So I've become a sport caver (spelunker) these past two years, and I've since stepped down from my bass playing career. Tight and horizontal, vertical and deep, high water and free climbing waterfalls flowing like freight trains, and every combination thereof, I do it all. I love it. I still play bass for personal enjoyment and fulfillment. I just don't want to do it for money anymore. Being a welder is a lot of fun and makes a heck of a lot more money.
I've decided to share my playing with the world in a very unique way. Playing inside of caves. When I lived in Colorado, I got to play inside Canopy Hall, in Cave of the Winds, a show cave. It sounded amazing in there, but all I had to do was walk my bass through the gift shop and through a door and I was in. I moved to TAG (the TN, AL, and GA region) about a year ago. TAG is known in the caving world as the cave mecca of the United States. Tennessee alone is known as "The Land of 10,000 Caves," yet there are easily upwards of 20,000 and counting. I think officially there are around 15,000 known caves, 99.99% of them being wild caves. The ground is karst as hell out here, IE it resembles swiss cheese beneath the surface with lots of underground water drainage.
So anyway, in August of 2019 I rappelled my second TAG pit. It's called Valhalla, and it earns that name. People have died in this pit from just user error with their gear to freak accidents like a giant rock falling off the wall and crushing two men hiding under it waiting for the rest of their buddies to drop to the bottom. It's huge down there, it's like the most impressive cathedral you'd ever see. The erosive power of falling water is quite evident. The acoustics are amazing. I made it a mission to play at the bottom of the pit.
A year later, this past August. I did just that. There wasn't much video at all and I didn't plan for that, I just wanted to see if it was worth it and recording it wouldn't have done the space any justice. It was really a proof of concept, and man was it awesome. I have some pictures, though, and a few videos of volunteer cavers getting ready to lower it and raising it out. I was too awe struck at watching it be hauled out I forgot to get a video of that, five people yanking on the rope and it was up in under 30 seconds.
To get to Valhalla you have to drive the most washed out, gnarly off road trail I have ever driven down (Requires a lifted 4x4 vehicle for sure, your Subaru could NOT make it, I have a 2001 Tacoma that's lifted with 33 inch tires I daily drive). Then you hike about 5 minutes up a mountain and you come to the pit. The pit is actually a 230 foot vertical entrance, there's about 5.5 miles of cave at the bottom and counting, 2.5 miles of which is currently mapped. This is somewhere in Alabama.
The entrance to Valhalla, 230 feet down is where I played. There's no way down or out except a rope, and for 227 feet of the rappel you are freehanging away from the walls. It's a beautiful rappel and quite the breathtaking climb:
It being lowered:
Here's me playing at the bottom:
A selfie I took (I'm bad at these):
Top side after all was said and done with my dog, who was a very happy girl when I climbed out:
Lowering (Don't mind my dog crying, she always cries at the top when she watches me drop a pit until I climb myself out):
What someone got of them raising it:
It was a great experience. It sounded awesome at the bottom, the people who remained topside got to hear it, too. The space loved the sound of the bass.
And cavers are a really interesting bunch of people. Give us a challenge like this and we will work for free and provide the gear and ropes to get it done because we love to show off and use our rigging skills every chance we get. We will beg each other all the time to rescue each other. We're too safe and not enough people get themselves into trouble for us to bust out hundreds of dollars worth of rescue rope and pulleys often enough and we have to justify the purchases.
And yes, I am in the works right now planning another performance in a different pit. This next one is only 162 feet deep, but the acoustics in it are even better. I'll be working with a local cave conservancy organization as promotional material for them and to help bring more awareness to cave conservation in general. Caves are immensely important to the ecosystem. I figured this is the best way I can use my masters that is fulfilling to me.
I've decided to share my playing with the world in a very unique way. Playing inside of caves. When I lived in Colorado, I got to play inside Canopy Hall, in Cave of the Winds, a show cave. It sounded amazing in there, but all I had to do was walk my bass through the gift shop and through a door and I was in. I moved to TAG (the TN, AL, and GA region) about a year ago. TAG is known in the caving world as the cave mecca of the United States. Tennessee alone is known as "The Land of 10,000 Caves," yet there are easily upwards of 20,000 and counting. I think officially there are around 15,000 known caves, 99.99% of them being wild caves. The ground is karst as hell out here, IE it resembles swiss cheese beneath the surface with lots of underground water drainage.
So anyway, in August of 2019 I rappelled my second TAG pit. It's called Valhalla, and it earns that name. People have died in this pit from just user error with their gear to freak accidents like a giant rock falling off the wall and crushing two men hiding under it waiting for the rest of their buddies to drop to the bottom. It's huge down there, it's like the most impressive cathedral you'd ever see. The erosive power of falling water is quite evident. The acoustics are amazing. I made it a mission to play at the bottom of the pit.
A year later, this past August. I did just that. There wasn't much video at all and I didn't plan for that, I just wanted to see if it was worth it and recording it wouldn't have done the space any justice. It was really a proof of concept, and man was it awesome. I have some pictures, though, and a few videos of volunteer cavers getting ready to lower it and raising it out. I was too awe struck at watching it be hauled out I forgot to get a video of that, five people yanking on the rope and it was up in under 30 seconds.
To get to Valhalla you have to drive the most washed out, gnarly off road trail I have ever driven down (Requires a lifted 4x4 vehicle for sure, your Subaru could NOT make it, I have a 2001 Tacoma that's lifted with 33 inch tires I daily drive). Then you hike about 5 minutes up a mountain and you come to the pit. The pit is actually a 230 foot vertical entrance, there's about 5.5 miles of cave at the bottom and counting, 2.5 miles of which is currently mapped. This is somewhere in Alabama.
The entrance to Valhalla, 230 feet down is where I played. There's no way down or out except a rope, and for 227 feet of the rappel you are freehanging away from the walls. It's a beautiful rappel and quite the breathtaking climb:
It being lowered:
Here's me playing at the bottom:
A selfie I took (I'm bad at these):
Top side after all was said and done with my dog, who was a very happy girl when I climbed out:
Lowering (Don't mind my dog crying, she always cries at the top when she watches me drop a pit until I climb myself out):
What someone got of them raising it:
It was a great experience. It sounded awesome at the bottom, the people who remained topside got to hear it, too. The space loved the sound of the bass.
And cavers are a really interesting bunch of people. Give us a challenge like this and we will work for free and provide the gear and ropes to get it done because we love to show off and use our rigging skills every chance we get. We will beg each other all the time to rescue each other. We're too safe and not enough people get themselves into trouble for us to bust out hundreds of dollars worth of rescue rope and pulleys often enough and we have to justify the purchases.
And yes, I am in the works right now planning another performance in a different pit. This next one is only 162 feet deep, but the acoustics in it are even better. I'll be working with a local cave conservancy organization as promotional material for them and to help bring more awareness to cave conservation in general. Caves are immensely important to the ecosystem. I figured this is the best way I can use my masters that is fulfilling to me.
