Descent 265 will be winging its way to you very soon! If you’re not up to date with your subscription now’s the time to remedy that. The lovely folks at Wildplaces Publishing will be only too happy to welcome you back into the fold. And if you’re new to caving, Descent will provide you with news, features, photos and the best possible introduction to the world beneath your feet, both at home and abroad.

Cave science is in the news. In October, cavers gathered in Bristol for the latest BCRA Cave Science Symposium and this will give you the flavour of the event. In addition, there’s news of the long-awaited British Cave Monitoring Centre. Developing a science-based centre inside a cave is a project that has been discussed for years, and now it has finally been achieved in Poole’s Cavern, Buxton.

Despite everyone trying hard, things can go wrong underground, but if that happens, you can take comfort in the knowledge that you’ll be rescued by other cavers. Read what’s happened to others and learn from their mistakes – as well as heaving a sigh of relief that it didn’t happen to you – in this look at the statistics and causes of rescue in the UK.

That elusive link between two caves can be soooo hard to find, even if you know it must be there.! That’s been lamented many a time – but for one team in the Dachstein things looks promising. The first of a two-part article, will bring you up to date on developments in the hunt for the connection between the Dachstein caves of WUG and Wadiland in the Hirlatzhohle. And speaking of digging, there have been some surprising developments in one cave in the UK, to find out where, don’t miss this issue!

A lot of work has been done in the past few years scanning caves, and for many cavers, big is certainly beautiful, and much sought after. Work in a huge sea cave in Scotland has revealed some surprises when it comes to size!

The Thailand cave rescue is destined to run and run, and Descent brings you the more on the story that had the world on the edge of its seat.

In September, cavers gathered on Mendip to enjoy another major conference in the form of Hidden Earth 2018. Tune in here to get the flavour of the event, which will hopefully entice you along in the future. Also on Mendip, Hallowe’en Rift contains the remnants of an unusual past. Find out how it was shaped by frost and ice.

Did you attempt the short quiz in the last issue? Check the results to find out if you are the lucky winner!

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 reaches us, but in the meantime, we hope the above is enough to get you interested and send you in search of the Wildplaces Publishing subscriptions page to make sure your subscription is up to date.