Permits

Stuart France

Active member
There's nothing new about this.  American national parks in the 1980s just bog standard walking from
A to B - it needed permits in quadruplicate with one copy for you to keep, one to drop off at the start point, one at the end point, and I can't quite remember what the other copy was for.

As to monitoring caves, it is best done electronically with loggers, as is footpath footfall generally. What you'll find with paper based systems is that people's ambitions run well ahead of their capability, so they write something in a cave logbook all chipper at the start of a trip that they are going to the ultimate pretties at the very end of the earth, but the reality is they never quite got there, as proved by the counters en route that weren't triggered.  And not everyone wants to sign a logbook.  And there might be alternative access points that don't have a logbook and don't require permits!!!

I think progressive wear and tear is going to need timeline photography because if the cave conservation precautions like taping off paths are working then there won't be any off-path issues.
 

Fjell

Well-known member
There are no caves currently booked in the Dales for the rest of May. This could be a multi-generational effort.
 

alastairgott

Well-known member
Or it could be that everyone is playing Mexican standoff with dales bookings till a day or hours before their trip.
 

Leclused

Active member
  • Bob Mehew said:
    [*]
    has any one given thought to monitoring some caves with booking system in place to see if one could identify progressive wear and tear?

In Trou d'Haquin (Belgium) you can see some wear and tear in the form of polished zones. Trou d'Haquin in a gated cave but very frequently used as initiation cave.

From 2:55 in the following clip you can see the effect on the passage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VkT0i82NeI
 
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