Post by L Roebuck on Dec 8, 2005 8:41:52 GMT -5
Exploring underground
Caving a sport for the curious, cool-headed
by Karen Chávez , assistant sports editor
published December 8, 2005 6:00 am
BLUFF CITY, Tenn. - Invisible from the surface roads and the rolling hillsides in this rural town is a subterranean city known as Worley's Cave - a world as foreign to many as the moon.
Down here in the Earth's hidden underbelly there is no light. There is barely any noise. The air is a warm, heavy hug that makes breathing a conscious chore.
You quickly learn to distinguish your traveling companions by voice rather than sight and to find your "caving legs" to walk steady on slippery limestone. And after a few spine-jarring helmet smacks into the low hanging rock ceiling, you learn to walk with one hand in front, one hand overhead and sometimes, learn it's best to crawl on all fours.
Welcome to the underworld.
"You have to be willing to get wet and muddy and somehow enjoy it. You have to just pretend you're a kid again," said Alicia Henry, 25, chair of the Flittermouse Grotto.
The Asheville-based caving club, a chapter of the National Speleological Society, was on a recent exploration of Worley's (aka Morrell's) Cave, which sits on private land in Bluff City.
Henry, secretary of UNC Asheville's physics department, was fully outfitted in helmet, headlamp, coveralls, boots and a generous frosting of head-to-toe mud. She said to enjoy caving, it helps to have sure footing and strong legs, as well as patience, endurance and "the ability to not freak out."
"I've had freak outs in crawlways (tight passageways that require cavers to slither on their bellies). Your breathing increases and your heart rate increases and you make yourself bigger by breathing deeper. You have to stop, breathe more shallow and plan your way out."
Cave people
To cavers - the term preferred by serious cavers over "spelunkers" - squeezing through 8-inch gopher holes is not the most fun part of the sport, but is a necessary evil to get to the good stuff.
"If you ask a dozen cavers why they do it, you'll get a dozen different answers," said Joel Stevenson, an Asheville lawyer and longtime member of the Flittermouse Grotto, who goes caving for the intrigue.
"You're able to go places and see things that are unique," said Stevenson, 63. "It comes down to satisfying curiosity and the satisfaction of being able to do it."
Joshua Vilain, 25, an aspiring chef from Asheville, who calls himself an independent caver (he doesn't belong to a club) was also on the Worley's Cave adventure.
"It's an opportunity to see how the ground itself is formed and creates pockets, passageways and faults," Vilain said. "It shows you the age of time and the age of the world. Things you learn about in geology class, this is actually a chance to see it. This is another breathtaking view the world has to offer, but you can't see it just walking down the road."
For many, caving is also a social activity and a great way to stay in shape.
"A good hard caving trip is all the workout you'll ever need," Stevenson said.
It might not be apparent, until you emerge weak-kneed and bloody-elbowed after a few hours of caving and gasping for daylight. Extensive travel in Worley's Cave requires rock climbing, crawling through crevices, jumping over holes and puddles, wading through underground rivers and sliding down slick, muddy boulders to reach the interior rooms and spectacular scenery. Although strenuous, enthusiasts say once you get into the sport, it's addictive.
Dan Henry, 31, a land surveyor in Asheville, does safety and vertical caving instruction for the Flittermouse Grotto. He also creates maps for caves both well known and newly discovered.
"Everybody who gets into caving finds a niche," said Dan, who is married to Alicia. "What keeps me going is the mystery, how it was created, where it's going."
Alicia Henry likes caving's level playing field. "It's a sport where women hold their own because we're smaller and we have the endurance," she said. "When you look at the top people in the sport, a fair share of them are women."
Mice, men and worms
The Flittermouse Grotto - named for the opera, "Der Fledermaus," which means "bat" in German - was founded in the early 1970s by Cato Holler, a dentist in Old Fort, N.C., and some friends. Holler got into caving as an undergrad in UNC Chapel Hill's outing club, and was instantly hooked. The friends started an NSS chapter, known as a grotto, with about eight people. Today the club has some 50 members.
