Extraordinary Women Leaders in Speleology (EWLS)

Lee Juillerat writes "I was channeling my inner worm. Following the leader, I squirmed and squiggled, slithered and wriggled. Five hours later, when we emerged from California Cavern and the Middle Earth Expedition, our group of three — guide Christine Wueste, Joan Holliday and I — was slathered in mud. Our orange coveralls, which looked like they’d been borrowed from the state prison, helmets and exposed body parts were colored with mud." SOURCE www.heraldandnews.com/members/limelighter/article_7e07f060-265f-11e3-ab22-001a4bcf887a.html

Mihaela Nicoleta Micula, who is from Romania, is the creator and editor-in-chief of the new Speleo International Magazine and is pleased to present the first issue of this magazine in its digital presentation. She created this publication with the goal of uniting under one flag speleologists/cavers from all over the world. Published in Romanian, English and French, this ne w magazine is different from the EuroSpeleo Magazine which she also created and manages. The magazine editorial staff is made up of international volunteers : Micula as editor-in-chief and her friends and colleagues Attila Sandor for the the layout of the magazine (Romania); Ray Long, English translator (USA) and Pierre Boudinet, French translator (France). SOURCE http://issuu.com/ mihaelanicoletamicula/docs/ speleo_international_magazi ne_16042 Submitted by Carole DeVillers

Stermer lived in that village with her six children until Nazi forces came in late 1941 when more than a thousand Jews were rounded up and sent to camps. Most died, but Esther found another way. Along with her family, including her sons Saul and Sam Stermer, 92 and 86 today, Esther spent nearly a year and a half underground, living in the pitch black of two vast caves in Ukraine, a long with 36 other Jews, to escape Nazi persecution. Learn more by watching the ABC documentary: http://abcnews.go.com/ International/ family-escaped-holocaust-ca ve/story?id=18882407 Submitted by Carole DeVillers

Saturday, April 26 at 6 PM ET/PT. Following its successful premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in 2012 The cave, known as Priest's Grotto, housed groups of despairing families and created refuge for them in an unbelievably hostile environment during WWII. Led by family matriarch Esther Stermer, whose fierce resolve kept the underground community in-tact, this group united to survive against all odds. Throughout their ordeal, heroes emerged - including teenage boys and young men in their 20's - who put their lives on the line to venture out to chop firewood, collect food and gather essential supplies. What they accomplished is remarkable - in a region where less than 5% of the Jews survived - the 38 who went in to Priest's Grotto in May, 1943, came out alive in April 1944 as the Russians liberated the area. Over 65-years later, in 2010, four of those young heroes, now in their 70's, 80's, and 90's, journeyed back to Ukraine with their grandchi

This 19-year-old Norwegian student, has been living in a cave at the foot of a mountain since last May, sleeping on a bed of straw and sheepskin and collecting rainwater to wash with and drink. Sitting on a rock surveying a landscape bathed in sunshine, Ms Loken does not look like she misses the daily demands of Twitter, Instagram and shopping malls. “It does something completely different to you than waking up in a bed, when you don’t want to get up and go to school,” she says in a video made by the local newspaper Firda. “But waking up for a climb through the scree is quite fun – you get a completely different hiking experience and respect for nature, and experience different birdsongs around you.” Ms Loken was inspired to change her lifestyle by a boyfriend who had previously occupied her cave. She concedes that living outside by choice is “pretty weird in the society we live in now”, but was still shocked by the most common question people ask when they find out about her unusual

Featured here are four amazing women who have become the newest addition to the face of the NSS PR division: Lee Boop, Kristen Taylor, Lisa Bauman, and Kim Gentry. SOURCE https://www.facebook.com/NationalSpeleologicalSociety

Babatha, a Jewish woman who lived in the what is now Jordan at 1,800 years ago, saved the Cave of Letters documents that were discovered a cave near the Dead Sea in 1961. The documents included legal contracts concerning marriage, property transfers, and guardianship. These documents give a vivid picture of life for an upper-middle class Jewish woman as well as insight to the Roman bureaucracy and legal system during that time. It is believed that Babatha hid as a fugitive, saving her documents for a return to prosperity from the Roman legions who eneded up killing 600,000 Jews to quell the rebellion. Her bones may have been one of the piles of remains found in the cave or she may of been captured. SOURCES www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/scrolls/life.html https://www.uwec.edu/jolhm/Cave/histone2.htm

You may have noticed a slow down in content on our social media pages? This is because our staff is bogged down with the creation of the 2014 Guidebook/EWC Publication. This year it is going to be awesome!!! So many photographers, cartograp hers, and writers have contributed that your socks will not be knocked off ... they will dissolve! Make sure to attend our event or at least order a book and stay tuned for more awesome mini-bios about stories of women cavers. Carole Devillers, our EWLS Woman's News Reporter, has returned from an exploration trip with a load of great articles to share. Also, remember, if you are interested in an internship position or a permanent officer position, shoot our president an email at : lisab.ewls@gmail.com ewls.org

Cristy Fletcher, Architect, Atlanta Outdoor Club (AOC) member, and Dogwood City Grotto volunteer gives this product review for vertical gear in 2009 on the blog "Southeast Adventure Women." SOURCE(S) http://southeastadventurewomen.blogspot.com/2009/10/guest-review-my-first-vertical-gear.html http://www.dogwoodcitygrotto.org/newsdetails.asp?id=19