Thanks for posting that, Bill. I found out about Lee here on the list when he did the Natural Bridge Caverns climb. I'm very sorry to hear about his passing.
On Wed, Oct 9, 2019 at 9:03 AM William R. Elliott <[email protected]> wrote: > Bill Steele, > > Thanks for posting that about Lee White. Do you have a photo of Lee that I > could use in The Hall of Texas and Mexico Cavers? > > Sorry to hear about his death. > > *William R. (Bill) Elliott* > > *[email protected] <[email protected]>* > > 573-291-5093 cell > > > On Wed, Oct 9, 2019 at 9:36 AM Bill Steele <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> Over the weekend I attended a Celebration of a Life in Tennessee for a >> good caver friend of mine, Lee White. Lee made Texas caving history in May >> of this year when he successfully climbed the 100’ sheer wall of the remote >> Dome Pit way off trail in Natural Bridge Caverns, which has led to the best >> discovery of virgin cave in the state of Texas this year. The Dome Pit was >> first reached in 1960 and for 59 years was considered to be perhaps >> unclimbable due to soft limestone. Lee climbed it in 1 1/2 hours. >> >> Here is Lee’s obituary followed by some links to newspaper articles about >> the discoveries in Natural Bridge Caverns: >> >> Lee Harrison White, 31, of Evans, GA, and Chattanooga, TN, died September >> 15, 2019, when he was struck and killed in an automobile accident on I-40 >> in Alamance County, NC. He was a 2007 graduate of Lakeside High School in >> Evans where he was president of the senior class and a member of the school >> system’s wrestling teams since seventh grade. He learned survival skills >> and became a ranger at Camp Deep Woods in Brevard, NC. >> >> Lee studied physics at the United States Military Academy at West Point >> and the University of Colorado at Boulder and enjoyed a lifelong passion >> for science and technology. He was an accomplished cave explorer who >> supported his calling by working as a rope access specialist with >> Industrial Access, Inc., of Cumming, GA, on jobs all over the South >> requiring work in high places. >> >> Lee’s innovative approach, unique techniques, and well-developed climbing >> skills along with his creative use of available equipment combined to >> change cave dome climbing forever. His impact on the caving community will >> be felt for decades to come. >> Lee became an active project caver in 2013, as part of the TAG caving >> community, explorers who support science and survey new caves in the unique >> geological region where the states of Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia meet. >> The region is where many of the techniques and traditions of modern caving >> developed. Lee became a respected practitioner of vertical caving, an >> expert in both American and Alpine styles of rigging. In 2014, he rappelled >> and climbed the deepest pit in the United States, 586 feet, Fantastic Pit >> in Ellison’s Cave, Georgia. In 2016 and 2017, he was involved in three cave >> rescues. >> >> Among his most recent achievements was setting a rope at the top of the >> 120-foot Dome Pit, in Natural Bridge Cavern near San Antonio, TX, the >> state’s largest and most spectacular show cavern. The rope allowed >> explorers to reach a tantalizing passageway that was once considered >> inaccessible because of its height, giving the first access in 60 years to >> a new part of the cave. Lee climbed the wall, setting bolts and ropes, in >> an hour and a half. >> >> Lee successfully ascended dozens of previously unclimbed domes in TAG. He >> made the first ascent of the second tallest dome, 267 feet, which he named >> the Very Hungry Caterpillar Dome after his favorite book, in a cave named >> Savor It Well in Madison County, AL. He rigged at least 20 domes >> permanently in the TAG region and worked with the Southeastern Cave >> Conservancy to assure safe rigging at caves managed by the conservancy. >> In the past three years, Lee’s skills led him to join international >> caving teams bringing experts in geology, paleontology, archeology, >> biology, and cave surveying to study and map extensive cave systems in >> Mexico. >> >> In 2017, he joined the Proyecto Espeleológico Sistema Huautla (PESH), an >> official project of the National Speleological Society and the United >> States Deep Caving Team. This is a ten-year expedition conducted annually >> in April since 2013 into the deepest cave system in the Western Hemisphere, >> Sistema Huautla in the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. He continued as a member of >> the team in 2018 and 2019, in 2018 leading the small team of cave riggers >> that enabled confirmation of a major connection from Sistema Huautla to >> another well-known cave, Sotano de Agua de Carrizo. This connection added a >> confirmed length of 9.2 kilometers to the system, as well as five new >> entrances, “making one of the longest, deepest caves in the world even >> longer and more complex,” stated the National Geographic Society in its >> report on the new connection, >> https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/06/sistema-huautla-cave-mexico-culture/ >> . >> >> In 2018, Lee also joined the US Deep Caving Team to support a scientific >> expedition of 40 team members from six countries in Cueva Chevé in Oaxaca’s >> Sierra de Juárez region. Currently documented at 1,484 meters, Chevé is >> thought possibly to rival the world’s deepest, Veryovkina Cave in the >> Republic of Georgia, which has a maximum explored depth of 2,204 meters. >> Lee himself has caved to a depth of 1,200 meters in Mexico. >> The expedition leader of PESH, Bill Steele, recalls, “In late April of >> 2019 Lee White led another small team to go 600 meters deep in the La >> Grieta section of Sistema Huautla to look for a lead Lee had a hunch they >> would find. And they did. It was a major trunk passage they named after Lee >> – Blowhard Boulevard. They ended their exploration at the bottom of a >> waterfall to be climbed next year. Once it is climbed and mapped, we plan >> to name it Lee White Falls.” >> Lee is survived by his father, Marco White, his mother, Rebecca Watson >> White, and his brother, Graham White, and a loving family of aunts, uncles, >> cousins, and cavers. A memorial service celebrating Lee’s life will be held >> on October 5, 4 pm Central, by the TAG community at Caver’s Paradise, 482 >> Wild Heart Lane, Sewanee, TN. >> In lieu of flowers, the family asks that friends donate to the >> organizations Lee’s work supported: PESH, >> http://www.peshcaving.org/donate; Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc., >> https://saveyourcaves.org/give.html, PO Box 250, Signal Mountain, TN >> 37377, [email protected] (indicate “Lee White Fund”); and the National >> Speleological Society, https://caves.org/donate/index.shtml, 6001 >> Pulaski Pike, Huntsville, AL 35810-1122, [email protected]. >> >> >> https://www.statesman.com/news/20190515/cave-explorers-discover-new-600-foot-passage-in-natural-bridge-caverns >> >> >> https://www.statesman.com/news/20190812/cave-expeditions-yield-new-discoveries-at-natural-bridge-caverns >> >> https://www.statesman.com/photogallery/TX/20190813/NEWS/812009996/PH/1 >> >> https://www.statesman.com/photogallery/TX/20190813/NEWS/812009996/PH/1 >> >> See all y’all at TCR, >> >> Bill Steele >> [email protected] >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com >> [email protected] | Archives: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers >> > _______________________________________________ > Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com > [email protected] | Archives: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers >
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