Beneath VT Trip Logs

Trip 9

2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

D., Snipe, and Snipe's friend met up at 1 AM and headed off to Lane Stadium with a goal of reaching the top of one of the two lighted towers.

We headed in through the tunnel onto the field. We successfully made it into the press room and away locker room, but the elevator that we had planned on using was turned off. We were unable to find accessible stairwells from the field side of Lane, so we exited through the tunnel.

After exiting, I pointed out the new locker room that was being constructed. We decided to explore it and started heading in that direction. On the way, we came across some ice that had been dumped on the grass in front of the Jamerson Athletic Center (the building located directly behind Cassell Coliseum) that had not melted yet. Someone had probably dumped it not too long ago, so we decided that it would be best if we did not explore the construction site and turned back.

We knew that in order to get to the roof, we would have to enter through the front of Lane Stadium so that we would have access to another elevator or a stairwell. Unfortunately, every door we tried was locked -- except one. This particular door has a light, that we originally thought might be a camera, above it. I tried the door first while covering my face with my hood and as I had hoped, it was open. I went in and waited for the others to follow.

I pushed the button for the elevator and it arrived just in time, but when we got in, it did not seem to allow us to take it to the sixth floor, which is the floor that would give us access to the roof. We ended up having to take the stairs instead. I noticed that a few of the floors were left unlocked, so we checked one out. There wasn't really anything of note; it was just a pretty standard box seating area, so we continued our journey.

Luckily the door to the fifth floor was also unlocked, so we climbed out onto the roof. We noticed that a door was left wide open; this door had a hallway in which there was a door to a boiler room. Unfortunately, the door was locked, so we weren't able to check it out.

After climbing out onto the roof, we had to pull ourselves onto the tower. There isn't a ladder, so we had to jump onto the indentations in the tower itself and pull ourselves up. After we had all made it up onto the tower, we opened the door to the unlocked elevator machine room and went in. There was a ladder in the back leading up to an unlocked roof hatch.

We spent a little while on the roof taking pictures and relaxing, then climbed back down the ladder, making sure to shut the roof hatch behind us. Fortunately, the elevator machine room has a door that opens out into a stairwell, so getting down wasn't nearly as difficult as getting up to the tower.

This was a pretty interesting exploration and was definitely worthwhile.

Trip 8

2010-04-25T00:00:00Z

I met up with Snipe and one of his friends around 3:20 AM or so after D. had passed up on this trip. Our goal was to run the Fralin-Dietrick tunnel.

Our plans were complicated by the relatively high police presence. On the way to meet Snipe, I had passed by three officers, two on foot and one in an SUV. On the way to our entrance, we encountered an officer on foot and three in vehicles. One drove by on West Campus Drive, one parked in front of West AJ and the other happened to drive by in the parking lot next to Engel.

We opted to wait for the police activity to calm down a bit, so we headed toward the Drillfield. On the way, I happened to try the door in the Smyth archway. To our surprise (and mine, since I had tried that door the previous night and found it locked), it was open. We went in and headed downstairs to try to get in the mechanical room. Unfortunately, it was locked, so we went up to the second floor, walked into Hutchinson, went up to the third floor and finally made our way into Seitz. We went down to the basement of Seitz, but weren't able to make it in to any of the storage rooms there.

Just as we were about to open the front door of Seitz to leave, an officer happened to drive by on Drillfield Drive. We waited for him to pass and left quietly, heading past Saunders to the sidewalk next to West Campus Drive. On the way, we discussed the possible Hillcrest-Saunders (or possibly Hillcrest-Agnew) tunnel. We passed over the manhole that emits a sound of leaking steam, a sound that is a bit disturbing to an urban explorer.

We made our way back up to our entrance and I went off in a loop around Cheatham to ensure the coast was clear. It was, so we popped open the raised grate in front of Fralin and went in.

After the two foot drop in from the grate, we had to go through a ton of mud to get into the tunnel. My left arm ended up completely covered, but my clothes fared a bit better. We probably should have accounted for the recent rain and tried a different tunnel, but it was too late to turn back. Plus, a little mud never hurt anyone.

I noted the section of tunnel to my right after entering that runs off through Fralin. At a first glance, it looks pretty inaccessible, but I think that it might be possible for someone who is small to climb in between pipes, provided that the section behind the pipes is clear, as it appears to be. I will have to do some more investigation.

