I guess I could be described as a lifelong learner. I enjoy setting myself challenges, acquiring new skills and working outside my comfort zone. I also take pleasure in problem solving. Making videossatisfies my creative urges, and allows me to experim…
With Jonathon, Alex, Tav and Ray Deasy.
Another antipodean visitor to the cave, Ray,
back for an update, his last visit was earlier this year in April.
Jonathon and Alex set-off with the ladders to
rig the climb down the rift and cont…
Andy and Antonia have been making films for some time now, mostly about caves and caving. Many of their previous productions can be found on their You Tube channel but Tales from Cuthbert’s is their most substantial film yet. St Cuthbert’s Swallet, Priddy, Somerset is a beautiful and complex cave deserving of a great film…
Veteran caving film maker Sid Perou has teamed up with photographer Ryan Deboodt to produce a compelling thirty nine minute film about the discovery of the world’s largest cave passage in Han Son Doong cave in Vietnam, the resulting development of tourism in the area and the beneficial affects not just for the local population but also for conservation.
Shot on location earlier this year the film follows the impact of the area of the Vietnam war, early discoveries by British and Vietnamese cavers and includes stunning footage of the cave.
Watching the film it’s hard to believe Sid’s contribution to the film, comprising over 50% of the footage, was shot using just a £400 handy-cam and a zero budget!
Descent 264 will be with you very shortly! If you’re not up to date with your subscription don’t forget that the lovely folks at Wildplaces Publishing will be delighted to welcome you back into the fold. And if you’re new to caving, Descent will provide you with news, photos and the best possible introduction to…
A diabetic student (m,14), on a field visit, collapsed, falling face-down in the beck. He was recovered by companions, then regained consciousness. Yorkshire Ambulance Service first requested CRO’s help in locating him, via PhoneFind, but this di…
25th September 2018: with Snablet, Roz and Tav
An impromptu trip after
Snablet’s enquiry “are we doing anything tonight?” following up some beer
fuelled conversation we’d had on Saturday evening at the Hidden Earth
conference in Churchill.
We…
In part one I wrote about how the idea for Keith’s Cavers was born and how it was key to get the opening credits sequence perfect, but at that stage I didn’t have an idea for the video. It was just like being a kid at school who has spent weeks creatin…
In 2017 at Hidden Earth I won the video salon competition, although the Hidden Earth website still credits my video to ‘The Dudley’. As a winner I was asked if anything needed changing and I requested that the correct credit to be given, but that was o…
When Rick Stanton and John Volanthen surfaced in Chamber 3 of Tham Luang Cave on day 6 of the rescue to find four people waiting for them they first thought they’d somehow found the boys of the trapped Wild Boar team. In fact they’d discovered four lost Thai rescuers who had been trapped by the rising floodwaters. In the chaos of the early days of the rescue the absence of the men had been unreported and so had not been noticed by the Thai authorities and or the outside world. What followed was a dramatic and unparalleled “snatch” rescue mission perfectly conceived and executed as they dived the four men through three sumps to safety.
With Pete “Snablet” McNab, Pete Bolt,
Jonathon, Duncan, Nick and Alex
Snablet’s on a week-long visit from New
Zealand, couldn’t let him miss the opportunity for a digging trip.
At the cave, Jonathon, Nick, Duncan and Alex
set-off to t…
A father reported that his daughter – ‘an experienced walker’ – had become separated from the rest of her party on Ingleborough. She had not been heard from for an hour and was believed not to have reached the summit, so the fat…
We’ve just added a new feature to the site. Email alerts are a quick and easy way to get an email notification each time we publish a new article. If you’d like to try them you’ll find the sign up box at the side of every article. Simply add your name, if you wish,…
The magnitude and trajectory of sea-level change during the Last Interglacial, more specifically Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e, is uncertain. To date the consensus view has been that sea-level may have been six to nine meters above present sea level. H…
In the second part of Darkness Below’s interview with BCRC chair Peter Dennis, he tells Linda Wilson and Sharon Wheeler how disaster struck during the preparations for the final rescue dives.
CRO duty controllers were advised that a Three Peaks walker (m, 46), last seen at Ribblehead at 12.00 noon the previous day, had not returned to his car at Horton in Ribblesdale. All local hotels were phoned, in case the missing walker had stayed the …
While the eyes of the world were on the divers taking part in the Thai cave rescue, an unsung band of volunteers were beavering away behind the scenes to ensure that the divers had all the kit and assistance they needed. Peter Dennis, chair of the British Cave Rescue Council, tells the backroom story to Linda Wilson and Sharon Wheeler.
With Jonathon and Alex
A small team again, mostly due to injuries
and work commitments, but still an effective group.
At the top of the rift, I decided to try out
the new cows-tails and shunt on the descent (and, later ascent) but, co…
A walker (m,86) with several medical conditions and a history of back trouble was unable to complete the walk because of the pain. Having administered pain relief, team members carried the patient from just below Snow Falls up to Falls Park, at Beezle…
The August 2018 issue of Caves and Karst Science is now available. Volume 45, Number 2 carries five main articles; the first being a subjective summary of the history, activities, publications and some of the characters of the former CRG and BCRA Hydrology Groups (1964–1999) written by John Wilcock. John hopes that current BCRA members…
The British Cave Research Association is pleased to announce the final details of the 29th Annual Cave Science Symposium to be held Saturday 13th October, 2018 in Bristol, as well as a field trip to GB Cave, Mendip on Sunday 14th October, 2018. Whether you are an academic, an amateur scientist, or a caver wanting…
The Darkness Below team will be out in force at Hidden Earth 2018 in less than two weeks time, and we’d love to meet as many of you as possible and get your feedback on the site, and of course we may try and persuade you to help us with contributions in the future! Over…
CRO were called to support Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue Association (UWFRA) with an ongoing incident. Two cavers had been reported overdue the previous evening from a traverse of Dowber Gill passage that links Dow Cave with Providence Pot. The overdue …
A family visiting the waterfalls walk reported themselves lost in woodland. The CRO Duty Controller was able to contact the family on their mobile phone and established that they had found their way to Ingleton and were being directed to the waterfalls…
With Jonathon and Tav
A small, but sufficient, team today. On the
way to An Unexpected Development, I climbed down into the Tuck Shop to free a
hauling rope jammed under a rock and tidy away another of the old skips ready
for removal later. When…
