In late 1967, Stanley Ulfeldt, the Southern California Chairman of the
National Speleological Society, proposed the making of a documentary film
"Cave of the Winding Stair".
A shooting scrip was drafted and filming began in 1968.
Ulfeldt's selection of 16mm high-speed black & white film  allowed the use of only one
auxiliary light during the filming.  The bulk of the picture was made solely  by the caver's
headlamp illumination.
Ulfeldt's dedication to authenticity produced one of the most realistic films on caving made to date
and also the first major caving film ever made in the Western U.S.
All of the vertical techniques and equipment in the film are authentic to period and
"Cave of the Winding Stair" is a remarkable historic document of the period of changeover of the 1950's
cable ladder era to the beginnings of modern single rope techniques.
An actual rescue during one production trip also became the first confirmed cave rescue
ever to be filmed in the U.S.
Ulfeldt's remarkable foresight has created a lasting document of the cavers
and the techniques of  1960's caving in the West.
John Woods
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