Caving

Caving, also called spelunking in the United States and Canada and potholing in the United Kingdom and Ireland, is the recreational pastime of exploring wild cave systems, as distinct from show caves prepared for tourists; the related scientific study of caves is speleology. The difficulty of a given trip depends on the cave being visited, and beyond the total absence of light past the entrance, cavers may have to negotiate tight squeezes, awkward pitches, and water hazards; cave diving is a distinct and more hazardous sub-specialty practiced by a small minority of technically proficient cavers. Some of the most devoted and serious-minded cavers, working in an area where the recreational pursuit and scientific study overlap, become skilled at surveying and mapping caves and at formally publishing their findings, usually freely and publicly in the UK and other European countries, and more privately in the United States. Caving is sometimes labeled an extreme sport, a term cavers themselves tend to dislike because they feel it implies a disregard for safety; the sport is comparatively safe next to other activities given that label, though incidents such as flooding, hypothermia, rock falls, falls by cavers, or rope-technique accidents do occur, and many caving skills overlap with those used in canyoning and in mine and urban exploration. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/