Hi all, I’m wanting to upgrade my lights, my family and friends have all been hounding me for gift suggestions and I figured this would be a good suggestion. What do y’all use/suggest? I need something waterproof and very bright, past that I’m open to suggestions. Thanks!

Hi! My friend and I are brand new to caving, and we explored some very touristy ones in my state (longest was around 800ft) and we had a blast and want to get into the hobby more seriously.

However, it's coming up on winter and all the caves around here are closed. We don't want to lose momentum so I wanted to ask: What do y'all do in the off season? I have looked into taking some rock climbing classes, but are there other ways to train for caving besides that?

Hi,

I'd like to map an underground quarry with my buddy. To simplify greatly, the quarry has no obstacles and consists mostly of wide tunnels.

I'm thinking of using my phone's compass, a laser rangefinder, hiking poles with bubble levels and laminated white cardboard sheet on one pole. I'm thinking about walking roughly in the middle of the tunnels, take 4 to 6 distance/angle measurements (no azimut necessary) at each stopping point (pointing to the walls, back left, front left, front right, back right, possibly directly left and directly right too), and one more with my buddy holding the pole with white cardboard 30-40-50m away from me.

Is that a right approach? Are there Android apps out there to help me record these measurements on the phone? Do you have any computer software to recommend to compile all this data automagically later on? I came across Cave Where, is this a commonly used too?

Thank you.

I recently bought some property in a hollow of the Allegheny Plateau region (hopefully that's right). It's about 30 acres. It has a seasonal creek and a few springs. How would I go about looking for any interesting things on different types of maps in search of any possible caves?

I'd love to share the address with anyone who might want to take a look on various maps. Thanks.

Thank you.

I live in central oregon and recently discovered i love caving. I have no clue how to find this group of people. Can I please be guided in the right direction?

Hey caving fam! I have an unexpected day off on 12/18 and eager to go see Incredible Pit before committing to dropping it in January. My usual group is out of town for the holidays. Anyone in TAG want to join for a quick trip into Stairstep and back?

I realize this isn’t the typical platform to put trips together but the itch is bad at the moment 🦇

Hello,

I would like to ask some questions to people who have much experience about caving:

1. How common are microbial mats inside caves? Which caves usually exceedingly contain them? Are there clues about that? I know they are present in all caves that have water but they are usually abundant during specific conditions.

2. Have you ever encountered places where there are vents or where is liquid evaporating or ascending inside the caves? Usually, in such places, there can be hot springs, or waters rich in minerals.

3. Have you ever encountered natural cavities inside mines? If yes, how common are such natural cavities?

4. Have you ever gone to caves that are naturally rich in iron? Such caves might have different colors: Red, orange, yellow etc.

Thank you for your time.

Hi there. I'm a writer currently working on a novel that features caving and I'm keen to make sure everything I write is as accurate as possible. The story is set in the 1970s and involves a bog worker discovering a cave in his area. He privately investigates it and finds some Iron Age remains. The story then moves to the present day when the bog has been rewilded and the cave has been developed into a show cave. (My understanding is that restoring a bog would improve drainage which would open up a cave further - happy to be corrected.)

Could anyone recommend any accounts of similar situations? A lot of what I'm finding is from much earlier, and I'm keen to know what would be involved in terms of equipment around this time. I'm also interested in the legalities - would someone get in trouble for this? If a cave is on private land, would the owner need to sell it to the state to have it developed into a tourist attraction? What are the laws around finding archaeologically important material?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts or experiences.

This might be a very silly question, oh well :) Apologies for the long message as well, it will sound stupid to you I'm sure, but I got excited and wanted to share, and felt my friends would judge me for this.

I discovered caving through Youtube videos six months ago; the first videos I came across were about tragedies, but I dug deeper and got quite fascinating by caving and read about it for a few days. I thought I'd never do it (I did speleology when I was a teenager, the cave was big but we still had to crawl on our bellies at some point. I don't have a vivid memory of this event, quite neutral and vague).

I am not an adrenaline-seeker but I do enjoy semi-risky sports: I did horse riding for over 20 years, including jumping competitions, and now I do climbing and bouldering. I am definitely not fear-free, but I love the feeling of doing something that I thought I couldn't do, and daring to go beyond the fear.

