I’ve been caving for quite some time, and I’ve run everything from carbide cap lamps and generators to Petzl electric lights, even hand held lamps. A few years ago I moved to LED like most of the world, but I am allergic to spending too much on lights…. Mainly because I’m also a photographer and I can spend money there more quickly.

Given my obvious love of gear and desire for frugality I found Wurkkos lights a few years ago, and Sofirn shortly after that. I’ve been really liking Sofirn, they are good lights for a great price. I had several of their lights, and then the HS 20 came out and I thought this is a great light for caving. Then the HS 21 was released, and I really liked the form factor and the rotating bezel switch. Really great light. Perhaps my caving light search is over.

But something was there, scratching along the edge of my vision. The lights are great, but not soft and warm. I wrote up an email to Sofirn saying “I think there is a market for a warm, floody light” not thinking anything would come of it.

Shortly after that I saw an ad for a new Sofirn light with variable color temperature, and a flood and spot light. It had nearly the same form factor as the HS20. I was sold. This looked great. It came pretty soon, and I, of course, couldn’t get out caving for over a month.

But today I got to go caving and spend some time with my light set up.

Some thoughts.

HS20 is a super great headlamp, has a spot and a floodlight, and is a really cool (5500kelvin) color. Great for seeing around the cave, and good for long trips. (currently $29.98 on Amazon, also available from the Sofirn store directly)

HS21, my current favorite form factor. Has a rotating bezel switch to change between flood, spot, and is a center mounted light. This has a great spot mode, and is also a “cool” (5500kelvin) light. (Currently $54.99 on Amazon, or available through the Sofirn store directly)

HS22, I was skeptical. I am a fan of high kelvin light, especially for caves with darker walls or big rooms. I am more than pleasantly surprised. This is a great light… really bright but also a very broad floodlight. As a photograph the “quality of light” is just awesome. Take a look at some of the comparison photos where I’m using the lights to fill in shadows….. it opens them up without creating a harsh edge. Very very nice. My only complaint is that the “button logic” for changing modes takes a bit to learn.

So my suggestion (if you read all this way thank you)

I really like having the HS21 and HS22 together. I was able to use the HS22 for most of the cave. At one point I was rappelling and wanted to see something and it was super easy to click on the HS20 and turn the bezel to spot light while on rope. The two form factors work well together.

I also have a bunch of extra batteries and a charger I can throw it a waterproof case and bring along for long trips.

If the price tag is high, the HS 20 is a great light too. Keep an eye on their site for sales. They happen pretty often and can drop to costs of these great lights even lower.

Does anyone know about this cave ? Stories ? Anyone been inside ?

Qattine Azar is the longest cave in development (11,867 meters), and 2nd deepest (507 meters) in Lebanon.

The cave entrance is a regular one, a big chasm in the rock, everyone knew about it for years, and shepherds use it to hide their herds from the rain.

In 1996 a guy from the village approached a member of my caving club and told him that the cave goes beyond the 30 meters we knew of. The cave was eventually named Qattine Azar after that guy and his brother, since they discovered the continuation.

The cave starts with a big entrance of 30 meters, goes up 8 meters, then horizontally another 30 meters of a very narrow tunnel, and then it opens up again to a big drop of 75 meters. There's around 420 meters of descent on rope, including a 39 meters drop, a 43 meters and, the biggest continuous drop in Lebanon, 180 meters, with another series of drops in parallel to the 180, that's around 200.

At the end of the 180 drop is our first base camp, and a passage that leads to the river, a long river that ends with a 42 meters deep lake, that now distributes potable water to 27 villages around the area.

Following the river will lead you to the second base camp, and so many new passages and chimneys. There is so so much potential of new discoveries in Qattine Azar, we have so many different locations we've been continuing explorations in lately, and none of them seem to have an end.

Thank you for reading, I hope I did it justice trying to portray how grandiose it is :) (definitely didn't do it justice with the pictures)

Check out this video about it if you wanna see more: https://youtu.be/wmbyPormdJw?si=0Fe8O1KInaw4cLO5

This is for you old timers out there or the one timers too maybe.... Why did ya hang your headlamp up? Id like to think health and time/commitments would be the biggest factors but kinda curious as to was it your knees, back, shoulders, what made ya decide that the risk wasn't worth the reward anymore?

