In the 1990s, I was a big caver. I belonged to the National Speological Society (NSS), and was a member of the Cave Surveying and Vertical Ropes sections. I was affiliated with a local NSS chapter, or grotto, the Triangle Troglodytes. Since the foothills of West Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia are riddled with karst topography and limestone caves, it was a very active grotto.
Not only did I participate in many of the grotto’s activities, but also led caving trips for the Duke University Outdoor Program. I am indebted to Frank McNutt, the Dean of Student Affairs at Duke University and a former Outward Bound instructor, and Hank Miller, an engineering grad student who was a former coal miner, for much of my caving knowledge and experience. Before the advent of bright, durable, LED headlamps, we used a variety of light sources, including old school carbide miner’s lamps. They ran on the flammable gas generated from calcium carbide, and produced a flame. They were actually very versatile, being easy to field repair, providing a longer lasting and brighter light than many flashlights/headlamps that existed at the time, and were indestructible.
Hank also rigged us up a set of electric coal mining headlamps, which had extremely bright halogen bulbs, were waterproof and air tight, and were powered off of belt packs containing salvaged rechargeable computer batteries.
Some of the caving experiences were very unique, including conducting multi-day trips, navigating some long, very tight squeezes, and discovering new caves and passages. This last activity involved getting the permission of farmers and land owners to explore their land, ridge-running to find new caves, and then digging the dirt and mud out of clogged passages to access new areas, sometimes with spectacular limestone formations.
One of the best experiences was a trip to Ellison’s Cave in Georgia, which is the 12th deepest cave in the US, and contains Fantastic Pit, the deepest continuous pit in the US, at 586 feet deep. Just to get to Fantastic Pit, there are a number of shorter drops where you have to fix ropes, including Warm-up Pit (125 feet), and a number of 40-50 feet rappels. Fantastic Pit was intimidating; you need to bring over 600 feet of rope, and you rappel it free hanging in one long descent. Climbing back up the rope is even more unnerving, because the rope bounces around, and you can be climbing upward for 20-30 minutes.
The first pictures below are mine from Duke Outdoor Program trips I led. The remaining pictures aren’t mine, since in the early 90s, I didn’t have the camera, film, experience, or lighting to take a good picture, so I’ve added some professional shots to show how cool the Ellison’s Cave drop really is.
