Hanging like Jamones: Vertical Caving, Part 1

For a couple weeks in November, I participated in a caving course through a club here in Madrid called Flash. My primary aim was to learn vertical caving skills. As a life-long lover of bats and exploration, the underground environment has always really appealed to me. I first started caving in the US, also through a local club. However, because of the wide variety of fantastic horizontal caves in Virginia and West Virginia, despite wanting to learn the vertical caving skills, I never really had the need.

When we moved to Spain, I was disappointed to learn that most of the caves here have vertical entrances and a lot of vertical spaces within them. Fortunately, we found this local club through a friend of my partner’s sister. Unfortunately, the pandemic happened not long after, so this year was our first opportunity to take their caving course.

The course consisted of two classes during the week and two full weekends. Here’s a quick breakdown of the first week:

• Class 1: Club history, caving clothes and gear, and light practice with the gear on the ground
• Weekend 1
  • Day 1: Full day of vertical practice on cliffs near Madrid
  • Day 2: Half day of vertical practice and a quick visit to a tiny cave with a bit of cave art

I was excited to go caving but nervous about taking the class. Meeting strangers and doing everything in Spanish are not really my strengths, nor is staying up late, which is pretty unavoidable when you do anything here.

Class 1: Club history, caving clothes and gear, and light practice with the gear

Here’s a summary of what we learned:

• The club was officially founded in 1979, but the founding members had been caving together for many years before.
• The clothes they use for caving here are similar to those in the US, but perhaps a bit more “pro” than what I have seen. Particularly the “monos” used underneath the caving suite. I think the caves here are colder than those in VA and WV.
• The process of descending and ascending in caving is similar yet different to my experiences with rock or tree climbing.
• Always have at least two points of safety, which makes me feel much safer than when mountaineering.

Favorite parts: When the first speaker talked about how caving is true sport of exploration. Cavers discover new caves, new passages, historic artifacts, and fossils. My partner and I have often made this same observation when we were caving the US. It was also a lot of fun practicing with the gear. I love everything about outdoor (or rather, underground) gear–the weight (or lack there of), the coolness, the way it operates, learning to use it. Just everything.

Weekend 1: Practice, practice, and more practice, plus a little fun

For our weekend of practice, we headed to a town outside of Madrid called Patones. Before getting started with our practice for the day, we all met at a bar for breakfast or coffee. I’m really not sure if this is a normal, cultural practice (it definitely could be. Well, it most likely it.), but the entrance to where we were going was also a little challenging to find, with a chain that needed to be opened to access to the driveway. As such, it really did make sense to go in a group.

The area around Patones is known for climbing, but it seemed like the cliffs we went to were specifically set up by the club for caving practice. The veteran members rigged a series of ropes in configurations you would find in a cave, but they were all set in pairs so each of us students (6 in total) could work alongside one of the experienced cavers.

After putting on harnesses and all our gear and doing a quick review of how to use the equipment, we were off or rather up. Unlike in actual caves, at the cliffs, we worked in reverse: first climbing the rope, then descending. All day, we went up and down, practicing the most typical experiences–how to pass anchor points called fraccionamientos (rebelays) and how to traverse a pasamanos (a short length of horizontal rope like a “handrail” but much more difficult because your feet aren’t really on a horizontal surface at all).

We ended just as the sun was setting. At that point, I would have liked to just go home and give my mind a break. The combination of learning new techniques and terms all while trying (and often failing) to speak and socialize in a second language I am not fluent in was extra exhausting. However, we were riding with other people, so there wasn’t much choice. After returning to the cars just as it became dark, we went back to town for a drink. I also hoped that we could get something to eat, which would mean I could go to bed as soon as I got home. But after what must have been more than an hour of waiting, the restaurant told us they were out of bread, meaning no sandwiches or bread with the main dishes (pretty unthinkable here). Sadly, in the end, we all headed home hungry with some of us (me) more frustrated than others.

Truthfully, the next day, I was not overly thrilled for a repeat—I was tired, somewhat bruised, and quite over being social. But I kept my mind on the goal of getting back underground, and this training and practice is what would get me there. Plus, it was only a half day.

We started with a bit of repeat practice from the day before, at first with the experienced people and then on our own. After, we practiced new techniques: passing a knot in the rope and switching equipment in the middle of the rope (meaning switching the ascending equipment for the descending equipment, and vice versa). I ended up doing both at the same time on the rope, first passing the knot going up, switching equipment to go down, then passing the knot again. Uff. I felt like I was hanging there for an hour or more. It’s important to note here that a caving harness is made out of wide straps like the ones you would use to strap something on top of a car. Unlike a climbing harness, which is somewhat comfortable, a caving harness feel kind of like a corset for your pelvis. It is pretty darn uncomfortable. A common complaint is “ow, my kidneys” and, honestly, it really doesn’t feel so great on the crotch either.

Fortunately, I was mostly done after “hanging like a jamón,” an utterance of one of my fellow jamones. After a snack, we headed along the cliff, following it up past one of the climbing areas to a small, sheltered cave. Along the wall just inside the entrance were some faint orangish marks, evidence of prehistoric fingers that had painted their hands there. Sadly, because they are not well-preserved and the cave is open, they were also nearly covered by modern-day cave paintings, more commonly known as graffiti. It was still cool to see though. Like castles, I also never seem to tire of prehistoric art.

After the cave, we returned to the same bar as the previous day. Why, I do not know, habit? Fortunately, they had not yet run out of bread, and we thankfully got to actually eat there.

Next week, I’ll post about the second class and full weekend, which was the highlight of the course as we visited a cave in the Rio Lobos Canyon near Soria.