
Mexico's Sistema Huaulta cave is bigger than previously thought - evo_9
https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/06/sistema-huautla-cave-mexico-culture/
======
majos
Fun read. As far as I can tell, deep cave systems are the last places on earth
that are

1\. truly unknown and uncharted and

2\. explorable by certain people with certain skills and attitudes, without
huge funding demands (by comparison, the deep sea is even more poorly
understood, but deep sea exploration is not something you can do without
massive institutional support).

In fact a look through this caving expedition team [1] suggests that many
cavers doing valuable new work are hobbyists with pretty unrelated day jobs.

[1]
[http://www.usdct.org/cheve_personnel_2017.php](http://www.usdct.org/cheve_personnel_2017.php)

~~~
planteen
> explorable by certain people with certain skills and attitudes, without huge
> funding demands

Absolutely true. I'm friends with several people on that list. Everyone I know
has a "normal" job. Caving is quite inexpensive. I've gone on a couple of
expedition exploration trips to Peru. You need some caving gear (helmet,
lights, vertical gear, cave suit) which could all be had for probably around
$1000. The expedition will need a couple hammer drills. One-time use gear
isn't bad - some bolts and rope. Other than that, you are looking at a plane
ticket, bus ride, food, and a mule skinner. The hardest part is getting the
time off of work for a month. :-)

There are plenty of opportunities that don't involve international travel as
well. I go up a couple weekends a year to caves in South Dakota and get to
"virgin passage".

If you are interested in caving in the US, visit a local grotto (branch of the
National Speleological Society). [http://caves.org](http://caves.org)

------
archgoon
I'm going to give kudos to people who, trapped unexpectedly underground by
flood waters, with limited food, for three days managed not to completely
freak out and just kept doing the original exploration they set out to do.

~~~
Mister_X
That's the calm Caver mentality, without it one could perish during
unanticipated events.

Years ago, 8 of my friends had just entered a cave for a multi hour
exploration/survey trip when an accidentally kicked boulder fell, blocking all
of them inside, leaving myself and two Park Service seasonal employees
outside.

I told them to go on with their survey and I'd have the passage dug open
within the 5 hours we allotted. They calmly went off to do their survey, I set
to work digging them out and just about 5 hours later I had the passage open
and they arrived on scheduled quite happy I'd dug them out.

They all told me they knew I'd have them dug out by the time they returned. In
July we're meeting in Sequoia National Park for the 30th anny of the discovery
of that cave.

------
fractallyte
Wow, this is just like the plot for Sanctum, even down to particular scenes
([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0881320/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0881320/))
- minus the movie drama, of course: "An underwater cave diving team
experiences a life-threatening crisis during an expedition to the unexplored
and least accessible cave system in the world."

And I've always loved the tagline: _" The only way out is down"_

~~~
robohoe
The Descent
([https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0435625/))
is another film one that comes to mind.

------
javiramos
This seems like a potentially great use case for robots. I wonder if any cave
exploration teams have used robots to map and survey cave systems.

~~~
fractallyte
Caving expeditions in pristine environments go to great lengths not to leave
any trace of their passage. While robot probes seem a good idea, if anything
goes wrong with the device, someone's going to have to recover it...

~~~
chrisseaton
> Caving expeditions in pristine environments go to great lengths not to leave
> any trace of their passage.

They're literally drilling holes into the wall in one of the photos. Not
exactly 'leave nothing but footprints' is it?

The same as climbers who drill bolts - I'm not sure why they excuse themselves
from the most basic of the outdoor codes.

~~~
sideshowb
The caving ethic is more akin to Victorian alpinism

~~~
planteen
How so? Cavers will bring a change of clothes to avoid getting mud on a
sensitive part of a cave with pristine formations. When entering virgin
passage in dry caves like Lech, they very carefully plot a way through the
room. Some rooms have been left untouched for future generations because they
are so fragile, beautiful, and impossible not to disturb.

~~~
kazinator
"Cavers" is a surname; these people are "spelunkers". :)

~~~
Mister_X
You are correct, but only in the sense that average people call Cavers
"spelunkers". Those who participate in original hard core exploration call
themselves Cavers and they are highly trained individuals. We say "Cavers
rescue spelunkers", because we do. I used to be on a call-out list ready to be
flown anywhere in North America for a Cave rescue, I do know what I'm talking
about here. I know hard core Cavers doing original exploration all around the
World, they call themselves Cavers. It's a small elite World, but we exist and
we're Cavers. Only the most pedantic of people would call Cavers spelunkers
after learning about hard core caver culture/nomenclature.

~~~
Mister_X
There are several types of people who visit caves.

Tourists, who visit "show caves", caves made reasonably safe for average
people to visit.

Spelunkers are average untrained people who on a lark, go into a "wild" cave
seeking adventure, often woefully ill equipped.

"Real" Spelunkers, scientists and geologists who are often not very well
trained in cave exploration because they are Corporate or Educational
professionals and going into caves is a rare part of their job.

Sport or Tourist Cavers, those who have sought out some training in safely
visiting a cave, often through a Grotto (Chapter) of the National
Speleological Society. This is the most common of trained cave visitor, they
tend to visit well know "safe", horizontal caves.

Vertical Cavers, this is where the separation of hard core and sport cavers
starts. These are cavers who have vertical rope work training, enabling them
to rappel into and climb out of caves that have pit entrances.

Project/Hard Core cavers, these are the Worlds elite cave explorers, a small
group of amazing people from all walks of life who share the passion of
exploring caves that are technically difficult and extremely dangerous.

There are even more minor distinctions within the caving world, but this is
enough to chew on right now.

