US Deepest Vertical Pits List

[UnderGroundEarth]

The deepest pits in Alabama:

Fern Cave - 437
Mega Well - 310
Paul's Cave - 293
Deep Well - 292
Not So Deep Well - 252
Scott's Barn Cave - 242
Walking Fern Pit - 242
Engle Double - 236
O'Hara Fare Well - 232
Moses Tomb - 230
Valhalla - 228
Green's Well - 227
Tony Sinks - 224
Vast Caverns - 223
Wiegand Pit - 221
Fargo Well - 219
Trenton Well - 218
Tinker Well - 211
Pretty Well - 208
Kaolin Pit - 204
Twenty Three Dollar Pit - 201
Richard O'Hara's BE - 198
Lacy Pot - 197
Ain't No Cave - 194
Emerald Well - 192
Natural Well - 191
Torode Pit - 190
Hall's Pit - 190
Paint Rock River Cave - 196
Birthday Pit - 185
Far Side Well - 184
Granny's Well - 176
Procession Pit - 175
Halley's Hole - 174

Shall I keep going... LOL...

[gindling]

These are the ones I know of over 200ft near me. Im sure there are others.

UT

Deception Pit 230
Leaky Faucet 210
Frayed Knot 222
Neilsons Well 301
Fantasy Well 295
Heavens Gate 200
A few others 200+ that I dont have the names for

ID

Bakers Hole @220 very corkscrewy though no "safe" place to get off rope.

MT

Spin Shaft 230
Arm Pit 227

[Cody JW]

Now we are getting somewhere. I am surprised there has not been a recent list of USA deep pits.

[Extremeophile]

If you were to drop a rock or fall into the pit from the entrance you better believe your ass or the rock will go all the way to the bottom...

Kansas Twister is much the same. We follow a series of rebelays to reach the top, including walking across what is essentially a large natural bridge. It could be rigged to do in one single pitch with some rope pads, but due to rockfall and efficiency we take a route that utilizes many ledges. It's also the case that a rock dropped from the rig point will hit the top of the talus slope (410' lower). Many of the pits/domes in the west are phreatic due to the hypogenic process of cave formation. Some of the large "pits" such as the entrances of Ogle or Deep are just openings into large rooms. We don't have many traditional vadose dome/pits that are so common in the east. This adds to the complexity of clearly defining pit depth.

[UnderGroundEarth]

Deep Pits of Tennessee:

Hidden Well (Dorton Knob) - 292
Mystery Falls - 270
Ferris Pit - 251
Keystone River - 246
Gouffre - 241
Youngs Pit - 217
Nirvana - 212
Massive Well - 212
Rumbling Falls - 201
Stamps Pit - 192
Sparta Sod Hole - 192
Jackpot - 190
Clod Hole - 188
Cagle Chasm - 184
Jive Hole - 181
Ace Point Cave - 181
Hell Hole - 180
Whiteside Well - 176
Confederate Well (Solution Rift) - 171
Bull Cave - 169
Run to the Mill - 167
Fiery Top Drop - 166
Wilkson Hollow Horror Hole - 165
Red Bank Well - 164
Conley Hole - 163
Farewell Hole - 163
Rebel Cave - 163
Spade Hole - 162
Conatsers Well - 161
Larson's Well - 161
Mirror Image Well - 161
Deer Bone Pit - 160
South Pittsburg Pit - 160
Big Cedar Hole - 160
Ruby Falls Cave - 159
Utumno Abyss - 157
Devils Hole - 155
Sawmill Well - 155
The Sinkhole - 155
Paradox Cave - 155
Bo Allen Pit - 155
Hilham Pit - 154
France Mtn Triple - 152
Deep Blackness - 151
Mitchell Hol Well - 150
Ellis Pit - 150

and the list goes on and on....

[UnderGroundEarth]

Deep Pits in Georgia:

Ellison's Fantastic -586
Ellison's Incredible - 440
Flowing Stone - 226
Pearson's Pit - 199
Cemetery Pit - 138
Drag Fold Cave - 111
Lost Canyon - 114
Eight Bit Pit - 102

[GroundquestMSA]

Over 150's in West Virginia:

Batman Dome: 306' dome in Hellhole. Climbed in 2006
Flying Dutchman Dome: 303' dome in MDC. Climbed in 2010
Southwest Dome: 247' dome in Hellhole. Climbed in 2004
Germany Well: 220' pit in Shoveleater
Lubyanka Dome: 220' dome in MDC. Climbed in 2011
Wendi Cassel Dome: 201' dome in MDC. Climbed in 2012
Perseverance Dome: 200+' dome in Hellhole. Climb in progress as of March 2012
Sites Cave entrance: 184'
Locust Tree Pit (entrance): 178'
Kimble Pit (entrance): 169
Jumping-Off Place: 164' pit in Schoolhouse
Skyline Traverse Pit: 162" pit in Schoolhouse
Shinaberry Cave: 160' interior pit
Belay Loft Drop: 159' pit in Cass
Hellhole entrance: 154'

[speleo]

Add to Georgia in Ellisons...

All in One Pit 388
Smokey II 262
New Pit 254
Nice Pit 117
Blind 109 109

[Caving Guru]

Thanks for everyone's input so far and I would love to hear from others about the deepest pits in your region too.

[GroundquestMSA]

Deepest Pit in Adams County, Ohio: Doug Owen Pit - 41'

[Cody JW]

I notice some are posting about dome climbs. If it is a dome that has been climbed maybe even with dead end horizontal up top or somewhere on the way up, does that count as a pit ?? If so Topless Dome of over 400 feet in Tumbling Rock Alabama could be included. Do we define a cave pit as something you access from the top or somewhere part of the way down and have to continue down to go on into the cave . Does this list distinguish between a dome and a pit ?? Maybe there is no official definition like common accepted map symbols? It seems you get into conflicting opinion of a single drop verses a pit with offsets and what is defined as a series of separate pits or a single pit. Interesting that there appears to be no set standard.Here is another twist , do we include water filled shafts . I ask because here in Indiana we have a water filled shaft ( True Rise Of The Lost River) that is around 160 feet mapped by cave divers years ago. It is not normally included in discussions of Indiana Pits. If it were , it would be our deepest pit. Maybe there is an accepted standard and I just do not know it ?? Thanks Kelly for giving us all of TAG , her lists had a few I had forgotten about.

[GroundquestMSA]

I've read a lot of arguments about it. I don't know what the answer is. I admit that it doesn't feel right, to me, to put these domes alonside other pits. I got the info for my WV post from Dasher's WV Bulletin. The domes are listed equally in that publication.

[UnderGroundEarth]

For me, the definition of a pit is a shaft that you rappel down into. However, if you have to climb a dome to get to more cave passage and eventually have to rappel back down then to me that also makes it a pit. But if it's just a dome in a cave that someone climbed to look for more passage and there is none, then it's not a pit.

If you look up the definition of PIT it is defined as a large hole in the ground. The defintion of a dome is a rounded vault forming the roof of a building or structure, typically with a circular base.

[fr73ed]

Seems like I remember Virgin Pit in the Guads was around -520 or so...

[Caving Guru]

So Cody I would say that water filled shafts are generally not considered vertical pits.