"I started caving as a hobby, but it soon turned into an avocation," said Holler, who took his wife, Susan, caving on their first date. She fell for caving, as did his children, including daughter, Nancy Holler Aulenbach, a nationally known cave rescue instructor who starred in the 2001 IMAX movie, "Journey into Amazing Caves."
"I have been interested in cave biology," Cato Holler said. "We turned up 15 to 20 new species of cave organisms such as isopods and amphipods, very small crustaceans."
In between dental fillings, Holler has become an expert on subterranean cavities and their inhabitants. He even has a cave-dwelling flatworm named in his honor - the Phagocata holleri, which he discovered in the late 1970s in a cave in the Piedmont region. He also discovered many new caves.
"No one thought there were any caves outside of the commercialized Linville Caverns," he said. "We found 1,500 caves in North and South Carolina."
But cavers, much like rock climbers and fly-fishermen, keep their honey spots secret to prevent overuse and abuse by people uneducated to the delicate nature of caves.
Keeping it clean
Cave conservation is key to the Flittermouse Grotto's mission. Many people don't realize how fragile cave environments are, Holler said. Caves are mostly formed in areas underlaid by limestone that is dissolved over time by acidic water.
The tomb-like nature of caves resists any kind of change - there is no wind, no sun, no temperature change - so that any graffiti, litter, etchings, carvings and other tamperings remain as permanent scars.
The incredible rock and mineral formations such as stalactites (calcium deposits formed on cave ceilings), stalagmites (those growing from the floor), draperies and pillars, have taken eons to grow.
"Caves are a non-renewable resource," Holler said. "Once someone breaks a formation, it will never grow back."
Want to go caving?
Following are some safety tips and suggestions for first-time cavers:
Join a grotto, or caving club. This is the best - and safest - way to get acquainted with the world of caves. Club members are usually happy to show new cavers where to go, how to dress and how to safely access caves.
Never go solo caving. Caves are full of dangers for the novice or ill-prepared caver, such as twisted ankles, falling rocks, hypothermia and disorientation. Going with someone more knowledgeable is the key to safety.
Leave a flight plan above ground. Let someone know where you're going and when you plan to return.
Wear a helmet. Going without is deadly.
Carry three independent light sources. There's no darkness quite like a cave. Wear a headlamp so that your hands are free for safe climbing, and bring spare parts, bulbs and batteries.
Leave no trace. Leave the cave environment at least as clean as when you found it.
Keep three points of contact: When walking through slippery, uneven ground in a cave, try to keep three points of contact with the rock at all times, including hands, feet or your backside.
The NSS motto: Take only pictures, leave only footprints, kill only time.
What to bring in your caving pack:
Knee pads
Heavy duty work gloves
Wear sturdy, waterproof boots and clothes that can take a wet, muddy beating
Drinking water
Food
Warm clothes to change into
Space blanket
First aid kit
Source: National Speleological Society, members of the Flittermouse Grotto
Contact Karen Chávez at 828-236-8980 or via e-mail at kchavez@ashevill.gannett.com.
About local NSS chapters
• The Flittermouse Grotto is a member of the National Speleological Society, a non-profit that works to advance the study, conservation, exploration and knowledge of caves. The NSS has more than 12,000 members and 200 grottos, or chapters, across the country.
The Flittermouse Grotto meets at 7 p.m. the first Friday of each month at the Black Mountain Library in downtown Black Mountain. For more information, call president Alicia Henry at 274-8777 or visit www.caves.org/grotto/flittermouse/
• The Bryson City Grotto just received its charter from the NSS about a month ago. There Meeting times, have not been set yet, but for more information on the club and its caving trips, call Ben Eudy at 506-9497 or e-mail info@hightrek.org.
• For more on the NSS, visit www.caves.org.
