Oooof that all sounds... awful. Like this entire thread.

I've never been out with more than three of us. Come summer and more settled work schedules, there may occasionally be four, but I'm talking about specific people that I know well, and with whom I've been out with multiple times before in one configuration or another. Any more than that and I feel like you'd be asking for trouble of one stripe or another, trying to keep track of everyone and know what sounds you're listening to out of sight, et cetera.

Secondly, group dynamics just get more and more complicated the more people you shove into them and I lose patience very, very quickly with how exponentially much longer it takes to get people going, or make decisions, or ensure that everybody is getting a say.

Thirdly, in my area we'd be going by car and I'd hate having to coordinate two vehicles. We're supposed to be having a little adventure, not a god damn fireman's parade.

Been on more than a few "huge" explores. One or two were so big we had to divide in two groups to switch off on 2 different locations.
There's always that one guy who turns on the lights (in the highly visible front offices), is way too loud, or sets off an alarm.
But that aside we never had a real problem.

Plus big groups look so funny and are such a motley crew of different ages, clothing styles, cars, and gear. It must look so odd to outsiders.

If everyone is careful it can be blast! Or if you're not careful someone can end up burning a place down. There. I said it.

When I was in college I'd take groups down into the steam tunnels. Only trouble I had was when someone I'd taken tunneling (just once) decided to lead his own tunnel tour... his whole group got lost underground, and he got injured and ended up in the emergency room.

Having big groups are usually a problem in my experience. Thats why I stick to 2 or 3 people at a time.

Posted by bonnie&clyde ...Or if you're not careful someone can end up burning a place down. There. I said it.

*snigger*

For a long time i've been on explorations with 3 - 4 another people. It felt totally OK to be in a group.
Worst experience - group exploration, 10 ppl ,one of them completely drunk. Everybody were watching for him all day long.
Still, i like group explorations because there would be always somebody who brings along sandwiches.

Normally when I explore it's just myself and a friend. Largest group I've had is 4 people. A lot of my friends are always checking out my exploration pictures and asking if they can come along.

In my experience, the more the merrier. Haven't really had any problems, but then again, i don't explore with dumbasses. Only problem i come across is the photography aspect of things; people always in your shots, feeling rushed because people are waiting on you, that sort of thing.

Biggest disaster i was part of was already mentioned. A certain repelling incident in a certain drain. It kind've brought all us together as a team, though. That was the only up side to the situation.

I've done a group of 30+ at overbrook, 20+ at Greystone, and we can't forget the massive group of 20 that we ran into at Port Richmond, while there were at least 15 other people in different groups there at the same time. Plus that party on the roof of the plant last summer brought quite a crowd. I've never really had any trouble in groups that big. At least if you get caught the group can scatter.

I've done a group of 30+ at overbrook, 20+ at Greystone, and we can't forget the massive group of 20 that we ran into at Port Richmond, while there were at least 15 other people in different groups there at the same time. Plus that party on the roof of the plant last summer brought quite a crowd. I've never really had any trouble in groups that big. At least if you get caught the group can scatter.

Posted by relik Biggest disaster i was part of was already mentioned. A certain repelling incident in a certain drain. It kind've brought all us together as a team, though. That was the only up side to the situation.

Indeed, and it had a good ending to all of it.

I went to an abandoned house with two friends, one of whom I'd explored with before and one of whom I hadn't. In retrospect, I probably should have expected what happened when he greeted me with "Let's commit a B&E!!" loud enough to make people look round at us. We got to the place after dark and the idiot immediately began trying to pry the boards off one of the windows. We shush him and start walking towards the opening I'd found while scouting. My first friend is walking in front, I'm behind her, and the idiot is behind me. My friend is halfway through the opening when the idiot finds a near-empty spray paint can and starts pretending to paint shit. I hiss at him to put it down (there's houses on both sides of this abandoned one) so he DROP KICKS IT. The can hit the boards with a huge bang, hit the porch and then rolled with this agonizingly drawn-out grinding sound. After what seemed like 10 minutes of this can rolling, the lights come on in the house next door and a dog begins barking down the street. Rather than stay and be arrested, we chose to take off. The worst thing is, i never got another chance to explore that location because some asshole burnt it down a few months later.

