This is a partial list of National Speleological Society‘s publications that contain references to Montana caves and cavers. Covers that depict Montana caves are denoted in the description. There have been 4 official Montana special issues (5 de facto), and Montana cave conservation efforts have appeared in at least 6 Annual Conservation Issues. Montana cavers are lucky to have a collaborative relationship with Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks; The Northern Region (nee Region 1) of the United States Forest Service, the BLM, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Please consider becoming a member of the NSS, the world’s leading caving (spelunking) organization as well as the Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto, Montana’s largest and only public caving club. If you are outside of the intermountain region, click here to find Find A Grotto or see the entire List of US Grottos.
NSS News June 2023: Vol 81, No 6
- Exploration on the South Cirque of Silvertip Peak 2022 by Dustin Kisner
- Silvertip Mountain Research Team (SMRT) 2022 by Sarah Arpin
- Tears of The Turtle Expedition, 2022: Why Did We Go Back? by Tommy Cleckner
NSS News June 2023: Vol 81, No 6
- BACK COVER: A stream flows green beneath the peak of Silvertip Mountain after fluorescein dye was injected above. Photo by Carl Erickson
NSS News August 2022: Vol 80, No 8
- 3OG: Another deep cave in The Bob Marshall Wilderness? by Bob Bastasz, Mary Alice Chester, Edd Keudell, Mike McEachern, and Ron Zuber
- A Pictorial Essay of Slategoat, Grizzly Gulch, and 3OG by Ron Zuber
- BACK COVER, bottom: It’s an easy two or three day hike over a high pass into Grizzly Gulch basecamp in “The Bob”, Montana, shown here in 2009. From right, Jim Chester, Mary Alice Chester, Bob Bastasz, and Mike McEachern. Photo by Ron Zuber.
NSS News April 2022 Vol 80 No 4
- Challenges to Conservation of Caves in WIlderness Area on Forest Service Lands by Hans Bodenhamer
- The PRos and Cons of the BHS Cave Club’s Point-and-Shoot Photomonitoring Methods by Hans Bodenhamer, Bigfork High School Caving Club
NSS News January 2022: Vol 80, No 1
- Spelunkin’ Under Silvertip Peak by Dustin Kisner
- MONTANA COVER: Cody Kisner and Julia Uzieblo pose near the bottom of Old Milwaukee Drop in Daddy Croc Cave, Silvertip, Montana photo by Irina Tabarana.
- BACK COVER, Left: Irina Tabarana exits Moon Ray cave at sunset after a second through trip under the Silvertip South Cirque, photo by Brendan Durrum
NSS News May 2020: Vol 78, No 5
- SPACEGOAT 2020: Scapegoat Wilderness, Montana by Daryl Greaser and Brian Gindling
- Historic Graffiti in Montana Caves: A window to the past, a problem for the present, and a message from the future by Hans Bodenhamer and the Bigfork High School Cave Club
- Pryor Mountains Cave Inventory by Zachary Englebert
- MONTANA COVER: Dusk at the Green Fork Falls entrance of the Scapegoat System, Montana, photo by Brendan Durrum.
