Caving Hacks, or things you learn with age?

[tim.rose2]

A few of mine:
1. Put a couple of cable ties in your over suit pocket and then forget about them. One day when something breaks you'll be thankful they're there.
2. Maillon's are extremely boring to rig with. The price (compared to Krabs) is attractive but you'll hate them!
3. I don't think it's available anymore (thank god) but never buy that bloody awful cheap gold coloured 10mm rope. I know lots of cavers who made this mistake including myself!
4. If visiting an unfamiliar caving region listen to what the locals tell you to wear. If they're in wetsuits, boiler suits or have 3 pairs of knee pads on it's probably for a good reason.
5. Don't underestimate short caves, particularly in lesser visited areas.
6. Leave twice as long as you think you need to find a cave you've not been too before.

 

[Steve Clark]

I have a van and the luxury of a bit of space, but this works for me :

I keep all my personal caving gear in a big plastic box - THE BOX - This always stays dry.
When getting changed I take stuff out, put it on and put dry clothes, shoes, wallet etc. into the box

When I get back to the van, everything that's wet gets put in one of those collapsible tough tubs/buckets - THE TUB - Oversuits, wellies, SRT gear, wet rope, the lot.
Dry clothes come out of the box and we go to the pub

When I get home, I only need to dry/deal with the stuff in the TUB. Wash/Hang up the suits. Knee pads pegged up etc.
Once it's all dry, it goes back in the big BOX.

This has the advantage that I can take most/all of my gear to the car park on every trip, giving me options if plans change, whilst not having to worry about sorting and drying it all of it after every trip. Nothing loose in the van. Having the discipline means I'm less likely to forget wellies etc.

 

[wellyjen]

Some current ones.

• Always take a last look round the area where you got changed for errant bits of kit. Especially if it is dark.
• When packing tackle bags, clip the appropriate number, plus a couple of spare, krabs, maillons, slings etc inside on top of the rope.
• Number the bags with a felt tip for multi-bag trips. Saves "Pass me the red back next, no not that red bag, the other red bag" conversations underground and having to wait for the right bags to catch up with the folk rigging.
• A push bike inner tube and a krab can make a very effective chest harness.
• Practice making loop knots like butterfly, figure 8, rabbit ears and fusions the right length and position first time. Reducing, or eliminating adjustment time really speeds up rigging.
• Each tackle bag gets a haul cord and krab. No exceptions.
• Find an order and position for SRT gear on the harness that works for you and stick with it.
• Different colour rope for cowstails and safety link. Assuming you use a safety link to the top jammerm rather than the long cowstail.
• Learn to put SRT kit on in as near to one go with all the gear in place as you can manage, rather than adding each component in turn to the harness.
• Whipping some accessory cord round the bit of the foot loop that takes your instep lasts a lot longer than using a length of garden hose.

Some from times past that changes to gear have rendered obselete.

• Don't put a 13mm spanner on a length of bungee. Some one I was caving with got it caught. The elastic stretched out to its full length, then when he turned round to find out what was happening, the spanner came loose and flew in to his teeth.
• Don't put a pig of spare carbide in to a sealed BDH container. Kaboom!
• Always position the waist mounted battery pack in the least bad position before going in to the squeeze.
• Switch on the electric back up on your carbide lamp and do what it takes to get it working before climbing, or descending the spray lashed pitch.
• Stock up on the 4.5V flat pack batteries Petzl favoured before going to a more obscure caving region with no caving shops.

 

[Loki]

Don’t leave your caving helmet and light on the ground near your tent - someone might drive over it 😉.
If your oversuit fastening system fails, punch a load of holes down the front and lace it up with accessory cord.
Take a drinking straw to blow out bolt holes - something I have yet to remember to do.
Thread up all your hangers onto the thru bolts before head up or down pitch or climb

 

[caving_fox]

Don’t go down something you wouldn’t want to go back up, even if you don’t plan to!

Equally don't go up something you can't climb (in a controlled manner) back down - down climbing when you can't see your feet can sometimes be trickier than up.

