Scouts and Caving, Pt. 1

I saw another post on rec.scouting.usa about Scouts going caving, so
I figured it was about time ot repost this. Please read both parts.
Tray

Caves and Scouts.or.Caving and Scouting
by: Tray Murphy, Scoutmaster, Troop 891, Richmond, VA
Member, National Speleological Society, Richmond Area Speleological
Society, and NSS Vertical Section

Some time ago, I was asked to write the definitive work on the ever popular subj
ect of Scouts going
caving. This short (?) treatise will be posted to four places: alt.caving, rec.
scouting, Cavers' Digest,
and SCOUTS-L digest. I suggest you extract it to a text file, and read it off-l
ine, then maybe make a
few copies and pass it around. Maybe this will help to lessen the friction betw
een the two groups
(Scouters and cavers) that I'm hearing about on both fronts. This will be in tw
o major sections, one for
Scouts and their leaders, the other for cavers. First, a little background, and
some common elements.

I started caving 23 years ago at 14 years old. The cavers of ESSO Grotto took me
under their wing, and
taught me how to cave without getting hurt, and to minimize my impact on any ca
ve I visited,
"sacrificial" or not. In other words, cavers taught me how to preserve caves, a
nd do it safely. At 18, I
joined a Boy Scout troop that my brothers belonged to, mostly to take the older
Scouts caving, and
teach them climbing, and ropework. I've been involved with both groups on a loc
al, regional, and
national level ever since. I regularly take Scout troops caving, and so far, ha
ve a perfect safety record
. Some of these Scouts have become accomplished cavers, others have never been
underground again.
The next few paragraphs should help to explain how we do it safely, and why I d
o it the way I do.
Unless otherwise cited, the opinions herein are mine, amassed over the previous
20+ years of Scouting
and caving.

Caving has been found to be the third fastest growing "adventure" sport in the c
ountry. That means the
pressure on cavers to introduce people to the underground environment will only
continue to grow.
This is a fact of life, owing greatly to the exposure caving has received in rec
ent years in the news media
(Lechuguilla's discovery, rescues of both cavers and non-cavers, articles in ma
gazines such as Boy's
Life - featuring the caving Brown family, Outside and National Geographic - fea
turing Bill Stone during
his Huautla expeditions, etc.). All we as cavers can hope to do is educate, all
eviate (more later), and
find cave trip leaders that know how to take groups caving safely and responsib
ly. What cavers are
trying to avoid is finding 25 Scouts with little or no equipment, several hours
back in a cave with high
exposures, and other dangers, mindlessly stomping through a cave tramping down
everything in sight,
while daintily plucking bats from the walls; this is an accident waiting to happ
en not to mention against
the law. What Scout leaders are trying to do is find ever more challenging, edu
cational, and exciting
things to inject into their program, since they compete with so many other acti
vities for the boy's
attention.

Cave resources are limited, and threatened on many fronts, all across the countr
y. Laws have been
enacted to help protect the natural resource of caves, and we all need to do ev
erything possible to
protect both the cave and its environment, and the health and safety of the peo
ple who explore them.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the Scouters:
First, read the Guide to Safe Scouting. It is available from your local Scout Se
rvice Center. It is the
bible that you should follow when planning trips and activities for your Scouts
. It has a specific
section on caving, climbing, and rappelling. It says:

"These minimum safety _requirements_ apply (emphasis mine):
_1. Cave exploring, other than simple novice activities, should be limited to
Scouts and Explorers
fourteen years of age or older._ (Emphasis BSA's, indicating mandatory standard
s).
2. Group leaders qualify through training and experience in cave exploring and
through knowing
established practices of safety, conservation, and cave courtesy (meaning land
owner relations, etc.
- my addition).*
3. Leader and group must understand and agree to follow the basic practices and
policies of caving
approved by the National Speleological Society and the Boy Scouts of America.
References: Venture activity pamphlet, Caving, No. 33458, and detailed informati
on prepared by the
National Speleological Society available from the Council Services Division at
the National Office."
*My asterisk, too - just because a father says he went caving 20 years ago with
his frat buddies (or
even a grotto), don't assume he knows about modern, safe caving. A lot has chan
ged in the last few
years concerning safety, equipment, techniques, conservation, and landowner rel
ations.)

