About diggers
Digging should not be confused with speleology (exploration of caves and cavities natural origin) and spelestology (the study of caves, quarries and catacombs made by man in rocks). Diggers doing research underground structures built by man using building materials and technologies, ventilation shafts, drainage systems, sewer collectors, underground rivers, abandoned and active underground military facilities.
Digging is very often associated with various kinds dangers. Diggers are interested in almost all underground structures - bomb shelters (both abandoned and functioning), bunkers, house basements, underground rivers, old mines, tunnels, abandoned metro stations, sewers and communications. Special Interest Diggers are interested in ancient buildings and their structure.
Origin of the term
According to one version, the idea of using the word “digger” as a definition of hobby belongs to Vadim Mikhailov. According to Vadim, in the evening, after one of his first descents underground, he and his comrades looked in the dictionaries for a term that could describe this hobby. The choice settled on the word “digger”, denoting a socio-political movement that arose in mid-17th century century in England. But, as Vadim Mikhailov himself explains, given choice is due not to the fact that English diggers are the historical predecessors of modern diggers, but to the meaning of the word “to dig” - to dig, that is, to dive deep into the earth, into underground structures.
Although some diggers dispute Vadim Mikhailov’s authorship of the term “digger” as a definition of a modern hobby, considering this an appropriation of the idea of using a designation of their activity generally accepted in digger circles. [ ]
Russian diggers
Most Russian diggers (this is how they differ from foreign ones) have a tradition of “blurring out” or painting over their faces in photographs (which is usually useless, because everyone knows each other) in order to prevent the police from using their portraits for their own purposes.
Slang
Diggers have their own slang:
- Aborigine or Civil is a local resident.
- Bulgarian - angle grinder.
- Chatterbox, bolt - bolt cutter (rebar shears).
- Bombar, bomb - bomb shelter.
- VadMikh - Vadim Mikhailov.
- Verrier, equipment - climbing rope and other accessories.
- Vsha, veshka, ventukha, vityukha - Ventilation Shaft.
- VOKhR - Militarized security, armed security units.
- Germa, germukha - hermetic door (hermetic door).
- Hermetic vent is a sealed door of the ventilation system.
- Gay pride parade - simultaneous entry into the facility large number people
- GorKal - sewer collector.
- Gebnya - KGB.
- Dachlo is a sensor installed by security.
- Destroy - destruction caused to an object by some diggers.
- Doser, dozer - dosimeter.
- Device - Penetration tool.a
- D6, M2 - Secret government metro in Moscow.
- DShS - Drainage-adit system.
- Throwing in, throwing in - penetration into an object.
- Zabutovka - a wall blocking a once-existing passage in underground facilities
- Climbing - the process of entering an object, the path of entry into an object (hatch, hole in a wall/fence, undermining, etc.).
- Fuse - detection of diggers at an object.
- Ignition of a hole, ignition of a hole, sealing - an action leading to the elimination of penetration into an object through a hole (installation of sensors or cameras, welding of gratings, backfilling of passages, concreting of mine shafts).
- To cut through is to successfully penetrate without destruction.
- Throw yourself in - penetration into an object.
- History - buildings built a long time ago and preserved to this day.
- Carlson, vond - a huge fan of the subway ventilation system
- Red hat, red cap, KSh - station attendant in the metro.
- Kablo - cable collector.
- KR - Contact rail in the Metro, through which current flows into the train.
- Konogon - a miner's lantern, sometimes a headlamp
- LDC - Camp earthworm(Regenwurmlager), underground fortress on the Fortified Area Eastern rampart(Ostwall).
- LH - human walker, ladder for descending into a mine shaft
- An assembler is a worker or other person who is at the site on duty.
- Mayorchik is a KGB investigator in uniform.
- Lineman's jacket - a lineman's work jacket or, less commonly, an orange vest.
- The monteryatnik is a workers' cabin.
- Negla, Neglinka - Neglinnaya river.
- Not accepted - a person who was not accepted in the heat of the moment at the facility. Example: Today we have two out of nineteen guys who were not accepted.
- Object - a place of interest to the climb.
- Portal - entrance/exit to the children's school.
- Palivo - finding an object/hall under surveillance, on an alarm or in a crowded place. Or detection of strangers at the facility/hall.
