looking for active cavers

[David Grimes]

I live in harrison county indiana anyone familiar with this area knows there are plenty of caves and most are fairly easy to get permission to access my problem is I am looking for people who regularly go caving in this area I have checked into to local grotto but they only do one activity a month and it is usually not going into caves I would like to learn about vertical climbing and other areas of caving I am an experienced caver but have not done any vertical caving if anyone knows of any group meeting this description please email me.

[wendy]

wow that is weird about the grotto...did you go to a meeting to meet the cavers?

[Dwight Livingston]

wow that is weird about the grotto...did you go to a meeting to meet the cavers?

What's weird about the grotto? The once-a-month thing may count only official sponsored events. Our grotto (Baltimore) has few of these, not even once a month, but the members are very active and it is easy to learn about what's going on in our area.

[Wayne Harrison]

I think Wendy was referring to the comment that "they only do one activity a month and it is usually not going into caves."

So what kind of events do they do once a month that doesn't involve caving?

[wendy]

ya the post makes it sound like they have a meeting once a month and that's all they do. (wasn't saying the grotto was weird, just that it sounded weird, as I am sure they members do go caving)

I know some grottos that don't even have meetings, maybe one or two a year, you just have to meet the grotto members and go caving with them.

[David Grimes]

I have been to a meeting I did not get to talk to alot of the members about personal trips but as far as the grooto they pretty much just have a monthly meeting at a members house but overall they just don't seem nearly as organized and active as other grottos that I have checked out online even their website is out of date with the most recent activity being a meeting on June 2nd and thats the newest item on their calendar I would just expect a group that all about caving and cave conservation would take more trips to actual caves after all there are plenty of them here and there are many that would be excellent projects for a grotto to take on many of them are covered with trash and have been vandalized a cleanup trip would be all thats needed to make some of them nice caves to visit.

[JoeyS]

Hello darkstorm welcome to the forum I would suggest you not give up so easily and try attending the next meeting you might have just caught them at a bad time regarding the website maybe their webmaster isn't at the top of his game especially considering it's just a volunteer position and some volunteers are just lazy think about how many grottos and other organizations did not even have websites until just recently and they did just fine my point (lol) is that caving grottos are just a group of individuals who like to cave and if you go back to to the meeting maybe you'll get noticed this time and get invited along on a cave trip (.)

[Komebeaux]

I think a lot of grottos are used to seeing a new face at meetings that they end up never seeing again. You have to show them that you are dedicated and plan to be active in the grotto before they really invest any time in you and let you into their 'inner circle" so to speak.

[CaveGimp]

The grotto out hear rarely has "scheduled grotto events" besides our monthly meetings,. but I have been caving with grotto members every weekend this month.

Go to the next meeting, talk to the members, join, and speak up that you want to go on a trip. Heck even say what day you want to go. When new folks do this at our meetings, a trip is usually set up.

[Ronaldo]

Hey Dark Storm,
I know several of the folks in the HCG and they are great folks. If you give them a chance, you will be glad you did it. Go to their meetings for 6 months and then tell me what you think. On the May 6th weekend Our Grotto(Central Indiana Grotto) combined forces and put on a combined event called Hogfest, Cave Capers which was a camp out weekend in Milltown, we did a guidebook with several caves, had led cave trips anyone could sign up for, had around 100 people, showed slides, had a good old time. Hogfest is the HCG's annual event and is every year the first weekend of May, Cave Capers is our event and is usually June or August. Since we are hosting the National Convention this year in July in Crawford County, we combined events to clear the summer slate.

There are not many cavers down there to make a large caver scene, they are very informal, but if you come to the meetings consistently, you will get lots of good caving opportunities. Since cavers often trust other cavers with their lives, ie, trusting someone to not knock rocks down a slope, or trusting someone to not freak out in a tight spot, cavers do not just pull people into their folds automatically. All you have to do is show up and be friendly consistently and you will find that they are some of the best friends you ever had.

Dave Black is the HCG Treasurer, He has mapped more Indiana caves than anyone, esp Harrison County Caves. Chris Schotter (I cave with both of them, chris is one of my main caving partners) is the Vice Chair, He does advanced and extreme cave exploration, Those guys are not out doing beginner trips once a month. And they are not going to talk about their projects openly at a meeting either because they are in the middle of working on them and will wait until they are ready to publish a map to tell everyone. But you will find that you will get connected with the cavers if you start hanging out with them. And eventually you will have a chance to get vertical training. And eventually they are going to need help on one of their projects and ask you to come, and then you will find yourself in virgin cave with your jaw dropped to the ground in disbelief..... Getting to know them is the first step, and that does not happen at one meeting.

Our Grotto is one of the larger ones (CIG) and we have good beginner trips almost every month, although they are not always in Harrison County. Check out our Website and you could meet more folks that way too. Not only do you need cavers to hook up with, but you need cavers who are caving at a similar level to your experience level. There are not a lot of local cavers down there... javascript:emoticon(':grin:')
Very Happy

Later,
Ron Chairman, Central Indiana Grotto

[wyandottecaver]

Dark Storm

Being a member of the HCG I can certainly attest that organization is not a priority :) We elect officers by who doesn't make the meeting when its time to vote! As for caving, most monthly trips are designed to be as inclusive as possible. If your wanting to become a vertical fiend PM me and I can put you in touch.

As others have said, dont expect to get the keys to the kingdom from 1 meeting...

[Darklight]

Dark Storm:

Uh, you don't own a wet suit do you? I hear tell of a nice cave in KY that will welcome you with open arms! Big booming borehole, virgin cave around every corner (unless Scoopie has been there;-).

You can come caving with us in Webster!

[wyandottecaver]

hey chris

I've been meaning to ask aabout webster myself. went in Dr. pearson a few yrs back for blind fish work. PM me if you see this.

[rbryant]

Dark Storm:

Uh, you don't own a wet suit do you? I hear tell of a nice cave in KY that will welcome you with open arms! Big booming borehole, virgin cave around every corner (unless Scoopie has been there;-).

You can come caving with us in Webster!

That's an awesome video on Webster. I've googled Webster Cave several times and have seen the pictures....nothing short of amazing. Although I'm brand new at this sport, I would love to progress to the skill level that is required for Webster. In the meantime, I'm waiting on my headlight and helmet to come in and maybe chance upon a caving opportunity for Labor Day weekend.