Vertical caving terminology and methods > Pitches and potholes, general terms
A drop in the passage floor where a rope or ladder will be needed, since it cannot be safely climbed. Might be divided up into sub-sections called hangs, where you stay on a rope. The top is a pitch head. The bottom is a pitch base. Known as an aven when approached from below. Pitch originally meant a place where you could settle; a resting spot between climbs. However, it seems appropriate that it would look pitch black when you try to look down it with a candle. This term is also used in the climbing world, but with climbing it means something closer to a hang, and a caving pitch may be similar to what climbers would call a "multi-pitch".
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