Cette fois ci, on ne devrait pas trop frotter le ciel avec les casques.

I made a spring!

The torsion spring in my Petzl Stop fatigued recently, and Petzl have stopped making spares. I borrowed from a friend for a while, but finally got round to making a replacement today. Surprisingly easy once I’d made a bit of tooling to hold one end of the spring wire while pulling.

https://canadiangeographic.ca/articles/pursuing-the-void-the-discovery-of-canadas-new-longest-cave-system/

So cool! I hear you ask if I'll be exploring these caves. Most certainly not! But I hope that those who do will take lots of photos and tell us all about it.

Underground views...

A month from the spring equinox, and sunlight floods directly down the main 28 degree incline in one of north Wales' largest slate mines. The underground city extends some 1500 feet underground (1000' of that now flooded) and 1.3km laterally.

Today went out to an Alabama cave preserve my husband manages and put up some new signs at the parking area then hiked around to look at the cave entrances. One entrance with a waterfall was really nice. There's a 400+ foot pit not too far inside. We ran into some guys who had just rappelled to the bottom and climbed back up. #Caving #Hiking

GIS Corps Is Looking To Help Phreatic With Remote Spatial Volunteers
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https://www.phreatic.org/ <-- shared home page
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https://www.giscorps.org/become-a-volunteer/ <-- shared link to volunteer with GIS Corps
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[want to be a part of some super interesting (remote) GIS volunteer work?!]
#GIS #spatial #mapping #volunteer #phreatic #explore #protect #seacaves #Sardinia #cave #caving #Phreatic #GISCorps #Italy #Supramonte #GulfofOrosei #model #3dmapping #environmental #speleology #hypogene #groundwater #waterresources #marine #marinecaves #coast #coastal
@GISCorps @Phreatic

A year ago this week I was with a team conducting research in the Scărişoara Ice Cave, #romania. This spectacular place contains #ice dating back more than 10,000 years! This unique archive holds valuable information about past #climate variability in this region. Some of the interesting work that has been done in this cave is reported here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-01397-w Photo by M. Blatnik. #caves #caving #geology #earthscience #environment

Happy Valentine's Day from a gypsum heart in a cave.

Speaking of hearts, let's have some Real Talk! About hearts! Today I re-certified in CPR & First Aid. Did you know that socialized as female folk are far more likely to die from a heart attack / cardiac event than men? It's true! A large cause of this is due to the fact that symptoms are often not as-seen-on-TV; instead being brushed off as nausea, acid reflux, or indigestion. And what do we do when we feel ick? We go to the bathroom. So when we collapse, no one is around to see, much less administer CPR. So: check on your friends who disappear to the bathroom for a long time!

Sadly, there is also a huge disparity between races in survival as well. Not only does lack of medical access and environment & social factors mean there is higher risk (systematic racism), but overt racism also prevents bystanders from stepping in to help. Black & Latinx people suffer the most. (https://newsroom.heart.org/news/cardiovascular-health-risks-continue-to-grow-within-black-communities-action-needed)

CPR is not that difficult! It is more the mental challenge of being prepared to step in and help. If you can't get to a class (hands on with the training manikins is certainly recommended if you can!) still learn about it. All 50 states have Good Samaritan laws.

I personally know two people who are alive thanks to a normal everyday person knowing CPR, and intervening. This is community building, y'all! Take care of each other out there.

Some additional tips:
1. If someone has a medical emergency and you end up leading the way, always point and directly tell people what to do (ex: you in the blue shirt *pointing at them* call 911). If you just shout things, people will not jump into action. Be specific & direct.

2. Always check for a pulse on the same side you are kneeling on, you don't want to reach across their neck.

3. If there are enough people, direct folk not involved in helping to form a circle looking *out*. This gives some privacy, very important in these days of cell phone cameras and the fact that say, once the AED shows up, their chest will be made bare. Help protect the patient's privacy!

4. Good Samaritan laws generally have caveats such as never accept anything as a thank you (not even flowers, *nothing*) and stay with the person until someone of equal or greater training arrives. So if you say, start CPR then just get tired and stop with no one equal or higher taking over, then you are liable.

Seems I missed #WomenInSTEM day. Let's support each other, okay? Diversity is our strength.

Feeling slightly broken.
Went #caving for the first time in 18 months (Notts 2, Leck Fell) and have realised I have the upper body strength of a wet noodle now.
I also forgot that although there's virtually no crawling, leaving off the kneepads was a terrible idea. Brilliant idea for flexibility of getting up and down the entrance series, but the number of times I had to put my whole weight on a knee to get up something... Ouch.
Now waiting for food to be delivered.

No big deal, just out here finding new locales and new species all the time...but sure, fuck over our funding. If we don't know they exist we don't have to worry about protecting them, duuuuuh.

(This pseudoscorpion today was quite the surprise! Identification TBD.)

Tonight it's showtime for the Ashley Caves Project in Vernal, #Utah. Here's another great photo by T. Holmes from a cave with walls coated in moonmilk, a curious soft carbonate precipitate. #cave #caves #caving #geology #earthscience

Into the Depths
We descended into the abyss by abseiling down before crawling 200 meters through mud to reach the fossil gallery, a silent witness to an ancient underground river. The slow dance of time has sculpted these breathtaking draperies.
The Jonquilles stands among the most decorated caves in the region, testament to the relentless work of water and minerals over millennia. Unfortunately, the active section was too flooded to continue

Nikon Z6 | 14-24mm | 5s | f/8 | ISO100

On my way to #utah to make a presentation about research in this and other #caves in the Uinta Mountains. #geology #cave #caving #paleoclimate #earthscience

#caving
Had our AGM today at a pub, with some lovely beer and excellent food.

Unfortunately while I was in the loo, I was voted in as Meets Secretary.

Curse my weak bladder!

First trip is booked for next week down Notts 2.