Re: [Texascavers] [SWR CAVERS] Andy Komensky
I mostly read, but don't reply much in this group, since I haven't been an active caver at all for the past several years. But, I was a high school kid when Andy was one of the people who introduced me to caving and to the good times and camaraderie of cavers, above and below the surface. Since I got back involved with the cavers of the greater New Mexico area maybe 10 years ago,I had meant to, and didn't quite get around to, getting back in touch with Andy. Another hard lesson in letting the time slip by . . . Mike Gross At 08:33 PM 3/29/2017 -0600, you wrote: He was a character that defined âcharacterâ. He influenced so many of us so many times. He will live on in legends and campfire tales. His artwork should be cherished by all those who have any in their possession. A sad day, but we must celebrate his life. Carol > On Mar 29, 2017, at 7:53 PM, Peter Jones wrote: > > I just found out tonight that my friend, caving mentor, father-in-law and caving legend Andy Komensky passed away tonight. I was just thinking that I had not heard from him lately and was ready to send him an e-mail, seeing how he was doing, letting him know that Iâd be staying with him and Maureen on my way to Convention in a couple of months. So sad that to learn that we already had our last time together in August on my way home from Ely last summer. There are not a whole lot of other people who so affected my life as Andy did. Much more to say at a later time, but I will surely miss him deeply and remember him for all the things that he was in so many complex ways. > > Cave Ho, Andy. Love you, > > Peter > > ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers ___ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
Re: [Texascavers] Video link: Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse
v ucasszdsds dirt...@comcast.net wrote: > > >By popular request, here is the link to Gill's video > > > >DirtDoc > > > > > >Richardson Gill: The Great Mayan Droughts: Water, Life, and Death (University >of New Mexico Press 2000). Now translated into Spanish and published in >Mexico. He has also made a TV documentary about this by the BBC and the >Learning Channel. ( Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse ). > > > > > >Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse > >Available in 5 parts on U-tube. Part 1: > > > > > >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bab6kDtFTJA > >
Re: [Texascavers] Video link: Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse
v ucasszdsds dirt...@comcast.net wrote: > > >By popular request, here is the link to Gill's video > > > >DirtDoc > > > > > >Richardson Gill: The Great Mayan Droughts: Water, Life, and Death (University >of New Mexico Press 2000). Now translated into Spanish and published in >Mexico. He has also made a TV documentary about this by the BBC and the >Learning Channel. ( Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse ). > > > > > >Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse > >Available in 5 parts on U-tube. Part 1: > > > > > >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bab6kDtFTJA > >
Re: [Texascavers] Video link: Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse
v ucasszdsds dirt...@comcast.net wrote: > > >By popular request, here is the link to Gill's video > > > >DirtDoc > > > > > >Richardson Gill: The Great Mayan Droughts: Water, Life, and Death (University >of New Mexico Press 2000). Now translated into Spanish and published in >Mexico. He has also made a TV documentary about this by the BBC and the >Learning Channel. ( Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse ). > > > > > >Ancient Apocalypse: The Mayan Collapse > >Available in 5 parts on U-tube. Part 1: > > > > > >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bab6kDtFTJA > >
RE: [Texascavers] Fwd: Fw: Scary Border Stuff...Why Haven't We Heard?