- Poddomnik - a bomb shelter under a residential building
- Podkhodnyak - approaching development of the VSh metro. Or the section from the doors to the air-raid shelter herm. You can also name any other long section of the tunnel/walk leading to something. For example: There will be a staircase in front of the approach to the apartment.
- Accept - to be detained by police officers or a private security company. Or people who sympathize with them.
- Protik, pug - gas mask.
- Pruha is a small Anti-Radiation Shelter, usually located under the house.
- Razvodnik, razvod - adjustable wrench
- Rakokhod, rakolaz, crustacean - A narrow hole that does not allow you to stand up to your full height.
- Samospal, headlight - powerful flashlight
- Light - lantern.
- A shaft is a vertical (less often inclined) excavation with direct access to earth's surface and intended for service underground works or ventilation of a completed construction site.
- A break is an underground mine opening that connects two closely spaced openings, such as a drift and a clearing. Diggers call a break any branch from a direct course. Or a dead-end branch.
- Spinal breaker, radiculitis - a passage along which you cannot walk at full height.
- Teplak, teplukha - heating main collector.
- Trapezoid - a trapezoidal move in the DShS.
- Swag - interesting things that can be found at the site, usually ownerless
- Swag, habarspas - remove swag found at the site
- Khimza, Khimka - chemical protection suit.
- Khabotnik - Tunnel, corridor, pipe, passage.
- Trunk, kick around, kick around - do something.
- Civilians are passersby walking nearby at the moment of climbing.
- Private security company - employee of a private security company, security guard
- Worm - Train in the subway tunnel.
- A skinner, a skinner, is a narrow hole that you can crawl through only by removing everything unnecessary from yourself.
- Schoolboy, shkolota - A person under the age of majority (not necessarily) visiting objects and, as a rule, causing irreparable harm.
- To wobble - To break or break something. Breaking the pressure door.
- Elka or Aladdin - chemical protection suit
From year to year, minds and hearts are all more people are captivated by extreme sports and entertainment. What can you imagine: parachute jumping, skiing, diving. The list is huge and is constantly updated with something new. One of these types of nerve tickling appeared literally under our feet.
They call themselves diggers. Not a single person knows how many brave men who risked learning the secrets of the municipal depths remained there, deep in the labyrinths of the underground kingdom.
Diggers are...
Digging (from English. digger- digger) - study of underground communications. People who engage in digging are called diggers. Despite its origins in English digger, the term is widely used only by Russian-speaking representatives of the subculture, as well as in the countries of the former USSR.
Now, thanks to the Internet, guys unite and descend into the depths to explore the secrets of the city. Often, however, inexperienced travelers need a guide and can run into trouble. Since this is becoming quite a popular activity, it is very easy to run into impostors who, due to ignorance, can lead you directly under the drain hatches. And in general, walking through all kinds of sewers and shelters is really dangerous.
Many world capitals have made a well-paid business out of this. Moscow, for example, also has a lot of very interesting objects that could easily become museums or tourist centers. These include bomb shelters, monastery basements, and catacomb churches. They stand abandoned and mothballed. Fortress passages, underground river sites, abandoned metro tunnels, many natural caves and simply underground buildings.
Groups of guys, often knee-deep in water, move along branched drainage systems, descending lower and lower with each level, through rubble, holding on to rusty handrails and ladders. Mandatory rule For such a trip, have a spare battery for the flashlight with you. After all, if the light source runs out, the digger most likely will not be able to get out.
Such activity is not entirely legal and the authorities really don’t like it, because diggers often appear in places that city authorities don’t care about. But this is not main problem. More experienced companies of diggers poke their noses into functioning subways and operating bomb shelters near military bases. And law enforcement agencies may be involved for this.
But for some smart executives, diggers are far from a threat. They make maps underground tunnels, maps of the illegal activities of developers who cut into sewers without permission. Their help is selfless and the authorities willingly accept it. Of course, not every initiative of the diggers is a success, but the beginning has been made for productive relations between the authorities and underground travelers.
The declassification of the most secret enterprises during times of stagnation became the object of jokes and anecdotes. It was often exaggerated, confusing popular fiction with reality. One of the most persistent “urban legends” is the conviction of almost all Muscovites that deep, deep underground, along with the official metro, there is another functioning one - a secret one. It even received unofficial name- "Metro-2". More than a dozen journalists and diggers will swear that they personally examined both abandoned and active ones, saw control panels deprived of electricity, abandoned offices, rusted rails, collapsing carriages and cramped cells, similar to prison ones.
