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LAUREL CAVERNS
LOWER CAVING RELEASE FORM
(A signature is
required at end of form.)
Be sure to carefully read each numbered
“point to know.”
1. Laurel Caverns has 28
programs, only four of which require release
forms.
●upper caving (ages 9 & up) ●lower caving
(ages 12
& up)
●Adventure
Sports Badge (ages 9 & up)
●climbing and
rappelling (ages 12
& up)
This form only
applies to the LOWER CAVING program.
2. Lower Caving has
requirements for group rates, registration, and the
like.
Open registration caving is available at 10:00 A.M. and 2:00
P.M. on every Saturday and
Sunday Laurel Caverns is open. Reservations are not
required for the open registration
trips. Groups of six or more may enter on other
days with prepayment and ten days advance
arrangements. Please visit our website at http://www.laurelcaverns.com/
or call us at 724-438-3003
for further information.
3. Our cave has
four zones: (1) the easy and well-lit portions of
the traditional
guided tour, (2) the untouched
maze of unlit but safe crawl passages off the guided
tour, (3) the untouched,
unlit, huge rooms below the guided tour path, and (4) the
mile of untouched, unlit,
forty-foot high corridors that go to the bottom of
the
mountain.
4.
Lower Caving involves zones (1), (3), & (4) and is
strenuous.
Laurel
Caverns is the only developed cave in the northeast United
States that offers exploring. It is Pennsylvania’s
largest, with three miles of passages having over 2.5 million
cubic feet of volume. Laurel Caverns has a total
elevation drop of 464’, the deepest in the Commonwealth.
Most of the cave is left in a natural state and it is its
large, deeper, passages that necessitate this form. Be
prepared for steep slopes, slippery mud, streams and hard
sharp rocks. None of the lower caving passages is
lighted and no conveniences exist in this section of the
cave. It is just as it was a thousand years ago.
As a rule of thumb, if your health prevents you from the
ability to climb the steps of a 45-story building you should
not engage in this program
5. Participants must have reached
their 12th birthday, no exceptions.
6. Participants under 18
must have a parent or legal guardian sign this form in
addition to the participant.
7. Participants who appear
under chemical influence or are resistant to rules
will not
be allowed to enter.
8. Lower caving
is dangerous.
We cannot
make the cave safe for those of you going into its undeveloped
areas. To do this would mean complete commercialization
and the idea of the exploring trip is to let you see the cave
in its natural state. Accidents have occurred involving
broken bones and the removal of an injured person is extremely
difficult, taking as long as twelve hours. In that we
cannot research each one of you we must rely on your word that
you have sufficient background and physical ability to handle
yourself in the cave. Please be aware that participants
go into an underground area completely in its natural state
and that in many places the footing is slippery, uneven, and
treacherous.
9. Participants
not properly prepared will not be admitted.
10. Proper
preparation involves FIVE things. (ç very
important) 1. Participants must be
wearing shoes with good tread and good ankle support.
2. Participants should wear long pants and a long sleeved
shirt.
3. Participants
must bring their own lights. Two sources of lights are
required, no keychain lights,
please.
4. Knapsacks will be searched. Picnic food and weapons
are
prohibited.
5. Hard hats are required and Laurel Caverns will supply hard
hats at no extra charge, for anyone not having his or her own
hard hat.
11. Your
Exploring Director has the sole task of showing you the best
route
through the cave’s
maze and making sure you do not get lost. He or she
can
neither provide
discipline nor medical advice.
12. It is humanly
impossible for your Exploring Director to watch every
movement and every
step of every caving participant. It is humanly
impossible
for
the Laurel Caverns staff to know the physical abilities of
each participant. Responsibility for such things
as the tread of shoes, loose clothing, poor ankle
support, medical history, physical ability, medical
vulnerabilities, the brightness of lights, the fit of hard
hats, discipline failures, the rocks and drops before each
participant, and all other things which fall under the
immediate purview of a participant must be, and in all
fairness can only be, the responsibility of each
participant.
13. Injuries are
inevitable in caving some have occurred in Laurel Caverns even
involving broken bones. Something as simple as a
twisted ankle may require a long tortuous removal process
involving up to twelve hours of immobilization in a rigid
basket, thirty or more rescue personnel, an ambulance ride and
hospital stay for X-rays and observation at the participant’s
expense, and finally, exposure to unbelievably hyped media
attention on your “dramatic cave rescue.”
14. Parental signature
is required for participants ages 12 through 17.
Laurel
Caverns has no power to research any participant’s family
situation. A signature by one parent will be taken as
consent by all involved. IF ONE PARENT CONTESTS
APPROVAL, OR IS IGNORANT OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS FORM, THE
OTHER PARENT OR GUARDIAN MUST NOT GIVE APPROVAL.
I (we) affirm
that I (we) have carefully read and understand ALL FOURTEEN of
the above points and that I (we) will neither hold Laurel
Caverns, nor its owners, nor its agents responsible for the
any problem or injury due to anything covered in the above
fourteen points.
Participant:
_____________________________
Date: _________________
Parent:
_____________________________
Birthdate (if under 18):_________
Please present this form when you check
in.