Julian:

You don't need any rockets to explore new territory, you don't need a submarine to explore new depths. All you need is a headlamp and clothes that can get dirty. You search and find Terra Incognita, you are the first one there. You are not number 4500 or 10000 something - you are the first. You see what no one has seen before, and that which is on your doorstep. You are away from the world, but you’re right in the middle of it.

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You can leave the world behind you. What some people have climbing on top of mountains - we have climbing inside them. Caving is like coming home. Back there, the world's outside. What's outside can't do you any harm, cause you are in there. The world with all its chaotic states can't do you any harm cause you are simply gone.  Simply because there is so much distance between you and everything else, it can't affect you anymore. There's no phone, no social network, there's no news - that's all out there and you are in here.

 

Katharina:
In there I just feel at home - sometimes more than out there.

 

Mathias:
It's just fascinating being inside this cave, not just in this one but also in others.

Katharina:
I think I've already seen so much of the world that I've just lost the motivation... I've lost something by seeing so much, I've lost the urge to discover because I was always comparing things with each other, but in there...I didn't have that in there anymore.

 

Julian:
The first time I heard about the Dachsteinsüdwandhöhle, I thought to myself, 'What, we have caves here?’

 

Katharina:
My mum has been inside once and she told me that there was a lot of water inside, that it is quite narrow and that some people were too scared to go inside, but that's all I really knew about it. And then... when we went inside, I didn't think it was narrow at all.

 

Mathias:
I never considered going into a cave... I mean of course into a show cave or something, but never into a natural cave that hasn't really been explored yet. And then you get in there, the first few steps with your caving suit, your helmet and headlamp and you think to yourself ‘Cool, it's dark in here!’ That's what fascinated me the most.  I was like a little kid in a candy shop, the whole time just at the entrance... I think it took us over an hour to get to the Ramsauer Dom. Because I looked at everything, really. I was like left, right, down, up and then they told me that was the bed of Steiner Irg and I was like ‘Yeah yeah sure’..... it's just amazing!

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Julian:
How big is it in here? You find a chasm and look through it and think to yourself, ‘Wow, that's really tight.’ And then you look and then you try carefully and think to yourself, ‘Shit, I’m going to get stuck everywhere,’ then you take off your whole harness, then you think to yourself, ‘Hmmm, why not, that should work.’ And then you try and then you push and you curse and swear all the time because you get stuck everywhere and then it gets on your nerves and then you push and squeeze your way through it and then it gets big again and then it just continues on behind this little chasm. And then you’re probably standing where no one has ever been before. You are the first one to see the waterfall there, the first one to see the stones there, the first one to hit your head because you missed that stupid stone there, but you were the first one. And even if only you know for yourself that you are the first one there... that’s a great feeling.

 

Katharina:
You need some kind of urge, and I can’t quite describe this urge. I think the urge is that you want to go deeper and deeper and further and further inside and actually live inside this cave.

 

Mathias
There are so many tunnel systems where you think to yourself, ‘I haven't been in there yet,’ or, ‘e haven’t been in there yet, we have to go in there.’ And if it doesn't continue on, well, eventually it will continue on somewhere. Every stone you can touch can cause there is a chain reaction, which is a disadvantage in a cave, because then you might not  be able to get back out. But this fascination, that you might be in there where maybe only 30 people have been in the last 40 or 50 years.

 

Julian:
It's always exciting when you are somewhere where you don't know for yourself yet, and the old ones may have climbed over it 150 times, but for you it's the first time. For you it's the first time climbing up there, the first time abseiling on the old rope that's been hanging inside for 25 years and probably no one's abseiled down for 15 years and you don't know if it's still going to hold... Then you have to decide... do I change the rope or just do I just go and check out what's down there?

And then, at some point,  you reach a point where you know that no one has been there yet - no one has been there yet and it continues on from here. And then you take a look, and then you think about how am I going to do it now, how we're going to do it now? We have to climb over this wall. How do we do that?

And from then on you have to be careful that you don't overdo it, that you don't go too fast, that you still switch on your brain and think about what do I do and how do I do it, and not just go for it, because going for it will kill you.

 

Mathias:
A cave can tell you a lot about the mountain...that's the cool thing. You see its structure, how the mountain is built up from the inside and not just from the outside... Because people who look at mountains think it's a massif, there's not much there. But that the water has been washed through it and how it has been washed through...you can see this in the cave formations or in how beautifully rounded the rock is... That still inspires me.

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Julian:
Some tours can also just be exhausting. You wake up grumpy and pack your stuff together and go inside the cave and keep on feeling grumpy. Upset in the morning, you pack your stuff and you feel upset and you take this mood into the cave with you, and you're constantly upset with yourself.  There's that too. Even when at some point the calming feeling of the cave comes... you are still grumpy with yourself and I personally find it very difficult to get rid of that grumpiness, but I also find it very difficult to get rid of this feeling when I'm outside. And then you think to yourself, ‘It was a great tour, but it's a shame that I was so grumpy with myself.’

 

​Katharina:
The last time I was inside, I had too much on my mind. And when you have too much on your mind, you become more careless... more nervous. I don't think you fully experience being in there, as you usually would. And I just want to manage to be inside more and not be outside that much. I think the last time  my mind was constantly outside, and I want to take it further inside.

 

​Mathias:
When your mind closes down at some point, your body won't be able to take it anymore, but yes, I hope I can do this for another 20 years.

 

Julian:
This is now my home, this is where I belong. This is where I've found my place in the world. Others find that while paragliding, gliding, diving, hiking, playing with their children. But I found mine right in there.