National Geographic’s Explorer series returned on May 30th with the latest installment, Explorer: The Deepest Cave premiering exclusively on National Geographic. The Deepest Cave follows renowned caver Bill Stone, which we’d like to point out is probably the best name a professional caver could ever possibly have, on a three-month adventure into the depths of Cheve Cave in Mexico in search of a passage beyond the depth of 7,208 feet in an effort to prove his theory that Cheve is the world’s deepest cave.
Judging from the title, we’re going to go ahead and guess he found that deeper passage. Throughout The Deepest Cave, Stone along with a team of explorers, shimmy and shake their way through 12 miles of tight and twisting passages in a journey that is essentially a reverse Everest into the dark and untouched depths of the Earth.
In this exclusive clip, caver Sean Lewis and director Pablo Durana squeeze through narrow passages in an anxiety-inducing search for a path that will take them even deeper into the cave, and from the looks of it, offer some space to stretch their limbs. Seriously, I don’t know how these cavers cope with the claustrophobia they’re faced with, I don’t even like to be in a crowded elevator! It all seems worth it when Lewis finally slips into a large chamber with beautiful stalagmites and the best reverb you’ve ever heard in your life. As tense and satisfying as watching this journey is, we’re left wondering things like what do cavers do when they get hungry? Are they packing sandwiches? Can you cook in a cave? I guess we’re going to have to watch the series to find out.
Check out the clip above and be sure to catch Explorer: The Deepest Cave on May 30th exclusively on National Geographic before hitting Disney+ later this month.
