Welcome to the SF Bay Chapter of the National Speleological Society (NSS)! If you’re reading this you’re interested in caves, caving, and meeting other cavers.
Caving is the art of traveling underground, through spaces often not meant for human travel, finding new caves, exploring, conserving, studying, and mapping them. Cavers (not “spelunkers”) are the people who travel in these location and they can be anyone: scientists, explorers, artists, climbers, hobbyists, travelers, people who simply appreciate the underground world. The NSS is the United States’ national organization dedicated to the exploration and conservation of caves, which you can also join. They facilitate several events across the US throughout the year, including the yearly convention. SFBC is “chapter” of the NSS, commonly known as a grotto or caving club.
As former Director of the NSS Board of the Directors, Cindy Wu, says in her introductory article, So you want to cave?, the best way to figure out if you like caving is to go caving with other cavers, see if you like it, and then go again. But, it can be hard to go caving for the first time! Try one or all of the following to meet folks:
- Come to a monthly meeting! SFBC hosts monthly meetings on the 4th Tuesday, Sports Basement Redwood City, at 6:30 pm. Add our calendar.
- Come to a monthly vertical practice! Add our calendar to get updates on trips and practices.
- Join the grotto to access the email list! Or, simply join the new-cavers list and see if you like it.
As a community, we strive to follow the NSS motto:
“Take nothing but pictures. Leave nothing but footprints. Kill nothing but time.”
SFBC conservation guidelines and the NSS guide to responsible caving, linked below, go into far more detail on caving standards. Because caving can often involve traveling in passages that would be damaged by heavy visitation, locations are treated with some sensitivity in the US. Thus, you might often find it hard to know exactly where the cave is when signing up for a beginner trip. That is relatively typical – the trip leader may share more information about access and what is allowed with photos at the start of the trip.
Generally speaking, there are three types of cave trips: vertical, horizontal, and project trips.
- Horizontal cave trips. For your very first cave, horizontal caves are more accessible. Check out the SFBC horizontal caving gear recommendations to know what to bring.
- Vertical cave trips. Some caves require descending and ascending a rope to access. At least 2 or 3 times attending a monthly SRT practice would be standard to begin to learn the skills needed to attend trips. Climbing, SAR, canyoneering, and industrial rope access backgrounds are helpful but not sufficient. Investing in the gear can be expensive, and it is strongly recommended to test out others’ gear in practices before committing to a setup. Check out the SFBC vertical caving gear recommendations for these trips.
- Project caving trips. These trips can be vertical or horizontal. They are suitable for more experienced cavers as the focus is on the project, not the caving experience. Some cleanup trips may be suitable for new cavers. These trips cover survey, mapping, new cave exploration and discovery, restoration, cleaning, rigging, cave camping, and more. See the Project Caving page for more information.
Hope to see you in a cave soon!
Resources:
So you want to cave?
NSS Board of Governor’s representative and sometimes California caver Cindy Wu offers advice for newbies.
Cave Safety
A Guide to Responsible Caving published by the National Speleological Society, 5th edition, 2016
General Conservation
SFBC Conservation Guidelines
How to get started
Caver on YouTube offers advice on how to get started in caving.
CavePics Homepage
Gems of the Golden State : The 15 best caves to visit in California is richly illustrated with nearly seventy top quality photographs by life SFBC members, Peter and Ann Bosted, who have been photographing California’s finest caves for over two decades.