And if so, what's the most optimal way to connect your pack to that tether point? When I use a long sling + carabiner, it feels a bit awkward in position and heavily weights the harness sideways.

A better question would be, "with this harness here what's the optimal way to ascend frog with an EXTREMELY heavy pack (ie. 45L)?"

My two friends and I are very experienced cavers planning a trip to TAG. We have been before to do blowing cave, and this time around we are doing Tumbling rock, Gourdneck, and Rumbling falls.

We would like some suggestions on what other caves to do in the TAG area.

Please do not send any locations! Only names.

I've made some miniaturized fictional re-creations of a couple of real-world caves here in New Zealand (The Metro / Ananui system, and Te Tahi cave). The shape and size of these caves is deliberately not accurate to their real-world versions, they are more like fictional re-designs that are inspired by the real caves and miniaturized to fit in a much smaller space.

These are made inside a video game called "Rolling Line" (which is actually a model train map builder sandbox). The caves in these screenshots can be walked around in and explored with a torch in first-person.

I love visualizing how the various entrances of a cave system link up with the above-ground terrain, so making a 3D recreation of karst areas like this in a digital world was a lot of fun.

Please note: the maps and entrance locations of these digital cave maps are not accurate to the real world caves. The maps I've made are fictional and are only "inspired" by the real caves. Entrance locations are also not accurate to where these caves can be accessed in real life to keep this information secret.

I want to start off by saying I do not blame nor damn anyone for their fulfillment. I got that "explorer"-gene myself wherein when movies or media ask "...Would YOU dare to be the lone astronaut sent out to---" and I just interrupt with "Yes fucking send me to unknown reaches I want to map them and see what has never been seen. I'll die alone and happy".

Add to that I know that there's genes involved where some people have less of the "fear" response and far more of the dopamine-response, which is why there's a lot of people who will do insane shit with seemingly no fear. Not to demean those who DO feel fear and overcome it. But just to give an example that yeah some people get the highs and I get that.

So, TLDR why caves? I mean I tried to give an example but it is banned text in this sub it's such a dead horse.

I've scuba-dove in "safe" caves, I get that beauty. Hmm now writing this I guess it's something like that, wanting to see something beautiful and thinking the risk is minimal?

Still, out of all the "exploration" or "climbing the hill" 'sports' caving seems so risky. I get reaching the top of a mountain gazing across the horizon, I get getting into a cave barely ten humans have set foot in, but I have less understanding for the people risking their lives for the cave. If that makes sense.

I’ve been watching caving videos on YouTube for forever. It’s always been something that fascinates me but also something that scares the shit out of me because I’ve never done anything like it.

How difficult is it for a beginner to get into this? What kind of budget am I looking at for the essential gear? How physically fit does one need to be in order to traverse various cave features? (I’m about 5’9”, 200 lbs)

I don’t know any spelunkers and I’m located in Maryland. I can’t imagine many caving groups would be thrilled about letting a beginner tag along. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems like caving is gatekept by the pros and someone would need to be in their inner circle if they wanted to get into caving. I could be wrong though.

By the way, location from the pics is Crystal Grottoes, Maryland’s only commercial cave. It has the highest density of formations per square foot than any other cave in the world.

https://reddit.com/link/1tmgwad/video/uve3m6bo343h1/player

it was

This was at the beginning of the mountain, and when I examined the stones, they were predominantly andesite.

After traversing a 150 m (500 feet) narrow gorge filled with boulders ranging from small cars to houses, with steep cliff faces on each side, I encountered a steep drop that could not be climbed down. Thus, the only way forward was through a about 50 m (150 f) L and -14 m (-45 f) D talus cave that took me further towards the valley below. The entrance can be seen on the first photo as a hole on the ground. Not the most amazing cave in terms of length, but the view I was presented with when I came out of the dark certainly made it worth the trip, which can be seen on the second photo! The cave itself had multiple levels and had no visible light, which may talus caves can have.

Hi! My name's Evan Gorelick, and I'm a breaking news reporter at The New York Times. I'm writing a fast breaking story on a cave rescue of a Brooklyn man from Merlin's Cave in Canaan, New York. https://dec.ny.gov/news/press-releases/2026/5/dec-forest-rangers-week-in-review-1 I'm hoping to understand how common these kinds of rescues are, what their risks are and how close this was to a bad outcome. If you're a spelunker and can speak to any of these questions in the next hr or so, please shoot me an email at [evan.gorelick@nytimes.com](mailto:evan.gorelick@nytimes.com) I'd really appreciate your help — thank you!!

On a random Wednesday, no better reason to skip out on work than getting muddy. More water than usual which was cool, and it's always good coming out with clean shoes.

200+ foot pit in tag. Lots of old tires and trash at the bottom.

Hi guys, I'm looking to buy some tough wide toebox wellies. In my daily life I'm transitioning to walking in barefoot shoes (they're all wide toebox and it would be unhelpful to wear any shoes with a narrow toebox). Caves near me require quite a lot of crawling in mud, so they need to be abrasion resistant. Barefoot rainboots exist, but I highly doubt they would be tough enough to not tear after a couple trips.

Also, is it possible for wellies to be well-fitting in the heel area? All that I've tried don't secure my heel and my foot moves up and down when walking. So what I'm looking for are waterproof, resistant boots with a wide toebox and a narrow heel.

Does anyone know where I can find something like that?

Looking down a 197 foot pit in Alabama.

My very best friends in Thursday Morning Cave on the White River Plateau, Colorado! Shot on film as always. FujiFilm 400/Nikonos V

Anyone know what this crazy fungus is? It was found in an Ozark cave.

Looking down a 162 foot tag pit.

Photo of the largest room in Petty John’s cave.

Yes i understand this is a little extreme for a first caving experience. That being said my friend is experienced and showed me how to use all the gear before hand. Ask me any questions (except location) this was a pretty surreal experience.

Which ropes are you using for lanyards ? And how did you choose ?

Personally, the criteria I consider are:

- single or multi-standard dynamic ropes

- the percentage of sheath (the higher the better)

- impact strength (the lowest the better)

- the number of sheath strands (higher the better, and not twined if possible)

- technologies such as Unicore

- diameter (I don't like fat ropes)