Found a good "Crawling & Climbing" link? Let Us Know!

Much more caving & climbing info in our outdoor survival pages: Survival Climbing; Underground Survival, and Search & Rescue

Jump to:  Crawling (caves & stuff)  |  Climbing (Cliffs, Walls, Trees)

Crawling: Caves & Holes

"The Virtual Cave" Neat site with caving photos on a black background. Not as fun as being there, but one heck of a lot easier and probably safer, too. Good site to learn cave formations.

Nigel Whittington's Caving equipment FAQ This FAQ is oriented towards UK or European caving or anywhere of the cold & wet variety.

Reasons to quit caving - part 3 During an especially depressing weekend last month, Andy Mac phoned with some words of wisdom; "Your wetsuit hasn't shrunk - it's you that's got bigger!" What cheek! Slanderous, even! However, hearing that he was requesting my company on a forthcoming 'epic'. I decided to let him off. He said he was on a quest. I should have realized that such 'epics' don't get offered around lightly - but I had to make my return to caving sometime.

CB Radios for caving in lava-caves by Bonnie Crystal CB radios were used for communication and radio locating between the underground and the surface at Lava Beds National Monument, California, USA during the 1995 Western and Northwest Region of the NSS Joint Regional event. The experiment was conducted in Sentinel Cave (a lava tube) by Bonnie Crystal, Jessica Stevens, and Ken Miller on Sunday, October 8th, 1995 using standard CB radios.

SRT Guide & the SRT Rigging Guide These guides are not safe for use by idiots. These SRT guides describe "Alpine" style techniques, developed in Europe and popular with many vertical cavers. They are based on leaflets I put together for teaching SRT to people in NUCC. I've kept them as single documents with inline graphics so that they can easily be printed off from the browser.

Oxford University Cave Club Expedition Rescue Guide by Gavin Lowe. This guide describes self rescue techniques for a caving expedition. It was written with OUCC Picos expeditions in mind, but much of it is applicable to any caving expedition. Bear in mind that although self-rescue is the norm in most expedition situations, in other cases calling out the local Cave Rescue Organisation (or equivalent) may be more appropriate. (Send any comments on this guide Gavin Lowe.)

Caving knots The knots page includes diagrams of how to tie most commonly used caving knots (plus a few novelty ones). end me your favorite knot if it's (k)not here already.

The OUCC Expedition Cookbook (local mirror) Urs Mead once said "Who wants to go caving with students, they haven't got any money and they can't cook!", this excellent cookbook aims to rectify the second of these problems. This book starts with the very basics for complete culinary novices to some pretty fancy nosh for the experts. Now there's no excuse for not cooking decent food at Top Camp! Compiled by Sharon Curtis and Gavin Lowe.

Alternative Caving Terminology Many words have been introduced into the English language over the last hundred years. Some because there is a need to describe a new item or process which has been discovered. Some examples are Karabiner, Piton ... AND Glossary of Speleological and Caving Terms

Information for beginning cavers This information has been prepared to enable you to be adequately prepared for your first cave trip. It is not a substitute for experienced cave guides nor is it an all encompassing article on techniques.

Caves in the National Parks and Monuments:

Carlsbad Caverns~ One of the largest cave chambers in the world is in New Mexico. Carlsbad has some huge and wonderful stalactite and stalagmite cave formations. Be sure to see the bat show during the evenings.

Mammoth Caves ~ A huge underground system of caverns can be found in Kentucky. Mammoth will keep you busy all day with a variety of cave tours and activities.

Great Basin ~ Lehman Caves is the highlight of this park in Nevada. The cave is wonderful with many stalactites and stalagmites and other formations.

Jewel Cave ~ The third longest cave in the world is in South Dakota. Beautiful quartz and calcite formations give this park its name.

Wind Cave ~ Also in South Dakota and close to Jewel Cave. This cave is known for its unusual cave formations that look like honeycombs.

Timpanogos Cave ~ A small but beautiful cave awaits after a good hike up a mountain in Utah.The small and delicate formations of pink and white translucent crystals are unique.

Oregon Caves ~ A small cave in Oregon. The highlights are the columns and stalactites of marble formations.

Russell Cave ~ An archeological cave in Alabama that has evidence of how prehistoric people lived in the Southeast. The cave can be explored but you will need a permit and special equipment.

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Climbing: Cliffs, Walls, Trees  Much more climbing info in our outdoor survival pages: Survival Climbing; Mountain Survival, Underground Survival, and Search & Rescue

Outdoor Rock Climbing Learn the basics of outdoor rock climbing in this free online video series, including how to pick the best rock climbing gear, climbing shoes, safety equipment and more. See also (Vid. Series): Basic Rock Climbing Gear | Tips for Anchors & Knots | How to Rock Climb

Wilderness Mountaineering Excerpt from the NOLS Wilderness Mountaineering book

Elements of Mountaineering Some important underlying themes in mountaineering are worth an early mention. These are commitment, caution, leadership, expedition behavior, and ethics. Excerpt from the NOLS Wilderness Mountaineering book

Climbing Links - check out the links at the (way) bottom of the page.

Avalanche: Stability & Hazard Evaluation Excellent article on determining the danger and probability of avalanche.

"Climbing Movement" Excerpt from the NOLS Wilderness Mountaineering book - with short article on handling fear and moving on steep icy terrain.

"Rope Systems: A Progression" Excerpt from the NOLS Wilderness Mountaineering (Phil Powers) book - covering Free Soloing, Glacier Travel, The Running Belay, Fixed Lines, etc. Good read, but sometimes technical.

Links to knot tying pages. Weed it out for me folks! I browsed a couple but can't handle them all!

"FM 5-125: Rigging Techniques, Procedures & Applications" The Complete FM 5-125 Rigging US Army field manual. Still a work in progress, but what a work! Huge, informative, detailed, and written for Army grunts to understand (I were one, so I can yak!).

"The Expedition Rescue Guide" by Gavin Lowe. The Guide describes self-rescue techniques for a caving expedition, precautions, and gear lists included. Should have some value for mountaineers, as well.

"Single Rope Technique": Single Rope Technique (or SRT) is heavily clouded in mystique for a large number of cavers, being perceived as something to be done only by the most experienced, exploration cavers and completely impossible for the average caver. However, by contrast, some see it as the only way to cave and require all new beginners to learn the basics from day one. For those of the first type, SRT is not horrendously difficult to learn and is easily within the scope of the average caver.

SRT Guide & the SRT Rigging Guide These guides are not safe for use by idiots. These SRT guides describe "Alpine" style techniques, developed in Europe and popular with many vertical cavers. They are based on leaflets I put together for teaching SRT to people in NUCC. I've kept them as single documents with inline graphics so that they can easily be printed off from the browser. For those who prefer the "tie it on and chuck it down" approach, here is a link to the Boston Grotto's SRT guide on the LUSS server.

rock climbing

Rock climbing Video - Petzl Roctrip Millau 2006 The famous rock climbing event, featuring all the best world climbers : Chris Sharma, Lynn Hill, Dany Andrada, Said Belaj, Tony Lamiche, Charlotte Durif, Berta Martin, Sean Mc Coll and many others...

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