Nancy Holler Aulenbach is an elementary school teacher from Norcross, Georgia, who feels most at home underground. Born into a caving family, she made her first trip into the Earth when she was jut a few months old. She is well known among cavers for her expertise in rigging, surveying, and performing cave-rescues. Hazel A. Barton, born and raised in England, lives near Boulder, Colorado, where she is a research associate of the Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology at the University of Colorado. Her interest in animal diseases led to a career in microbiology. An award-winning cave mapper, she is interested in studying unusual ecosystems deep underground. Marfé Ferguson Delano is a freelance writer who was introduced to caving by Nancy Aulenbach and Hazel Barton. She is a graduate of Duke University and currently lives in Alexandria, Virginia. She has assisted in writing 10 books for the National Geographic Society.
