News

Hi All. Vertical ropework practice this Saturday, February 8th. If you are interested in learning some rigging be there at 8 a.m. or just for rope practice, come anytime and walk to the site to join us. Note that parking gets very limited as the day progresses, last time we were out there it was getting pretty packed for parking by about 9:30am.

I will set a course with rebelays, j-hangs, tyroleans, deviations, etc. If you are new to these techniques, we will teach you. If you know these skills we can work on improving technique and speed. However, if you are new to vertical ropework in general, this is NOT the place to start — please attend one of the monthly weeknight practices first and have someone sign off that you are ready. Email me if you have questions about skills.

Bring your gear. We may have some gear on site to borrow, but it will be limited quantity. If you have a cave bag, bring it as well to practice ropework while carrying a load. Practice will be on even if there is light rain, so plan accordingly (not currently forecast, but things change). Bring food and water as you need for personal use.

Practice will be just outside of Castle Rock State Park, not in the park proper. Set google maps to bring you to Castle Rock entrance on Skyline Blvd, but instead of pulling into the castle rock entrance drive south for about 30 meters (or 30 seconds) and turn into the free parking area on the east side of Skyline Blvd (left side of road if heading south). This is the back entrance to Sanborn Park and the trailhead you will use for the practice area. Past the trailhead gate, take the immediate trail that goes to the right. Hike is about 10 minutes.

Please use the attached map for directions to the practice site.
Stay as long as you like, we will wrap up around 4ish give or take.
RSVP so I have a head count of how many people will be there.

Thanks, Ryan Baker

Hi guys, this is a reminder that the February vertical practice is not on the regular 1st Tuesday schedule, but instead will be held on Feb 11 this month! This month vertical practice will be in San Jose.
Ryan is also holding a Castle Rock vertical practice this Saturday, Feb 8.
Sonia

This month’s SFBC Members’ Meeting will take place in the San Carlos Public Library on Tuesday November 26 at 7:30 PM. There is a parking lot in front of the library and plenty of street parking in the area.
As a reminder, in addition to our regularly scheduled activities, we will be accepting nominations (again) and holding our officer elections.

The current slate of nominatees are:

• Chairperson: Rafael Langer-Osuna
• Vice Chairperson: Carly Robison
• Secretary: John Tinsley
• Treasurer: Sonia Meyer
• Newsletter Editor: Theral Mackey

Please also bring to the meeting any materials you’d like to donate for auction at the holiday party. Thanks!

PRESENTATION: This month’s presentation, beginning at 7:45 PM, will be:
Five Decades of Science at Lilburn Cave

Our very own John Tinsley, geologist and caver extraordinaire, will be presenting on work done in Lilburn. Lilburn Cave is easily California’s most studied cave. It is also California’s longest cave at just over 22 miles. Lilburn Cave is managed by the National Park Service as an underground research laboratory. It’s active hydrology and sediment transport regimes make the cave a fine place to study cave and karst processes above and below ground. I’ll recap the cartographic and myriad scientific efforts there with the goal of communicating how we learned about how Lilburn functions as a physical system.

LOCATION/DIRECTIONS: San Carlos Library, 610 Elm St, San Carlos, CA 94070
This link will help you find it on google maps:
Google Maps <goo.gl/maps/Rryvp1ERZkL2>This month’s pre-member’s meeting dinner will be held at Broiler Express, which is located at 895 Laurel St, San Carlos, CA 94070. This is the link for it on google maps: goo.gl/maps/bxHypZeiDsQ2.
For those who are interested in attending, the after-meeting caver happy hour will be held at St. James Gate, 1410 Old County Road, Belmont, CA 94002.

I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday!

Rafael

> > We are delaying vertical practice a week since Fofo is still in Carlsbad processing data from his recent Lech trip. Vertical practice will be Tuesday, July 9 at the usual time and place. > > Good caving – Bill

Howdy!
I know, it hardly seems like a couple of weeks have gone by, and it’s time again to get your vertical gear ready for a fun evening practicing changeovers, rebelay crossings and perhaps a knot or two.
Please join us tomorrow, Tuesday, 4 June, for our monthly vertical practice.
Our kind host will be Peri Frantz. You can arrive anytime after 6:30 pm, we will have some dinner and immediately after we will have some fun on rope.
Dinner is “modified potluck style,” where you bring your own main dish and also bring a small appetizer, side dish or dessert to share. We will have a grill for your food, in case you need one.
Please bring a helmet and a headlamp, and a jacket, since we will be practicing outdoors if weather permits. If you don’t have yet a helmet or headlamp, we will have a couple of extras. Bring your vertical gear if you have it, and if not, we will also have a couple of extras for you.
The address for tomorrow’s Vertical Wonderland is:
16345 Englewood Ave Los Gatos, CA 95032 goo.gl/maps/rKNoy
See y’all soon!
– Fofo

