Petzl rescue pulleys.

Dr J

[NZcaver]

*Small confession* - I recently up-sized my vehicle to a Ford Expedition, because the old Explorer was getting too problematic with high mileage and other issues. Plus I could no longer fit all my gear in it. Interestingly the gas mileage is about the same, and since I don't have to regularly commute anywhere it's pretty handy for the type of road trips I do.

That said, these days I mostly fly to NCRC events. Thanks to airline baggage fees I have learned to optimize my packing.

Another small confession... as I recall, I haven't acquired a single item of caving equipment since the ICS last July.

[caverdoc]

JC I was joking about the new pulleys. Doug at Karst Sports knows I'm looking for them, though!

I have not bought any new caving gear since the MVOR in the fall of '09.

Must be the levelling out the bins finally!

[cavedoc]

Another small confession... as I recall, I haven't acquired a single item of caving equipment since the ICS last July.

We just made major purchases, for the most part duplicates. We now each have a WNS free gear box and a WNS-exposed(?) box. If you're feeling the need for gear this may be just the excuse you need.

[Bill Putnam]

Ha, well you'll get me for two years in a row...
I'm looking forward to this class.
Will there be a "minimal equipment day" or will we have full cache all the time?

I'm really looking forward to it as well, Carl. We're going to have a blast - in the field all day every day all week long!

The emphasis for the Field Exercises class is on developing efficiency and adaptability with the equipment and methods taught in L1 and L2. We might incorporate a few elements from L3, such as moving directionals, but we probably won't be doing much "minimal equipment" stuff - that is still in the domain of L3. Our goal is to reinforce and strengthen the team-oriented methods of L1 and L2, and to give students the opportunity to explore the use of those methods in many different scenarios. Hopefully you will develop a much better understanding of them and increased efficiency in using them. And have a lot of fun underground in the process!

[NZcaver]

Another small confession... as I recall, I haven't acquired a single item of caving equipment since the ICS last July.

We just made major purchases, for the most part duplicates. We now each have a WNS free gear box and a WNS-exposed(?) box. If you're feeling the need for gear this may be just the excuse you need.

I already have more-or-less complete sets of gear on each coast. For major technical stuff, I'd rather rely on local cavers and local caches. Of course we also have that enormous pile of bleached gear known as the national cache.

Oh, I just realized I did acquire gear last November which is somewhat related to caving. Do a hundred field phones count? I'm guessing most of you would say they do.