Nico-- Bravo. I was about to reply to caverannie and ask her to send the right wing crap somewhere else. In addition to the fact that nearly all weapons in Mexico are from the US (among the most intractable problems for Mexican law enforcement), and that nearly all demand for illegal drugs is from the US, there is also the fact -- reported in today's Austin and probably other newspapers -- that FBI statistics show that the area of the Mexico border is actually safer -- in terms of violent crime -- than many other parts of Texas and the country. Saludos Mike Gross At 08:15 AM 6/4/2010 -0700, Stefan Creaser wrote: Im gonna side with Nico :-) From: Fritz Holt [mailto:fh...@townandcountryins.com] Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 10:00 AM To: 'Nico Escamilla'; caveran...@yahoo.com Cc: Cavetex Subject: RE: [Texascavers] Fwd: Fw: Scary Border Stuff...Why Haven't We Heard? Sounds like a familiar blame game. Fritz -- From: Nico Escamilla [mailto:pitboun...@gmail.com] Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 9:49 AM To: caveran...@yahoo.com Cc: Cavetex Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Fwd: Fw: Scary Border Stuff...Why Haven't We Heard? I thought attachments werent allowed on the list.. Charles, are you still asleep or something? with that behind let me just say a couple things: first, read through, it was not Monterrey but Higueras NL second this is not the first gun cache that our armed forces hace seized (this is like the fourth or fifth one and others have been larger) third most if not all of this weapons are gringo made so stop complaining about violence spilling over to your side of the river if it is exactly that side where this weapons are coming from.. yes the bad guys are better armed because yall´s government cant do shit about arms coming into my country. things wouldnt be this way if your country wasnt the major drug consumer in the world, or my country wasnt located right next to it. back to my corner Nico On Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 6:01 AM, <mailto:caveran...@yahoo.com>caveran...@yahoo.com <<mailto:caveran...@yahoo.com>caveran...@yahoo.com> wrote: -- Bill Del Rio, TX -- IMPORTANT NOTICE: The contents of this email and any attachments are confidential and may also be privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose the contents to any other person, use it for any purpose, or store or copy the information in any medium. Thank you.
[Texascavers] More on USGS maps
Date: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:49:09 -0600 To: mailto:texascavers@texascavers.com From: Mike Gross Subject: More on USGS maps Keep quality maps alive -- order some today. Assuming that everyone saw the post by Preston. The rest of the story on USGS maps is that most retail vendors have gone over to a system of printing out scans of the maps on the spot. An example is Miller Blueprint in Austin, which used to be THE source in town. The on-the-spot prints of scans are seriously inferior in terms of paper quality and print quality to the offset printed maps from USGS. A side-by-side of one of the ink-jet prints with a "real" USGS map will make the difference jump out. The worse part is that USGS is also planning to stop printing maps that don't get requested often and go to the system of ink-jet prints of scans for the rarely-ordered maps. The message is: order maps generously and often, and directly from USGS. Who ever had a map they regretted buying. It's easy and cheap at http://topomaps.usgs.gov/. Get the index map for states you're interested in to keep track of which maps cover what ground, and which ones you already have. - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Caving Club at SFA
Hey guys -- SFA is my alma mater. Over the 17 years from 1971 to 1988, migrating from Forestry to Geology to Spanish to English, I managed to get myself a degree there, along with lots of other adventures. I'll be trying to get in touch with them. There is nice little cave in East Texas,over near Center in Shelby County. Regards, Mike Gross - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] lost my hat at the UT grotto meeting
to all who came to the 12/3 meeting: This is pretty trivial to use up bandwidth on, but -- I dropped my favorite cap at the end of the meeting, didn't realize it until I was on my way out of the building. By the time I got back, well, someone had found it. I'd love to have it back if it could be done . . . I can be reached at 448-4225 (office), or 447-9442 (home), or mgross@cwa-tseu,org any time. Also, a couple of folks asked me for info on the Fort Stanton Cave project and copies of the DVD. Let me know how, and I'll get them to you. Mike Gross - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Camping in national forests
After reading some of the responses to the article about overnight camping in national forests, it seems to me the discussion is leaving out at least a couple of parts. Some of it is the aging of the baby boom generation. We're the biggest spike to flow through US demographics ever. When we were in our 20's and 30's we were all out hiking and climbing (and caving), a lot of it in national forests and parks. A whole industry blossomed to cater to us. REI carried mostly serious gear that could not be bought anywhere else . EMS, Sierra Designs, Chouinard/Patagonia, The North Face, Petzl, Lowe Alpine, SMC, and dozens of others, not to mention all the European gear that was being sold, took off. As we aged, millions of us turned to easier versions of outdoor sports -- car camping, staying at the lodge, etc etc. My wife and I have followed the pattern: we used to take a real hiking trip