Editing Caving (section)

== History ==
In the mid-19th century, [[John Birkbeck]] explored potholes in England, notably [[Gaping Gill]] in 1842 and [[Alum Pot]] in 1847–8, returning there in the 1870s. In the mid-1880s, [[Herbert E. Balch]] began exploring [[Wookey Hole Caves]] and in the 1890s, Balch was introduced to the [[caves of the Mendip Hills]]. One of the oldest established caving clubs, [[Yorkshire Ramblers' Club]], was founded in 1892.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yrc.org.uk/yrcweb/index.php/theclub-menu|title=The Club|work=Yorkshire Rambler's Club Website|publisher=YRC Committee|access-date=10 January 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231092919/http://www.yrc.org.uk/yrcweb/index.php/theclub-menu|archive-date=31 December 2013}}</ref>

Caving as a specialized pursuit was pioneered by [[Édouard-Alfred Martel]] (1859–1938), who first achieved the descent and exploration of the [[Gouffre de Padirac]], in France, as early as 1889 and the first complete descent of a 110-metre wet vertical shaft at Gaping Gill in 1895. He developed his own techniques based on ropes and metallic ladders. Martel visited [[Kentucky]] and notably [[Mammoth Cave National Park]] in October 1912. In the 1920s famous US caver [[Floyd Collins]] made important explorations in the area and in the 1930s, as caving became increasingly popular, small exploration teams both in the [[Alps]] and in the karstic high plateaus of southwest France ([[Causses]] and [[Pyrenees]]) transformed cave exploration into both a scientific and recreational activity. [[Robert de Joly]], [[Guy de Lavaur]] and [[Norbert Casteret]] were prominent figures of that time, surveying mostly caves in Southwest France.

During [[World War II]], an alpine team composed of [[Pierre Chevalier (caver)|Pierre Chevalier]], [[Fernand Petzl]], Charles Petit-Didier and others explored the [[Dent de Crolles]] cave system near [[Grenoble]], which became the deepest explored system in the world (-658m) at that time. The lack of available equipment during the war forced Pierre Chevalier and the rest of the team to develop their own equipment, leading to technical innovation. The scaling-pole (1940), nylon ropes (1942), use of explosives in caves (1947) and mechanical rope-ascenders (Henri Brenot's "monkeys", first used by Chevalier and Brenot in a cave in 1934) can be directly associated to the exploration of the Dent de Crolles cave system.{{cn|date=March 2023}}

In 1941, American cavers organized themselves into the [[National Speleological Society]] (NSS) to advance the exploration, conservation, study and understanding of caves in the United States. American caver [[Bill Cuddington]], known as "Vertical Bill", further developed the [[single-rope technique]] (SRT) in the late 1950s. In 1958, two Swiss alpinists, Juesi and Marti teamed together, creating the first rope ascender known as the [[Jumar]]. In 1968 Bruno Dressler asked Fernand Petzl, who worked as a metals machinist, to build a rope-ascending tool, today known as the [[Petzl Croll]], that he had developed by adapting the Jumar to vertical caving. Pursuing these developments, Petzl started in the 1970s a caving equipment manufacturing company named [[Petzl]].  The development of the [[Abseiling|rappel rack]] and the evolution of mechanical ascension systems extended the practice and safety of vertical exploration to a wider range of cavers.{{cn|date=March 2023}}