- Fun Fact: this is the 3rd cover photo of the Scapegoat Cave System (along with Sept 2010 and March 1974)
NSS News February 2019: Vol 77 No 2
- Whitaker Sink (Satan’s Pit) and Lost Creek Siphon – The Rest of the Story by Mike Kaczmarek
NSS News November 2018: Vol 76 No 11 – 2018 NSS Convention Special Issue
- 2018 NSS Convention – Helena, Montana by Rene Ohms and members of the 2018 NSS Convention Staff
- Hans Bodenhamer’s map of Silvertip Cave
- Photos of various Montana caves and sights
- Photos of NRMG members at Convention
- Speleolympics
NSS News May 2018: Vol 76 No 5 – Montana Special Issue
- Scapegoat 2015 by Brian Gindling
- Remapping Silvertip by Gabriella Eaton
- Lost Creek Siphon by Carl Froslie
- Devil’s Watch Pocket Cave by James Cummins
- Mill Creek Crystal Cave by James Cummins
- 2018 NSS Convention in Montana by Doug Warner
- MONTANA COVER: Jordan Toles in Mill Creek Crystal Cave, photo by James Cummins
NSS News April 2018: Vol 76 No 4 – Annual Cave Conservation Issue
- Montana’s Bigfork High School Cave Club Sets Up Resource Monitoring for Six Caves in Southeast Arizona by Gabby Eaton
- Conserving Montana’s Mystery Cave: Exemplary Partnership Between a High School Group, a Grotto, and a Federal Agency by Hans Bodenhamer
NSS News March 2018
- 2018 NSS Convention Update by Doug Warner NSS 41724 RL FE, Convention Chair
- Underground Update: Darkside: Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto: December 2017, Number 37
- beware of packrats (little nibblers)
NSS News January 2018: Vol 76 No 1
- 2018 NSS Convention in Montana July 28-August 3 by Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto Members of the 2018 NSS Convention Committee
NSS News December 2017 Vol 75 No Special Issue: 12 PESH 2017 – Sistema Huautla Expands Northward
- Underground Update: The Darkside: Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto September 2017, No 36
- Natural Trap Cave update
- Big Snowy Mountains trip
- Fun fact: NRMG member Brian Gindling writes “Once in a Lifetime to Camptown Races” in this issue
NSS News September 2017 Vol 75 No 9
- Underground Update: The Darkside: Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto June 2019 No 35
- Carl experiences the worst *mud in Lick Creek ever
NSS News April 2017: Vol 75, No 4 – Annual Conservation Issue
- Beer Bottles, Bats, and Building Cooperative Programs: Update on Montana’s Lick Creek Cave by Ellen Whittle, Ian Chechet, and Taylor Woods
NSS News February 2017: Vol 75, No 2
- Identification and characterization of the Montana Caver during the inaugural Cave Camp gathering in Monarch, Montana by Kate Whittle
AMERICAN CAVING ACCIDENTS – 50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, 2017
- 15 August 2015, Scapegoat Cave System, Montana – equipment problem, no injury, no aid
- 10 October 2015, Lick Creek Cave, Montana – caver fall, injury, aid
- 11 June 2016, Little Bitterroot Canyon Ice Cave, Montana – lost control on rappel, no injury, no aid
- 16 October 2016, Lillyguard Cave, Montana – exhaustion, aid, no injury
NSS News April 2016: Vol 74, No 4 – Annual Conservation Issue
- Partnership: Lick Creek Cave Restoration Project by Taylor Woods
NSS News February 2016: Vol 74, No 2
- Silvertip – Resurvey of a Classic Alpine Cave System by Jason Ballensky
- Fun fact: Silvertip is the 2nd-longest cave in Montana (after Bighorn Caverns) and is the longest *wholly contained* in the state.
NSS News June 2015: Vol 73, No 6 – American Caving Accidents, 2013-2014
- 2014 incident in Ophir Cave (stranded; injury and aid)
NSS News May 2015
- A Personal Account of a Difficult Trip to Virgil The Turtle’s Greathouse Cave (2007) by Ken Stahley NSS 32656
NSS News April 2015 Vol 73 No 4 – Annual Cave Conservation Issue
- Pryor Mountain Big Ice Cave Cleanup April 10, 1996 (Revised 2014) by Ken Stahley
NSS News December 2014 Vol 72 No 12 (defacto Montana Special Issue; only one article was unrelated to MT)
- Tears in Montana:
- Deep Caving in the Bob Marshall Wilderness by Peter Johnson
- Tears of the Turtle Cave: A New Depth Record by Jason Ballensky
- Double Date Cave, Aka : Pagoda Mountain Cave by James Cummins
- MONTANA COVER: James Hunter and Shawn Thomas in Double Date Cave, photo by Elliot Stahl
NSS News July 2014: Vol 72 No 7
- A History of the Exploration and Survey of Little Ice Cave in the Pryor Mountains of Montana by Ken Stahley
NSS News September 2013
- Montana’s Collaborative Approach to the Looming Threat of White Nose Syndrome: An Unlikely Partnership by Lauri Hanauska-Brown, Bryce Maxell, Hans Bodenhamer
NSS News December 2012
- Bigfork High School Cave Club Establishes Cave Monitoring in Grand Canyon National Park, AZ by Hans Bodenhamer
NSS News April 2011
- Splean Spotlight: An interview with Ernie Cottle and Tia Bakker, members of the Bigfork High School Cave Club, by Ron Zuber who presented on a caving GIS application to a group of 10,000 at ESRI.