Source: www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051208/SPORTS03/512080323/1019/ENT
Also contains a Caving photo gallery
Caving a sport for the curious, cool-headed
by Karen Chávez , assistant sports editor
published December 8, 2005 6:00 am
BLUFF CITY, Tenn. - Invisible from the surface roads and the rolling hillsides in this rural town is a subterranean city known as Worley's Cave - a world as foreign to many as the moon.
Down here in the Earth's hidden underbelly there is no light. There is barely any noise. The air is a warm, heavy hug that makes breathing a conscious chore.
You quickly learn to distinguish your traveling companions by voice rather than sight and to find your "caving legs" to walk steady on slippery limestone. And after a few spine-jarring helmet smacks into the low hanging rock ceiling, you learn to walk with one hand in front, one hand overhead and sometimes, learn it's best to crawl on all fours.
Welcome to the underworld.
"You have to be willing to get wet and muddy and somehow enjoy it. You have to just pretend you're a kid again," said Alicia Henry, 25, chair of the Flittermouse Grotto.
The Asheville-based caving club, a chapter of the National Speleological Society, was on a recent exploration of Worley's (aka Morrell's) Cave, which sits on private land in Bluff City.
Henry, secretary of UNC Asheville's physics department, was fully outfitted in helmet, headlamp, coveralls, boots and a generous frosting of head-to-toe mud. She said to enjoy caving, it helps to have sure footing and strong legs, as well as patience, endurance and "the ability to not freak out."
"I've had freak outs in crawlways (tight passageways that require cavers to slither on their bellies). Your breathing increases and your heart rate increases and you make yourself bigger by breathing deeper. You have to stop, breathe more shallow and plan your way out."
Cave people
To cavers - the term preferred by serious cavers over "spelunkers" - squeezing through 8-inch gopher holes is not the most fun part of the sport, but is a necessary evil to get to the good stuff.
"If you ask a dozen cavers why they do it, you'll get a dozen different answers," said Joel Stevenson, an Asheville lawyer and longtime member of the Flittermouse Grotto, who goes caving for the intrigue.
"You're able to go places and see things that are unique," said Stevenson, 63. "It comes down to satisfying curiosity and the satisfaction of being able to do it."
Joshua Vilain, 25, an aspiring chef from Asheville, who calls himself an independent caver (he doesn't belong to a club) was also on the Worley's Cave adventure.
"It's an opportunity to see how the ground itself is formed and creates pockets, passageways and faults," Vilain said. "It shows you the age of time and the age of the world. Things you learn about in geology class, this is actually a chance to see it. This is another breathtaking view the world has to offer, but you can't see it just walking down the road."
For many, caving is also a social activity and a great way to stay in shape.
"A good hard caving trip is all the workout you'll ever need," Stevenson said.
It might not be apparent, until you emerge weak-kneed and bloody-elbowed after a few hours of caving and gasping for daylight. Extensive travel in Worley's Cave requires rock climbing, crawling through crevices, jumping over holes and puddles, wading through underground rivers and sliding down slick, muddy boulders to reach the interior rooms and spectacular scenery. Although strenuous, enthusiasts say once you get into the sport, it's addictive.
Dan Henry, 31, a land surveyor in Asheville, does safety and vertical caving instruction for the Flittermouse Grotto. He also creates maps for caves both well known and newly discovered.
"Everybody who gets into caving finds a niche," said Dan, who is married to Alicia. "What keeps me going is the mystery, how it was created, where it's going."
Alicia Henry likes caving's level playing field. "It's a sport where women hold their own because we're smaller and we have the endurance," she said. "When you look at the top people in the sport, a fair share of them are women."
Mice, men and worms
The Flittermouse Grotto - named for the opera, "Der Fledermaus," which means "bat" in German - was founded in the early 1970s by Cato Holler, a dentist in Old Fort, N.C., and some friends. Holler got into caving as an undergrad in UNC Chapel Hill's outing club, and was instantly hooked. The friends started an NSS chapter, known as a grotto, with about eight people. Today the club has some 50 members.
