Cover: Chris Stine with two huge, 1m high helictites in Lechuguilla Cave, USA. China. Photograph by Peter and Ann Bosted.

Features:

Twenty Thousand Metres Under Pwll Du.

Exploration proceeds apace in Ogof Draennen, which passed the 20km mark in the New Year. Here's the details of how the round-trip in Britain's fastest growing cave was discovered.

Sleets Gill: The Movie.

In 1992 Les Hewitt and Roy Dean were rescued in a spectacular fashion from Sleets Gill Cave. Subsequently, a film documentary was made. Should it have been titled Get trapped with Les? What was it like to return to the scene of this almost fatal incident?

Prusiking on a Core.

The 1994 Chimanimani expedition to Zimbabwe was a resounding success, and attained a depth record for southern Africa. Yet, not everything went right. When a rope sheath parted company, there was no alternative to prusiking on the core.

Plus the regular Newsdesk, reports from Wales, Derbyshire, Ireland, Mendip, North, Forest of Dean, International and Mining.

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