We headed left toward Dietrick and moved quickly through the tunnel. Snipe covered his face as we passed by Latham Hall as he wasn't sure if the entrance to the mechanical room there had motion sensors or cameras. It didn't, but it looks like the door might have a simple magnetic sensor. It's most likely kept locked though, since the university seems to be cracking down on entrances into buildings from the steam tunnels.

We continued through the tunnel, which turned to the right sharply just a little past Latham. As we hit the end of the tunnel, Snipe pointed out the smaller section of tunnel running into Dietrick's mechanical room that we would be following. Unfortunately, it does not look like it is possible to enter the section of steam tunnel that is supposed to run to Ambler Johnson Hall from this tunnel.

After climbing up into the smaller tunnel to Dietrick, we headed into Dietrick. There's a door that leads straight into the mechanical room. Due to construction down there, the door that leads to the tunnel is visible from the outside, so we had to be careful to ensure that no one would see us.

Dietrick's mechanical room is pretty cool. There's a lot of machinery; it appears that most of it is for the air conditioning. There's also a door from the mechanical room into Dietrick's crawlspace, which is also pretty cool. There's a lot of junk just thrown around in there and some pipes are visible. There's also a large horn attached to a smaller fire alarm; I presume that a single fire alarm is not sufficient for a crawlspace of the size of Dietrick's.

Next, we headed up the stairs in the rear of the building. We went out the door to the loading dock after Snipe ensured it was clear and headed back to our dorms after completing a successful, but dirty, run.

Trip 7

2010-04-21T00:00:00Z

So I lied last time; I did the Hillcrest-Greenhouses run again. I met up with Snipe from VTExploration around 1 AM at Hillcrest. After making sure West Campus Drive was clear of cars, we removed the manhole in front of Hillcrest and went in.

Snipe showed me the section that runs down the hill toward Saunders; it actually begins right next to the entrance manhole. It's blocked by some pipes, so in order to enter that section, you would have to use the other manhole. Of course, Snipe has informed me that particular run heads downhill at a pretty steep incline without any steps, so it's not the most accessible tunnel in the world. He also told me that the run is very hot and that he suspects that there may be a steam leak, so it's not a place I'll be going anytime soon.

We headed down toward West Campus Drive. On the way, we noticed a filled in section of wall. It appears that there used to be access to the area beneath one of the stairs in Hillcrest here, but it's since been filled in. If one felt destructive, it would probably be possible to knock the new wall in, but it doesn't look like there's anything interesting down there.

As we hit the main section of tunnel, I pointed out the inaccessible section that I believe runs up West Campus Drive and turns toward Fralin. That's what the utilities map indicates, anyway.

As we headed down the the tunnel, we figured out the source of the banging noise that both Snipe and I had noticed before. Apparently, there are heat sinks installed on one of the steam pipes to help cool it. The heat sinks are also very good at creating a loud banging noise quite frequently. To someone who's never explored this run before, the noise would be pretty disconcerting. You can even hear it outside the tunnel, since the heat sinks are installed near the big grate next to Litton Reaves.

Just before the tunnel makes it first turn under the traffic circle, we noticed the section of tunnel that crosses West Campus Drive and leads to the big grate on that side of the street. It's blocked by some pipes, but it's probably possible to squeeze through. There's about a two foot drop down into that section of tunnel, which appears to be made of precast concrete. We're not sure if the run ends at that grate or if it continues down Washington Street.

In the main tunnel, I pointed out the machinery that discharges steam to Snipe that's located just after the tunnel turns to run next to Washington Street. It was still doing the same thing tonight.

We headed to the end of the run, which terminates in a room that is slightly larger than the rest of the tunnel. Some of the pipes run into the wall, probably leading into another section of tunnel and a few others run off toward the Greenhouses in an inaccessible section of tunnel.

We made our way back to the manhole at Hillcrest and exited without incident. This was a pretty successful run and I'm hoping that I can go tunneling with Snipe again soon.

Trip 6

2010-04-13T00:00:00Z

D. and Fuse dropped in at the grate in front of Litton Reaves. We initially planned to enter at Hillcrest, but we moved down to Litton Reaves because a car had passed while we were opening the manhole.

Before we had even opened the grate, we noticed a really creepy banging noise coming from the pipes. We never identified where the sound was coming from, but it was loudest right near our entrance.

