What are facts about caving spelunking?

Answer 1

spelunking

Answer 2

The proper term is the first, "caving".

It is an outdoor-pursuit rather than sport, the hobby of visiting natural caves and abandoned mines. This covers both simply visiting known caves for the physical and mental challenges and the aesthetic appeal; and searching for and exploring "new" caves.

It also covers Speleology - the umbrella term for scientific study of the caves and their natural contents.

It is not a hobby for the faint-hearted or dilettante as caves do present their own hazards; but approached properly, with the risks minimised by using the right equipment and knowledge, and appropriate level of fitness, it can be a very rewarding activity indeed.

That equipment can range from little more than old clothes and a simple lamp and safety-helmet to the specially-developed protective clothing and rope-climbing gear now common.

Cave-diving takes that an order of magnitude further, and definitely is a speciality for very experienced cavers first and foremost, wishing to learn the peculiarities and particular hazards of diving in caves in order to explore whatever lies beyond the "sumps" (water-filled passages). It is not a hobby of its own, but an adjunct to caving; and there have been open-water divers killed by venturing into deep, flooded caves without knowing the characteristics of such places, and the basic but vital precautions.

Finding a cave not previously entered, gives the discoverer team the unique experience of seeing something no-one else anywhere on Earth has seen; but other than on expeditions to remote areas of the world, this is now normally the reward for long-term, patient efforts that might be spread over some years.

"Spelunking" is an odd word. It was invented by some American cavers in the 1930s, as an attempt to sound fancy (the "spel" root is from the Greek for "cave"); but it did not catch on anywhere else, and after a while it became debased by cavers themselves in its own country.

In Northern England, caving was once also called "Pot-holing" - the region holds a lot of caves entered by open shafts loosely called "pot-holes"; but both terms are also practically obsolete even among cavers, save for surviving in the names of a few caving-clubs established in the first decades of the 20C.