Rat's Nest Cave

Canmore, Alberta - June 26, 2007

In preparation for a large upcoming caving expedition, I joined caver Tony Morley and his crew in an excursion to Rat's Nest Cave near Canmore, Alberta. The route we chose required a 60 foot rappel to get down into the deeper parts of the cave as well as some very tight squeezes. To get to the cave entrance requires a hike through thick grizzly & black bear territory and to complicate matters even further, the cave is adjacent to a mine where they frequently engage in blasting operations...With little regard for anyone actually inside the cave.

The opening to the "Psych Squeeze" passage. It's about 100 feet in length and tightens down to a gap that's about the size of a small microwave oven. I had to remove my wireless microphone to squeeze through the tightest spot. NOT for the claustrophobic.	Tony Morley examines some of the cave's structures. The series of interconnected chambers goes on & on. We only got to see a small portion of the entire cave system.

"Soda straw" stalactites form along the ceiling in spots where drops of calcite permeate the rock.	Just enjoying the underground landscape in one of the more geologically active chambers.

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