ORGT Caving - Stuff you need to know
Just exactly who are we? Well, we're glad you asked. The ORGT
subcommittee is not a club. It is simply a group of people who are mostly
Georgia Tech students who all enjoy the adventures caving has to offer.
There are no members. There are no membership dues. Being mostly
students, we can't afford to buy all of our own gear so the
administration has been good enough to fund us. We have caving gear
available which allows us to do just about any kind of caving short of
cave diving in the Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia (TAG) area. And we do.
In the ORGT spirit, the caving subcommittee provides instruction "for
students, by students" teaching safe horizontal and vertical caving
skills. The usual progression is learn, do, teach. A student will come in
who is interested in going caving, so they sign up for the first caving
school trip. The caving school consists of three trips which teach all of
the basic skills of safe caving and is a good foundation for becoming a
safe caver. Before each trip there is a class and there are practices for
the vertical trips in the controlled environment of our platform at the
triangle. Each trip costs a nominal $20 for GT students, $30 for anyone
else (after all, GT is footing the bill for the gear!). That price
includes all the program fees, plus money for gas for the drivers.
After going through the classes and learning the basics the student is
encouraged to go on caving trips with other members of the subcommittee
to hone their caving skills. As they become more confident cavers, they
may help out on school trips and thereby begin to learn how to teach safe
caving practices. They eventually become instructors and ultimately may
become trip leaders, teaching brand new cavers what someone taught them a
couple of years before.
The starting point is our weekly subcommittee meetings where we attempt
to get things done. We meet every Wednesday during the semester
at 6:30pm at ORGT. To get started, you need to show up for the
beginner horizontal class, check out the calendar, or
swing by the CRC and get a printed copy.