Descent 262 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 only too happy 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 the fascinating world of caving both at home and abroad.

Try your hand at the Descent competition, Protecting Diggers. It’s easy enough, and there are five prizes to win!

We all know that there are many forms and types of cave passage to be found, but what’s the difference between them? The Cave Science section aims to answer this question.

Being invited to join Project Morpheus, cave diving in Croatia, is one thing – but having to learn to dive first is another! Follow one caver’s progress in Hot Dog Days. Frank Pearson is undertaking cave exploration of a different nature: digging down through the mists of history, to see how caves figure in literature and imagination in Caverns of the Mind. The media often apply their fertile minds to the subject of caving, but often seem to understand it very poorly. But was it always like this? Filmmaker extraordinaire Sid Perou thinks so …

Imperial College cavers have been pushing hard in Slovenia’s Sistem Migovec. Beneath the Hollow Mountain presents a five-year round-up of the results. On the other side of the Atlantic, Tim Fogg has returned to Lechuguilla Cave to help make another film.

And closer to home, the Carbis Bay Crew have been Chasing the Zawn Lead Lode, and show that discoveries can still be made in abandoned and forgotten Cornish mines.

Descent’s Write it Down! Slot shows that it’s unwise to make assumptions in caving – to do so, thinking you might have an easy time of things, can lead to a seriously long trip …

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 Wild Places Publishing subscriptions page to ensure your subscription is up to date so you don’t miss out!