Howdy, howdy!
This is a reminder that the vertical practice is tomorrow (yeah, the second Tuesday of the month instead of the first one, but it’s just for this month, don’t worry).
See y’all tomorrow!
– Fofo

On 06/05/19 15:20, Fofo wrote: > Howdy! > > Yeah, summer is getting here faster than we thought! And you know what > that means: more caving and more vertical caving! But how do you really > get to safely and comfortably explore vertical caves? Well, then, to > find out please join us a week from tomorrow, on Tuesday, 14 May, for > our monthly vertical practice. > > Our kind hosts will be Peri and Bill Frantz. You can arrive anytime > after 6:30 pm, we will have some dinner and immediately after we will > have some fun on rope. > > Dinner is “modified potluck style,” where you bring your own main dish > and also bring a small appetizer, side dish or dessert to share. We will > have a grill for your food, in case you need one. > > Please bring a helmet and a headlamp, and a jacket, since we will be > practicing outdoors if weather permits. If you don’t have yet a helmet > or headlamp, we will have a couple of extras. Bring your vertical gear > if you have it, and if not, we will also have a couple of extras for you. > > The address of the Casa Frantz is: > > 16345 Englewood Ave > Los Gatos, CA 95032 > goo.gl/maps/rKNoy > > See y’all in a week! > > – Fofo

Howdy!
Yeah, summer is getting here faster than we thought! And you know what that means: more caving and more vertical caving! But how do you really get to safely and comfortably explore vertical caves? Well, then, to find out please join us a week from tomorrow, on Tuesday, 14 May, for our monthly vertical practice.
Our kind hosts will be Peri and Bill Frantz. You can arrive anytime after 6:30 pm, we will have some dinner and immediately after we will have some fun on rope.
Dinner is “modified potluck style,” where you bring your own main dish and also bring a small appetizer, side dish or dessert to share. We will have a grill for your food, in case you need one.
Please bring a helmet and a headlamp, and a jacket, since we will be practicing outdoors if weather permits. If you don’t have yet a helmet or headlamp, we will have a couple of extras. Bring your vertical gear if you have it, and if not, we will also have a couple of extras for you.
The address of the Casa Frantz is:
16345 Englewood Ave Los Gatos, CA 95032 goo.gl/maps/rKNoy
See y’all in a week!
– Fofo

Dear Members,
The April SFBC Members’ Meeting will take place in the San Carlos Public Library on Tuesday April 23 at 7:30 PM. There is a parking lot in front of the library and plenty of street parking in the area.
*THIS MONTH’S MEMBERS’ MEETING PRESENTATION:*
This month’s presentation, beginning at 7:45, will be:
*The National Speleological Society*
*Peri Frantz will present on the National Speleological Society in advance of this year’s Convention. Please come and hear from Peri about what your national organization does for you!*
*LOCATION/DIRECTIONS:*
This is the address for the meeting:
San Carlos Library,
610 Elm St, San Carlos, CA 94070
This link will help you find it on google maps:
*Google Maps <goo.gl/maps/Rryvp1ERZkL2>*
*Google Maps*

This month’s pre-member’s meeting dinner and executive committee meeting will be held at Broiler Express, which is located at 895 Laurel St, San Carlos, CA 94070. This is the link for it on google maps: goo.gl/maps/bxHypZeiDsQ2.
For those who are interested in attending, the after-meeting caver happy hour will be held at St. James Gate, 1410 Old County Road, Belmont, CA 94002.
I hope you can all make it!

Hi!
See y’all tonight!
– Fofo

On 02/04/19 11:37, Fofo wrote: > Howdy! > > Ah, the Spring Equinox, another winter is gone and now spring is in the > air. And with it come big plans for caves and caving and thoughts of all > those new passages still waiting to be explored. > > So please join us for the first vertical practice of the spring, but > just for this month, instead of the first Tuesday, we will hold it the > second Tuesday of the month, 9 April, a week from today. > > Our kind hosts will be Peri and Bill Frantz. You can arrive anytime > after 6:30 pm, we will have some dinner and immediately after we will > have some fun on rope. > > Dinner is “modified potluck style,” where you bring your own main dish > and also bring a small appetizer, side dish or dessert to share. We will > have a grill for your food, in case you need one. > > Please bring a helmet and a headlamp, and a jacket, since we will be > practicing outdoors if weather permits. If you don’t have yet a helmet > or headlamp, we will have a couple of extras. Bring your vertical gear > if you have it, and if not, we will also have a couple of extras for you. > > The address of the Frantz Spring Equinox Rope Gym is: > > 16345 Englewood Ave > Los Gatos, CA 95032 > goo.gl/maps/rKNoy > > See y’all a week from today! > > – Fofo >