We must have missed each other, I did exactly the same. Lathkill resurgence Lathkill resurgence water in foreground, Critchlow in background Critchlow Cale Dale lower Dog, not a cave

Euros, who would’ve done such a thing 👀 Probably some dodgy foreigner… Thank you all for the great talks, and of course to the best hut-less caving club in Derbyshire for sorting everything out! Shoutout to Jim who managed to find kind words to introduce every single speaker, which surely...

Meat pie for me please (if still relevant)

In my case the auto focussing issues had two causes. After a while moisture manages to make its way into the camera and then condenses on the inside of the lens. Managed to partially solve that problem by storing the camera in a Tupperware box over silica gel between uses. I suspect the second...

The TGs are good cameras, and I’m saying this as someone who owns a TG3 & 5. My overall experience with them has however been a mixed one, especially for caving. Both cameras developed persistent autofocus issues, buttons stopped working, etc.. (Yes I cleaned them well after every trip). One was...

I’d advise against the hydrocarbon route, there is a reasonably high chance that this will either exacerbate the problem or be partially absorbed into the rubber - to then slowly outgas in the dig. Not nice. If soap & scrubbing doesn’t do the trick, an alcohol might. Rubbing alcohol...

In line with what Brown said: I’m not sure what Stuart is referring to with „wokism“ - a conveniently meaningless catch-all term for anything a person doesn’t agree with. But if this is meant to refer to environmental protection I disagree. If anything, this and the proactive representation of...

I'd say "tip top condition" is a slightly polemic choice of words, a single caving trip can give your brand spanking new gear an appearance that would make any non-caving wise H&S monkey employee blanch at the idea of continued use - but I would deem perfectly safe (metalware), though other bits...

With the training weekend (I sadly couldn't attend) over and only 7 weeks left to the start of exped, a lot of us are now entering are transitioning from "Aah, loads of time." to "Oh bugger, I won't have time to sort out everything I need." So with excitement building I thought I'd share some...

Had a lovely trip down Mayday last weekend, thanks to all those involved! Confession time, a certain fatty (maybe me) may have stood on the very convenient foothold/ spike at the top of Pitch 5 (on CNCC topo) if I remember correctly. The spike was none too impressed about this and made for Paul...

I started caving on a Simple but been primarily using an old style Stop with a Raumer for the last decade or so. Roughly 2 years ago I got a BMS micro rack because I got sick of changing bobbins all the time. My old style Stop now has stainless bobbins, but I still prefer the rack for in situ...

Bananarama is at the roof collapse just before Lake of a Thousand Banana Skins; coming from the old dive camp T junction a short way towards Major Sump. As the passage widens into a chamber (looks upwelling-y) there is a very large roof collapse on the r.h.s.. I'm not so sure about Major Sump...

Hahaha, Oberschaufelmeister :dig:😂 I'll take it as a compliment. Lovely report Alastair, always nice to hear how others see the commute. Unfortunately Bananarama will be decommissioned; about 25 sessions over 3 years in and no clear indication of passage is too close to a sunk cost fallacy. The...

And I'm sure glad I got replacement bars, the current set have got pretty good grooves in them already. I absolute love mine, especially for permanently rigged caves (i.e. digging). @PeteHall : What you're after is a stainless slotted spring pin, though I'm not sure what size. Just given mine a...

Anyone missing an item of their SRT kit after a recent trip to Robin's Shaft mine? Must have been between the 24.01 and today. Tell me what it is & what colour the gear tape and I'll get it back to you. Or back down Robin's next to the sheep skull if you prefer  ;)

Because one dig is not enough I've recently started on a more access friendly project with CJ: Sisyphus in Robin's Shaft Mine close to Ilam. The entrance shaft is left rigged, feel free to use the ropes but be aware there's a knot pass on it; let me know if you find any damage. The dig is...

This is mainly as an "archive" post if anyone ever encounters the same problem and wonders how to deal with it. CJ and I are were faced with a very pesky scree slope, which immediately gave our dig the name "Sisyphus". Effectively the scree trundles into the dig (a tube in the side wall of the...

tl;dr: The ropes in Titan are for digging team use only. If you flout this and I find out, overall access to Titan will be reviewed. Hi all, I've been digging in different locations of Peak/ Speedwell since 2018; for most of this time I have kept Titan permanently rigged to speed up...

Not sure if he's on UKC, does someone have a contact for Mad Phil (Rowsell)? Ran into him today but forgot for the 2nd time that I don't have any way of contacting him. Cheers, Alex

tl;dr: Can the BMS micro rack with hyper bars be used on 9mm without packing extra toilet paper Long term user of the old style Petzl Stop here, still really like it for sport caving (rigging) and a series of shorter pitches, but it's really not ideal as a "commuter" descender of long pitches...