Pretty clear. Yet, a lot of the SM's I see writing, and calling, seem to think t
he rules don't apply to
them. The 14 year old age limit is there for a reason. There has to be a carrot
-and-stick approach to
keeping boys interested. If they've done everything by the time they're 14, the
re's not much left.
That's why it is a Venture Scout pamphlet, and not a merit badge! Also, it's ver
y clear in Scouting
literature that not every activity is for every boy. Project COPE limits its pa
rticipants, as does
Philmont and the other high adventure bases, even National Jamborees have age l
imits. This age limit
also helps with another problem. The literature cited as references talks about
it: group size. Cavers
try to limit the size of any group to 12 or less, except under some exceptional
circumstances. This
includes caving trip leaders, and the 2-deep leadership (that means 2 _register
ed_ adults) required by
the BSA. That only leaves about 8 youth spaces. The size limit helps to control
the group, its
whereabouts, and its activities. Small groups are more easily
supervised, and are generally better behaved. Realize that an injury to a Scout
only an hour from the
entrance of a cave could take 15 or more hours to effect a rescue. Only one Sco
ut has to get out of line
for someone to get hurt. Also, limiting group size helps the group in moving th
rough the cave
smoothly. Except for show cave trails, few caves have hiking grade footing thro
ughout. Tight spots,
or a tricky crawl or climb can slow the group to a snail's pace. Too many peopl
e means the ones in
back get cold and antsy while waiting, and the ones in front tend not to wait f
or them, creating a
situation where the group is split up - obviously a dangerous situation. If you
have too many 14 and
ups, find another way to cull out some - use attendance, rank, dues status, or
other method to weed
out those who only show up for the "fun stuff". Limiting the group size also le
ssens the impact on the
cave. Studies have shown that very small air temperature changes in the cave, c
aused by body heat,
can adversely affect bats living there, especially if they are
hibernating. Lint, trash, and other human
debris is left in caves, no matter how small the group, but smaller groups tend
to police the cave better,
leaving it in better shape than a convoy of people on a stampede. Also, conside
r the older Scouts, too.
In the last stampede I witnessed, the older Scouts were clearly tired of having
to push the younger,
smaller Scouts along. The younger ones were exhausted, cold, and in way over th
eir heads. The older
ones resented having to push them every step of the way. As a result, the group
saw little more than
the entrance room and a couple of dead passages, while my crew visited the pret
tiest sections of the
cave, only 45 minutes beyond where the other group was stalled.

Now, what about that "simple novice activities". Lots of discussion with leaders
and cavers has
brought me to this conclusion:
Simple novice activities are: no exposure (danger of falling) over the height of
the shortest participant,
and that exposure must be spottable. The trip should be no more than 2-3 hours
long (not enough to
challenge a gung-ho patrol of 14-year-olds, plenty enough for a bunch of 11 and
12's). Our troop sends
younger Scouts to commercial show caves for their trail tours, and since we onl
y schedule caving trips
about every two years, after a 12 year old goes to a commercial cave, he's gene
rally eligible to go on
the sport trip next time. Young Scouts simply don't have the maturity to handle
many of the
challenges, both physical and mental, that go along with sport caving if you in
tend to go much beyond
an entrance room. Our grotto leads "kids" trips with a ratio of 1 caver to no m
ore than 2 kids ratio for
the families in our grotto, but we still stay within simple novice activities.
This approach would not
work well with Scouts because only three or four Scouts could go with a 1:2 rat
io of cavers to novices.