One of the most persistent urban legends is the belief of almost all Muscovites that deep, deep underground, along with the official metro, there is another functioning one - a secret one. It even received an unofficial name - “Metro-2”.
From the memoirs of a digger who wished to remain anonymous:
“The narrow passage stretched on and on, becoming narrower. At times the slimy walls almost closed, forcing me to form three bodies in order to squeeze between them; I was scared and most of all I wanted to turn back, but I was silent and forced myself to move forward, not wanting to disgrace myself in front of my comrades. It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe, and the nasty sweetish smell that you can sometimes feel when entering the subway became more and more noticeable in the surrounding air. Suddenly I felt a vibration and heard a noise like a train passing. What was surprising was that it was not coming from the direction where, according to my calculations, the metro line should have passed, but from the opposite side, as if from somewhere below. I looked at my companion in bewilderment. “Metro-2,” he said with just his lips.”
Ale! Is this the Institute for testing the orientation of missiles in airless space?
Ahhhh! - At the Institute, the receiver fell, a shot rang out: the head of the First Department shot himself.
Mikhail Zhvanetsky
Moscow diggers should not be confused with representatives of the far left peasant movement V English Revolution, bearing the same name. Russian word digger comes from the English digger - digger. This is the name given to people who are interested in exploring artificial underground structures for educational or entertainment purposes. Digging should not be confused with speleology - the study of caves and cavities of natural origin; rather, it is akin to spelestology - the study of catacombs and underground structures artificial origin. However, the diggers themselves deny this science, considering themselves special people. Diggers are interested in almost all underground structures - bomb shelters (both abandoned and functioning), basements, underground rivers and communications (not disdaining sewers), old mines, metro tunnels and metro construction. They often come into conflict with the law.
Moscow diggers have examined all city communications; they know ways to penetrate various collectors and heating mains: through basements, through boiler rooms, through hatches with the inscription “TS”. Some people don’t even disdain the city sewerage system. Through the hatches marked “D”, the diggers enter the drainage system, and from there into the underground Moscow rivers. The oldest and longest are Neglinka, Chertorye, Presnya, Filka and some other nameless streams in the city center. There they find a variety of mushrooms, reminiscent of those described in the sensational dystopia about the Metro of the future, intertwined tree roots, salt stalactites and perennial sediments in which you can find anything you want.
Diggers enter subway tunnels through cable collectors. Enthusiasts are not stopped even by numerous sensors and cables high voltage, because the metro was and remains their favorite place. In addition to the public part, they examine the running tunnels between stations, ventilation shafts and junctions, interline sections, depots, sub-platform structures, all kinds of pressure doors (some of which relate to secret objects civil defense). Diggers love to walk along lines and stations under construction, identifying the metro construction on the surface, by a protruding trunk (a tower with a house on top) and a concrete fence with the letter “M” on the gate.
In outlying areas there are often hills with gates. These are underground garages of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Diggers are convinced that this is component mysterious "Metro-2", and under each hill you can count 5-7 floors, from where underground passages lead to the city center and, accordingly, to the metro. Diggers also think about the pressure doors that exist in the underground passages of the city and in car tunnels, for example in Lefortovo.
In outlying areas there are often hills with gates. These are underground garages of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Diggers are convinced that this is an integral part of the mysterious “Metro-2”, and under each hill you can count 5-7 floors, from where underground passages lead to the city center and, accordingly, to the metro. Diggers also think about the pressure doors that exist in the city’s underground passages and in road tunnels, for example in Lefortovo.
From an interview with Vadim Mikhailov, ideologist of the digger movement, to the newspaper “Zavtra”:
“...after looking through the dictionaries, we found the right word. It was decided to call ourselves “diggers”. Later I learned about the socio-political movement of Diggers, true equalizers, which took place in the middle of the 17th century in England during the English War. bourgeois revolution. But we weren’t looking for predecessors, we just liked the English word to dig - to dig. Digger - digger... The coat of arms immediately appeared - two crossed shoulder blades. This later another sign will appear - globe and a digger carrying a child in his arms. The movement should truly be called “Diggers of the Underground Planet.”
