>>199135
Well first, you'll need a cave. Underground is usually the place to look. Some cunt in south Oregon reckons he found a sky cave once, but I don't believe him.

>>199135
go with a mountaineering group. There are for example caves that have visitor/tourist zones and caver zones. If your Guide/Teacher is cool, he'll be able to get you into one at some point to start you off, see if you like caving first before you commit to it. Its a really intense sport, much more dangerous that mountain climbing, for example

I live in a quite karst area and have explored more than ten non-commercial caves. How to I find more?

>>199135
I'm in the EU so my experience might not be relevant.
I went caving for the first time yesterday with a few friends, the guy leading the trip does this once a year with newbies to try and get recruits. No vertical rope stuff, just crawling around one way then following the underground river on the way back.

From what I've gathered of what he's told me, it would be retarded to do any of this alone. His caving group rescues around a dozen people each year, all idiots who thought it was a good idea to go without proper equipment, training and research, but had at least the sense to warn a person they were going caving. One guy they rescued in Peru had been stuck down there for 15 days and another in NA fell into a bear pit, both went back to caving a few months after their rescue lmao.

If you're interested, as another anon said join a caving group/grotto/whatever it's called where you live. In the EU most caves are on a public database you only need to be part of a caving association to get access to, but our guide told us it was typically more complicated in the USA with a lot of cave entrances being hidden for various reasons. This isn't a sport you should do alone when you start out, maybe even ever. I think I might join as our short expedition was more exciting than I thought it'd be, but they were very honest about essentially needing recruits to help with the grueling grunt work of clearing a few new passages they've found and have been working on for a year, so I'm kind of hesitant to volunteer as slave labor lol.

>>199136
>sky cave
is this a cave system with an opening at the top exposing it to open sky? Are those really that rare?

I would suggest you look for your nearest grotto, it's essentially a club for cavers and they'll help outfit you with the necessary gear you'll need for different scenarios and different types of caves. They aren't too plentiful so it's possible you'll have to drive kinda far depending on where you live. It can be very dangerous if you're going caving solo, especially if you don't have the most experience, I strongly suggest you get into contact with people who will help you figure this stuff out in person