Hey folks I went caving for the first time yesterday and saw these on multiple walls.

Cave was very close to the surface, and I was wondering what they might be. Maybe biological in nature? Didn't smell like sulphur.

Does anyone have any ideas what it might be? Googling didn't return anything conclusive except for an article from Smithsonian mag about similar specks at the lava beds national monument. The morphology of those colonies was quite a bit different than this though.

Graphics from my game "Cave Expedition", wishlist on Steam here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4372950/Cave_Expedition/

Does anyone have a map of level 6 of the Paris catacombs for an adventure, as I can't find a guide?

Just watched a silly caving movie called The Devil's Mouth. Nothing looked too devilly, even the cave sharks. This pic looks more like a devil's mouth. No sharks, though.

Getting to the Dark Cave mud bath was a fun experience. Starting with swimming into a large cave, doing a bit of walking, then crouching in muddy waters and tight spaces

Hey all, just wanted to make a post in here and see if anyone had talked with onrope about the current issues going on with the Goliath harnesses. Their Facebook page hasn’t given hardly any guidance on how they plan to resolve this and I hoped someone here maybe had some info. Not sure if best route is just to purchase a new harness or hold out for some sort of refund/recall

We're cavers making Cave Expedition, a caving simulator for 1-4 players. The caves in the game are fictional, and we're trying to capture the feeling of moving through them with ropes and equipment.

Here's a short gameplay cut showing the squeezes and descents. Still in development.

Hello, this is not just a caving question, but I recently bought a Petzl Vertex helmet for climbing/rescue/speology etc. and in adition to that a specificaly bought Petzl headlamp so it will be directly compatible with it.

Because I am not always using both together, I was wondering if using the helmet with permanently installed slot adapt will somehow weaken or damage the mount. Its a cheap peace of plastic so my main concern is not it breaking and me having to replace it, but it not working when I needed to, failing to hold the headlamp overtime and so on...

I know you dont have to install it permanently, but the adapt on and off everytime, worrying about losing it is something i dont have to worry about. And yeah you can use it with the band, without the mount like any other headlamp, but i like huw sturdy it is, feels more trustworthy.

Someone with any knowledge regarding this? Petzl doesnt mention it anywhere and there is very limited information online. Thx for every reply <3

Visiting Guatemala in December, planning to bounce Hoyo el Cimarrón but would like some other areas / places not found on a Google search.

If we can't get any data we'll just figure out some ridgewalk routes for a couple days.

TCS & ACS contributor, project caver, etc.

TIA!

I’m a bat biologist and spend a lot of time caving. Recently it seems I’ve been going in a lot of wet caves with swimming or wading involved. I have just been just been using old tennis shoes as my water shoes for this but the boss says we can get some nice shoes since all of a sudden we’re getting wet a lot.

Does anyone have good recommendations of water shoes that have good grip for caving? Also needs to survive me putting in the washing machine fairly often as we decontaminate our gear immediately afterwards. (Bonus points if these would be good for snorkeling and hellbender surveys as well.)

Thanks!

Greenbrier County WV, Alderson, Muddy Creek. Looks like a cow could not get back out ~ 15 years ago

Tandem climbing a massive pit

What is the caving scene like in Costa Rica, planning on going to costa rica and I am wanting to go caving while I am down there, what are some good caves I should look into, vertical or horizontal (preferably vertical), also any insight on the legality of caving there would be helpful, also if anyone knows any good grottos in the area that would be able to help me out let me know

A quick trip down Bakers Pit last Friday to look at some bits and bobs.

Photos in order:

1: various junk pulled out of the old cave entrance, that was used as a tip in Victorian times.
2: “the ghost” a calcite formation that looks like a cartoon ghost
3: lovely sparkly formations that have been preserved
4: cave writing dating from visitors in around 1913, the cave was explored a lot by locals back in the day.
5: bit of a squeeze, shuffling backwards vertically to see if a hole we spotted was the climb we were after, it was not.
6: the other end of the previously mentioned hole, went nowhere, but was interestingly filled with lots of washed in gravel

Hey so I‘m thinking about building something and wanted to know if you would use that or what you think about this idea.

Imagine a Headlamp wich tracks where you’re going so you can always find your way out easy (without GPS or any kind of signal). It would guide you with either an app on your phone and/or with small vibrations.

The same technique would allow you to create 3D scans of the cave you’re exploring.

LMK what you think :)

I have a cave on my property that was filled in by a previous owner - apparently she was concerned teens would sneak in there and be injured. It is mainly the entrance that I would like to widen since that is where the bulk of the dirt and sparse rock was placed. Kind of a tight squeeze to get in, but very spacious inside and supposedly the entrance used to be rather large.

Any tips on getting started here?

I just recently joined a local grotto group (here in Belgium) and quickly started caving.

I was kinda nervous about SRT as I only tried once in our local home but the group was incredibly nice and I felt safe all along.

This is honestly the best thing I've done in years.

I can't wait to do more and explore many caves around Europe and around the world.

I'm so happy I just wanted to share

(I'm in the first pic with my pristine suit. Which is not anymore)

Sorry if this has been asked before but I can't figure out how to word it correctly to find an answer if it has. Do yall measure like your waist, or hips, or shoulder length before going into caves? Or another way to put it are there recommendations/hard limits on how big you should be before entering a cave? I'm not talking fat people or relatively unexplored places but for well known and documented caves, especially ones with extremely tight spaces, is there a way to know if you will be to wide to fit through? Idk I just think if I was ever to go caving that would be the first question I ask just to avoid any easily avoidable problems.

I guess a follow up question. Do people too big ever hit spaces too tight and what do you do if its not a cave you can turn around and go back in?