When we got in the tunnel, we headed south towards McComas. Down here, we noticed a device that was discharging steam right near the entrance to the McComas subtunnel. It didn't seem to be releasing much, but it still freaked us out.

We initially skipped the McComas subtunnel because it looked like a pain to enter, but after following the main tunnel down to a dead end at a manhole across from the Greenhouses, we decided that it would be worth it. So we headed back, once again passing the device that discharged steam.

I had quite a scare when passing it. It sounded like it was starting, so I sprinted down the tunnel and got away before it did. We then climbed over the pipes to get in the McComas subtunnel, which went down a ways and ended at a manhole next to McComas. It looks like there is leak of some sort here; it's either a leak from a water pipe in the building that runs down into the steam tunnels or from a chilled water line, which I believe runs in the tunnel here. Anyway, there was about 4 inches of water in the open area beneath the manhole.

We headed back to the main tunnel, climbed over the pipes, and headed up to Hillcrest, our exit point. Along they way, we noticed more strange sounds coming from the pipes and various devices attached to them. This tunnel definitely has a lot more active machinery than any of the other tunnels that I have explored.

At the turn in front of Hillcrest, we made note of pipes running off toward either Agnew or Fralin. We believe that these lines are directly buried, but there could be a steam tunnel that was not visible. The tunnel began getting much smaller here. By the time we had reached the grate in front of Hillcrest, we were practically crawling.

The ladder beneath the manhole at Hillcrest was a bit of a pain. It's not attached to anything, so we had to move it so we could use it. The manhole, however, was extremely light and very easy to move quietly. We exited the tunnel without incident and headed back to our dorm.

This was probably the scariest tunnel that I've explored; the machinery and weird noises, plus my close call made this trip quite an experience. I don't know if we'll be heading back to this run since we've pretty much covered everything there is to see down there. As always, we'll keep you updated.

Trip 5

2010-04-11T00:00:00Z

C., N. and Fuse dropped in at the Barringer grate with the intention of completing the run to the Power Plant. It was the first time C. and N. had ever been tunneling, so we weren't sure if we would be able to make it.

After climbing down the ladder, we took a right, heading north toward East Eggleston. The run continued on much like the Cassell-Barringer run, except it got a little wet near the end. There was probably about four inches of water or so on the ground; I believe it started somewhere near Vawter. It was wet until the step down in the tunnel next to Hokie Grill; there was some sort of drain or pump on the floor there.

After the steps down, the tunnel opened up a bit; we could stand up pretty easily. The lights were on in this section and were on for the remainder of the run. We eventually hit a turn in the tunnel at which we had to climb up a short ladder on the right side of the lower tunnel into a slightly higher section of tunnel.

The tunnel made a few turns, and we entered a long, straight run of tunnel that ran past Newman Library and Torgersen. The chapel subtunnel on the left side looked pretty interesting, but we weren't exactly interested in setting off a motion detector, so we skipped it. Although I was looking, I didn't see the subtunnel to the library. I pointed out the "good exit" marking on the side of the tunnel that B. had mentioned wasn't so true previously.

Shortly after passing Torgersen, the tunnel made a short turn, then continued straight. Eventually we passed the entrance to the tunnel that runs toward Burruss. I was a bit disappointed; it's difficult to enter that run because of all the pipes that are in the way. The run also looked pretty cramped, but I can deal with that.

We continued on in the main tunnel and turned right, following the tunnel toward the power plant. The tunnel was really large here, but also really hot, so we didn't spend too long exploring this section. The tunnel turned left toward the power plant and eventually ended in a wall with a small grate.

Instead of popping out some of random manhole or grate, we instead opted to trace our way back and come out at the Barringer manhole, as I did last time with D. and Y. As we traced our way back, I once again tried to look for an entrance to the library subtunnel, but was unsuccessful. I'll have to look better next time, I guess.

All in all, this was a pretty successful run; I think it was a pretty decent way to spend the evening.

Trip 4

2010-04-01T00:00:00Z

D., Y., and Fuse dropped in for a quick run from Cassell to Barringer with a goal of getting into Lee's crawlspace.

The whole run very hot and cramped; the new pipes they installed didn't exactly help the already cramped space. There were sections where we had to crawl along the floor.

We were excited to try to get out of the cramped run quickly at Lee, but the crawlspace was completely blocked off by the new pipes that were installed as part of the Steam Tunnel Upgrades project. We ended up having to complete the run to Barringer.

