Jonathan wasn’t a caver until he became curious about a cave on a piece of property he purchased in rural Tennessee. Thanks to his openness to allow exploration of his cave, Helm’s Deep quickly became the longest cave in the state, and was a topic of much discussion at the 2024 NSS Convention in Sewanee, TN. In this talk he covers many of the discoveries made in the cave, including its surprising archeological significance.

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Custom Cave Survey Pages

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Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

The Out of Bounds Grotto is a caving club that was created for the 21st century–a virtual grotto that brings together cavers from across the country for the love of exploration, conservation, and the sport of caving with no geographic constraints. Tally founded the grotto with these things in mind and, as you’ll hear, is a tireless volunteer for many of the causes cavers care about. She’s also working to improve the caving experience for women who might otherwise have concerns about sexual harassment in what is still a very male-dominated world.

Out of Bounds Grotto

https://outofboundsgrotto.org/

Tickets to Floyd Collins: The Musical at SKyPAC in Bowling Green, KY 3/8/25

https://www.theskypac.com/event/ramsey-theatre-company-presents-floyd-collins-the-musical/

Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!

https://www.sophireaptress.com/

Custom Cave Survey Pages

https://www.customcavepages.com/

Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

Canadian super-caver Katie Graham talked about her caving genesis, and her love of the most remote, and tough caving for a variety of objectives from exploration to scientific research. She talks about caving in Canada and Mexico, as well as being a repeat winner of the infamous “Golden Garbage Can” award.

Tickets to Floyd Collins: The Musical at SKyPAC in Bowling Green, KY 3/8/25

https://www.theskypac.com/event/ramsey-theatre-company-presents-floyd-collins-the-musical/

Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!

https://www.sophireaptress.com/

Custom Cave Survey Pages

https://www.customcavepages.com/

Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

A once-in-a-lifetime historical panel with Roger Brucker, author of Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins, Mammoth Cave Guide Jackie Wheet, and John Benton, co-author of The Floyd Collins Tragedy at Sand Cave along with Bob Thompson and Bill Napper. Plus a short talk at the top with two of the people behind a production of Floyd Collins: The Musical put on by the Ramsey Theatre Company at SKyPAC in Bowling Green on Saturday, March 8th.

Tickets to Floyd Collins: The Musical at SKyPAC in Bowling Green, KY 3/8/25

https://www.theskypac.com/event/ramsey-theatre-company-presents-floyd-collins-the-musical/

Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!

https://www.sophireaptress.com/

Custom Cave Survey Pages

https://www.customcavepages.com/

Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

Former NSS President Bill Tozer passed away last weekend. In this 2018 episode, he shares that was one of the first to descend Ellison’s Fantastic Pit, as well as Sótano de las Golondrinas. Plus stories of his early caving days in Indiana.

Dr. Julian “Jerry” Lewis is a cave biologist with a long career consulting on everything from massive infrastructure projects to small-scale bio-inventory for various entities. He also served for many years as the president of the Indiana Karst Conservancy. In part 2 of our discussion, he touches on some harrowing moments in his career, including an incident that threatened the existence of one cave organization, while ending another one. 

Dr. Lewis’s profile on Karstwaters.org:

https://karstwaters.org/about-kwi/kwi-officers-and-board-of-directors/dr-julian-jerry-lewis/

Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!

https://www.sophireaptress.com/

Buy tickets for Floyd Collins: The Musical, March 8th at SKYPAC in Bowling Green, KY
https://www.theskypac.com/event/ramsey-theatre-company-presents-floyd-collins-the-musical/

Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

Dr. Julian “Jerry” Lewis is a cave biologist with a long career consulting on everything from massive infrastructure projects to small-scale bio-inventory for various entities. He also served for many years as the president of the Indiana Karst Conservancy. In part 1 of our discussion, he outlines the genesis of his career, and touches on various other highlights like building his bioconsulting business, and appearing on the hit TV show “Dirty Jobs”

Dr. Lewis’s profile on Karstwaters.org:

https://karstwaters.org/about-kwi/kwi-officers-and-board-of-directors/dr-julian-jerry-lewis/

Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!

https://www.sophireaptress.com/

Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

Mike Ficco has found Virginia’s deepest cave, and has explored all over the world, including China, Montenegro, Slovenia, and elsewhere. He shared the highlights of his long caving career, which includes chairing the Cave Conservancy of the Virginias (link below).

Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!

https://www.sophireaptress.com/

Cave Conservancy of the Virginias:

https://caveconservancyofvirginia.org/

Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

Georgia Schneider’s caving life has grown quickly since she started caving; taking her to places like New Zealand, France, Mexico, and countless US caves. She talks to Matt about working with the National Parks Service to inventory caves on federal land, and shares the special feeling of returning to places she helped discover.

Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!

https://www.sophireaptress.com/

Fall MVOR: September 19-22

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Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml

Bill Torode has volunteered at the NSS library for over 50 years, and has mapped hundreds of caves. We talk about being the first person to peer down what came to be known as Surprise Pit in Fern Cave, as well as several other anecdotes from the long-time TAG legend.

Order a custom cave suit from our sponsor, Sophireaptress!

https://www.sophireaptress.com/

Pre-register for Indiana Cave Capers:

https://cigcaves.com/cave-capers

Fall MVOR: September 19-22

https://fb.me/e/5n6OMEmx4

Find your local grotto!

https://caves.org/committee/i-o/grottos/new_grotto_page-v2.shtml