see pm

Neat piece of work. I should add that the standards are quite unclear about the number of tests one needs to do and thus the value for strength that one deduces from such work. So frankly, a single result means little. (Especially as we found some anchors had metallurgical defects which...

Do remember after next Saturday to correct for BST if you use 12 noon to postion north by the sun. Though of course being a bit westward of Prime Meridian you will need to either take account of the minutes and seconds, or work out what it is from the compass.

See https://registry.gsg.org.uk/sr/sitedetails.php?id=1457 for description

Try Cohesive Bandage Wrap around a £1 a roll in Poundland I believe. Should add a sterile dressing for wounds if above ground.

You miss the point of insurance for team members. Yes it covers injury or death whilst on the rescue. Given they deliberately go out when a normal party would cancell, the risk is much higher and would not be covered by an ordinary policy.

I may be not up to date, but the problem of failing to get quickly through to police and then cave rescue has occurred in the past. That is why the advice on the initial 999 call out is "In an emergency if you need the assistance of a UK cave rescue team you should dial 999 and ask for the...

In a scan of the past 20 plus years of BCRC records there were some 16 incidents who causes included "hung up".

The BCA anchors are each good for way above 20kN. It is more likely the rope will break than an anchor fail. Lyon's work for the HSE indicated peak forces by a person moving abruptly might reach a factor of two of body mass, say 2kN. There would need to be a fall onto slack rope to get forces...

I am moderately confident that the Danish incident is one reported by Madsen et al "Tolerance to Head-up Tilt and Suspension With Elevated Legs" Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, Vol. 69, No. 8, pp781-784. August 1998 and cited as Reference 2 by Seddon. I purchased a copy of the paper...

The latest published document reviewing the topic is by Rauch et al on 2024 entitled "Suspension syndrome: a scoping review and recommendations from the International Commission for Mountain Emergency Medicine". The recommendations are written for medics and other qualified persons and assumes...

For the avoidance of doubt, Brendan's article states: "Once down, the casualty should be positioned horizontal, and managed in line with standard practice, ie an ABCDE approach". The BCA item on the topic see https://british-caving.org.uk/suspension-trauma/ states "laid in the recovery (safe...

The BGS web site reports DATE 02/01/2024 ORIGIN TIME 17:30:43.5 UTC LOCATION 53.279 -1.940 DEPTH 2 km MAGNITUDE 2.5 LOCALITY BUXTON,DERBYSHIRE see https://www.earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk/earthquakes/recent_events/20240102173030.html#page=summary If you then click on the...

Based on Huwg's comment about forces involved, surely the forces that one caver will apply to a boulder whilst passing by, be far more than a Magnitude 2.5 earthquake?

If you have the height, then try mooring rope guards on a horizontal metal bar see https://www.force4.co.uk/item/Force-4/Anti-Rat-Cone/D6S

I was showing some slides I have from a (tourist) visit to Þríhnúkagígur in Iceland (see Inside the Volcano) when I was asked what was the origins of the vivid colours one can see. The reds and yellows can easily be attributed to iron and sulphur. A quick on line search does suggest bacteria for...

As to be expected this link no longer works but the WayBack machine does have it at https://web.archive.org/web/20171201081432/https://www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/files.php?file=The+Oracle%2fHistory+and+people%2fNeilMossStory%2epdf

Sorry been away, try https://british-caving.org.uk/about-bca/working-groups/radon/ or PM me.

An interesting read, just a pity one can't save it to one's own PC. One point I found interesting was the link to an HSE web page and implications for clubs and their gear.

I think you will find that the BMC / Association of British Climbing Walls will have a standard covering this and other similar matters, though no doubt it will be unevenly enforced. The BMC has some advice here on harnesses which may be of some help. Unlikely as it may seem, there has also...