The one-hour special Explorer: The Deepest Cave premieres on May 30 at 10/9c on the National Geographic Channel and streaming on Disney+.
Beyond a gash that cuts low across the rock face is Sistema Cheve—a cave with the potential to be the deepest on Earth.
As the geologic cathedral comes into full view, I hear a quiet expletive escape Corey Hackley, the caver just ahead of me. This is his fifth year exploring Cheve, and its grandeur still fills him with awe. “The scale of this place is unimaginable,” says Hackley, who’s been exploring caves since he was about 10. “It doesn’t belong on Earth, in my mind.”
Hackley has grown restless in the past few days, forced to linger in base camp for a precautionary COVID-19 quarantine. He calls the hubbub at the surface “suffocating”—a term some might apply to the confines of
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