MEET THE TEAM
Mike Ficco
is a geologist and cave explorer who has had a part in discovering and mapping many of Virginia’s longest and deep caves and exploring, surveying, mapping, and finding some of the deepest caves in the U.S. states, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, China, and Montenegro. He was also on the discovery team of the Cloud Ladder Hall in China, the 7th largest underground chamber in the world. Mike retired from the engineering firm AECOM in 2021, having pioneered the world of remote work and significant adventures years before it caught on for most of us. Mike serves as chairman of the board of directors for Cave Conservancy of the Virginias (CCV), trustee of the Cave Conservancy Foundation, and on the CCV stewardship committee. Mike is a former vice president of the Butler Cave Conservation Society. Once Mike and Katarina became caving partners for life, they turned some of their attention to the Dinaric karst. The two have been leading an expedition to explore Eastern Montenegro since 2018. Mike’s roles on the team are many and varied. In addition to being the expedition’s co-leader, he has a very helpful knack for field-repairing just about anything we break and finding a solution to almost every problem and obstacle that comes our way. Mike is the wisdom and calm of the team. Leading from behind, he gives everyone a voice and opportunity to present their fresh point of view while contributing his opinion and his indispensable and irreplaceable knowledge when needed. His laid-back attitude assures every team member has a voice and enables continuous improvement of the expedition and cave exploration. Learn more about Mike by listening to the Caving Podcast: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/cavingpodcast/episodes/2024-10-01T09_29_35-07_00
Dr. Katarina Kosič Ficco
is an interdisciplinary karst scientist passionate about protecting vulnerable cave environments and the communities that rely on them- be they microbial, animal, or human. Katarina fell in love with the classic karst landscape on which she was raised in Slovenia. She grew her skills on exploratory trips with the Ljubljana Cave Research Society. She found her academic niche in developing a framework for karst aquifer protection. Katarina works as a field cave and karst scientist within the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Karst Program. Katarina is an adept liaison between exploration groups and the scientific community, linking survey projects to academic institutions to carry out subterranean biodiversity research alongside mapping the unknown. Katarina sits on the board of directors of Cave Conservancy of the Virginias and of the Karst Waters Institute. She was formerly on the board of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute. She also serves on the science and conservation committees of the Butler Cave Conservation Society. In addition to being the expedition’s co-leader and ceaselessly pushing leads underground, finding, exploring, surveying, and mapping new caves, Katarina keeps the team cultured- ever the advocate for a stop along the way to try local food and drink and to appreciate the history and beauty of our surroundings. Learn more about Katarina by listening to the Caving Podcast: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/cavingpodcast/episodes/2024-05-01T00_00_00-07_00
Dr. Sara K. Fleetwood
is a materials scientist with a PhD in Chemical and Biological Engineering. She’s the founder of Alpenshield and the mastermind behind one of the most revolutionary canyoneering ropes, Sterling’s CannyonLux. Sara is an explorer keenly motivated by curiosity about the world around us. Sara began caving in 2010 with the VPI Cave Club. Soon after, she started project caving in Virginia and has since surveyed and mapped caves nationally and internationally. Through these projects, Sara has volunteered for various government agencies, joining expeditions ranging from the Virginias and Wyoming to China, Montenegro, and Canada. Additionally, she volunteers as a board member and vice president of the Cave Conservancy of the Virginias. Sara has tied caving, exploration, and conservation into her career by formerly working at National Geographic, developing and testing ropes as a product development engineer for Sterling Rope Co., Inc., and researching cellulose materials and developing an eco-friendly consumer spray for waterproofing your outdoor gear while simultaneously working to commercialize her plant-based, water-repellent coating. Sara is always eager to learn and hone new skills (Think sailing, dirt biking, mountaineering, and avalanche analysis), especially if they help her access and explore more of the wild world. Her contagious eagerness to explore, survey, and map new worlds brings motivation and willingness to never stop exploring and learning to the team.
Philip Schuchardt
is an experienced caver who has built some of our most used cartography tools. Phillip has over a decade of experience as a software developer. He is the mastermind behind caveWhere and MapWhere applications. However, he has recently made a big career switch, returning to his roots (pun intended) to run the family farm. Phillip started caving in Virginia as a VPI Cave Club member and has applied the same enthusiasm to finding, surveying and recording caves worldwide, whether in the U.S. or China, Montenegro, or Canada. Inspired by a need to visualize cave systems while working on large-scale caving projects, Philip created CaveWhere. This software allows cavers to model underground systems quickly. This innovation led him to develop other geospatial tools, such as MapWhere, that aid in remote detection of karst features and improve team data collection and management in remote areas. Since 2018, Philip has been a co-leader of the Bridger Teton Caving project, which discovered and mapped one of the United States’ deepest caves along with hundreds of smaller caves in the region. On an expedition, Philip can often be found in cahoots with Phillip (we like to call them Phillips) – brainstorming novel technologies or making ambitious rigging plans. Phillips together are an unbeatable tandem, but Philip brings humor, motivation, and a fresh view to the survey and expedition team. No matter the situation, you can rely on him to have your back and do anythign to make you happy and comfortable, even in the worst-case scenarios. He is also one of the founding members of the TarpLifeAdventures. So you actually wouldn’t know about us without him.
Penelope Vorster
is a caver and cartographer with a background in geology. She started caving as a teenager in the caves surrounding her hometown of Blacksburg, Virginia, and has followed the urge to explore back underground again and again. Penelope has worked as a cave specialist in federal and state government roles. She currently works for the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), documenting rare cave species of Virginia and fostering collaboration between explorers, agencies, and communities. Penelope is also on the Stewardship Committee of the Cave Conservancy of the Virginias (CCV). She contributes to the training program of her local grotto, the VPI Cave Club. Penelope is involved in several exploration projects in the Virginias, as well as expeditions to map caves in Wyoming, Mexico, and Montenegro. She steps into many different roles on the team. Still, her favorite tasks are sketching, hauling heavy packs, and heading down the mountain to the market to get provisions for the team and learn new words in the local language.
