I'm not sure if the "texascavers" will permit a link to some photos (in the Microsoft Silverlight cloud) of a trip with Ralph Batsche but I will try with this this e-mail.
For years , Ralph Batsche was a steady supporter of caving in Houston. I can't recall many details of specific trips with him, but he was very active in the early 1970's. He was a prominent geophysicist here in Houston. In the mid 1980's Ralph lost his job in the collapse of the oil and gas business. He moved to West Virginia to live near his children. I spent some time with him at the NSS convention in West Virginia (1995). One of Ralph's habits was to keep a very detailed daily diary of all his cave trips. Now I wonder what has become of that document. It would contain some historic information about early caving activities in Mexico. I probably have many good photos of Ralph, but the one in this batch was easiest to locate. The photos in this link were taken over Thanksgiving holidays 1974 in Mexico. Ralph standing around a fire in photo #16. This was a cold trip into the mountains that hold the Sistema Purification (although that cave system had not been named yet). Besides Ralph Batche and myself, the people involved were Bill Sherborn, Mike and Teresa Connolly, Tom Iliffe (Galveston Caver) and Jeff Etherage. Jeff was to die a couple of years later from complications following hip surgery. On the first day into the mountains those of us riding motorcycles experienced hypothermia when a wet cold front came through. We visited Cueva Brinco and then went up on the Mesa Juarez to Rancho Nuevo to see Cueva California. The radiator core on Bill's van developed a leak, but we were able to drive back down out of the mountains with the cap off, just adding water frequently. Photo #16 shows (left to Right) Bill Sherborn, Ralph Batche, Jeff Etherage, Teresa and Mike Connolly and Tom Iliffe. Jim McLane Houston TX Ralph Batsche -Mexico 1974 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL ADD MORE PHOTOS This online album has 35 photos and will be available on SkyDrive until 01/25/2011. Share your own slide shows with Hotmail > Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2010 06:55:15 -0500 > Subject: Re: [Texascavers] a caver obituary > From: gi...@att.net > To: dlocklea...@gmail.com > CC: texascavers@texascavers.com; themcl...@hotmail.com; dmlade...@juno.com; > don...@juno.com; cfro...@yahoo.com > > I remember Ralph perfectly well but will be damned if I can remember > any specific incidents I participated in with him. > --Ediger > > On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 1:32 AM, David <dlocklea...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I am saddened to report that I just learned of a caver friend that passed > > away back in February. > > Ralph Batsche > > http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyprogress/obituary.aspx?n=ralph-w-batsche&pid=139693890 > > I will let someone else tell more about him. > > Here is what I recall: > > He and I made a trip to Grutas de Carrizal with Pam ( Woods ? ) in 1992. > > He moved from Houston > > back east shortly after that, and I think the last time I saw him was at the > > 2000 NSS Convention. > > I know he was active in the Houston Grotto from 1989 to about 1993, and > > probably much longer than > > that. He had a very pleasant personality. I only wish I had known him > > better, and could have gone > > on more cave trips with him. > > David Locklear