I was aware of the grate at Barringer, but I didn't know about the manhole. It turned out to be a better exit than the grate; unlike the grate, it was actually behind some bushes. Even though it was relatively hidden, we had B. come and make sure the coast was clear.

All in all, this was a pretty disappointing run and wasn't really worth it; the cramped space and heat simply don't make this run worthwhile for most people.

Trip 3

2010-03-29T00:00:00Z

The three of us, D., B., and I left our dorms at around midnight and headed off toward "The Cage." We knew that we wanted to explore some of the new steam tunnels over in the Life Sciences District, but we weren't sure about entrance points..

B. decided to run back to grab his camera, cell phone, and car keys, since he had to move his car before the next morning. He came back and drove the three of us to the cage. From there, we headed up to the steam tunnel construction on Duckpond Drive. The perimeter fence there is pretty pathetic; we didn't even have to climb it. There was one section of fence held together only by a small piece of rope, so we just slid the fence apart enough to give the three of us room to squeeze in.

Once in, we climbed down a ladder into the pit that will one day become a steam tunnel. Construction was in a much earlier stage than we had anticipated; although the pipes were in place, the actual tunnel wasn't; there were just large steel retaining walls around the pipes. We followed the pipes, but unfortunately hit a dead end. We backtracked a bit and climbed back out using a ladder. We investigated a few manholes, but none of lead to completed steam tunnel.

We slid back out through the fence and headed up toward a more promising entrance near Life Sciences. We sat in the gazebo across the street in the horticultural garden for a bit and discussed what we would try next. It turned out that the "water" manhole that I had scouted out on a weekend a bit earlier was perfect, so after making sure it was clear, we popped it and climbed in. Jumping in would have been a bad idea, since the ladder was at least 8 feet tall.

After climbing in, we found ourselves in a large, well-lit, open room, with a smaller tunnel running off toward Bioinformatics to our west. It was probably at least 120 degrees down there and extremely humid. We left our stuff in the big room, followed the tunnel, and found ourselves at another open area. There was about a five foot drop, and B. checked it out first. He found a ladder, climbed up it, opened a door, and found himself in a storage room. We figured that it must be on the bottom floor of Bioinformatics, and we were right.

We decided to try the door from the storage room and realized that it led straight into a hallway near the elevator lobby of Bioinformatics. Seeing as how the manhole over at Life Sciences was pretty visible, we decided that it would be best if we left through that door, so we went back and grabbed our stuff and walked right out of a stairwell door near the loading dock.

There was actually another manhole near Life Sciences. It was behind the construction fence, but fences aren't a problem for us. We were able to squeeze in without any trouble, but realized that the open manhole was just full of water and didn't have ladder. We decided to scrap that idea and head over toward Hillcrest and try to enter through there.

While on the way, we ran into Y. and E. We had told them we were going tunneling and they were trying to come scare us, but they couldn't figure out where we were exactly. They told us that they had been up at the grate near Hillcrest and that someone had been staring at them and beating on her window while they looked at a grate. Clearly, that wasn't the best place to go. We tried the grate in front of Litton-Reaves, but we noticed that someone in the lounge of New Hall West was staring at us as well. I guess that tunnel will just have to wait for some other time.

I decided that I would show everyone the Agnew-Cowgill run, as I was the only one that had ever done that run before. B. had been tunneling before, but he did the Cassell-Femoyer run. The Ag Quad was deserted, so we just walked over to the Saunders grate, opened it, and went in.

We started off heading toward the Drillfield, skipping the Ag Quad subtunnel and followed the run to Burruss. Unfortunately, the Burruss Door was padlocked, but we did poke our heads out of an open manhole into the crawlspace of Burruss, which turned out to be just south of the pedestrian tunnel.

We continued toward Cowgill, climbed down the ladder, hit the dead end, and turned back. We're pretty sure that this section of tunnel is no longer used; it's a lot cooler and quieter.

Even though the GBJ-Hahn North run is hot and cramped, we decided it couldn't be much worse than the Bioinformatics run earlier, so we climbed down and followed it until it ended with the pipes running off toward Hahn North. We skipped the Derring subtunnel, headed back up toward the main tunnel, and followed our path back.

We walked across the plank and found ourselves at a grate. Luckily for us, someone didn't actually close the padlock so that it actually locked the grate, so we were able to make it up to the door to Agnew. Unfortunately, that was locked, so we turned back and left through the Saunders grate.