Sorry for the long intro! Now on to something that happened last Monday: I came home from work and realised I forgot the key to my house inside the house (I was in a hurry that morning). I could either drive to my partner's work to retrieve his copy of the house key (1 hour away) or wait. Then I noticed I'd left the bathroom window open, and I thought: "It would be so fun if I could fit into the small space and enter the house this way". I was on the phone with my partner who told me I was gonna hurt myself, that it was too small, but still I felt excited and wanted to try.

How to describe the window layout? I can't find a good picture online, not sure I wanna post pic of my own house. It kinda looks like this, but with the window handle facing down, and you can't push the window further:

https://preview.redd.it/07lphg2xpj3e1.png?width=225&format=png&auto=webp&s=af73024b14b17694c872e567592fcc4f5d896698

Well it's a horizontal and narrow window, oscillating towards the outside, can't go further than 45 degrees angle. I removed my jacket and sweater to gain some space. I'm 1m72, 58kg, athletic. The window was about over 2 meters high, I could have done a pull up but I wanted to stabilize my feet. So I put a bin and climbing on it. I wanted to enter horizontally, sideways, but the window handle was too low and in the way. So I slowly put my head in to evaluate the situation (mirrors with cutting edges, things on the bathroom sink.. what to grab next?) I entered my shoulders, holding my breath. My head was bigger than the height of of the window so I had to turn my head sideways, and I felt the handle pressing on my back. I exhaled to lose more air (I think I read that technique on this sub :) ). I slid my right leg slowly, bent at the knee because the window wasn't long enough. I was one third in but then I realized I couldn't really turn because of the handle, nor could I back up because I couldn't evaluate the dimensions anymore and could bump my head or stay stuck somehow. I felt injury could have been a real possibility and felt a bit stupid but not afraid. I kept squeezing, my head and shoulders were bent too much to my comfort, but I needed to reach the sink with my left hand so I could grab onto something and not fall on it with all my weight (the sink was at least 1 meter below the window. I slid as slowly as possible and somehow managed to grab the sink, slid one leg while clenching the thigh of my other leg to stay somewhat stable. I'm not sure what happened next but then I was in and I felt a huge rush of adrenaline. I looked back at the window and felt so proud, couldn't believe I passed through. When my partner arrived home later, he also couldn't believe I made it through. It was (weirdly enough) such a special experience, I don't know why I enjoyed it so much. I kind of want to do it again, but not in caves; are there any other environnements that require similar techniques? I can't think of any but who knows!

TLDR: I squeezed through a tight space and loved the feeling, but not sure I'm excited enough to do caving as of now; is there an activity other than caving that require squeezing through small spaces? I feel very silly asking this, but I'm so excited to feel that I understand a teeny tiny bit more why people enjoy caving that I don't care, and I wanted to share my story, I don't know where else or to whom I could have without being looked at with a weird look :) Thanks in advance!

Up in the Northwest..Idaho. I've been hearing a lot of deaths from C02 poisoning. I've been In plenty of caves, tight tight squeezes, and miles down. I'm still alive...lol. been to A lOT of caves in Israel. Epic! Anyways, I'm living in Idaho now. Wondering what gases I need to be detecting. Just C02? And what's a good C02 detector? On a budget? Thanks.

I just ordered an armytek wizard c2 pro headlamp and was wondering if anyone has successfully removed the magnet from the tail cap? They are out of stock of the non magnetic tail caps currently.

Hello everyone! Me and a friend are thinking about traversing the Hundidero-Gato-cave-system in Spain (close to Ronda). Do any of you have experience with this cave or know more about it? Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Caving is getting me more and more into flashlights and spending time in the flashlights sub. Does anyone here have a preference for "light temperature" or have experimented a lot with temperatures? Also for photos/videos?

I recently bought a Convoy 3x21a with a very warm 3000k temperature, and I was surprised how much I liked it in the cave. Despite just being a slightly more orange/red light tint, it made everything feel a bit warmer and more peaceful. It reminds me too of the first caving lights I bought, which weren't really brought, but the medium/lower modes had a similar tint and it was always relaxing and peaceful compared to the more harsh blue that many typical lights seem to have (ie. Acebeam H30).

I am some kind of cave monster

I've found a few caves I've scouted out around north west to north Arkansas but I reach a point to were I feel like it would be too dangerous to go alone but I have no idea where to look for other people who would want to go caving around me

Dating a guy and he caves, any suggestions for a good caving related Christmas present?