43-HOUR Cave Survey Trip

[@kingobama4305]

43 hours? when I took that 3 hour self-guided tour at Carlsbad Caverns i was pretty disoriented afterwards, so I can't imagine how trippy it would be to spend 43 hours in a cave.

[@timcantrell9673]

Truely Amazing! The carefulness of the team is so totally right on.

[@Robinsjem]

3:14 4000 feet of crawling?!! 😱 Truly amazing cave. Love your videos and are looking for some local caves in my area in Norway. Thanks for the videos!

[@garybeasley4885]

Great video! Thanks for all your hard work getting this to us.

[@DerekBristol]

My pleasure

[@Kris_at_WhiteOaksFarm]

Snowy River is amazing! Thanks for the tour.

[@caverken]

Awesome. Thank you for carrying a tripod that far. The extra work really shows and makes the video so much more enjoyable to watch. Great work.

[@DerekBristol]

Thanks Ken, but no tripod was used. Too much other gear to carry, and I wouldn't find the time to set one up for every shot along with conducting the survey. I use a combination of steady hand-holding, camera body and lens stabilization, and post production image stabilization. This results in many clips being nearly as steady as a tripod.

[@caverken]

@@DerekBristol Wow. I am just in awe of the shots you captured. Great work. Congratulations to you and the everyone else for pushing Ft Stanton to over forty miles.

[@xxwookey]

Good job going to quite a lot of trouble keeping the cave clean.

[@primcj5]

i didnt even wait till the end of the video before liking this !

[@DerekBristol]

Ha! That would have been a long wait. I was a bit reluctant to release a 15 minute video, but I couldn't bring myself to cut any more.

[@MrScottrhelms]

@@DerekBristol I would have watched 2 hours of this!!!

[@danegarreau]

@@MrScottrhelms me too!!

[@WanderingVillage]

Awesome! Your caving videos are the best around. The last time I was in Fort Stanton Cave, we saw the very beginnings of the dig in Don Sawyer; just a shallow pit and a few shovels. At the time Priority 7 was the only way into Snowy River and I never went past the gate.

[@DerekBristol]

I've never been through the original Priority 7 dig - closed now. Sounded very scary. It took a lot of work by a lot of people to engineer a safe and convenient alternative.

[@adventuresamNfam]

Calcite is amazing! It has so many variations!

[@michaelh8854]

Truly incredible cave and footage

[@syzygy2043]

Wow, breathtaking formations. May I ask how the velvet speleothems are thought to form?

[@DerekBristol]

I've not heard an explanation.

[@Chris3141592]

Fabulous!

[@chancysallee7435]

Wow loved this video!! I was in Ft. Stanton back in 2005 for a half day trip it was a wonderful experience. It’s exciting to see how much has been discovered since then. The cinematography on these trips really are super!!! Feels like we got to go with you in a way without the sore muscles. Great job!!

[@jennifersmith9172]

Beautiful!

[@michelleniemi6693]

THANK YOU so much for making these videos!

[@stefanradivoyevitch2829]

Great discoveries! And congratulations on a very successful survey. And most of all thanks for sharing by making such fantastic videos.

[@adventuresamNfam]

What minerals are the velvet flowstone! Please! I have only ever heard of velvet malachite but that’s not green!

[@uintasunderground6245]

WOW!! Great find Derek!

[@ufosalienssantana6428]

Incredible caving trip Mr. Bristrol. I love the way you put this video together. That's alot of spelunking my friend. You have helped me so much with my closterphobia. You and your team are highly appreciated. Keep up the amazing work and may the good Lord continue to bless you and your caving family......

[@DerekBristol]

Thank you very much!

[@matthewbeeson9099]

Amazing video!! Thank you!

[@plumberfromhell]

Thank you-an incredible video.Kudos!!

[@scottfinn3217]

Looks fun!

[@islandjason]

When do you wanna come to Vancouver Island and cave with us?

[@GeologicalNerd]

That flowstone is impressive. Looks like calcium(or other carbonate) with possibly iron oxides and manganese? Not sure. I would have to look up the area. Either way, just spectacular! Cheers

[@UndergroundAdventures]

Great video of a beautiful cave. The snowy river passage looks awesome. Are you not scared to destroy this speleotems, when you walk on it all the time?

[@DerekBristol]

We take care to not cause damage. The calcite floor of the Snowy River formation is quite thick and durable in most places - like concrete. There are a few thin areas, especially near the edges of the formation, that take extra caution. One of the biggest concerns is the risk of knocking manganese off the ceiling onto the formation. We also don't travel on it when it's wet.

[@UndergroundAdventures]

@@DerekBristol yeah i know that you take care. But it looks so fragile.

[@daniels8625]

Fort Stanton doesn't seem to be a run-of-the-mill cave. It looks like it might connect with Lincoln Caverns section.

[@DerekBristol]

The Capitan Caverns (new survey) and Lincoln Caverns (historic cave) are the same passage, but blocked by breakdown with air passing through. It would take a dig to open up a route.

[@yojonathano]

@@DerekBristol In that case is Lincoln Caverns considered overall mileage of Ft. Stanton Cave or it is considered as separate caves?

[@arizonii3747]

The Minecraft cave update is looking very realistic.

[@arizonii3747]

Jokes aside, this cave is beautiful- thanks for sharing!

[@Sarregouset]

Why are none of the names from the video on the map, and vice versa?

[@DerekBristol]

Good question. The Snowy River Passage and Gold Rush are indicated in the video, but the map is a quickly generated lineplot without much detail. The cartography is being worked on and will have all the names, as well as other details, but takes time to produce. Our survey is shown on the lineplot in green, but some of the footage is travel through other recently surveyed sections.

[@michaelh8854]

Why don’t more caves have snowy rivers if it’s just caused by water flowing down a stream

[@DerekBristol]

Very good question. No good answers. It's safe to say that the Snowy River passage is quite unique. It has a very consistent and modest gradient (it dips at around 0.5 degrees along most of its length). This, combined with regular cycles of flood and drought seems to create just the right conditions for calcite raft formation and deposition.

[@Sheahova]

soo thats how they make dip n dots they dig it out of caves XD

[@adventuresamNfam]

It’s crazy to think people destroy these beautiful places for money!😭

[@tomhorseman9832]

You dont even realize what your looking at......its so earie, but.....almost necessary. I love the social behaviors of cavers