From Ron Miller:

I'm excited to announce that we will be holding two back-to-back National Cave Rescue Commission (NCRC) four-day SPAR (Small Party Assisted Rescue) courses next March at the Little River Property in Menlo, Georgia (the former site of the TAG Fall Cave-In). The first course will be held Saturday, March 7 through Tuesday March 10, 2026; the second course will be held Thursday March 12 through Sunday March 15, 2026. See the attached flyer for course details; additional course details and the pre-registration site are at https://caves.org/.../ncrc-small-party-assisted-rescue.../ .

I believe that SPAR is the single most valuable course that a U.S. vertical caver can take (after completing a basic vertical training course like the Level 1 course offered by the NSS Vertical Training Commission, of course!), and anticipate that student demand will once again significantly exceed the available number of slots. To try to give all interested students a fair shot, we will hold a pre-registration lottery at the above-linked site; the pre-registration window is open now through 11:59 PM Eastern on December 28, 2025.

This is an excellent way to get some training so you can make the transition to vertical caving. https://sites.google.com/hcru.org/hcru/classes/srt-class?authuser=0

Next training date: March 14-15, 2026  (Current enrollment: 1)

Cost: $100/donation per person.  

Registration is via this PayPal link or the Pay/Register button, but a PayPal account is not required.  Please specify all participant names and preferred email addresses during registration. If for some reason you have to cancel, please notify HCRU two week prior. Contact dan@hcru.org for any registration questions.

Limited to 20 participants. 

About this class:

This class is designed to introduce students to Single Rope Technique (SRT) basic skills. Students will be instructed on how to safely climb and rappel using SRT with hands-on training in both classroom and field settings. While the class is a group setting, the instructor to student ratio is about 1:2 to ensure safety; each learning station has a dedicated instructor.

Topics covered include: rigging and equipment, climbing systems and their applications, ascending, descending, changeovers in both directions, and dealing with rope obstructions. 

https://sera2023.com/

It's almost time for the annual grotto picnic and auction.  The picnic and auction will be on Friday, September 9th starting at 6:00 pm.  The location is the NSS pavilion.

The picnic will be first.  The grotto will provide hamburgers and hot dogs as usual.  We just ask to you to bring a side or dessert to share.  You will also need to bring your own beverage.  There should be plenty of picnic tables, but you may want to bring a chair just in case.

The auction will immediately follow the picnic.  Please also bring items to donate to the auction.  These can be caving related or anything else.  The proceeds will be used to fund the JV award and other grotto grants. Our chairman, James, will gladly auction off anything.  If nothing else, come to see his performance.  It is usually quite a show.  You can pay for your winning bids using cash, check, or credit card.

Hope to see you all there,
Dave Michal
Membership Chair

October 6-9th.

Save $15 by registering before September 20th.

Register now

Please be informed that Vertical Bill Cuddington (age 88) passed away at his home at approximately 7:30 PM Central Daylight Time on Friday evening, August 5, 2022 after a long illness.

Visitation will begin at 1:00 PM on Thursday, August 11 at the Moulton First United Methodist Church (14595 Market Street, Moulton, Alabama; 256-974-1185).  Services will begin at 2:00 PM at the same location.

Robby Chandler was awarded the Horizontal 12 and Vertical 8 at the July grotto meeting. Congratulations Robby!

The requirement for the Horizontal Twelve Award is having traversed the major portion of twelve Alabama caves over one mile in length. There are numerous caves you can choose from to fulfill this requirement, as there are currently over 50 caves in Alabama that are over one mile in length. 

The requirements for the Vertical Eight Award are:

• Any five Alabama pit caves, all of which are more than 100 foot single pitch (in other words, the pit must be at least 100 feet of total depth; two pits in the same cave that add up to 100 feet total do not count).
• Two Alabama pit caves that are more than 200 feet single pitch.
• One Alabama cave with more than 400 feet in total depth (multi-drop cave systems count for this depth requirement).
• You must personally rig at least one of the pits.

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