Equipment
Ooooooh shiney things
Caving has never been a fashionable sport - I don't think a Gucci handbag would last two minutes down a cave, and you can't carry many krabs in one either! What you wear underground has to be hard wearing and practical. This page contains a brief outline of what we wear underground, its suitability and an idea of cost. To see what all of these things look like, check out our interactive Kit Man and Kit Woman!
Undersuit - A sensible caver will splash out on a furry suit. This is bastically a fleece all in one suit. Some people however just wear old warm clothes, but this tends to be colder. A typical Undersuit costs about £40, however the club has a number of these to lend out to people.
Oversuit - There are many varieties of over suit; however they all have the same purpose. This is to keep you warmer by keeping you a bit drier, and stops the wind from cooling you down on your way back to the car. Your oversuit also helps to protect you and you're undersuit. The main types of oversuit are:
- PVC suit
- PVC sounds kinky, especally when very dirty!
Keeps you pretty dry
Keeps you very warm
Not breathable at all
Very hard wearing
Expensive (£80). - Cordura suit
- Keeps you fairly dry (but not completely)
Keeps you fairly warm
Less restrictive than a PVC suit
More breathable than PVC
Gives you extra grip on rock and mud
Less hardwearing than PVC
Fairly cheep at £40-£60
The club has a number of Cordura suits to lend out to people. - Old Waterproofs
- Keeps you warm(ish)
Very cheap (if you have them already)
Will get ruined quickly
Very good for testing out caving.
Footwear - The most common footwear people wear down caves are wellington boots. They are the best option, and are also very cheap. They will fill up with water in the cave, however your body will soon warm it up and therefore keep your feet warm, so don't pour it out. You can splash out on special caving wellies, with better grip, or steel toe caps to protect your toes. Typical cost is £5 for cheap ones and £15 for good caving ones. The club has a few pairs of wellies to lend out to people, but you are better off getting some for yourself.
Socks - To keep your feet nice and warm, most cavers wear wetsuit sock, or "wet socks".Together we your wellies they insulate your feet, and keep them toasty. This is normally the first thing people buy when the start caving, and who can blame them at only about £10. However, to start with about 3 pairs of woolen socks should be adequate.
Gloves - Particulary in wet caves your hands can get very cold, which can be a problem if you need to use them! Wetsuit gloves work well, however they are expensive, will quickly wear out, and it is impossible to feel anything through them. Fingerless sailing gloves are more hardwearing and are easier to feel through (so you can do rope work with them on), but aren't as warm as wetsuit gloves. I know this sounds silly, but a pair of heavy duty Marigolds over a pair of woolen gloves is a good combination, and is what a lot of experienced cavers use.
Kneepads - If you like your knees, and the use of them, then get some knee pads. The majority of cavers use them, and are one of the first items people buy. There are two main types of kneepad, neoprene coadted pads and miners pads.
- Neoprene coated pads
- Fairly thin
Wear out quickly
Fairly comfortable
Cheap at about £12. - Miners Kneepads
- Very thick
Very hard wearing
Not very comfortable
Rather difficult to get used to
Hard to find a good pair (try eBay!)
Expensive at about £25.
Elbow Pads - Miniture neoprene kneepads, that go on your elbows. Not a necessity, they just make your trip a little more comfortable. Seen by many people as girly caving!
Helmet - Vitally important piece of caving equiment, if you don't want concussion! Your helmet serves two purposes. Firstly it protects your head from flying mud in the Hall of the Damned, bumping it in low passages, and rocks falling from the ceiling. Secondly it is a really good place to attach a light to! The club has a number of helmets and lights to lend to people at £2 a day, and it is possible to hire them from most caving shops. However you can't beat having your own, so you don't have to adjust it everytime you go on a trip. To get the best one, go to a caving shop and try as many as you feel necessary. Make sure you get one that is not too heavy, and is comfy (remember you may have to wear it for several hours). Helmets generally cost about £40, but you can pay over £100, which is a little unnecessary.
Lights - There are so many different types of caving light that it would be impossible to give you a full overview. Basically you can spend anything from about £30 on a small torch you strap to the side of your helmet, which takes normal AA batteries, to over £200 on a full LED jobbie, with a Lithium ion battery that is fully water and bash proof, bright as the sun, lightweight and will last for days. If you are thinking of getting yourself a light, you are best off asking around to see what other people have, and asking in caving shops and having a look at what they have.
Buff - A Buff is a multifunctional head scarf/neck warmer/all kinds of things really, depending on how you wear it. They are available in all good caving and hiking shops. It's useful to have one, as they keep you warm when you're wet underground.
Mars Bar - When you reach the bottom of a cave, or when you generally need a bit of perking up, it's useful to have a sugary snack to hand. Cavers across the centuries have found the best option to be a Mars chocolate bar, which fits nicely into the inside pocket of your oversuit, and gets completely and utterly battered until all the paint comes off the wrapper and it's squashed flat. This is when the Mars Bar is at its tastiest.
SRT Equipment
SRT is a technique for going up and down a single rope. A full SRT kit is an expensive investment, for a basic kit you are looking at a cost of about £170. For a more advanced kit, with a bag to put it in, and some spare krabs, you are looking at more like £200 - £230. Luckly the club has a few kits they can lend out to people as needed, as long as you have been fully trained in how to use it properly! The following is all the equipment you require to safely climb up, and go down ropes.
Sit Harness - Cavers use a sit harness to ascend or descend a rope. They are designed to be sat in, and support your legs with legloops. They are meant to be worn as tight as possible, so it is almost uncomfortable, so you don't fall out of them while you are on a rope. They are held together at the front with a D-maillon, otherwise known as a Central MR (Maillon Rapide).
Chest Harness - There are several types of chest harness from a simple strap to a more complicated bra type harness. They are not load bearing, and are used to keep your chest jammer upright on your body while assending a rope.
Chest Jammer - Also known as a Croll (the gold thing made by Petzl). The bottom of your chest jammer it attached to D-maillon, and the top to your chest harness, to keep it upright. You clip the rope into the jammer, and it only allows the rope to slide down through it and not the other way, so you can ascend.
Hand Jammer - There are two types, basic and handled. They work in the same way as your chest jammer, however they are attached to some foot loops so you can stand up on them and pull the rope through your chest jammer. The handled jammers come in both left and right handedness.
Safety Link - This is a piece of rope that attaches your hand jammer to your D-maillon, acting as your second point of attachment while prussicking. Sometimes built into the footloops.
Cows' Tails - These are made from a single piece of dynamic (stretchy) rope. They are attached by a knot which is not quite in the middle (so one is longer than the other), with a krab at each end. They are used to clip into the rope for safety while approaching a pitch head, traveling along traverses, or changing ropes during a rebelay.
Stop Descender - A device used for descending ropes. A Stop automatically locks itself off when you let go of the red handle, so if you panic, put your hands on your head! If you hold on and let go of the rope you will plummet! Often used in conjunction with a braking krab to make it more comfortable to use, and to decrease descending speed by adding extra friction. There are other types of descender used in caving, for example a figure of eight, a rack and a Petzl ID, but the Stop is the most common.
