paul said:
During the OCC trip there a couple of years ago we took to leaving some gear in tackle bags at the foot of the surface entrance pitch having walked to the entrance in normal clothes then changing into caving gear at the entrance.
Most were paranoid (me included!) and shoved our bags out of sight in rifts or whatever (after all the cave may be well known but is off the beaten track and an hour or so from the nearest car parking at La Moliere!). One guy left his bag in view and it disappeared with his clothes!
Most groups have the entrance permanently manned on a rota basis to guard kit and log people in/out etc. I may be wrong, but I thought it was a requirement of access.
CSCC will be doing this (I'm joining the trip for the second week...). SUSS also had a rota sytem when I joined their trip in 1998.
Rhys