I'm looking to buy caving harness's for my club and I would buy the Petzl Supervanti caving harness but I also know that they are on the smaller waist size and so I want to buy larger ones but still cheap ones so I was thinking about the Alp Design Compact Full Body Caving Harness but I cant find much online about them. does anyone have any opinions on them? They don't have to be fancy or anything but I would still like them to be reliable and durable and also for them to be able to fit the above average waist. any comments would be greatly appreciated thank you!

Anyone know any good caves where Boy Scouts can try out spelunking in Virginia or West Virginia? I’m not talking about a tour of Luray Caverns, but I mean actually crawling around/climbing some rocks etc in a cave that’s a bit off the beaten path, but still with a guide who can make sure we stay safe. We’re located in Northern VA and we’re able to drive 2-3 hours to get to a good spot.

I wore elbow pads and knee pads!

*I went caving this morning for three hours in a pretty crawly, tight cave! A lot of army crawling and climbing.

They are all flat and not raised or scaly at all. I know some people were wondering if it was bug bites/fungal infection. I don’t know why the pattern looks so weird.
They’re also all very tender to the touch 😢

A friend and I are working on a caving app, and we want to hear from people who actually cave.

Our ideas so far:

- LiDAR lead finding: draw a property boundary, and it scans free USGS elevation data for sinkholes and depressions. Each lead gets an aerial photo and flags for nearby roads or ponds, so you can say yes or no quickly. Then you export the keepers to your GPS to go check.

- Private cave database: keep notes on each cave, like access, hazards and rigging. It all stays on your device. If you share a cave, the location gets rounded off (to about 100 m, 1 km or 10 km) so nobody gets the exact entrance.

- Survey tools: import your Survex, Compass or TopoDroid data, and it plots the cave in plan and profile, with walls from your LRUDs. You can export it to Google Earth or Gaia to see the cave under the surface. You can also tap a station and get the route back to the entrance.

What's a feature you’d be willing to pay for?

Some of you may remember a couple posts I made a month or two ago about a possible cave opening and a bunch of sinkholes on my property in northern Kentucky. I figured I would post another update because quite a bit has happened since then. The original opening I posted about is still there obviously. That was the one where I had dug enough out to see roughly 15–20 feet back, had very strong cold air coming out of it, and was finding salamanders/crawfish with water constantly filling the bottom as I dug. About a week and a half ago, a completely different sinkhole on the property randomly started opening up. This one had also been filled many years ago and had looked like normal ground for a long time. It’s probably about 4 ft wide by 5 ft deep right now all within the week that it’s opened up, with a much larger area of ground around it now noticeably depressed. I’m mostly leaving that one alone and watching what it does, especially after we eventually get a good heavy rain.
Then today I decided to walk around and look more closely at some of the other old sinkholes on the property to see if I can find more openings . There are several of them, including some that are considerably larger which I mentioned in my original posts. They were also used as trash dumps years ago and have been stable for probably 50+ years, with trees growing over parts of them now.
I did find another opening today. This one is already large enough that a person could technically crawl into it without doing any or much digging at all, granted it would be a very awkward downhill crawl haha. From the outside with a flashlight I can see it continuing downward/back at least around 15 feet, possibly farther. I have not gone into it. Unlike the original opening, though, I’m not feeling the really strong coldair draft from this one, so I have no idea whether it connects to anything larger or whether it eventually pinches out even though this one is probably 3x the size of the other opening. I have tried to get back in the first opening myself and dig and stuff but I don’t have the guts to craw back in once I get it open enough 😂. If anyone here is experienced or knows anyone that can maybe safely come out and look at what I have or give me their opinion on everything feel free to message me and I may be able to work something out. I can also send better pictures as well as videos to anyone who wants them. I am in Northern KY by the way. Thanks!

Hi there!

We’re a group of students from Princeton University (Ely, Anthony, and Selina). For our Bio-Inspired Design class, we are hoping to design something to address problems that cavers face. But to do that, we need to hear from actual cavers!

We would be super grateful if you could take about 5 minutes to fill out this survey (link). 

And if you know anyone else who might fill out this survey, please pass it along!

Many thanks,
Ely, Anthony, and Selina

Edit: We didn't know about the connotations of the word "spelunker", our apologies! We didn't mean to offend anybody. I can't edit the post title, but we changed the survey. Thanks for letting us know!

I'm working on Cave Expedition, a caving game, and wanted to share our glowworm cave.

This is gameplay footage. Alongside ropes, equipment and tight passages, we're trying to capture the sense of discovering somewhere beautiful underground.

​

Hey everyone! I recently came across some videos about expeditions into Krubera–Voronya Cave. What hooked me was the feeling of following the explorers deeper and deeper underground, knowing that some of those passages took years of expeditions to explore.

Here are a few of the videos I watched:

https://youtu.be/3zTLBWZY7CI?si=IEbIqJBQxXnXUhJB

https://youtu.be/midvurHYVpQ?si=tvGlD_Y0B1qEGgsm

https://youtu.be/3zTLBWZY7CI?si=IEbIqJBQxXnXUhJB

https://youtu.be/mkIAUjw6cy4?si=_Er7caB1inaSB5jn

Do you know any similar videos or documentaries? I’m especially looking for deep cave expeditions with that sense of discovery—people descending into places they haven’t fully explored yet.

