Veryovkina Cave incident

There are many posts about the Nutty Putty Cave incident, so I thought I'd post this lesser known story that is also very chilling.

A Russian named Sergei Koseev was an outdoorsman and fancied himself a bit of an adventurer. He dabbled in climbing and caving, but was very inexperienced.

One day, he left his wife and kids and told them only that he would be gone for a week and that he was searching for "the meaning of life."

Veryovkina Cave was a two hour drive away. It is one of the deepest known caves in the world, at over 7,000 feet. It is so deep, it has a series of camps on the way to the bottom, much like the side of Everest. The trip down and back takes about a week.

Koseev entered the cave on November 1, 2020, with screenshots of the map of the cave on his phone, one printed off map, and a week's worth of provisions.

He made it to the first camp and spent a single night there. After that, there is a 500 foot chasm that required a rope descent, then camp 2.

He spent a week at camp 2. Koseev discovered that he had failed to bring stirrups with him to assist with climbing out. Without them, he would have to rely on arm strength alone, which is humanly impossible.

Koseev spent a week making attempt after desperate attempt to climb out. Day after day, resting up to make the next climb. When his food ran out, he realized his only chance was to descend deeper into the cave, hoping the next camp would have food or stirrups. Unfortunately, there was none to be found.

Koseev had also failed to bring proper clothing to protect himself from the cold and wet parts of the cave. He died either from starvation or hypothermia.

His body was found nine months later hanging from his ropes. It was so difficult to bring him out, he was dismembered at his wife's request. 10 pieces were carried out and buried.

Imagine a week trapped at the bottom of that pit, desperately trying to climb out. The terror and despair made worse knowing it was your own stupidity that led you there. If he had told his wife where he was going, he would only have had to wait on rescue. If he had been better trained, he could have fashioned stirrups out of ropes.

Yet another reason I dont go caving.