The most ordinary city dwellers know only one life, which flows smoothly in the metropolis. But desperate extreme sports enthusiasts have long discovered life under the city, in the depths of the dungeon. Such enthusiastic people are called diggers.
What draws people underground? What and why are they risking? Why is diggering becoming more and more popular?
Diggers - who are they?
Not every person will constantly risk their life. Therefore, only those individuals who lack extreme emotions and adrenaline in life become diggers. This is the first reason why this hobby is becoming popular. Some people are fascinated by the sky and parachuting, while others are drawn to abandoned underground passages and unexplored objects.
In any dungeon there are places where it is life-threatening to be there. They are practically impassable, so you need to show all your courage and ingenuity in order to overcome the difficult underground section. For diggers this is real life. The second reason for the popularity of digging is considered to be the global exploration of underground objects, invisible ordinary people. These extreme sports enthusiasts are also called diggers. Their goal is simple. Diggers are looking for valuables in abandoned mines, sewers, and subway tunnels. Yes, yes, the usual search for treasures, but underground.
Of course, you can’t go underground alone. Even experienced diggers explore underground communications in the company. After all, extreme sportsmen face so many dangers that can lead to human death and various destructions.
A digger is a person who risks being buried under rubble, may be poisoned by various gases, break his limbs or spine, or end up in a zone of high radiation. To minimize such risks, experienced guides are needed who are able to prevent an accident or provide first aid to the victim. The diggers' equipment is quite impressive. Any little thing can be useful underground. Many countries have legally banned this extreme hobby. The explanation for this is very simple. A digger can disrupt city communications or provoke underground explosion. And this will already lead to irreversible consequences in the metropolis itself. Innocent people may get hurt.
Yes, hobbies and entertainment are different. Our people love to take risks. But you shouldn’t do this thoughtlessly. Always think about your health and own life. Good luck!
If you don't have enough extreme sports in your life, try your hand at digging. It's dangerous, but at the same time quite interesting hobby. Diggers travel through abandoned dungeon structures.
Diggers are those people who are engaged in research and study of underground structures. But only those that are created by human hands using various technologies and materials. Such objects often include sewers, drainage systems, underground rivers, metro stations, basements, tunnels, bomb shelters, etc.
The term “digger” was introduced by the founder of the international digger movement, Russian Vadim Mikhailov. The same word denoted the socio-political movement in England in the 17th century. But also English diggers (in modern understanding this word) were the predecessors modern travelers dungeon. And the word “to dig” means “to dig”, “to plunge into the depths of the earth, into underground structures.”
What makes you do such a rather dangerous business? First of all, interest. After all, the other – underground – part of the city can hide a lot of mysteries. Diggers know what their city looks like from the inside. On the other hand, digging is a hobby of real extreme sports people, thrill-seekers. Sometimes the experience gained from such forays can be of benefit to the public. Some diggers write scientific papers based on the results of their underground observations.
Anyone can become a digger. The main thing: do not be afraid of heights, confined space and darkness. And in general, be a rather brave, not squeamish person. IN social networks There are many groups of diggers, you just need to join, agree and take part.
Why is diggering dangerous?
Digging is a hobby for daredevils. After all, abandoned places are often quite dangerous: they can be dilapidated and contain harmful chemicals, bacteria. And this hobby is not entirely clean: it is unlikely that you will be able to come out of such an underground journey clean, and your clothes may get damaged.
Precautions.
There are basic rules and safety measures in this hobby:
You can't go on such an extreme journey alone. In case of any trouble, you may need the help of a friend, a rescue group. But the best companions will be experienced diggers.
It is advisable to have a means of communication with you.
Exploration of some objects may require a respirator, helmet, headlamp, waterproof boots, jacket, and a small first aid kit.
Sometimes breaking into some underground structures can be punishable by law. Yes and local residents Such digger tourism will not always be welcome, because underground researchers may be aware of any machinations underground. Often an attempt to pollute, for example, rivers and lakes with various wastes becomes obvious.
But there are also unspoken rules such an extreme hobby: you can’t break, destroy, paint, paint, or steal anything. Each object is of great value for other future diggers, explorers, and adventurers. It is believed that a real digger understands technical rules, descriptions, GOSTs, technologies of underground structures, reads special literature.
It is also especially important to know the route and passability of the territory, as well as constantly monitor the situation.
If you lack adrenaline, want to have an extreme free time, then perhaps this young movement will help brighten up your life.