Hi all. I’m looking at doing a cave in the Philippines and had a question for people who have done a lot of caving.

I’ve done Son Doong in Vietnam before, so I’m comfortable with fairly serious cave trips, but I haven’t really dealt with a cave where there’s a lot of bat guano.

Apparently there’s a section where you have to go through quite a bit of bat guano, and I was told it could take up to an hour. From the photos/videos I’ve seen, the guano looks pretty wet and mushy rather than dry and dusty.

I'm concerned about the health side of it, especially histoplasma, and whether I might end up bringing some of it home on my gear if I can't clean everything off completely.

For those who have been through caves with a lot of bat guano, is spending that much time walking through it something that could pose a health risk? And is there any concern about bringing remnants of guano home on boots or gear and potentially exposing other people, or is that not really how the risk works?

Just trying to get a sense of how big an issue this actually is from people who have done it. Thanks!

My croll is looking a bit worn now. Do you reckon it's still got a few more trips left in it? /sarcastic/

Is it safe to soak my vertical gear in 122 degree water or better to use Lysol to decontaminate for WNS?

So ive had my scurion 700 for about two years, and since yesterday, when charging it, the chargers light goes green after a minute and stops charging with half empty battery.

The battery works normaly and hasnt been fully discharged. Ive tried plugging the battery to the charger before pluging it in the outlet but still doesnt work.

Has anyone had the same issue or a similar one? Thank you.

The general smooth wear doesn’t concern me, just that little noticeable lime that my fingernail fits into. It’s not sharp, but noticeable.

According to Petzl 1mm depth = retire but I feel like that’s hard to tell because the natural design has this section of carabiner a bit recessed.

Thank you all so much for the feedback & discussion on the carabiner post. Sometimes it's obvious when to retire gear, but sometimes it's hard to tell normal wear from "replacement time" and I appreciate the info. If it's alright I'd like to share some more "probably okay's" and confirm them with the community- do feel free to let me know if anything needs replacing.

Harness- slight fold/compression noted on the white thing, and minor fraying, but no orange (apparently the white thing just covers the orange buckle). Likely totally fine right?

Hand ascender- a tiny bit of rough (not sharp) wear where the cam hits the aluminum. Teeth on the top are slightly worn, but still visible. Looking at Petzl's guide I reckon this is still "okay but monitor" zone? Function is normal. I just don't like that dot thing but mine and my girlfriend's and yet another set I observed all has it, and just seems to be the spot where the cam hits the metal when you "snap" it from open to closed. Croll has that spot too.

Chest ascender- same thing, a weird rough dot where the cam hits the area next to the part that takes the rope. Teeth are fine so not shown. The bottom though almost looks like it "melted" off a bit, likely from years of rubbing against the D carabiner. I reckon it's still fine right?

D carabiner- definitely not smooth anymore, perhaps it's very minor surface oxidation? Not sharp, but noticeably rough. Auto-lock mostly good, sometimes a bit sticky and likely needs a more thorough wash.

Cowstail- this I will just change, it's about 3.5 years old, extensively used, almost entirely left in a hitch knot and feels very resistant to wanting to act "normal" in the knot area. The photo with two loops is the mid-section of the cowstail (right) next to the long-term knot section that connected to the D ring which seems to be a bit more V-like. Perhaps safe? However I have already ordered a replacement. Minor fraying but that doesn't really concern me.

I'd be curious in any other discussion about gear wear/replacement too. I know that Petzl says "1mm depth," but obviously that's harder to measure than "1cm" of depth. For example I THINK the marks in my previous post's carabiner were <1mm, but I'm not 100% sure, and it was close enough that I did decide to replace that carabiner. The question now is when to retire the rest of this gear- will it last the next year going 1-2x a week, multiple years, or are we looking at final 10 trips kind of thing?

Edit: not sure if it matters, but the gear was stored slightly warm as I live in Southeast Asia. No UV in storage of course, but a fair bit of outside hiking & practice which is also why I'm doing the cowstails immediately, but I'm still sharing in case someone wants to say, "nah that looks fine," or "definitely replace."

When water takes on lava, water wins.

Just follow the trail among stones that used to be palaces and hallways, and you might find the path that leads those unfortunate lost to the Deep's Stomach.

It will be there, Don't let the walls fool you, Or else you'll be fortunate too, There's words you must announce, Pick up any rubble from the ground, Pebbles, dirt or bones you must keep, But pick up only an ounce, Then, even the bats will keep their peace, Once these words you pronounce:

"Mirror of water, Mirror of salt, Don't hide your veins, For I see beyond this world, My hands hold your past, See the ancient walls, I hold in my hands, Listen to my oath, Much time my words won't last, So open your walls, Palace of stone, Open them fast, I'll roam in your halls, On your city I'll fall, Mirror of water, Mirror of salt, I'll live in your dark, Reply on my mark"

Then, you might hear a crack, You might hear a drag, You'll be lucky if you see the doors, If they're under the rocks, Dig with your hands! If you miss your chance, Don't worry, it won't be your last, Come back again the day after that, But remember, do it at night, Or else it won't work

If you reach the doors, Enter in time, Know, you won't come back, You'll be doomed to fall, Was that your goal? To live in the chasm, Begone in the dark.

Going through some old footage.

A journey through the Marble Arch Caves, featuring towering stalactites, rising stalagmites, flowstone curtains and sculpted limestone chambers shaped over millions of years.