Have you ever participated in potholing or cave diving?

Putonahappyface

Putonahappyface

Gold Member
I find potholing and cave diving strangely fascinating yet terrifying at the same time. Watching the below videos of people squeezing themselves through the smallest of gaps induce panic attacks, but I can't help myself. Has anyone here ever partaken in either potholing or cave diving and would like to share their experiences?



 
While I enjoy watching video's and seeing some of the amazing pictures taken in and around caves, there is no way i could do anything even close to what is in those videos.
Its so dangerous, get stuck in a narrow passage, lights run out of power, a passage starts to flood, and your pretty much done. (or if some one in your group get hurt... ) wild stuff.
 
Dr.Morris79 said:
Same here, but I could never do it!

I'd just be shitting myself all the way down. If I had the nugs, I'd love to do Yonaguni Monument.

Not exactly a cave dive, but that'd be my limits.
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I felt claustrophobic going into the Great Pyramids of Giza as a child. The corridors are very narrow yet tall leading into different chambers.
 
The person/people that map out all these caves for the first time, that require contortionist levels of mobility have testicles the size of water melons!

tCnWwzY9gQlrOuof.gif
 
Went potholing a few times back when I was a Scout. Don't think I'd fancy it nowadays. I never minded the being under a zillion tons of rock part, but fuck those parts where you feel like you could get stuck without room to move your arms or anything.

Watching the divers makes me anxious because it looks so easy to get all of that equipment snagged on something
 
I remember a story about some guy making a wrong turn in one of these super cramped caves and it lead to a dead end, and because of the angle they couldn't get him out either, I believe his body is still in there.

a-diagram-of-how-john-jones-was-stuck-for-27-hours-in-a-v0-jqr1kwfn483c1.jpeg

In 2009, John Jones and his family went to the Nutty Putty cave during thanksgiving. Jones accidentally became trapped in a horrifically small squeeze. The opening measured 10 inches across and 18 inches high, around the size of a clothes dryer. After many rescue efforts from both his family and a huge rescue team, John passed away after 27 hours of excruciating pain, discomfort, and panic.
Click to expand...
 
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I dove a cave once...nope, never again. ANY sense of direction, 'where you came from', or the like is just GONE. Had it not been for the cable leading out I would still be there and I didn't even go far it. The disorientation brought on by being underwater, breathing gas, and floating just destroys any internal head map of the map. I can EASILY see why folk die doing it.

Just open air cave exploring.....eh it's alright. Those guys that squeeze through head sized gaps with NO IDEA what's in there, those guys are just psychopaths that like murdering cave systems instead of high school girls :P
 
You could not pay me a million dollars to do something like that. If you did I'll just laugh at you and walk away. I hate being in cramp or tight space it freak me out. Too many deaths have happened trying to explore these unknown caves, and I can find other reasons to have fun then doing cave diving or pot holing.
 
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Reizo Ryuu said:
I remember a story about some guy making a wrong turn in one of these super cramped caves and it lead to a dead end, and because of the angle they couldn't get him out either, I believe his body is still in there.

a-diagram-of-how-john-jones-was-stuck-for-27-hours-in-a-v0-jqr1kwfn483c1.jpeg
Click to expand...

Yeah. Fuck. That.

This, drowning or burning to death are my only fears.

Being trapped (not necesarily in a pot hole) and not being able to move...

Also, imagine if you got an itch on your arse or even worse, your shoulder blade.
 
Ive done pot holing a couple of times when younger. Its fun and scary, but if you turn off all the headlamps you realize you are literally a bulb failure from death if you don't have a backup.
 
Certain types of people just have brains that are wired differently, IMO.

It's my only explanation as to why they would put themselves in such life threatening scenarios on a voluntary basis.
 
Windle Poons said:
This, drowning or burning to death are my only fears.
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Combine the two and watch some videos on cave diving. Christ. I remember watching a video which detailed a diver getting lost in a cave system and running out of air. Found him with a knife in his heart because he was that terrified of drowning.
 
EerieArcade said:
Combine the two and watch some videos on cave diving. Christ. I remember watching a video which detailed a diver getting lost in a cave system and running out of air. Found him with a knife in his heart because he was that terrified of drowning.
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Oh my word. I cannot begin to imagine.

Its like the poor bastards that jumped from World Trader Center - what the hell was going through their minds at that time.

Given me the shivers.
 
EerieArcade said:
Combine the two and watch some videos on cave diving. Christ. I remember watching a video which detailed a diver getting lost in a cave system and running out of air. Found him with a knife in his heart because he was that terrified of drowning.
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Knife in the heart 'cause HE was afraid of drowning, huh? That what his dive partner said happened????
 
The Wikipedia article on spelunking/cave exploring deaths is surprisingly small.

