Happy New Year to everyone! To celebrate, we have a brand-new photo montage for you featuring the anniversary set of all six Descent covers from 2019. Issue 272 is about to be posted so to make sure you get your copy take a moment to check whether your subscription is up to date!

In this issue, Primož Jakopin concludes his interview with Pavel Demidov, a caver who has spent much of his time exploring Verëvkina, the deepest cave on earth. This feature has details of the big flood that almost trapped everyone and chased them up the pitches and out of the cave.

A valuable historical record, the Cave Book, is a very early, privately kept British record of exploration in the Yorkshire Dales, featuring Ingleborough cave owned by the Farrer family. This has now been re-discovered and is being reproduced for posterity. Further south, new explorations and surveys have enabled links to be made between the caves of Grove Cliff on Portland.

In the Gear section, Petzl’s latest caving helmet and LED headlight, the Boreo Caving and Duo S are put to the test, so if you fancy treating yourself to a late Christmas present, this might be right up your street!

Time can teach us so much, but what of cave exploration? And just what does this wilderness thing mean, anyway? Frank Pearson takes a readable and thoughtful look at the subject. Accepting the challenge of following the course of the Snowy River, the world’s longest calcite formation, was not without its complexities, as Pete Glanvill found out in Fort Stanton in New Mexico.

Start the new year as you mean to go on, with a subscription to Descent, run by cavers for cavers. Every issue is packed with caving news and features, accompanied by stunning photos. Don’t miss out – check whether your subscription is up to date, or if you haven’t taken one out yet, then head over to Wildplaces Publishing, who’ll be delighted to welcome you on board!