Ladders
- Thread starter dl
- Start date
cap n chris
Well-known member
Caving Supplies retail ladders: http://www.caving-supplies.co.uk/
Inglesport retail ladders: http://www.inglesport.com/shop/catalog.php?category=Ladders
Bernies, Hitch'n'Hike and Field & Trek appear not to supply them.
If you're Mendip based then BAT Products sell ladders (no website); usually similarly priced, i.e. 10m, around ?110-?140 depending on wire thickness/rung spacing.
Price: usually around 10-15 times more per metre than SRT rope. Not quite sure what you mean by "performance"; IIRC they mostly just serve as something to climb up.
Inglesport retail ladders: http://www.inglesport.com/shop/catalog.php?category=Ladders
Bernies, Hitch'n'Hike and Field & Trek appear not to supply them.
If you're Mendip based then BAT Products sell ladders (no website); usually similarly priced, i.e. 10m, around ?110-?140 depending on wire thickness/rung spacing.
Price: usually around 10-15 times more per metre than SRT rope. Not quite sure what you mean by "performance"; IIRC they mostly just serve as something to climb up.
ditzy 24//7
Active member
there horrible , get an srt kit, much safer and easyer IMHO
dont buy them dont do it!
dont buy them dont do it!
cap n chris
Well-known member
Ditzy, DL might be purchasing them for use at a Centre or indoor wall.
JB
Member
Hitch n Hike do sell ladders. Oop North is suspect that most of the ladders that you buy from shops will be from Lyon Equipment so not a very competitive market.
Some clubs make their own ladders and I don't know how much you save doing it that way. I always thought that over a hundred pounds for a ladder sounds alot but I suppose making them is quite labour intensive. Given that they're not actually PPE I'm surprised that it isn't worth someone's while knocking them out a bit cheaper than that.
Jules.
Some clubs make their own ladders and I don't know how much you save doing it that way. I always thought that over a hundred pounds for a ladder sounds alot but I suppose making them is quite labour intensive. Given that they're not actually PPE I'm surprised that it isn't worth someone's while knocking them out a bit cheaper than that.
Jules.
cap n chris
Well-known member
I imagine that most ladders in the UK will be supplied by Lyon.
ian.p
Active member
they both have there stregnths. if the cave has pitches requiring less ladders then there are cavers then it makes sense to use ladders as its not nesersery for everyone to cary an SRT kit if not then SRT makes more sense. as far im concerned theyre both equaly safe when practiced properly.
inglesport sells ladders and has a website http://www.inglesport.com/shop/catalog.php?category=Ladders
inglesport sells ladders and has a website http://www.inglesport.com/shop/catalog.php?category=Ladders
SamT
Moderator
ditzy 24//7 said:
What an utter load of bull****
Ladders absolutley have their place in british caving. they are far more suited to many pitches than SRT.
What on earth is your rather unhelpful comment based on - the fact that 'you' dont like them/cant climb them.
Give me a break. :
Peter Burgess
New member
How sad that a straight forward and sensible question about where to buy ladders descends into an argument (yet again).
A message to the SRT geeks who 'look down' their noses at anyone who thinks ladders are useful:
Cavers buy ladders in sufficient numbers for the manufacturers to recognise that there is a market for them. Cavers would not buy expensive things like ladders if they didn't find them useful, because cavers are on the whole a tight-fisted bunch of so-and so's. So it is very likely that cavers will continue to find ladders convenient items of equipment and will continue to buy and use them. Get used to the idea, and keep you elitist views to yourself.
A message to the SRT geeks who 'look down' their noses at anyone who thinks ladders are useful:
Cavers buy ladders in sufficient numbers for the manufacturers to recognise that there is a market for them. Cavers would not buy expensive things like ladders if they didn't find them useful, because cavers are on the whole a tight-fisted bunch of so-and so's. So it is very likely that cavers will continue to find ladders convenient items of equipment and will continue to buy and use them. Get used to the idea, and keep you elitist views to yourself.
Aubrey
Member
Really live up to their name:
Lightweight
Ascending
Descending
Device
Electron
Rung
These are the best option for most Mendip caves - can you imagine a party of beginners on Swildons 20 using SRT!
Some cavers have not the modern type of lamp Graham suggests. For them a big advantage of wire ladders is that they are not affected by the flame of a carbide lamp -unlike a bit of rope .
Lightweight
Ascending
Descending
Device
Electron
Rung
These are the best option for most Mendip caves - can you imagine a party of beginners on Swildons 20 using SRT!
Some cavers have not the modern type of lamp Graham suggests. For them a big advantage of wire ladders is that they are not affected by the flame of a carbide lamp -unlike a bit of rope .
Should I bring a Lyon catalog later in the month?
For what it's worth, I think a splendid thing would be a ladder with 8" spacing on the rungs. No use on bigger pitches - but excellent for single / short double hangs where you may be climbing with novices, young cavers, and the over eighties.
For what it's worth, I think a splendid thing would be a ladder with 8" spacing on the rungs. No use on bigger pitches - but excellent for single / short double hangs where you may be climbing with novices, young cavers, and the over eighties.
SamT
Moderator
Peter Burgess said:
Maybe my retort was a little heavy handed. I dont think its turned into an arguement though. I think most people are in agreement that ladders are very much an important and popular piece of equipment on the british caving scene. I just dont like to see crap advice dished out on the forum. (like suggesting non waterproof lights are acceptable kit for backup lights - but thats a different thread
) seddon said:
As jb states, you can indeed make your own. Never done it though. I seem to remember reading instructions on how to do it. Maybe Alpine Caving techniques - or Judsons book?
M
MSD
Guest
I have been involved in ladder making before. It is a lot of hard work and probably not worth it for most clubs, since you need to build quite a lot to get any kind of economy of scale. For example, you have to buy a big reel of wire to get a good price and that will make several ladders. Same goes for the resin - industrial sized vats of the stuff reduces the unit price considerably, but it's no good building just a couple of ladders.
Electron ladders are also used for sailing (you hoist an electron ladder to the top of the mast using one of the halyards to facilitate climbing up to fix equipment which is up the mast). I guess they have some applications in industrial access, since various suppliers of that kind of gear sell electron ladders.
Electron ladders regularly come up for sale on eBay. If you're in the market, keep a lookout!
Mark
P.S. I LOVE caving on ladders. Juniper Gulf anyone?
Electron ladders are also used for sailing (you hoist an electron ladder to the top of the mast using one of the halyards to facilitate climbing up to fix equipment which is up the mast). I guess they have some applications in industrial access, since various suppliers of that kind of gear sell electron ladders.
Electron ladders regularly come up for sale on eBay. If you're in the market, keep a lookout!
Mark
P.S. I LOVE caving on ladders. Juniper Gulf anyone?