speleologist

plural speleologists

1. A person who studies or explores caves or studies the science of speleology.

   The first man known to have descended Gaping Gill is well known on the Continent as an expert cave-explorer or speleologist — to use the new term which he perhaps invented.

   1895, Joseph Baron, Ribble-land: A Glance at Its Scenery, History and Legendary Lore, page 185

   2 more examples

   Under this heading M. E. A. Martel, the distinguished speleologist or cave-explorer of Europe, whose researches have recently added considerably to our knowledge of the Adelsberg grotto, furnishes to La Nature an interesting account of the episode in the Lueg-Loch or Lur-Loch, near the Styrian capital, which so nearly resulted fatally to the seven members of the Höhlenforscher—Fasching, Fölzmann, Zweyer, Oswald, Maier, Kurz and Haidt—who, on the 28th of April, attempted the exploration of the lost passage of the Semriach.

   1894 January 28, “A subterranean drama”, in Around the World, volume 1, number 2

   The biography of Robert de joly, a famous French speleologist who spent his life exploring caves, revealed an experience in which he stumbled into some cave areas high in carbon dioxide (CO₂) and developed a severe headache lasting twenty-four hours.

   2010, Paul G. Bahn, Prehistoric Rock Art: Polemics and Progress

   Synonyms: potholer, caver, spelunker