Holy cow. This is incredible. I don't think I've ever seen any landscape like that before and it was like looking to an alien world. I got amazing second hand nerves and excitement watching this.
Thank you so much for doing all the hard work it must have taken to make this beautiful video. It's especially appreciated by old cavers like me (73) who will never venture into that fantastic place.
Great Work! As a guy from New Mexico, I've always been fascinated with the caves! Thank you so much for sharing such lovely footage from such a potentially treacherous expedition!
Wow! What a bizarre landscape. Alot of us can only dream of going to Lechuguilla one day. Derek, you have been able to show us what its like to have hands on caving experience. Thank you for your Work.
That is so amazing to think in the earth is so much more amazing surprises we never imagine in a thousands years,,an only a hand full of people will ever see those in person not even %.100
I thought our Ky caves were beautiful, but this cave is amazing! Loved the room full of flowstone. Keep up the good work on both the caving and video editing!
Wow, I'm impressed you got that much footage, thats like numbers from the old days when you rack it up. I was never lucky enough to be on any Lech trips that had big breakouts but that borehole fever is what really drives exploration. Seeing you excellent video brought back a lot of happy memories of some great Lech trips. I miss that cave. Well maybe not a few places I can think of in the Far East.
Another excellent vid Derek! Been looking forward to seeing a video of the new area. Heading back home in a couple of months to spend 9 days in the High Guads. Cant Wait!
Spectacular video! So great to see the care taken while exploring. Also nice to revisit some to the familiar spots from my past visits. Thanks so much for sharing! Awesome job!
Watching your videos makes me wish I had continued my spelunking adventures. I started to do it when I was 17 up until I was about 22. Now I'm probably too big to fit in the tiny spaces.
Spectacular part of the cave. Bring back some memories of my trip, thank you for sharing. Excellent video production! Why was Boulder Falls rebelayed? I remember it as a pretty direct drop.
There were two large rope pads and 30 feet where the rope rides against the wall. This wears on the rope and the rope pads. Occasionally the rope doesn't get put back on one of the rope pads after a caver has passed, creating a safety concern. I wouldn't have said a rebelay was necessary, but in my opinion it's a welcome improvement. It also reduces the rope stretch at the start of the climb.
I think it was only 64 miles of cave, Back in '89 or thereabouts. I was a volunteer for the helium project, 8 person party from Arizona trip leaders, Dave Haimer and Ray Keeler; 48 hour tour.
I carry 3x Zebralight H604, high CRI lights. For most shots I just use one of these at ~1,000 lumens. Most footage is captured on a Sony A7iii, which has great low-light capability and I can run the ISO as high as 12,800.
This video is so beautiful. I want to make a video for my youtube channel.I want to use some footage from this video. I will mention your channel name and credit .please allow me to use this footage as per youtube fair use policy
derek, have you seen any grout refilling done by oilfield companies? i have heard of several instances in which drills entered portions of the caves and subsequently refilled their passage. incredible camera work btw
No, I haven't seen this, but I'm aware it is happening. All of the known portions of Lech are inside the National Park, so there's no drilling there. These caves are hypogenic, and there are many hundreds or thousands of miles of passages without easy access. These yet-to-be-discovered caves are certainly being impacted.
Hi Daniel. I'm just using a Zebralight on the "High-2" setting (about 1,000 lumens). I'm using the latest mkIV model with a high CRI - 4000K emitter and the flood optic. These are quite small and work well as video lights. I hold the camera in my right hand and the Zebralight in my left hand at arms-length to get a little separation. I set the white balance on the camera to 4000K to match the color temperature of the Zebralight.
I totally disagree with you climbing on the Flow stones or drilling into them. Your destroying them. This cave system should be Declared a World Heritage Site, to Protect it . Any way, thank you for the absolutely stunning & beautiful video of this wonderful Crystal system underground.❤😮❤
I would thinks so. I see that they're wearing protective foot wear and gloves to prevent damage to fragile formations. I can't imagine the enormity of this cave from a standpoint of actually being there.