- Obituary – Evelyn Bradshaw, NSS #11874, 1915-2011, who was the Chair of the Internal Organizations (IO) Committee from 1975 to 2000, and provided the NRMG with a hand-written list of Montana citations in the NSS and correspondence and who’s name appears on the official charter of the NRMG.
NSS News November 2010
- Obituary – James (Jim) M Chester NSS #6946 LB, FE by Ron Zuber and Mary Alice Chester
NSS News September 2010 Vol 68 No 9 : Montana Caving Issue
- Three Geeks Find a Cave by Edd Keudell
- Montana High School Students Receive Recognition for cave conservation by Hans Bodenhamer
- A New Map for the Scapegoat Cave System by Daryl Greaser
- Bob Marshall Wilderness: Montana 2009 by Jason Ballensky
- Grizzly Gulch Exploration, 2009 by Ron Zuber
- MONTANA COVER: Bob Bastasz has just completed the 100-foot climb into the Kathy’s Icebox entrance to the Scapegoat Cave System. Photo by Mike McEachern
NSS News April 2010: Vol 68 No 4 – Annual Conservation Issue (Part 2)
- Montana High School Students use GIS to help the National Park Service Conserve Cave Resources by Hans Bodenhamer
NSS News February 2010 Vol 68 No 2
- ALPINE KARST: In the beginning review by Jay Kennedy
- photo of Bill Steele and Jean Janawitz on Silvertip in 1977
- photo of Steve Zeman on Silvertip in 77-78
NSS News October 2009
- Spelean Spotlight: An interview with Michael (Mike) McEachern (#6675FR, FE, CM) by Ron Zuber
- Mike, et al discovery of the Silvertip Cave System and an attempt at the US depth record in 1972
- as Chairman of the Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto
- as a stereo (3D) photographer
- early influences
- Communications System for Lewis and Clark Caverns by Michael Fussell, PE (Fussell Engineering) and Lynette Kemp (Park Manager, Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park)
- Cover is of Horsethief Cave entrance (WY), part of the Bighorn-Horsethief Cave System, the longest caves in both Montana and Wyoming. (The border runs between the entrances)
- Fun Fact: *Bighorn is the longest cave you can enter from the state of Montana, although a portion of the cave system runs under the state of Wyoming. Silvertip is the longest cave wholly contained within Montana, currently. (That’s for you Ian buddy 😉 lol
NSS News August 2009
- Underground Update: NRMG News Issues 18 and 19
- 2 part special issue on caves in Glacier National Park
NSS News June 2009 Vol 67 No 6
- Spelean Spotlight: An Interview With Bill Steele (NSS #8072 RE, FE, LB, CM) by Ron Zuber
- Ron: You’ve been keeping a caving log or journal for a long time. If I were to page through it what kinds of things would I learn about you?
- Bill: That sometimes cave’s don’t behave themselves, that they don’t do what you want them to do, what you thought the geology told you they were going to do. On Silvertip Mountain, Montana, in 1976, we were on the cusp of resetting the US deep cave record, which had stood for 22 years, but it didn’t happen. I wrote an article about the push to connect a horror hole of a cave named Meander Belt to the Silvertip Cave System. We didn’t make it.
