Cavechat.org

Hello out there. I am a serious rock climber (40 years experience) who has alway enjoyed caving evey once in a while but am now wanting to delve into it much more. I think I would love vertical caving but ought to build my horizontal base first. Just returned from WV and need to find places closer to home. Spartanburg is close enough to NC, GA and TN for weekend jaunts.

Welcome! I started caving underwater, then I started rock climbing, then I started caving (horizontally) where I didn't need a regulator in my mouth to breath, and now I am learning to do vertical caving. The transition from rock climbing to vertical caving isn't very difficult, but a thing to note about rock climbing vs. vertical caving: in rock climbing you climb *rock* and the rope is there Just In Case, but in vertical caving you (mostly) descend and climb *rope*. It might seem like a small distinction, but the two are fairly different.

There is an NSS Grotto in Columbia SC that you could hook up with: http://www.nssio.org/find_grotto_detail.cfm?gid=000359

And there are grottos in NC and GA that might be within your driving range. Check on http://www.nssio.org/Find_Grotto.cfm

Good Luck,
John DeRoo