2023 Workshops & Field Trips
2023 Workshops & Field Trips
Workshops
Geology Field Trip
Sunday, June 25th ($100)
The Geology Field Trip will travel to the North Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac River, as well as Germany Valley, and will stop at all three of the limestone groups that form caves in West Virginia. It will include a stop at Bowden Quarry, commercial Smoke Hole Caverns, Seneca Rocks, and Hellhole. The trip will begin at 7:30 a.m., and should end around 5 p.m. Lunch is provided; no head lamps or helmets are required. Wear comfortable boots or walking shoes.
Speleology for Cavers
Monday, June 26 ($55)
Come learn the difference between the strike and the dip, vadose and phreatic, and the birds and the bats. Bring home with you the geologic differences between caves in the Black Hills and those in the Appalachians, the meaning to cavers of Bogli's mixing corrosion, and the difference between the lifestyles of Riparia riparia and Perimyotis subflavus. Experts in speleology will lecture on geology, geochemistry, karst hydrology, biology, and paleontology. The course will go the full day and includes extensive course notes on a USB drive.
Paint with Cheryl Kids Workshop
Tuesday, June 27th 11:00am - 1:00 pm ($20)
Join Cheryl Suitor (caver, artist, and teacher) for a morning of fun while learning how to paint an easy but beautiful bat-themed picture on canvas. Leave with your own masterpiece. No experience necessary! Kids under 12 should be accompanied by an older sibling or other family member. This is NOT a part of the JSS.
Paint with Cheryl Adult Workshop
Tuesday, June 27th 3:00pm - 5:00pm ($30)
Join Cheryl Suitor, caver, artist, and teacher, for an afternoon of fun while learning how to paint an easy but beautiful bat-themed picture on canvas. Leave with your own masterpiece. No experience necessary!
Vertical Techniques Workshop
Wednesday, June 28 ($60)
This workshop is conducted at every NSS Convention. The students are given a basic overview of vertical caving equipment, techniques, and safety considerations for American-style Single Rope Techniques. They experience hands-on sessions on knot tying, belaying, rappelling, and several ascending systems … the Gibbs and Mitchell ropewalkers, the Frog, and Prusik knot systems. The workshop is conducted by experienced instructors of the Vertical Section.
The class is on Wednesday. Bring a seat harness, one carabiner, and a helmet.
Photography Workshop
Thursday, June 29, 1:00pm - 5:00pm ($10)
This is an in-cave, hands-on photography workshop focusing on both LED and flash photography. It is limited to 12 participants.
Cave Formation Repair Workshop
Wednesday, June 28 ($30)
This workshop will present methods for repairing speleothems. It will be on Thursday. Includes workshop manual and certificate. Registrants will be contacted with more information.
Digital and Analog Cave Sketching Class
Thursday, June 29, 9:00am - 5:00pm ($20)
Students will learn the basics of plotting and drawing a plan view, profile view, and cross section sketch of a cave from established survey data. Both Analog (pencil and paper) techniques and Topodroid techniques will be shown—students may select one or the other. Cave protractor, pencils, and survey paper will be provided. Digital students will need to arrive with their own device with Topodroid installed. We will assist in configuring Topodroid as part of the class, so no experience is necessary with the software. In the afternoon, students will move to the same cave that they sketched from photos during the morning classroom session and continue in the cave environment. It is recommended that students have had experience on a survey team previously as something other than a sketcher, as we will not cover gathering plot data in the class.
SpeleoArt Class
Tuesday, June 27, 10:00am - 12:00pm ($10)
Every year we have a SpeleoArt course in art and caving presented by leading speleo-artists and cavers. It costs just $10 to participate. There we learn how to work in the caving environment, chose subjects and how to sketch subjects when caving.
At convention we work with subjects in speleology—2023 will feature life drawing with caver in action with gear on!
There will also be a Collaborative Painting, where people come up to make their mark on a large paper or canvas sheet that folks can gather around and doodle with anything from felt tips to paint. Subject . . . anything caving. Often involves . . . something seen, heard, or experienced over convention week. People come in between sessions to do this.
