Vertical caving terminology and methods > Ladders, climbs and older techniques
Using a rope attached to a person or object, and paying out the rope so that they descend a pitch. For lowering a relatively light load such as a tackle bag, this may be done simply by holding the rope, and allowing it to slide at a controlled speed through hands.
Lowering cavers was one of the earliest approaches used to descend pitches. This might traditionally have been done using a winch, manual strength, or by wrapping the rope around a tree or some other convenient natural to add some friction. Lowering cavers using manual strength without any other equipment is extremely hazardous, and should be avoided. If a cave is accessed by lowering cavers without using a winch, then getting back out again will normally require hauling, which is much harder. For caves with multiple pitches, teams would need to be stationed at the top of each pitch, so the total team becomes progressively larger.
Lowering a caver might still sometimes be needed for improvised rescue purposes or while using a lifeline, but this should be done using a descender, belay device or Italian hitch to control the speed. Pitches which are configured for indestructible rope technique might sometimes be set up with a lot of excess at the pitch head, with the main rope connected to a locked off descender at the anchor there. If someone needs to be lowered, the lock can be removed, and the descender can be used to lower a caver down the pitch. This approach cannot be used with Alpine rigging except on the most simple of pitch rigging. It is more commonly used in the sport of canyoning, when leading an untrained group who might need to be lowered in an emergency.
This section concentrates on people being manually lowered into caves, or being lowered into caves where the method used is not known. See the section about winches for more details about their use.In the cliffs above Lastebasse in Val d'Astico Italy, a cave called Covolo di Pisciavacca (meaning "cave piss-cow", previously Covolo di Rio Malo, meaning "cave river bad") was used as a fortified toll house, for collecting tolls from travellers as they passed from one territory into another. It was probably set up before 1000 CE when it was part of the Holy Roman Empire, and was used until it was taken over by Austria in 1509, having had a brief administration by the Republic Of Venice shortly before the end. The cave had no means of access, and it needed people to be lowered and hauled using a rope. The research did not reveal whether it had a winch or whether lowering was done manually, and there is no remaining evidence at the cave, but it held around 30-40 soldiers, so either method is possible. It is not known how people were connected to the rope.
In 1615, the fictional story Don Quixote by Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes included a description of being lowered into the real cave Cueva de Montesinos. In 1630, a coal miner was lowered 35 metres twice into a cave called L'aven du Curé or L'aven du Capelan, to retrieve the body of a murdered priest. It is not stated whether a winch was used. In 1667, British Royal Society writer Thomas Sprat published a report that described merchants being lowered into a 9 metre deep lava cave on the flanks of Pico del Teide in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, by servants. The exact year that this took place was not mentioned. In 1676, British geologist John Beaumont was manually lowered using ropes into Lamb Leer Cavern's Great Chamber as part of mining operations. In 1682 British captain Greenville Collins descended Pen Park Hole in Bristol using ropes and sailor's pulleys. In 1723, an unnamed farmer, monk Lazarus Schopper and butler Johann Zouhard were lowered 58 metres to the floor of Propast Macocha (Macocha Abyss) in the Czech Republic, using a manually lowered rope with a boatswain's chair made from a (presumably wooden) peg that was driven through the rope. The rope was wrapped around a tree for friction. (Some reports suggest that it was used as a ladder with several pegs, but this is not what the original text says). In 1776, Ivan Lovrić and two locals were lowered down a 17 metre pitch in Gospodsku Špilju, Czech republic.
In 1785, French abbot Charles Carnus descended Tindoul de la Vayssière, being tied to the end of a rope and lowered by assistants using only the strength of their arms. In 1795, a member of British clergyman William MacRichie's group was lowered into Jingle Pot, without reaching the bottom. In 1796, an unnamed German man was lowered 34 metres into Adernzopf in Germany, to see if it could be used to hide belongings from French invaders. In 1840, Americans Mat Bishop and Stephen Bishop were lowered to the bottom of Mammoth dome, Mammoth Cave by 4 or 5 tourists. In 1842 and again in 1843, British caver John Birkbeck was lowered half way down Gaping Gill's Main Shaft on a rope by farm laborours, ending at Birkbeck's Ledge. The same approach was repeated at the nearby Long Churn Cave to nearly reach the bottom of Alum Pot in 1847, with a team consisting of John Birkbeck, William Metcalfe, William Howson and 7 others, with William Howson being the only one to reach the pitch base of Alum Pot. In 1858, American boy William Courtland Prentice was lowered into Maelstrom, Mammoth Cave. In 1875, British caver Joseph Plumley was lowered into Plumley's Hole, and was killed when the rope pulled him into a narrow cleft while being hauled back up. Ropes were used in France to lower cavers into caves since 1879. In 1880, after British miner Andrew Lyons and two others rediscovered Lamb Leer Cavern, Andrew Lyons was lowered into the Great Chamber on a rope by other miners, without using a winch. Two weeks later, Joseph Nicholls and James McMurtrie were also lowered into the Great Chamber by 5 miners, without using a winch. In 1885, ropes were used to lower a hired worker and/or Absalom Shirk Lehman into Lehman Caves in Nevada, USA. French caver Édouard-Alfred Martel was lowered into several caves, starting from 1888 in the Grotte de Dargilan. This would normally take a team of 6 people, but this could be reduced to 4-5 people when a pulley was used. He would typically use a boatswain's chair made from a rope tied to a stick. In 1900, the Kyndwr Club descended Eldon Hole using a boatswain's chair lowered on a rope fed through a pulley.
This history section only covers lowering. This article also has a detailed history of many of the other devices and techniques that are used for vertical caving.
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