Caving and Old Age.

[Pitlamp]

Hm, if I'm half as fit and active as you are, Mr. J. - when I eventually hit 85 - I'll not complain!

 

[tdobson]

I'd love to know what the oldest age someone has started regularly caving is. I sort of have previous here in a different area.

I knew a guy who started WW Kayaking when he retired, and he's paddling in his 80s, and is far from the weakest link in that crew.

My mum started caving about 5 years ago when she was 71, and is keenly doing regular trips.

 

[Goon]

Just returned from Scotland. As Goon's says knees can be a problem. Gone are the days of leaping down or getting up and I am ten years younger. I had to wimp out of a new find last week as I just knew I wouldn't bend in the right places. However he might be amused to read I managed to get in and out of Poll an Eoghainn without too much incident but much support from Francois Tollemere and Derrick Guy going in and coming out. Despite being little more than 50 metres long it is an 'interesting' cave. It also now holds the Scottish cave diving record.

Yeah, well, Poll Eoghainn shouldn't be too bad. I'm off to a flooded mine this weekend and bought some super-soft knee pads to try and make crawling comfortable. We'll see!

 

[Goon]

Well, Poll Eoghainn should have been okay, once one is past the small entrance. I am going to a flooded mine on Saturday and bought a pair of super-soft knee pads to try out for the crawly bits. High chance of survival though, I think. Gets the gear clean anyway!

 

[Joe Duxbury]

Well, Poll Eoghainn should have been okay, once one is past the small entrance. I am going to a flooded mine on Saturday and bought a pair of super-soft knee pads to try out for the crawly bits. High chance of survival though, I think. Gets the gear clean anyway!

What make are these super-soft kneepads? Are they likely to be on sale at HE? I need mine replacing.

 

[The Old Ruminator]

Oh dear. I am 78 next week with three trips in eight days.

 

[spelfish]

It's a shame that you can't get a combined kneepad and joint replacement. Would transform geriatric caving...

 

[The Old Ruminator]

I think that although I am the oldest in our digging group . I have as yet no infirmaties. Two others have painful movement issues whilst the other has recovered from cardiac arrest. ( The Eight Percent Club ). Of course its all luck of the draw and could go tits up any time. My left hand still has issues from being squashed in Reservoir Hole but I am used to it now. I have to be careful with my right arm again Reservoir Hole when my ulna got snapped and is now plated. At late 70's you have to learn to pace yourself and allow the next day for recovery. Three trips in eight days is not really an issue as long as they are spread out. Mentally you still need a motive though. Mine has always been the digging and over the years I have had good luck. Like anything practised over a long period it becomes second nature. You get an intuition about a site . It either feels right or it doesn't. The Frozen Deep worked out that way. I was convinced something was out there beyond the boulders but was quite prepared to be part of the process in finding it. A few steps forward for another generation. I love the engineering and planning though I dont always expect the others to agree with it. I designed the ladders and platforms in the mine project and some of the engineering in Vurley. Now we have horrible chokes in Quarter Way Up Hole ( see thread Mendip ). More engineering and postulating about missing catchments. Yes it feels right but you cant always be right. Still I have been at FCQ for nearly 65 years. Stamina gradually fades and may even step down at certain ages. Little steps down never to be recovered. That in its own way leads you to wonder what you are capable off. What reserves you have or where the breakdown occurs. Thats the issue with longer trips. No I wont be going to the end of Daren again or Aggy round trips. I cant say that I was ever a "sporting " caver looking to push physical boundaries. I went places because I wanted to see them. The photography is my " fun " side because its creative. It gives you a sense of being artistic even if you are not. Of course its relevant to record changes you make in a cave and for future planning. My new " style " is the back lit selfie. A silhouette image. Hardly new as a concept but easy to do in a cave. So there we are. Roll on 78. I aint scared of that. Next trip down the shaft on Sunday and QWUH on Tuesday . As I said. Visitors with cake welcome most Tuesdays.

 

[cap n chris]

Routinely digging with more senior teammates, some who have a decade or more on me. I'd like to think I'm pretty capable but they often show me up as lacking. Either way, none of us feel the need to do a full gym session after a digging day.

 

[David Rose]

At 66, I miss the agility I once had to move through awkward, boulder-floored passages, the instinctive confidence in placing feet and maintaining forward momentum. Stiff, creaking knees will hamper that. Once I was fast; now slow. But in the Picos in June, traversing on overghanging walls and awkward ledges above the deep turquoise waters of the Pozu Jultayu streamway, not too worried by the knowledge I had to negotiate an awkward rift and prussik more than 400 metres to get out, I felt blessed. And thankful for my younger companions' patience.