
Most extreme sports leave some margin for error. A climber can turn back a hundred metres from the summit. A big-wave surfer who wipes out can be pulled from the water by a jet-ski waiting nearby. Cave diving offers no such second chances. Go deep enough into the wrong passage, and the only thing standing between a diver and never being found again is a single thin line he laid down himself, and his own discipline in following it back.

Beneath the surface of the Earth lies a world we rarely think about. While cities, rivers, and forests stretch above us, deep underground, there are kilometers of passages, subterranean rivers, and vast chambers that have been forming for thousands, even millions, of years. Caves are among the last places on the planet where nature still operates almost entirely beyond human control.