I’ll admit it, I was quite upset that I couldn’t attend Ice Fest this year due to my move to Virginia (read: spent way too much time sulking about it). To add to the sting of being in a new university with new people in a new middle of nowhere, I now couldn’t feasibly attend what I hoped had become an annual thing. And not just any annual thing– an annual thing that gives me an absurdly huge boost of self-confidence and lets me escape from the stress of being a grad student. I ended up contacting folk from the group I’ve gone with before about missing this year, so hopefully next year I can coordinate with them to go again. But in the meantime, no extreme, adrenaline-pumping sport for me… or so I thought!

In a funny turn of events, I saw a poster hanging for an outdoor rec group associated with Virginia Tech. It listed their events for the semester, things like a spring break backpacking trip and paddle boarding dates. It also had listed a few dates with caving outings. I decided to look into it and register for one of them. I mean, why not? I love going on cave tours (Carlsbad Caverns, St. Michael’s Cave, Mammoth Cave, Cumberland Caverns, etc.), but always thought caving was too dangerous to try. Seeing that it was guided, all supplies provided, and beginner-friendly, I figured at worst it’d be dorky and I’d just get to walk around a local cave for the day. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a lot more involved!