Posted by SadRobots I went to an abandoned house with two friends, one of whom I'd explored with before and one of whom I hadn't. In retrospect, I probably should have expected what happened when he greeted me with "Let's commit a B&E!!" loud enough to make people look round at us. We got to the place after dark and the idiot immediately began trying to pry the boards off one of the windows. We shush him and start walking towards the opening I'd found while scouting. My first friend is walking in front, I'm behind her, and the idiot is behind me. My friend is halfway through the opening when the idiot finds a near-empty spray paint can and starts pretending to paint shit. I hiss at him to put it down (there's houses on both sides of this abandoned one) so he DROP KICKS IT. The can hit the boards with a huge bang, hit the porch and then rolled with this agonizingly drawn-out grinding sound. After what seemed like 10 minutes of this can rolling, the lights come on in the house next door and a dog begins barking down the street. Rather than stay and be arrested, we chose to take off. The worst thing is, i never got another chance to explore that location because some asshole burnt it down a few months later.

Yup. This is why you don't take retards exploring. You need to make sure they understand what they're to do and not to do.

I prefer to keep my explores tight to just myself and one, maybe two other people. Four at the very most. Any more than that it just becomes too much to control with too many variables at play.

I met up with a group of about 10 others who had conglomerated into one mass on one of my adventures to Pyestock, security spotted us and made chase so we scattered.

We had a group of about eight or nine of us in Denbigh Asylum years ago, the crazy groundskeeper eventually found us after his rifle-toting sidekicks spotted us so we ran, got to the road and he tried to run us down before setting his dog on one of us.

That being said last year when I was in Gary our group gradually grew bigger and bigger until on one of the explores there were twelve of us, that day was incredibly good fun and I guess somewhere like Gary is somewhere numbers can work in your favour.

Posted by Aleksandar"i have no memory of this place" and i thought to myself 'well shit'.

This ruined it way too soon, you should have held off giving it away until later. Still, well played, you fooled me until this line

Posted by Deconstrukt Last summer, we had this huge party in an abandoned malt plant, this time with around 30 people suited up for the occasion (Tuxedos and dresses, please!) click to view I just wanted to show that exploring in large groups doesn't always lead to disasters But my ideal number of people to explore with would be 3, sometimes 4 (total, I mean)

LOL at the guy in the Pantera shirt.

Only explore in small group of 4 people at max we have all explored with each other over 10 years. We know each other are reliable/ experience and trust each other if things get dodgy.

The one time i did explore in a group, where things went Tits up (bad). Me and one other explorer who was walking with me when we had escaped while the rest where behind talking and laughing. Didn't hear the gamekeepers landrover before it appeared ...........I did so rolled into the tall ferns before they came into site, Person beside seen what i did and followed without question.

We evaded police and gamekeepers making a clean get away after a damn long walk out and catching a bus/train home. Only to be told we had to hand ourselves in or a arrest warrant would be issued.

Up shot was someone had given them our names as the gamekeeper new how many there where. We walked on eggshells for 6 months not doing any till we found out after handing ourselves in and being charged the police never filed the charges after hearing the story. That was the last time i explored in a large group.

I've only explored with groups, but our maximum is five people. I personally don't know how you could enjoy a spot by yourself, but hey, that's just me. The only time I've explored in a large group was a couple of months ago at a school. There were five people in my group, then about seven other Instagram-famous urbexers showed up because they knew one of my friends or something. I was expecting it to be a shitshow, but it was actually a ton of fun. There was virtually nothing to be concerned about, and I got to meet some new people, so it was worth it in the end!

Posted by Deconstrukt Exploring in a group can also be a great thing, when organized properly. I've found myself to be with 12 other people in an abandoned grain silo that is patrolled by the Port Authority, without having any problems. click to view A couple weeks ago, we organized a meeting in an abandoned incinerator. Once again we were a large group (around 22 people), and despite the fact that the incinerator is on an active site, none of us got caught or had any problem. click to view Last summer, we had this huge party in an abandoned malt plant, this time with around 30 people suited up for the occasion (Tuxedos and dresses, please!) click to view I just wanted to show that exploring in large groups doesn't always lead to disasters But my ideal number of people to explore with would be 3, sometimes 4 (total, I mean)

And in 2014 we where about 80, then last year 110.

Let's se this year meet

2014 Meet
Urban Downfall

2015 Meet
IMGP8735 copy by Urban Downfall

I usually like to explore with just my local group. 4-6 people tops. Meet ups are a bit different though. We've gone in places with 20+ people before and aside from a run in with the cops or two it has been ok. Trying to coordinate that many people is impossible. Also I really like to explore quietly which is also impossible with that many people. Large groups are a blessing and a curse.