Who doesn't use wellies?

Wellies?

  • Yay

    Votes: 40 90.9%

  • No Way

    Votes: 4 9.1%
  • Total voters
    44
R

robjones

New member
Steel toe cap leather boots. Been using the same wonderfully grippy pair for about 15 years, bought from Guano Products. No time for wellies - though I do sometimes wear nailed soled thigh waders to enter a mine that I know will be dry after a hundred yards, and then change into an old pair of hiking boots for climbing stopes.
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Another advantage of wellies is you can stand on them when the grass is wet whilst putting your oversuit on; if wearing wool socks it keeps them dry. Whenever I tried boots it was always dreadful when you had to put them on dry, like two hard coconuts, before a long walk up to somewhere like The Allotment. Used to be agony.

I'm torn both ways regarding steel toecaps. I like the protection they give but your toes get frozen on a motorbike in winter.

As a general observation I've always noticed that most northern cavers (and I'm including the Peak District in this) wear wellies. Boots seem to be more a southern thing. Each to their own I guess.
 
graham

graham

New member
Pitlamp said:
As a general observation I've always noticed that most northern cavers (and I'm including the Peak District in this) wear wellies. Boots seem to be more a southern thing. Each to their own I guess.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you've not caved down south since about 1973, then.  :-\
 
Elaine

Elaine

Active member
Hughie and me wear wellies for most of the day, every day. One of the best things about wellies apart from their cheapness and waterproofness is their length. This allows a good overlap between welly top and oversuit bottom and nothing gets in (apart from naughty water). Even with lots of crawling and weird manoeuvering they still keep a good seal from horrid bits of gravel. I can't understand these croc wellies. Too much gap and vunerability to gravel or grazed shins. Or perhaps it is just me with too much leg.   :doubt:
 
Pitlamp

Pitlamp

Well-known member
What Graham? Me cave darn sarf? You must be joking. Who would look after the whippets?

But we do get southern invaders from time to time up here in the frozen wastes y'know!
 
pete_the_caver

pete_the_caver

New member
I was brought up caving in steel toe capped leather laceups but decided to switch to gummies (wellies to u poms) when I destroyed a pair of leather boots in ten days.

The best wellies I ever had were a pair of Clydes made by Skellrup in New Zealand: Gum Comando style sole, black PVC uppers, no caps and close fitting.  these were of a thicker material than Surtreds, lasted for ages and stuck like glue to rock.  At the time they also made a boot called the Trent which looked the same except that the sole was similar to that on the Surtred.  Sadly Kiwi farmers don't like close fitting boots so they were replaced by the RD2000.  These are still popular back in NZ but they flop around a bit and it doesn't take long before you have to empty the Southern Alps out of your boots. The other boot popular in NZ is the white Abattoir boot made by Bata. These PVC wellies are built like brick shit houses but only stick to nice clean rock so are very popular for river caving (and also because all they are supplied free to all the Black Water Rafting type cave guides in NZ and therefore thereare always lots of freebees lying around)

So now I cave in Surtreds (since 1996) close fitting to keep the crap out and to support the ankle, solid, so long lasting and they have a good grippy sole but sadly my non steel caped pair have split and there is no where local I can replace them. However, saying that I really need a bigger size and they never came bigger than a 12 (I always caved in woollen socks because wet socks didn't fit) so does anyone know of a good quality close fitting good soled gripping welly in a size 13? without steel caps?
 
Sally-J

Sally-J

New member
It appears wellies are very multi functional, so far we have:

footwear
used for bailing sumps
used for getting changed on (requires a bit of balance)
storage place for kneepads which sit neatly round the outside of the wellies and are ready to be pulled up when you enter the cave
storage of survival bags (I've never actually done this)

Any other uses?
 
A

Andrew W

New member
I know a bloke who, when caught short in a dry bit of cave used his welly as a portaloo  :eek:. You wouldn't want to do that with a posh set of boots!
 
graham

graham

New member
I know a similar case; I don't think there was room for the foot back in the welly until some time after the cave had been exited ...
 
A

Andrew W

New member
I suspect we're thinking of the same incident, Graham. As I heard it, he made himself physically sick cleaning the aforementioned welly afterwards. Personally I'd have paid the tenner for a new pair...

Still, I applaud him for not polluting the cave!
 
paul

paul

Moderator
Sally-J said:
It appears wellies are very multi functional, so far we have:

used for bailing sumps
Click to expand...

I know someone who managed to put his wellies back onto the wrong feet after we used them to bail the pool out at the entrance to the Dynamite Series in Carlswark Cavern, Derbyshire...

:)

 
Elaine

Elaine

Active member
Thanks Cap'n. I found part 4 all by myself too. I enjoyed those.

Sorry for the deviation from the topic everyone.
 
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