Virginia Adventure Education Conference - 2/21/2025
Casey Reporting:
The Charlottesville Grotto led by Casey Tucker (reporting), Harriet Flynn, Kara Grossbach, & Allie Shellhammer led an Introduction to Vertical Caving workshop at the Virginia Adventure Education Conference (VAAEC) on Friday, February 21, at James Madison University. The 1.5 hour workshop focused on the basics of ascending using a frog system and rappelling using a micro rack. The workshop was held in the UREC adventure center climbing wall.
They started with a quick introduction on the grotto and caving and followed with an introduction of necessary gear. Using a volunteer to put everything on, the crew took participants on a tour of harnesses, ascenders, cowstails , carabiners, chest harnesses, and micro racks. Allie also brought some alternative descending devices to show folks. After the introduction, Casey climbed to a ledge where participants would be able to stand, clip into a safety line, and then rig a rack and rappel. Harriet, Kara, and Allie were on the ground helping people get dressed and coaching them through the sit-stand routine of ascending.
The workshop ran over by a few minutes, but 24 people were able to climb and rappel on the 3 ropes we had rigged. The ability to have people climb and rappel without doing a proper changeover worked really well. It allowed for more participation and a good intro into vertical caving, which was the goal! Obviously, folks would want to be familiar with a changeover before doing vertical in a cave, but this was a great start.
There were a few other CVille Grotto members present including Daisy, Lori, and Rio who all climbed. Greg of the Cville Grotto was also present at the Conference and popped his head into the climbing center at some point. There was also a large contingent of staff from Grand Caverns who were on hand. Everyone left with more knowledge, more experience, and hopefully a big of the caving bug and desire to get underground to explore and adventure!
Also of note, Allie presented a workshop on Biospeleology at the conference. Her session was packed and standing room only. Way to go, Allie!
