Descent 257 will soon be landing on your mats! If you’re not up to date with your subscription, now is the time to renew. The lovely folks at Wildplaces Publishing will be only too happy to welcome you into the fold.

There’s a lot to look forward to in the new issue. As well as caving and mining news from around the regions, Descent is packed with high-quality feature articles and its usual stunning array of photos.

Down south, a recent breakthrough in Hobnail Hole produced a problem with the route; find out how Mendip cavers fixed it. Even further south, read about the stunningly beautiful caves of the west coast of New Zealand. They’re exciting and ripe for exploration, as well.

The caving world is chock full of acronyms – BCA, BCRA, CNCC, CSCC, CCC, to name but a few! But what do you know of LCMLA and CIC? In Training to Train, you’ll find out what they represent and how might they benefit you.

The old saying ‘caves be where you find ‘em’ is certainly still true. Cavers will delve into any void that tantalises their curiosity, and the idea of one underneath a drinking establishment will certainly prove popular. Mendip did it with Hunters’ Lodge Inn Sink, so see what cavers in Preston have been getting up to. Or should that be down to?

An expedition to Ethiopia found that a lot of caves were associated with holy places, so it was a case of boots off to be allowed to explore in bare feet, then onto the next cave, sore feet notwithstanding!

In part three of her cave science series. Life Under Earth, which explains how microbes are inextricably linked with caves, Hazel Barton turns her attention to formations of many and varied kinds.

It’s not often cave rescuers get to gather in the sunshine, but over a gloriously hot weekend in South Wales, they were able to do just that, gathered to discuss cave rescue. And we have a feeling there might have been a small amount of beer involved, too.

Gerber’s Suspension Multi-plier is on review, plus there’s a competition to win one of these highly useful tools.

All this and more for only the price of a couple of pints of beer per issue. We’ll be bringing you a full report as soon as Descent pops through our letterbox, but in the meantime, we hope the above is enough to whet your appetite and send you over to the Wildplaces Publishing subscriptions page to ensure yours is up to date!