Category:Caving incidents and rescues - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

The most famous case of all may be that of Floyd Collins who got trapped for days in a narrow crawlway. During an attempt to rescue him a rock collapse completely sealed off the passage, stranding Collins inside for ten more days after which he died. The media circus around his rescue mission was so enormous that it inspired the movie "Ace in the Hole" (1951), filmed 26 years after Floyd Collins' death. (Great movie too, with Billy Wilder directing his own script and Kirk Douglas as an unscrupulous reporter).

3oBi9k9iUQzTspeg9nyJiO6UF2bPLA_large.jpg


That movie was referenced forty years later in the Simpsons episode "Radio Bart" where Bart starts a media circus when he fools everybody in Springfield there's a boy trapped in a well.

 
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Yeah, no thanks. I got into cave videos about a year ago and could not even imagine risking my life for something like that.
025ec9af54d7c82383ecc6b5cc2ff5aebebbd744.gifv


Windle Poons said:
Yeah. Fuck. That.

This, drowning or burning to death are my only fears.

Being trapped (not necesarily in a pot hole) and not being able to move...

Also, imagine if you got an itch on your arse or even worse, your shoulder blade.
Click to expand...
You do not even have to go into an underwater cave to drown in one:
 
EerieArcade said:
Combine the two and watch some videos on cave diving. Christ. I remember watching a video which detailed a diver getting lost in a cave system and running out of air. Found him with a knife in his heart because he was that terrified of drowning.
Click to expand...
I think the absolute worst ones are either getting sucked through a small hole (When drilling for oil) , or instant depressurization

Or both..



They say its not meant to hurt, I don't buy it :unsure:
 
Cyberpunkd said:
I am diving recreationally , any chance I will go into the cave is if it's a fucking huge one. Absolutely NOPE on squeezing through some of these cracks.

The guys that rescued those students from a Thai cave are worthy of any honour possible, I recommend you all watch the documentary (the drama one is also good):

en.wikipedia.org

The Rescue (2021 film) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

en.wikipedia.org

Thirteen Lives - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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True story.

I used to live in Thailand and quite a few of my pals helped out on that rescue. I was away at the time but probably would have been there as well. It was a complete shit show by all accounts and a fucking miracle they made it out. As can be seen in that documentary, unbelievable really.

Edit: Cave diving is good fun but fuck potholing. Anyone see that nutty putty shit?
 
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I think I could do some basic cave diving but never anything off a rope or something like that. Just something down into a well lit… and not constrained cave I could do.
 
That second video reminds me of a time I went with a group through a cave in Indiana. There was a portion like that were it was so small and flat you had to crawl through on your belly and there was like an inch or two of running water across the whole floor of it. No mud tho, just rock and water. Very scary either way. Everything went smoothly and we got to go on a boat ride in an underground stream so that was really cool but I decided never again.
 
Reizo Ryuu said:
I remember a story about some guy making a wrong turn in one of these super cramped caves and it lead to a dead end, and because of the angle they couldn't get him out either, I believe his body is still in there.

a-diagram-of-how-john-jones-was-stuck-for-27-hours-in-a-v0-jqr1kwfn483c1.jpeg
Click to expand...
Man that's horrific. Yeah I don't think I'd ever go through a passage have to squeeze into because of the risk of something like this.
 
Windle Poons said:
Yeah. Fuck. That.

This, drowning or burning to death are my only fears.

Being trapped (not necesarily in a pot hole) and not being able to move...

Also, imagine if you got an itch on your arse or even worse, your shoulder blade.
Click to expand...
Crushed, burning and drowning are your only fears ? How about being absorbed by the thing in Antarctica or bummed to death in a thai prison?
 
clarky said:
True story.

I used to live in Thailand and quite a few of my pals helped out on that rescue. I was away at the time but probably would have been there as well. It was a complete shit show by all accounts and a fucking miracle they made it out. As can be seen in that documentary, unbelievable really.

Edit: Cave diving is good fun but fuck potholing. Anyone see that nutty putty shit?
Click to expand...

Nutty Putty and this one have probably stuck with me more than any ghost/horror story throughout my life.



I'm mildly claustrophobic, so there's no way I'd EVER get myself into a cave or whatever to begin with.
 
clarky said:
True story.

I used to live in Thailand and quite a few of my pals helped out on that rescue. I was away at the time but probably would have been there as well. It was a complete shit show by all accounts and a fucking miracle they made it out. As can be seen in that documentary, unbelievable really.

Edit: Cave diving is good fun but fuck potholing. Anyone see that nutty putty shit?
Click to expand...


Yeah this was one of the ones I started to watch.

Imagine rescuers finding you even letting you speak to your wife but then the rope snapping and gravity making you fall even further down the gap.
 
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