NSS News May 2009 Vol 67 No 5 : Montana 2008 Special Issue
- Not Your Silvertypical Expedition by Mike Green
- It’s Clearing Up – Scapegoat Wilderness by Brian Gindling
- Slategoat Mountain Cave Reconnaissance by Ron Zuber
- Big Snowy Mountains Expedition 2008 by Andy Ashcraft, Rick Brinkman, Dave Ketelhohn
- MONTANA COVER: Tina Oliphant in Blood Cave, photo by Dave Bunnell
NSS News March 2009 Vol 67 No 3
- Bigfork High School Students Work to Conserve Montana Caves by Hans Bodenhamer
NSS News February 2009 Vol 67 No 2
- Le Gouffre Geezer Expedition patch (Gary Soule’s collection August 2007
NSS News September 2008 vol 66 No 9
- Underground Update: Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto Newsletter Issue 15
NSS News February 2008 Vol 66 No 2 : Montana Caving Special Issue
- Le Gouffre Geezer by Jim Chester and Ron Zuber
- 2007 Una Mountain Expedition, Bob Marshall Wilderness by Daryl Greaser
- I Was In Love: An Affair With Wilderness Cave by Jim Chester
- Montana, Summer 2007 by Thomas Coleman
- Giant’s Work by Philip Rykwalder
- MONTANA COVER: Brian Gindling descends a blind pit Flying Bear Pack Cave, photo by Daryl Greaser
NSS News January 2008
- Underground Update: Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto Newsletter Issue 13
- In the Media: Wild Caves: Virgil The Turtle’s Greathouse Cave in the Billings Gazette
Journal of Cave and Karst Studies December 2007 Vol 69 No 3 ISSN 1090-6924
- Preglacial Development of Caves at Structural Duplexes on the Lewis Thrust, Glacier National Park, Montana by Hans Bodenhamer
- MONTANA COVER: James Cummins in Poia Lake Cave
NSS News May 2007 Vol 65 No 5
- Underground Update: Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto Newsletter Issue 11
NSS News April 2007
- Underground Update: Northern Rocky Mountain Grotto Newsletter Issue 10
NSS News March 2007 Vol 65 No 3 : Annual Conservation Issue
- Browning High School Students Map and Develop Monitoring for Three Caves in Glacier National Park, Montana by Hans Bodenhamer
NSS News February 2007 Vol 65 No 2
- Virgil The Turtle’s Greathouse Cave by Philip Rykwalder
- MONTANA COVER: Marlena Cobb among the breakdown in the Aurora Room in Virgil; Photo by Ben Sainsbury
NSS News May 2006 Vol 64 No 5
- Reaper’s Rockpile: Montana’s Deepest Tectonic Pit by Jason Ballensky
NSS News May 2005 Vol 63 No 5
- Alpine Caving in Western Montana by Philip Rykwalder
- MONTANA COVER: Hans Bodenhamer at the entrance to Fairview Mountain Pit, photo by Jason Ballensky
NSS News October 2003 Vol 61 No 10
- Spelean Spotlight: An Interview with Jim Chester by Bill Steele
- Jim correctly speculates caves in Montana will be found that are much deeper than Silvertip (cited at 1052 feet): “I am convinced there are contenders for US class depth, maybe more in the state (MT). All I can say is, stay tuned, we ain’t done yet!”
- a brief history of Montana caving
- descending Satan’s Pit on a hog wire
- Lost Creek Siphon
- Scapegoat in winter
NSS News April 2002
- News and Notes: Call for Articles: Alpine Karst
NSS News March 1974 Vol 32 No 3
- Scapegoat by Jens Munthe
- MONTANA COVER: Entrance to Kathy’s Icebox Cave, photo by Jens Munthe
NSS News November 1968 Vol 26 No 11
- MONTANA COVER: Limestone Cave
- Limestone Cave + map
- Ibex Mountain Cave