A New Year, An Old Cave
Whiting's Neck, WV
January 1, 2002Other Whiting's Neck Trips:
As has been mentioned before, Whitings Neck is hardly new territory for me, so this will be a brief report. We woke up at the crack of nine on a fresh, clear New Year's Day feeling somewhat the worse for wear. Mark Neubauer had thrown a most excellant party the night before at his house in Hagerstown and those of us who had planned to be in no state to drive home (which was many of us) had crashed on various level surfaces. After some ill-advised morning antics involving bare feet and the last of the sparklers, water was consumed and we headed out for a filling, slow breakfast at IHOP. 
Eventually, the crew was assembled and we arrived at the parking area near the cave at about 1 pm. Gear was donned and we walked the half mile or so past bright, windy, frigid pastures to the cave. Veteran Cat Lazaroff was leading the expedition with Mark 'Aqua' Neubauer, Amy Rosenberg, Aaron 'Carbide' Teske and myself assisting. We were joined by four cave virgins John Flaherty, Sharifa Osman, Mike 'Mr. Mayor' Blumberg, and Phil Hodge.
Without much ado, we descended the twin holes in the bottom of the entrance sink and made our way into the cave. After negotiating the twenty-foot drop into the large central chamber, we warmed up by worming around the the lower maze passages. Several of us abused ourselves by squeezing through the South American Pants Strangler while others poked around in the southern part of the maze.
 Aaron being coy. |
 Sharifa stemming across a canyon in the Maze Section |
At length we regrouped and headed for the drop into the back part of the cave.. Cat produced forty feet worth of ettrier and assorted other webbing which was rigged from the bolt and large tie-off stalagmite. The lake at the bottom of the drop was bone dry allowing access to the formation room at the base of the drop. Once everyone had safely descended, people got spread out a bit and headed for the back of the cave. Cat and I brought up the rear and found everyone having a snack and rest in the terminal room in the cave. I scrambled up to one lead and cleaned mud grafiti off the ceiling for a while.
On the way out, I introduced people to a nice 30' crawl that could be done for fun. Later, Mark, Aaron and Sharifa discovered a nice upper-level to the passage with bathtup-sized rimstone pools. Others of us scrambled up and spent some time exploring the formations and a pair of nice, tight leads over rimstone and calcite crust. Quite a sweat was worked up. I've been in this cave something like eleven or twelve times and thought it held no surprises. I'm quite pleased to be proven wrong!
The time was late so we ascended back up the ettriers and repacked. Upon regaining the main passage, we noticed the air was substantially colder. Dreading the chilly, nocturnal walk back to the cars, we paused and donned all available layers before slithering through the last crawl worn smooth by the passage of so many people. Soon we were outside in the just-past-sunset West Virginia night. Stars twinkled and our breath left great clouds illuminated by our headlamps.Photos by Cat Lazaroff of various people negotiating the drop:
- Aaron Teske
- Aaron Teske again!
- The elusive John Flaherty
- Mike "Mr. Mayor" Blumberg actually having fun
- Phil Hodge
- Sharifa Osman enjoying herself a little too much
 The Wilderness Journal |  Neithernor |