All in all, I think this was the most successful run I've ever done. We'll do some more investigating in the Life Sciences District and keep you guys updated.

Trip 2

2009-11-08T00:00:00Z

So, I felt like it was about time to explore the steam tunnels again. I had told some of the people in my dorm about my previous trip, so I thought I would bring one of them along as well. I was originally planning on bringing along my friend from high school that I brought last time too, but she decided not to come this time because she wasn't feeling well. So it was just me and one of my hall mates.

We entered through the Saunders grate; oddly enough, it was closed completely, unlike last time. Is someone else exploring the tunnels, or did someone just close it properly? I first headed to the right, but decided it was not worth trying to get into the subtunnel there or walking across the plank to Agnew. Just like last time, we headed left, but this time I made sure to check out the Price subtunnel; we had to crawl under some pipes and checked it out. There was really nothing interesting in this section, so we proceeded back to the main tunnel and continued onward.

When we passed near Davidson, the mechanism that is supposed to discharge steam was making noise, but there was no steam discharge. It was like that last time too; I'm not really sure why.

We turned right behind Davidson (we didn't really have a choice, that's the only way), and proceeded up to Burruss. On the way, I pointed out the Conglomerate graffiti to my friend. Without them, I doubt I would have been exploring the tunnel tonight. We headed up the stairs at Burruss and turned to the left again into the hot section of tunnel.

We continued straight and proceeded down the ladder to continue further. (We had missed the Derring ladder, so this was at the big drop in the tunnel.) We proceeded on until we reached the end of the tunnel. I searched for the entrance to the GBJ-Hahn North tunnel. Luckily, someone had spray-painted "Derring" on the wall with an arrow pointing back to the way we came. So we headed back up the ladder and this time we noticed the ladder leading down to the section of tunnel I had been looking for. Someone had spray-painted "Derring Basement" on the wall for us.

We proceeded down the ladder into the hottest section of tunnel I have ever been in. I walked rather quickly down to the entrance to the Derring basement and looked down toward Hahn North, but I decided to turn back because I had bumped one of the pipes near the entrance to the basement and was worried that it might burst. (It didn't, but I didn't want to spend too long down there just in case.) We headed back up the ladder and proceeded back.

On the way back, I noticed the door to the hidden room of Burruss, but chose not to pursue it because we were both hot and tired. We headed back to the Saunders grate and exited out on to the Ag Quad.

This was a much more eventful trip than last time; that I doubt I will be checking out this section of tunnel for a while because I've seen pretty much everything to see down there. Now I have my sights on a new target: the Cassell-Power Plant tunnel. The trip will be far more challenging and I think I may need to find some experienced tunnelers to accompany me.

Trip 1

2009-10-09T00:00:00Z

I had read about Virginia Tech's steam tunnels online and made careful note of the grates and manholes that lead to the tunnels around campus, but tonight I finally decided to take the plunge and explore one for myself. I was joined by one of my friends from high school.

We met up at about midnight outside and headed off to the Ag Quad. The quad was completely empty, although there were some lights on in some of the buildings; we figured that it would be too dark out for anyone inside to see us. Midnight turned out to be a great time; everyone who hadn't headed home for fall break was out partying or in their dorms.

We opened the grate and I went in first. I climbed down the ladder and took a look around; the lights were on tonight. I knew no one would be working in the tunnels this late, though, so I was not worried. My friend followed. After entering the tunnel, we turned left and traveled toward Davidson; the lights went out on the way. I brought a flashlight, of course. When we reached Davidson, we turned to the right and continued following the tunnel toward Pamplin. At Pamplin, the tunnel turned to the left again and headed toward Cowgill. The tunnel got very hot here and we decided to end our journey when we heard some strange noises coming from the tunnel ahead. It sounded like steam was leaking; I wasn't about to let us get burned by steam, so we decided to turn around.

We followed the tunnel back to the Ag Quad and exited from the Saunders grate; we hadn't really planned ahead for what we would do if we happened to pop out of the grate in front of someone. My friend opened the grate first and I quickly followed. We left the Ag Quad just as someone was coming up the path next to Price Hall that leads across the lower Drillfield.

Although our journey only lasted about a half hour, it was very rewarding. I'm so glad that I decided to finally explore the tunnels and my friend shares my sentiments. We're definitely going back.