Phillip Moneyhun
is a caver, mountain climber, and inventor. Phillip is energized by the technical challenges of exploring remote environments. Phillip has studied and sought to advance vertical caving techniques for over a decade. He draws on techniques learned from alpine climbing, industrial rope access, and high-angle rescue to create lightweight and efficient systems for rigging and aid climbing in caves. Phillip has participated in numerous international caving expeditions and explored some of the deepest caves in the United States and Virginia’s longest caves. Phillip is a former President of the VPI Cave Club. He is the current chairman of the grotto’s safety and techniques committee. Phillip is a member of the Cave Rescue Team of the Blacksburg Volunteer Rescue Squad. He frequently teaches as a specialist at National Cave Rescue Commission seminars. Phillip’s undeniable expertise in single rope techniques, dedication to having as much fun as possible, his conviction that no vertical challenge is unsolvable, and his ability to solve almost any alarming situation underground (except breath-holding while you watch him perform the most challenging moves) make him an invaluable rigger and everything vertical expert on the team. He is particularly zealous when combined with Philip. Together, they make Phillips a dynamic duo with no comparison.
Dr. Maja Zagmajster
is a researcher at SubBioLab (http://www.subbio.net) at the Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She is studying distribution and biodiversity patterns at various geographical scales, focusing mainly on species living in caves and other subterranean habitats. Part of her research is dedicated to bats, with projects related to bat distribution, ecology, and conservation studies. Her research includes managing species distribution datasets, mapping, GIS analyses, and spatial statistical modeling. Maja brings to the team her unstoppable enthusiasm for science and understanding of subterranean biology while keeping the exploration and mapping of the cave going. No matter the length of a caving trip, its intensity, and the level of exhaustion she experiences, she will stop and collect the specimens or record her observations. While she is not studying bugs you can find her singing in an alternative choir Čaralice. Her enthusiasm, motivation, and love for subterranean worlds are contagious and spread throughout the team. Her positive and sunny attitude is indispensable for the expedition spirits. Her knowledge of the Dinaric Karst, local language, and culture provides the basis for interactions with local communities and deciding how to approach the scientific aspects of the expedition. Maja and Teo’s cooperation with the Natural History Museum of Montenegro on various projects enables us to share our findings with the Montenegrin government and collaborate with their scientists. Permitting us to contribute to the understanding of the natural world of Montenegro.
Dr. Teo Delić
is a researcher at SubBioLab (http://www.subbio.net ) at the Department of Biology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He focuses on research on cave organisms, with a particular interest in groundwater amphipods and subterranean beetles. He is also a ceaseless cave explorer who can simultaneously give you a survey shot and jump into 3 degrees Celsius cold water to catch a centipede. His strength and motivation keep the team going and motivate you to never stop exploring and learning about the subterranean worlds. His love for subterranean biology and caves provides an excellent foundation for evaluating the conservation status of caves and subterranean species. His understanding of Dinaric Karst and the local language and culture provided the base for the expedition. He was instrumental in securing camping sites and establishing relationships with the local community. With his strength and agility as a mountain goat, he keeps us hiking up those beautiful but strenuous mountains, no matter how tired we are. His ceaseless sense of humor, positive attitude, bring sunshine to the campsite even during the most exhausting and low-energy days. Teo and Maja cooperate with the Natural History Museum of Montenegro on various projects, enabling us to share our findings with the Montenegrin government and collaborate with their scientists. Permitting us to contribute to the understanding of the natural world of Montenegro.
Riley Drake
is a cave explorer and research scientist currently pursuing her PhD at Emory University. Riley’s research seeks understanding the relationship between groundwater microbiology and human health. Her cave exploration is infused with a curiosity about life in these remote environments. Riley’s study of cave microbiology has taken her to a wide variety of U.S. caves, from the Virginias to South Dakota, Alaska, New Mexico, and back to the southeast. Riley has served on the National Speleological Society (NSS) Board of Directors and as an elected trustee and membership chair of the Northeastern Cave Conservancy. She currently serves on the Preserve Research Committee of the NSS. Riley brings a persistent and innovative attitude to our projects and is unlikely to let challenges stop her in her quest for data. If in doubt of these qualities, please refer to the fifteen-or-so prototypes of a field centrifuge that Riley eventually succeeded in creating for her remote laboratory in the Alaskan wilderness.
Tommy Cleckner
is a caver, and mountain climber and works as a sonar design engineer. He started caving in 2013 with the VPI Cave Club, of which he is another former President. In that time, he mapped caves with the West Virginia Association for Cave Studies and the Germany Valley Karst Survey. Since 2018, Tommy has explored the deepest caves in the U.S. as part of the Caves of Montana project and participates in the Grand Canyon Cave Research Project. Alpine caving, whether in the American Rockies or the Dinaric Karst, can be brutal. Tommy’s willingness to suffer often rewards him with great discoveries. During the 2019 Montenegro expedition, a particularly long, solo ridgewalking adventure over rugged terrain led Tommy to the entrances of Jama Vručični Snovi (Fever Dreams Cave) and Jama Još Trideset Metara (Thirty More Meters Cave), two of the caves that have not only yielded the most passage to date and hold the most promise moving forward but are also the reason for the Kučka Korita caving expedition to keep going. The day before Tommy brought Mike and Katarina to the entrance of Jama Vručični Snovi (Fever Dreams Cave), they were contemplating concluding their Kučka Korita plateau exploration attempts. But the cave changed everything.