twice a year, now we mostly go car camping with a few day hikes thrown in. We quit buying hard core gear, and fewer buyers replaced us.You can follow the trend in REI, which is still looking for the boomer buck: now it's heavy with clothing for town & country. At the stores -- which have to sell volume to pay for themselves -- serious outdoor gear gets crowded into smaller corners to make room for clothes, "packable" espresso makers and lawn chairs, etc. I would argue that you can't label these trends good or bad: they are just changes. I don't know if the post-boomer generations are more or less interested in serious outdoor stuff than we were on a per-capita basis: either way there are just less of them (you). Judging from the folks who come to UT grotto meetings or who I meet out caving, serious caving, climbing, and similar stuff is not in decline, and the standards seem higher than ever. I would also argue that there is another component. A bad change is the brutal budget cutting that has devastated public lands, along with nearly every other element of public infrastructure, over the past eight years. What hasn't been allowed to fall apart has been privatized. What's your response when the person running the campsite you check into is some guy who doesn't know all that much about it but got the contract to collect your fees? I'm not the only person I know who finds national parks and forests a lot less inviting to visit than they were 25 years ago, despite the heroic efforts of the few federal staff who remain. The ideological campaign to privatize and individualize everything has also led to higher and higher user fees to replace falling support from general revenue, as opposed to a system where our common resources (taxes) support our common parks and forests, and all are welcome. Hopefully we'll see a change in direction on this basic issue: the people who make the decisions will be people who actually believe in and care about public lands, maintenance and staffing will be restored, and then maybe we'll see if people really don't like national forests and parks as much as they did in the good old days. - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
RE: [Texascavers] All border crossings to be put into a data base.
There is a more tragic element to this basic story. The town of Boquillas del Carmen sits across the river from the upstream end of Boquillas Canyon, near Rio Grande Village at Big Bend National Park. It was part of a long-standing -- over 100 years -- cross-border community, with people from Boquillas historically coming across to shop, families with members on both sides, and until recently Boquillas making nearly all of the town's income from park visitors crossing over for dinner, curios, a drink, etc. It's a long, hard drive to any major town or city in Mexico -- 300 or so km to Monclova and probably over 400 to Saltillo. Many long-time BBNP visitors knew the Falcon family in Boquillas. Jose (he was the guy in the wheelchair) ran the cafe for many years, died a few years ago, and his wife and daughter kept it going. The crossing at Boquillas had been unstaffed on either side at least since the early 1970's. The US facilities consisted of an old iron gate that could be either walked around or just opened. At times when the river was too high to just walk across there were always guys in boats (one was two car hoods welded together) to ferry you over. Dinner and a beer in Boquillas was a great way to end a day in Big Bend. All was OK, even after 9/11, until an enterprising reporter from New York came through in mid-2002 or so, wrote up a big expose' of the "porous border" down there, people coming and going at will, etc etc (I remember reading the article and having a bad feeling about it). The result was that the crossing was slammed shut, with what I understand is almost-certain arrest by Border Patrol for anyone crossing in either direction. For the people of Boquillas (and also the people of nearby San Vicente, many of whom came across to work at Lajitas) it was a disaster. There was no work, no income, no food, no anything, and the situation apparently got very desperate before nearly everyone left the two towns. I've asked in several places, including a couple of longtime staff at BBNP, and nobody knows what became, for instance, of the Falcon family, except that "it was pretty bad". I've subjected you to this rambling rant because it is truly a tragedy, where a thoughtless, fun little trip and story idea for some reporter ruined a community and the lives of numerous people. Off & on I've tried to find some way to get more in touch with what is happening in Boquillas, maybe find a way to help a little, but without much luck so far. Regards Mike Gross At 02:01 PM 8/20/2008 -0400, Ted Samsel wrote: I grew up 40 miles from Eagle Pass, but went to high school in San Antonio.. one of the rights of passage for a lot of teenaged boys along the border was going over after the football game to Boys Town.. Wonder how "Friday Night Lights" is gonna skew the data. T. http://home.infionline.net/~tbsamsel/- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
[Texascavers] Fort Stanton Cave (New Mexico) Snowy River
For those interested: sending a recent AP article about Snowy River. The formation was pushed to over 4 miles long during the work week in early July. The formation has been dry for a number of months, and survey work has been moving forward. The linked article has one photo attached. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EXPLORING_SNOWY_RIVER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT - Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
