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“For thousands of years, caves have been little more than forbidding dark holes in the ground. In that time caves have not changed, but people have.” This is what world-record setter and writer of the cavers “bible” Alan Warild lives by.
Early Life
Born on April 2nd 1955 in Sydney, Australia, Alan has “always loved the outdoors”, ever since he was a kid. He had his first caving experience when he was 13 years old on a school excursion and instantly fell in love with the environment.
Caving Career
In 1975, he went to Tasmania to learn single rope techniques (SRT) which use equipment that have little impact on the environment. In 1976 and 1977, Alan discovered his first major cave which was 220 metres deep at Mount Owen in New Zealand. After this, he spent lots of time writing manuals for cavers to help with their own expeditions.
In 1978, he discovered and explored a cave in Huatla, Mexico named Agua de La Carizzo, which was 778 metres. A year later, he made the first-ever solo attempt to descend into Australia’s deepest cave, the Khazad Dum, to 322 metres. Alan was determined to go further, so shortly after he was establishing new routes in Li Nita, Mexico, his first 1000 metre cave.
A few years later in the mid-1980s, Alan travelled to Europe to develop his sport-caving techniques to help him solo explore Reseau Jean-Bernard, to 1535 metres, which was the world’s deepest cave at the time.
Some of his notable achievements
In the 1990s, Alan explored and tried to set new records in Papua New Guinea, Mexico, Spain, Slovenia, Chile and Vietnam. In 2004, he set a new world record depth while visiting Veronia, Abkhazia, where he used scuba and his experience to explore from 1720 metres to 1830 metres. In 2011, he returned to push this record to 2140 metres. In 2008, he was awarded the Lifetime of Adventure Award from the Australian Geographic Society.
But isn't caving dangerous?
Alan believes that cave exploration is much easier in these modern times as the equipment and clothing are much better, meaning that people can push to the limits more. Caving is often seen as a dangerous sport, but Alan says that it “Looks really dangerous, if you do it badly it is dangerous”, meaning that it is only dangerous if you don’t do it properly.
Why is Alan Warild a notable Australian?
Alan Warild is a notable Australian as he has changed the entire perspective of caving while also setting caving records around the world. His book, Vertical, informs cavers on how to travel fast, safely and with minimum impact to the caves - often being named as the cavers “bible”. Alan strongly encourages cavers to use equipment and techniques which have little impact on the environment. When on an exploration, if Alan notices rubbish, he will clean it up, even if it doesn’t belong to him.
Bibliography
Alan Warild https://australian.museum/about/history/exhibitions/trailblazers/alan-warild/
Alan Warild Vertical https://szkbe.hu/anyagok/oktatas/t1/vertical.pdf
Interview: Caving with Alan Warild https://2ser.com/interview-caving-alan-warild/
Alan Warild, caver, 60: 10 questions https://www.theaustralian.com.au/weekend-australian-magazine/alan-warild-caver-60-10-questions/news-story/844ac3c607b769feaf8ab207015746b7
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