The Caving Podcast

A titan in the world of cave rescue passed away peacefully yesterday.RIP NSS 8545RL

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 Eventshttps://caves.org/calendar/Find your local grotto!https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

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 experience for women who might otherwise have concerns about sexual harassment in what is still a very male-dominated world.Out of Bounds Grottohttps://outofboundsgrotto.org/Tickets to Floyd Collins: The Musical at SKyPAC in Bowling Green, KY 3/8/25https://www.theskypac.com/event/ramsey-theatre-company-presents-floyd-collins-the-musical/Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!https://www.sophireaptress.com/Custom Cave Survey Pageshttps://www.customcavepages.com/Find your local grotto!https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

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, March 8th.Tickets to Floyd Collins: The Musical at SKyPAC in Bowling Green, KY 3/8/25https://www.theskypac.com/event/ramsey-theatre-company-presents-floyd-collins-the-musical/Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!https://www.sophireaptress.com/Custom Cave Survey Pageshttps://www.customcavepages.com/Find your local grotto!https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

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 ending another one. Dr. Lewis’s profile on Karstwaters.org:https://karstwaters.org/about-kwi/kwi-officers-and-board-of-directors/dr-julian-jerry-lewis/Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!https://www.sophireaptress.com/Buy tickets for Floyd Collins: The Musical, March 8th at SKYPAC in Bowling Green, KYhttps://www.theskypac.com/event/ramsey-theatre-company-presents-floyd-collins-the-musical/Find your local grotto!https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

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:https://caveconservancyofvirginia.org/Find your local grotto!https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

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:https://cigcaves.com/cave-capersFall MVOR: September 19-22https://fb.me/e/5n6OMEmx4Find your local grotto!https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml