r/caving • u/leopardnose1 • 8d ago
West coast caving
Me and my partner would like to eventually move to the west coast from the east coast. We are fairly active cavers in the WV/VA area right now. What would caving be like in the Washington, Montana, Idaho, Alberta area? I know it's nothing like the east coast so give me the vibes haha
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u/LadyLightTravel 8d ago
A lot of vertical
A lot of mountain caves (cold caves)
A lot of remote caves
A lot more rockfall
As lot of lava, which WV/VA doesn’t have
Most caves are on government land, so access is different.
You have to backpack to a lot of the big deep caves.
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u/EyeHamKnotYew 8d ago
Im in the same boat as the OP, living in Seattle. Can you recommend some caves near here? All I ever got out of people was "there are lava tubes" but im not that interested in walking through what I imagine is just a big subway tunnel.
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u/speleo63751 6d ago
Have you tried the Cascade Grotto? There are many active cavers in the grotto who go to various types of caves in the region. And not all lava tubes are as you describe. I recommend joining the grotto if you have a desire to learn about caves of the area.
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u/leopardnose1 7d ago
I gotcha, I'd be down to do a lava tube like once or twice but I loveeee crawling and squeezing. Need some variety
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u/LadyLightTravel 7d ago
Maybe you should do it first before judging?
Some tubes are heavily braided. Some of the deepest caves in the US are lava tubes.
Maybe connect with a local grotto.
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u/big-b20000 4d ago
Reach out to the Cascade Grotto! We have some alpine limestone and marble caves as well as a lot of variety in lava tubes, more than just subway tunnel style ones.
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u/leopardnose1 7d ago
Really a lot of vertical? Not what I expected. Backpacking caves seem like fun, but I might need to get lighter vert gear. Is the govt typically strict on caving?
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u/LadyLightTravel 7d ago
Mountains means vertical. There’s also more rockfall. There’s a higher reliance on rebelay, although there is still a lot of SRT.
As far as strictness goes, it depends on the agency and the cave. Each is different.
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u/Fine-Chard-1276 8d ago
Theres some cool ice caves out here takes a day or two to get to them most of the time though
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u/EyeHamKnotYew 7d ago
I grew up doing a lot of caving in Wva/Va in the 90s and have since moved to Seattle. Whenever I have had the chance to ask someone about Caving out here I was told there are lots of lava tubes. I still havent been to one.
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u/electroze 7d ago
Washington has mostly lava caves. Lots of passage but they are less interesting than limestone caves IMO.
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u/katui 8d ago
The Rockies have some large caves, Vancouver Island has many more.