"I started caving as a hobby, but it soon turned into an avocation," said Holler, who took his wife, Susan, caving on their first date. She fell for caving, as did his children, including daughter, Nancy Holler Aulenbach, a nationally known cave rescue instructor who starred in the 2001 IMAX movie, "Journey into Amazing Caves."
"I have been interested in cave biology," Cato Holler said. "We turned up 15 to 20 new species of cave organisms such as isopods and amphipods, very small crustaceans."
In between dental fillings, Holler has become an expert on subterranean cavities and their inhabitants. He even has a cave-dwelling flatworm named in his honor - the Phagocata holleri, which he discovered in the late 1970s in a cave in the Piedmont region. He also discovered many new caves.
"No one thought there were any caves outside of the commercialized Linville Caverns," he said. "We found 1,500 caves in North and South Carolina."
But cavers, much like rock climbers and fly-fishermen, keep their honey spots secret to prevent overuse and abuse by people uneducated to the delicate nature of caves.
Keeping it clean
Cave conservation is key to the Flittermouse Grotto's mission. Many people don't realize how fragile cave environments are, Holler said. Caves are mostly formed in areas underlaid by limestone that is dissolved over time by acidic water.
The tomb-like nature of caves resists any kind of change - there is no wind, no sun, no temperature change - so that any graffiti, litter, etchings, carvings and other tamperings remain as permanent scars.
The incredible rock and mineral formations such as stalactites (calcium deposits formed on cave ceilings), stalagmites (those growing from the floor), draperies and pillars, have taken eons to grow.
"Caves are a non-renewable resource," Holler said. "Once someone breaks a formation, it will never grow back."
Want to go caving?
Following are some safety tips and suggestions for first-time cavers:
Join a grotto, or caving club. This is the best - and safest - way to get acquainted with the world of caves. Club members are usually happy to show new cavers where to go, how to dress and how to safely access caves.
Never go solo caving. Caves are full of dangers for the novice or ill-prepared caver, such as twisted ankles, falling rocks, hypothermia and disorientation. Going with someone more knowledgeable is the key to safety.
Leave a flight plan above ground. Let someone know where you're going and when you plan to return.
Wear a helmet. Going without is deadly.
Carry three independent light sources. There's no darkness quite like a cave. Wear a headlamp so that your hands are free for safe climbing, and bring spare parts, bulbs and batteries.
Leave no trace. Leave the cave environment at least as clean as when you found it.
Keep three points of contact: When walking through slippery, uneven ground in a cave, try to keep three points of contact with the rock at all times, including hands, feet or your backside.
The NSS motto: Take only pictures, leave only footprints, kill only time.
What to bring in your caving pack:
Knee pads
Heavy duty work gloves
Wear sturdy, waterproof boots and clothes that can take a wet, muddy beating
Drinking water
Food
Warm clothes to change into
Space blanket
First aid kit
Source: National Speleological Society, members of the Flittermouse Grotto
Contact Karen Chávez at 828-236-8980 or via e-mail at kchavez@ashevill.gannett.com.
About local NSS chapters
• The Flittermouse Grotto is a member of the National Speleological Society, a non-profit that works to advance the study, conservation, exploration and knowledge of caves. The NSS has more than 12,000 members and 200 grottos, or chapters, across the country.
The Flittermouse Grotto meets at 7 p.m. the first Friday of each month at the Black Mountain Library in downtown Black Mountain. For more information, call president Alicia Henry at 274-8777 or visit www.caves.org/grotto/flittermouse/
• The Bryson City Grotto just received its charter from the NSS about a month ago. There Meeting times, have not been set yet, but for more information on the club and its caving trips, call Ben Eudy at 506-9497 or e-mail info@hightrek.org.
• For more on the NSS, visit www.caves.org.
Source: www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051208/SPORTS03/512080323/1019/ENT
Also contains a Caving photo gallery