The Caving Podcast
A podcast about caves and cave exploration, hosted by Matt Pelsor of the Central Indiana Grotto of the NSS.
Episodes
A titan in the world of cave rescue passed away peacefully yesterday.
RIP NSS 8545RL
In the conclusion of this in-person interview, Dave shares his history of cave photography, and explains some of his techniques. He also talks about caving in Montana, and shares a few harrowing stories of caving back home in Indiana where he reveals several leads he’s left unexplored.
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NSS Calendar of Events
Dave has found so much cave in Indiana, and inspired a new generation of Indiana cavers that got busy discovering and mapping back in the 80s and 90s. Dave was on the crew that connected Roppel Cave to Mammoth Cave, and has seen his fair share of harrowing adventure underground.
Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!
https://www.sophireaptress.com/
NSS Calendar of Events
Jonathan wasn’t a caver until he became curious about a cave on a piece of property he purchased in rural Tennessee. Thanks to his openness to allow exploration of his cave, Helm’s Deep quickly became the longest cave in the state, and was a topic of much discussion at the 2024 NSS Convention in Sewanee, TN. In this talk he covers many of the discoveries made in the cave, including its surprising archeological significance...
The Out of Bounds Grotto is a caving club that was created for the 21st century–a virtual grotto that brings together cavers from across the country for the love of exploration, conservation, and the sport of caving with no geographic constraints. Tally founded the grotto with these things in mind and, as you’ll hear, is a tireless volunteer for many of the causes cavers care about. She’s also working to improve the caving...
Canadian super-caver Katie Graham talked about her caving genesis, and her love of the most remote, and tough caving for a variety of objectives from exploration to scientific research. She talks about caving in Canada and Mexico, as well as being a repeat winner of the infamous “Golden Garbage Can” award.
Tickets to Floyd Collins: The Musical at SKyPAC in Bowling Green, KY 3/8/25
A once-in-a-lifetime historical panel with Roger Brucker, author of Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins, Mammoth Cave Guide Jackie Wheet, and John Benton, co-author of The Floyd Collins Tragedy at Sand Cave along with Bob Thompson and Bill Napper. Plus a short talk at the top with two of the people behind a production of Floyd Collins: The Musical put on by the Ramsey Theatre Company at SKyPAC in Bowling Green on Saturday,...
Former NSS President Bill Tozer passed away last weekend. In this 2018 episode, he shares that was one of the first to descend Ellison’s Fantastic Pit, as well as Sótano de las Golondrinas. Plus stories of his early caving days in Indiana.
Dr. Julian “Jerry” Lewis is a cave biologist with a long career consulting on everything from massive infrastructure projects to small-scale bio-inventory for various entities. He also served for many years as the president of the Indiana Karst Conservancy. In part 2 of our discussion, he touches on some harrowing moments in his career, including an incident that threatened the existence of one cave organization, while end...
Dr. Julian “Jerry” Lewis is a cave biologist with a long career consulting on everything from massive infrastructure projects to small-scale bio-inventory for various entities. He also served for many years as the president of the Indiana Karst Conservancy. In part 1 of our discussion, he outlines the genesis of his career, and touches on various other highlights like building his bioconsulting business, and appearing on t...
Mike Ficco has found Virginia’s deepest cave, and has explored all over the world, including China, Montenegro, Slovenia, and elsewhere. He shared the highlights of his long caving career, which includes chairing the Cave Conservancy of the Virginias (link below).
Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!
https://www.sophireaptress.com/
Cave Conservancy of the Virginias:
Georgia Schneider’s caving life has grown quickly since she started caving; taking her to places like New Zealand, France, Mexico, and countless US caves. She talks to Matt about working with the National Parks Service to inventory caves on federal land, and shares the special feeling of returning to places she helped discover.
Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!
https://www.sophireaptress.com/
...
Bill Torode has volunteered at the NSS library for over 50 years, and has mapped hundreds of caves. We talk about being the first person to peer down what came to be known as Surprise Pit in Fern Cave, as well as several other anecdotes from the long-time TAG legend.
Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!
https://www.sophireaptress.com/
Pre-register for Indiana Cave Capers:
Pete shares his varied caving life starting in West Virginia's Germany Valley all the way through Grand Canyon exploration, Lechuguilla, Tears of The Turtle (the deepest cave in the US), and shares his experience rewiring the electricity for Carlsbad Caverns National Park. He also shares some big NSS news as a member of the board.
Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!
Colin Magee is a Canadian caver originally from New Zealand who has been on high-profile Mexico expeditions like Cheve where he participated in the National Geographic Explorer episode “The Deepest Cave.” He discusses the importance of proper SRT and rescue training, as well as his initiative to gather data from the world’s caving clubs.
Colin’s website, mentioned in the podcast:
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Katarina Kosič Ficco is a cave and karst field scientist with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, Division of Natural Heritage focusing on subterranean biodiversity. She shares her genesis in the world of caves and karst, having grown up in the classical Karst in Slovenia where the term originated. She also talks about discovering Petra, an exquisitely preserved Pleistocene feline skeleton found in Virg...
Mike Drake heads up exploration of the Studebaker/Wayne Cave system in Indiana’s Garrison Chapel Valley just west of Bloomington. He talks about the genesis and ongoing effort to survey the area’s longest cave. Plus, a bonus talk on Cave Week 2024 in June!
Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!
https://www.sophireaptress.com/
Cave Week 2024!
https://www.nps.gov/subjects/caves/cave-week.htm
Dave Brumbaugh has been a cave guide in several show caves, including back home in Pennsylvania. He has also worked at Carlsbad Caverns and indeed still works for the National Park Service in Yosemite National Park. We talked about his extensive caving career, which included helping the FBI locate and dispose of unexploded ordinances in a Carlsbad backcountry cave.
Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophirea...
Rand Heazlitt is currently leading the continued exploration of Indiana's longest cave, the Binkley Cave system. He shares his perspective as the leader of the group that endured a 2016 flood that threatened the lives of him and his survey group in Binkley Cave. He also talks about current and future exploration of Alabama's Fern Cave, as well as dramatic expeditions in Mexico.
Order a custom cave suit from our spo...
Rand Heazlitt is currently leading the continued exploration of Indiana's longest cave, the Binkley Cave system. He shares his caving genesis, key moments in his caving history, and the story of the loss of a dear caving friend in part 1 of a two-part conversation.
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