Another question I often hear: Why won't cavers talk to me about taking my troop
caving? Well, it
will be a lot easier if you read the above references first, and plan to let the
m know that you will abide
by their rules for going underground. Remember, you're the one asking someone e
lse to do _you_ a
favor, and possibly expose him- or herself to liability by taking _your_ Scouts
caving. No one has a
"right" to go caving. Many cavers are simply not willing to leave themselves ha
nging out like that. If
they have insurance, they're a potential litigation target. If someone gets hur
t, they have to _prove_
they weren't negligent, and if some judge or jury doesn't understand the what t
he case is all about,
they could lose everything they own. Sound like fun? The BSA will not help them
if they are not
registered Scouters, so most cavers are on their own with liability coverage, a
nd most probably have
no more than their homeowner's blanket policy, if that. Another reason is that
so many Scoutmasters
seem to think that they know all about taking boys on adventure activities, eve
n if they've never done
it themselves. Books and literature are no substitute for experience when it co
mes to adventure
programming. You should no more take a group to the top of Denali without years
of experience than
you should insist that someone else take your crew into an
underground wilderness. Realize that some cavers may not
feel qualified to lead a novice group underground. I've seen some excellent und
erground group leaders,
and some abysmal ones. Trust the caver if he/she says they can't (or won't) lea
d and offers no further
explanation. I don't like to admit when I can't do something, either.

Probably the biggest reason that cavers don't respond well to requests to go cav
ing is that they get so
many. Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, college (and high school) outdoor clubs, parks a
nd recreation groups,
the list goes on and on. So, many grottos have had to say "no more outside group
trips". They're just
inundated. If you were my the fifth caller on a given night, I think I'd be a l
ittle short, too.

And finally, there's the question of equipment. Cavers _have_ to be properly pre
pared to be safe in
the underground. Remember how long it takes to get an injured person out? Where
's the food and
water? How about warmth and light? A lot of cavers live on a shoestring caving
budget, and cannot
afford to outfit 12 other people with helmets with chinstraps and a light sourc
e, spare lighting for
each, and all the other things you need to be safe and comfortable underground.
Construction hardhats
with string under the chin will not cut it. $5 headlamps are OK only for the si
mple novice activities.
Packs need to be bigger than a wallet, and hold all the correct stuff. It's mig
hty expensive if you're
trying to equip a whole crew.

If you do approach a caver, try to do it in person. The NSS Home Page can help y
ou find a grotto and
contact near you. Go to a grotto meeting. Meet some of the cavers. Maybe go cav
ing with them, if
you can. Stress that you want to teach your Scouts something about caves and cav
ing, rather than
coming off as a thrill seeker, and maybe they'll talk to you. In any case, they
're going to talk to you
about it on their terms. So accept that, and go from there. Cavers aren't neces
sarily standoff-ish or
cold. They just don't get approached in the right way (I know from first hand ex
perience!). Don't
ask to camp underground in a cave. Your Scouts can get the full caving experien
ce without spending
a night underground. Few cavers will accept such a request anyway. Little campi
ng is ever done
underground, except for expedition style cave exploration where there is no cho
ice. The reason is
cave conservation: how do you manage human wastes, trash, and body heat warming
the cave? What
about drinking water? Lots of reasons to camp in campgrounds and cave in caves.

Now what happens, if no one will take you caving. Well, you can keep looking, pe
rhaps contacting a
another grotto, or another caver. Or you can limit your trip to a commercial sho
w cave. Some of these
caverns offer "wild" trips, typically for a fee. They are usually geared for a
lowest common
denominator, and can be little more than exploring unlit commercial trail, or t
hey can venture out into
undeveloped areas of the cave, adding in something more than simple walking. A
last resort can be
cave-for-pay operations. With cave for pay, it's a toss-up as to what you get.
Few "operators" carry
liability insurance, and as "commercial outfitters", they certainly should. Che
cking credentials can be
extremely hard. There is _no_ organization which "certifies" cave trip leaders.
With a profit motive,
they are more likely to cut corners with equipment and safety. They may or may
not have permission
to be in a cave. Not many landowners are happy to have cave-for-pay operations g
oing on in their
caves, and the discovery of trespassers can be embarrassing and expensive for t
he operator and his
charges. And, you are not likely to get any education in caving techniques. The
y also seldom limit
group sizes ($$$$$), and a huge group in a cave just isn't going to have any fu
n.

_____________________________________________________________

PLEASE ALSO READ PART 2!!!

Tray

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