I have been caveing for a few years primarily in dry caves using varuse combinations of caveing shorts and cotton coveralls.

As I gain more experience I am starting to get into more wet systems. I have used wetsuits in the past but they just don't hold up very well.

I'm hoping a dedicated cave suit can hold up a bit longer as this is for high elevation wet caveing I'm looking mostly at AV Titan suit and simler.

The one thing giving me a bit of pause is the hight in the sizeing guide. I am 6 foot 3inches tall and thogh the other dimensions on the XL fit me pretty well it lists a hight of 5 10.

I'm curious of anyone else here on the taller end of things has tried one of these suits and if it fit.

Additinaly I'm looking for other reconditions for a cold wet caveing suit that would be more acomidating to my height.

There is this vertical shaft in the photo and just a couple feet up and to the right of the photo is a more horizontal entrance (maybe a different cave i don’t know for certain yet) I’m pretty set on cliff climbing gear, just wondering what else to bring (cave specific gear) and are there any good videos/ web pages to check to learn how to do this properly and safely? Also is there an app like OnX but for caves?

i mean when you guys go into a cave, what's your goal? are you trying to find something? are you just bored? i'm really curious.

Recently we went on a self guided tour to Worley cave and were looking for the pool room we think we found it could someone tell me if the jaba the hut formation is in or close to the pool room

I really wanna try spelunking, but I'm not sure where to begin. I'm 29, and fit. I do crawlspace work for a living so I'm not too unfamiliar with cramped dark places. Where does one begin this journey? What are some good courses to get into to learn safety and technique? Thank you.

Rock bc I don’t want my face on Reddit lol

Hello I’ve joined to see if I can glean some information from people who have experience caving. To be as honest as I can be I am gathering this information as it can assist me in a book I am writing. I have come here to get those answers because I want them to be as realistic and true as they can possibly get.

1: What is the common gear that you bring while going caving? 2: If you have surveyed a cave, what is the process like? 3: What are most cave systems like? 4: How was your experience caving? 5: What are some community norms when it comes to caving? 6: Taboos of caving? 7: Regarding Chambers filled with water (natural or flooding) can an undershoot that is NOT flooded exist beneath it? 8: If you trained for caving ( I imagine you have) can you please let me know some of the practices and training you’ve experienced?

Thanks so much. I’m still trying to build up the courage to go into a cave one day. Let me know

Join us on an unforgettable underground adventure near Tullahoma, Tennessee in a cave that hasn't seen cavers in over 30 years, until now. This cave was originally only explored and mapped by a small team back in the late 1980s. When the survey was complete, the previous owners locked it down immediately and for decades, the cave sat untouched… until a new opportunity arose.

A few months ago, one of my YouTube followers, Jacob, reached out about visiting this long-closed cave. After coordinating logistics and with permission from the landowner, we finally made it happen and what we found inside was far more than we expected.

The original explorers mapped this cave to over 10,000 feet and inside it boasts massive borehole passage, deep vertical pits that have never been explored, lots of unstable breakdown, and even a few sketchy climbs that tested our skills but nothing we couldn’t handle. Along the way, we also encountered some truly remarkable features such as ancient claw marks possibly left by Pleistocene-era bears, preserved in the mud for thousands of years, massive piles of old bat guano, evidence of when bats once roosted here in large numbers and a surreal and untouched atmosphere that made it feel like we had stepped back in time.

Whether you're into exploration, history, geology, or just love caves, this one is something special.

After we explored the cave and came back to the pit entrance we got to see some amazing sun rays beaming down lighting up the formations.

Hey I am looking for someone who has been caving in nothern Germany or is part of a local group

The rope itself looked to be in good condition. The cave is pretty wet. I'm a beginner climber.

The rope I'd be climbing is the one directly below the black crate. I'd like to climb it to get to a new part of the cave up at the top.

I tried to reach out to a Virginia grotto and they never got back to me is there anybody who can help me

Just the beginning of mammoth cave in Kentucky. One of the biggest systems.