With 20 of the deepest caves in the country found in Tasmania, the local caver community is tight-knit.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
However, last year's rescue of a 62-year-old Ulverston man from a cave near Mt Cripps showcase the inherent dangers of the activity. In order to prepare for an emergency situation, Tasmania Police, SES and local caver clubs spent the weekend honing their skills in a mock two-day rescue mission at Mole Creek Caves.
Underground rescues require the unique skillsets of Tasmania Police, SES and local caver enthusiasts to ensure a successful rescue operation. Mole Creek Caving Club member Deb Hunter has been caving for 43 years and helped design the course to create a realistic causality rescue.
"All four Tasmanian caver clubs are working together with police and SES to practice our skills," she said.
"We wanted to have a major exercise and work together."
Ms Hunter said that the mock rescue had been designed to put the participants to the ultimate test, with the course designed to be as "tricky as possible".
"We put as many obstacles in it that we could think of," she said.
Sergeant Damian Bidgood said that whilst cave rescues were uncommon, the additional challenges meant it was essential that emergency services and cavers collaborated.
"Thankfully they're not very common at all," he said.
"We've only had two in recent years, so luckily we have a good standards of cavers in Tasmania because we have a lot of challenging caves."
READ MORE: House prices keep rising
The weekend's exercise also provided an important opportunity for the cavers and emergency services personal to form invaluable connections.
"It does work really well, we get to know each other by first name and if we do have an emergency, we can work together much more efficiently," Sergeant Bidgood said.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.examiner.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @examineronline
- Follow us on Instagram: @examineronline
- Follow us on Google News: The Examiner