Spelunking, Caving

[ZandraJoi]

I first heard of this word when I was a kid in school. I thought it was the coolest sounding word lol I recently found out that the new term is “Caving”. I think Spelunking sounds more chic.

It is a recreational sport exploring caves. It is under the Extreme Sports as it is not for amateurs, unless you have a guide. You need gear, lighting, helmet, good clothing & boots.

While I have explored a small cave, we didn’t need equipment, I cannot imagine going to the extreme like this sport does.

Have you tried this? Would you?

 

[killamch89]

If I'm being honest - I haven't tried it and I wouldn't either because if you get stuck, there's a good chance you might not make it out.

[The Blackangel]

I've been in a few that were beginner/novice caves. Missouri is full of them. We have caves that are tourist spots, caves for spelunking (that's still the official term here) and caves underneath houses. There are caves here that would make the movie The Descent look like a brisk walk on a forest trail. People have completely vanished in caves and their bodies have never been found here. Some solo, others in groups. There are a lot of mines too. We tend to refer to them as man-made caves, or fake caves. People go down in them a lot too. I've been in several. They're nothing too spectacular. They're actually pretty boring. There's new cave systems being found all the time. Either blasting opens one up, or a rockslide busts through and opens one up. Either way we have so many, that a lot of obsessive spelunkers have moved to Missouri for that very purpose. Simply because they can't get bored.

My girl said that one of her professors in college was a guy from Paris. He told her one day that he had gone on a cave tour with some people, and with the way our caves twist and turn, he would have much rather gotten lost in the catacombs than one of our caves.

[killamch89]

On 9/29/2021 at 7:45 AM, The Blackangel said:

I've been in a few that were beginner/novice caves. Missouri is full of them. We have caves that are tourist spots, caves for spelunking (that's still the official term here) and caves underneath houses. There are caves here that would make the movie The Descent look like a brisk walk on a forest trail. People have completely vanished in caves and their bodies have never been found here. Some solo, others in groups. There are a lot of mines too. We tend to refer to them as man-made caves, or fake caves. People go down in them a lot too. I've been in several. They're nothing too spectacular. They're actually pretty boring. There's new cave systems being found all the time. Either blasting opens one up, or a rockslide busts through and opens one up. Either way we have so many, that a lot of obsessive spelunkers have moved to Missouri for that very purpose. Simply because they can't get bored.

My girl said that one of her professors in college was a guy from Paris. He told her one day that he had gone on a cave tour with some people, and with the way our caves twist and turn, he would have much rather gotten lost in the catacombs than one of our caves.

That's my thing with caving, I remember one where a guy was stuck in a small space and they had to leave him to die. I think it happened about 15 years ago.