A bit of Brit representation on this trip:  https://youtu.be/UGnA4ZCLGY8

Just got back from RF on Thursday. One of my first tourist trips in several years since I had some girls along who didn't want to survey.

Certainly a bit of overdramatized nonsense in the video.

There was actually some very real drama on that trip - a very large boulder (displaced by my foot) shot down and nearly took out half the party, a squeeze had to be widened in order to get someone out and 2am burgers after 17 odd hours of hauling a lot of stuff through quite a lot of cave.

In my experience most tourists to Rumbling don't really go that far and don't have a good appreciation of actually how spectacular it is - the multiple large fossil trunks, the hidden crystal 'treasure troves', the size, the grandeur and duration of the river. Really is a special special cave. Very glad to have done the through trip too.

As for all the comments of crawling they are indeed nonsense but to be fair to Chris Higgins I think this does capture a bit of the grandeur beyond the rumble room and shows people having quite a lot of fun carrying out a complicated logistical nightmare.

Nw. I appreciate your comments and agree that the cave is immense and special. 17 hours is also not enough time to begin to appreciate RF. While I'm sure the trip was both enjoyable and difficult, I admit to being flatly unimpressed with overcoming a self-imposed "logistical nightmare".

I agree that many tourists don't see much of the cave, and that is a good thing. I have spent a decade now in careful study of the few miles surrounding RF and am gratified to find that not only is there enough caving there for multiple lifetimes but the amount of effort needed to see many of the caves or places within them has kept them largely intact.

There is a description of the the trip Nearlywhite refers to in the Winter edition of the Belfry Bulletin.  A shameless plug for the BEC by its editor

Kenilworth said:

17 hours is also not enough time to begin to appreciate RF.

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You're not the only expert mate - it wasn't my first time there (even done some original exploration). And you can get a good appreciation of it if you're quick - I think there's reason to be impressed given the size and weight of the kit carried and the speed with which it was moved plus filming plus a bit of touristing.

I hope it does get visited by a lot more people as there's no point in it being there if cavers don't see it.

And I highly recommend the trip report - Paul did a smashing job.

Thanks for posting that, enjoyed watching it. The only downside to watching videos and seeing pictures of these massive overseas caves is it just makes me question what the hell I'm doing wasting my time scratching around digging in North Wales

nearlywhite said:

Kenilworth said:

17 hours is also not enough time to begin to appreciate RF.

Click to expand...

You're not the only expert mate - it wasn't my first time there (even done some original exploration). And you can get a good appreciation of it if you're quick - I think there's reason to be impressed given the size and weight of the kit carried and the speed with which it was moved plus filming plus a bit of touristing.

I hope it does get visited by a lot more people as there's no point in it being there if cavers don't see it.

And I highly recommend the trip report - Paul did a smashing job.

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I am by no means an expert on Rumbling Falls. My expertise ends about a half mile to the east of the pit entrance.

You cannot appreciate anything of substance in a day or two, especially if you are quick, and I am extremely difficult to impress. Give yourself a hand if you like. You could have carried a drum of cucumbers and caved with all your fingers tied together and done something really special.

There's no point in it being there if cavers don't see it? What a lot of presumptuous nonsense. Do you have a wife or woman? Do you hope lots of other fellows take her to bed? No point in a lovely body if everyone and their uncle isn't screwing it after all. And no one had a clue what fidelity might have to do with caving.

The earth has significance beyond our ability to appreciate, especially if we're a lot of blockheads as so many cavers appear to be. If you had spent half your life watching things you love, things of immense value (known and unknown) be diminished and demolished in the name of self-indulgent tourism, you might have learned to speak more carefully and insightfully.

christopher said:

what the hell I'm doing wasting my time scratching around digging in North Wales

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Hi Chris
Where about in North Wales are you scratching about

cavemanmike said:

christopher said:

what the hell I'm doing wasting my time scratching around digging in North Wales

Click to expand...

Hi Chris
Where about in North Wales are you scratching about

Click to expand...

Well I'll be doing that too - OHA needs revisiting... I'll give you guys a bell later this week

And Kenilworth: well done for elucidating your point with a multisyllabic ad hominem and nonsensical comparisons - last time I checked none of us were married to caving. At least this blockhead has seen a LOT more of Rumbling than you - it goes on for another 10 miles where you stopped, but of course I couldn't possibly appreciate it as much as you did because I'm nowhere near as well read or sanctimonious in my attitude so must be inferior. But at least I actually saw it.

Anyway I'll stop, it's bad practice to feed the trolls, even the erudite ones.

[gmod]No more bickering or arguing please![/gmod]

lol comparing inanimate tubes in the ground to women