What it’s like to be trapped in a cave

The experience can be harrowing, even when you know what you’re doing

— Washington Post

I’d been swaddled in a cold, sopping-wet trash bag for approximately 20 hours, listening to six other cavers shivering and breathing quietly.

We were huddled close on the hard ground of a muddy crawlway, a space barely tall enough for sitting up, in an Indiana cave system.

Despite my cosy wetsuit socks and the light of a tiny tealight candle, sensation in my outer extremities was a distant memory.

My mind raced.

My mind was empty.

Now and then…