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Old 03-11-2007, 10:56 PM   #1
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Guy at work was asking me about going caving somewhere in the US for vacation later this year. Its one of the topics I know zero about, so any of my fellow punks have any info I can pass along?
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Old 03-11-2007, 11:33 PM   #2
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dude i wish i was a spelunker. There are not very many cave caves around here but it's on my todo list. I already have all the equipment from rock climbing, i just need to locate a cave-ola
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Old 03-12-2007, 02:28 AM   #3
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Haha I totally read the topic title as "Spanking?"
Unfortunately I know nothing about spelunking. Spanking, on the other hand...or with the first hand... or maybe this is a really terrible joke...um...yeah... sorry.
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Old 03-12-2007, 07:30 AM   #4
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Caving is Wicked! its fucking awesome, i love it, its one of those things where you'll love it, feel slightly uncomfortable but glad that you did it, or your totally terrified.

Its totally different from anything else you might have done, and if you do it take a packet of polos with you

what do you want to know about it?
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Old 03-12-2007, 02:30 PM   #5
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I've always wanted to get into Caving!!! I just wish there were more cert programs around here.
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Old 03-12-2007, 07:29 PM   #6
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For you guys interested in the topic Wikipedia has a good description of it (I've recently became a wiki-pedia addict): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spelunking

Does this guy want a package trip thing or a do-it yourself deal? If he wants the package "day-trip" type thing then there's a place in North Carolina here. If he's already an experienced caver than where is he looking at going. I can look up some places from my old backpacker issues if you want. I think there's a few for old west and probably in VA, TN or NC.
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Old 03-12-2007, 09:14 PM   #7
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Whatever you got, Amber. He told me it was him and 2-3 friends, though I dunno their experience level...
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Misadventures of a Crazed Kitchen Pirate

"Steve is the prototypical cool American male. Y'know, I'm talking about Steve McGarrett, alright? Steve Austin, Steve McQueen. Y'know, he's the guy on his horse, the guy alone. He has his own code of honor, his own code of ethics, his own rules of living, man. He never, ever tries to impress the women but he always gets the girl."


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Old 03-13-2007, 10:23 AM   #8
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so, i've never been spelunking in the states, but when i was younger, my family went camping in the Gatineau Hills in Quebec and we went spelunking in the caves there. it was fantastic. there are tons of different paths that guides take people along. some are for beginners and some are for more adventurous or seasoned spelunkers. i'm not sure if you can go without a guide, though. i haven't been there in years.
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Old 03-27-2007, 01:06 AM   #9
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Ok, so i know this is probably too late, but i can actually contribute something to this thread so i thought i might as well.

I've been doing a bit of canyoning (spelunking, caving) lately. Canyons come in all different shapes and sizes. Some may take 1-2 hrs to finish, while some can take 12 hours to get from start to finish. Either way, if you aren't familiar with the particular cave/canyon you are attempting to explore then it can be extremely difficult to navigate your way through, or even find the start point.

Caves/canyons are either wet or dry. Dry canyons, as the name implies, do not involve any water at all. However, wet canyons involve wading through water and swimming. Now, because this water is in caves it can get mighty bloody cold, especially in winter, so unless you want a nice dose of hyperthermia i would advise wearing a wetsuit, or a dry suit if the water is going to be really cold.

A lot of canyons/caves require numerous abseils. These abseils can get quite big, some of the canyons around here have abseils of well over 100 metres. These abseils can be over or through any form of terrain, you can be required battle your way down a waterfall, to weave between trees, contend with very slippery wet mossy rock, or pretty much anything you can imagine. These abseils are rarely on nice clean verticle cliffs and quite often the anchor points for these abseils can be extremely difficult to find. I would only attempt a canyon that requires abseiling if you really know what you're doing and if you're fimiliar with the canyon and know where the anchor points are. However, not all canyons require abseiling and you can simply walk, wade, swim, scramble, float from end to end.

If you are attempting a big canyon/cave, you will need to take food and water for the day. If the canyon involves swimming (which most of them do) you will need a dry bag to keep your things dry. The dry bag also doubles as a floatation device.

Most canyons/caves only have a few exit points. So, unless you know where these are i would not be doing the canyon.

With that being said, canyoning/caving/spelunking is awesome, i have seen some bloody incredible things that only the caves/canyons can provide.

Have fun.
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Old 03-27-2007, 06:15 AM   #10
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*if you're moving stateside get used to calling abseiling - Rapelling.
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