You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (June 2014) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the German article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Riesending-Schachthöhle]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Riesending-Schachthöhle}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

The Riesending cave (German: Riesending-Schachthöhle) is a pit cave in the Untersberg near Berchtesgaden, Germany and Salzburg, Austria. At 1,148 m it is the deepest and at 19,300 m the longest cave in Germany. It was discovered in 1996. In June 2014 it became well known because of a large effort to rescue a lead speleologist.

The Riesending cave (German for "huge thing") is a pit cave in the Untersberg, near Berchtesgaden, Bavaria. At 23,800 m^[1] it is the longest and 1,148 m the deepest in Germany.^[2] Riesending was discovered in 1996 by Hermann Sommer and Ulrich Meyer.^[3]

In June 2014, Riesending became well known to the general public for the largest ever rescue effort, the rescue in the Riesending cave, taking eleven days by 700 members of a multinational group of cave rescuers to rescue then-52-year-old Johann Westhauser [de], one of the original and principal researchers of the cave, a physicist, speleologist and cave rescuer himself, who had been injured in a rockfall deep in the cave.^[4]

• Schellenberg ice cave
• Kolowrat cave [de]
• Windlöcher [de]
• Fürstenbrunner Quellhöhle [de]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Riesending cave.

• Matthalm, Thomas; Meyer, Ulrich (2009). "Die Riesending-Schachthöhle im Untersberg" (PDF). Die Höhle – Zeitschrift für Karst und Höhlenkunde (in German). 60. Verband Österreichischer Höhlenforscher, Verband der deutschen Höhlen- und Karstforscher e.V.: 33–43. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-12-28. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
• Abromeit, Lars (2010). "An diesen geschundenen Strick soll ich mein Leben hängen?". GEO (in German). No. 1. pp. 100–114. Archived from the original on 2022-12-28. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
• Meyer, Ulrich (2012). "Auf der Suche nach dem Barbarossa-System im Untersberg" (PDF). Akten des 13. Nationalen Kongresses für Höhlenforschung, 2012 – Actes du 13e Congrès national de Spéléologie (in German). Muotathal: 68–74. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-08. Retrieved 2012-10-25.
• Meyer, Ulrich (2015). Das Riesending im Untersberg (in German). Bad Cannstatt, Germany: Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Höhlenforschung Bad Cannstatt e.V.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Riesending-Schachthöhle.

• Description of the cave Website of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Höhlenforschung, Bad Cannstatt e.V.
• "La grotte de Riesending - Descente au fond du gouffre" / "Das Riesending - 20.000 Meter unter der Erde" by Freddie Röckenhaus - Arte.tv in French and German. In the wake of five speleologists, an exploration of the deepest and longest cave in Germany. Spectacular and immersive.[91 min]

47°41′58″N 12°58′59″E / 47.6994°N 12.9831°E / 47.6994; 12.9831

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