Raders Valley Dig

On September 27, I made the long trek to West Virginia to help Mark Passerby and Aaron Bird with a dig in Raders Valley. I left Friday afternoon from work and started the journey to West Virginia, stopping only for gas. Eleven and a half hours later I arrived at the Hardee's in Lewisburg, WV and took a nap in the back of the truck. Around 9am I met up with Aaron, Mark, and Bob Kirk. After getting some supplies at the local Wal-Mart (which, like most Wal-Marts in karst areas, has a cave under it), we hooked up with Mike Corbett and drove to Raders Valley.

These guys have been working the Raders Valley area pretty hard the last couple of years. The Raders Valley digs are part of The Western Slope Project, a WVASS project that will eventually be published as a bulletin. The area has incredible potential because very few caves have been found in the area. It's located in Greenbrier County which contains most of the massive cave systems of West Virginia, including Friars Hole (44.9 miles), Organ Cave (39.5 miles), and Culverson Creek (20.8 miles). Through dye tracing and microgravity studies, they know that major water flows through the 5 mile long valley. There are numerous holes and sinks that blow major air, but nobody has found the big one that should exist. In other words, it's a digger's paradise.

We arrived at the dig site after a mile walk from the parking area. The dig was a blow-hole about 5 feet up from a dry creek bed on the western slope of the valley. In theory, there should be cave passage somewhere under or near the dry creek. The valley water should flow through this cave under normal water conditions. Aaron Bird jumped right in and started moving the dirt from the dig so that we could have space to work. One of the primary rules of digging is that you have to give yourself space to work. After the dirt plug was removed, we started moving breakdown. Air was coming out of the rocks in many spots, so we just dug in and down, following the strike of the rock. Many of the rocks were large and needed a little "persuasion" to make them smaller.

Aaron worked the face of the dig most of the day. I called him the West Virginia Steam Shovel because he worked with an energy I haven't seen in a while. He wouldn't let any of us dig! I got a chance to dig a few times, but Aaron was right there behind me ready to take over when I needed a break. We worked all day and made a very impressive hole with an even more impressive debris pile. I think we quit around nine after we decided that we were not going to break into anything. Mark is an eternal optimist and all day long he said, "I think if we move that rock we'll be in." Well, at 9pm we moved that one last rock and saw a pile of rocks behind it.

We left, ate dinner back in town and headed to the WVACS Field House for the night. The WVACS Field House is kind of like a base camp for cavers working in Greenbrier County. It has a dorm room with bunk beds, showers, a kitchen, and a map room. The showers and beds were a welcome comfort after a long day of digging.

In the morning we went back to Raders Valley to finish the dig. Even with a rock choke, the dig still seemed promising. I wanted to do a little caving while they dug, so Bob Kirk and I went to Zigafoose Blowhole, located north of our dig in the valley. Zigafoose is a cave that these guys dug out recently. It has a ton of wind, even though it wasn't blowing too hard the day I saw it. Mark said he's seen 30 mph winds blowing from the entrance. From what I understand, the caves in West Virginia blow in the summer and suck in the winter. I suppose the pressure was equalizing when I visited because there was an average amount of air coming from it. Zigafoose has 3 major drops and a total depth of around 200 feet. Bob and I dropped the first pit which was about 50' total with several rebelays. The drop was fun because I've never done an in-cave rebelay before. Getting out was a little tricky because the top of the drop is tight and you have to hook on to another line as you wedge yourself into the crack.

After we exited Zigafoose, we went back to the dig and hung out there for a while as Aaron worked the face again. I had to leave at 12, so I said good-bye and walked back to the truck enjoying the scenery and perfect weather. I was impressed by the valley, and I'm sure I'll be back to dig there again soon. Mark e-mailed me a couple of days later and said, "We didn't get in, but I think if we move a few more rocks..."

Mark Passerby in the entrance to Raders Blowhole. All of the rocks in the picture
were pulled from the dig.

Looking down from the entrance at Aaron Bird and Bob Kirk in Raders
Blowhole. This was originally a 2 foot wide hole in the dirt.

Bob Kirk at the top of the first drop in Zigafoose Blowhole.

Bill Walker at the first drop in Zigafoose.

Bob Kirk on the ledge at Receiver Pit in Zigafoose.