Turn your lamp down when looking talking to others - and also when looking at the survey.
Take a survey and rigging guide if one is available - A4(3) mapcases work well underground, although they're harder to get hold of these days.
Wear Steel Toe boots when kicking rocks/flailing about. (not everyone likes them but I do). A steel midsole helps standing on pointy rocks too
If you undo your chin strap to eat/rest make very sure it's done up before starting up a pitch

 

[wellyjen]

Take a survey and rigging guide if one is available - A4(3) mapcases work well underground, although they're harder to get hold of these days.

Alternatively, an A4 laminator can make them waterproof enough to survive. If you roughen up the plastic surface with some fine sandpaper, they can be drawn on, if you need to take notes.
If you need reading glasses, but can't be bothered trying to carry them in a survivable manner, take along some one who is either young enough not to need them, or is myopic to tell you what the survey description says!

 

[paul]

When packing SRT rope, obviously always tie a knot in the end, leave this end outside of the tackle bag while stuffing the rest inside. Then tie the other end into this knot and stuff both ends in as well. When pulling the rope out of the bag you can see it definitely has a knot in the end rather than finding out the hard way when it doesn't and was too short.

 

[Rhys]

Never get separated from your lunch bag.

 

[Brains]

Never get separated from your lunch bag.

or the keys to the car where your dry kit waiting

 

[Pitlamp]

or the keys to the car where your dry kit waiting

Or your pit . . .

 

[royfellows]

I've been caving for 55 years, and I have never felt the need for elbow pads. One of my caving companions, however, wouldn't dream of going underground without them. Another example of one size doesn't fit all.

I would say gloves, essential in slate mines. Rock cuts quite nasty.

 

[flashheart]

I've been caving for 55 years, and I have never felt the need for elbow pads. One of my caving companions, however, wouldn't dream of going underground without them. Another example of one size doesn't fit all.

I never used to wear them either, until I banged my elbow hard in Lancaster Hole. It's still painful to straighten, 4 years later, so I'm keen to cushion any further knocks. I don't necessarily see the need for them for crawling, as I try to use my forearms rather than my elbows...

 

[langcliffe]

Take a spray can in the car, so when hiding your keys in a convenient wall, you can spray the stone in question. That way you can be sure to find them again.

I've wandered up and down dry stone walls a number of times, wishing that I had followed my own advice.

 

[JAA]

Take a spray can in the car, so when hiding your keys in a convenient wall, you can spray the stone in question. That way you can be sure to find them again.

I've wandered up and down dry stone walls a number of times, wishing that I had followed my own advice.

Learnt second hand from, I think, Tony Seddon or Ursula, if hiding said car keys in Kingsdale, be careful that there isn’t a snowstorm while underground so that when you surface that “obvious rock” isn’t hidden under a lovely blanket of snow stretching in a featureless expanse as far as the eye can see….

 

[JoshW]

I've been caving for 55 years, and I have never felt the need for elbow pads. One of my caving companions, however, wouldn't dream of going underground without them. Another example of one size doesn't fit all.

I get tendonitis in my elbow and find the positive pressure on my elbow helps to reduce the prevalence

 

[Rachel]

Put your foot in your footloop before attaching the jammer to the rope. Much easier than trying to do it while dangling.

Plait long hair, then thread the plait through the rear helmet webbing to stop the helmet going over your eyes on a long crawl.

Use swimwear rather than cotton undies. It drains water quicker and isn't as unpleasantly saggy when wet.

A butterfly knot a third of the way along your long cowstail means it can be used as either a long or a short cowstail. Make the other one a medium for maximum flexibility.

A hair band is useful for holding a scurion battery box together if one of the screws falls out.

 

[pwhole]

Wear shinpads if you're an adventurous caver. You can pick them up for a fiver in any sports shop, unlike elbow and knee pads. It appears so far I'm the only caver in Britain who wears them, but I have heard a rumour that one other caver in the Dales does too. Saved me from at least three breakages so far, including a football-sized rock one colleague kicked down a slope at me.

 

[Speleofish]

Car keys. The first time you drop them in a complex cave is the last time you'll ever take them underground unprotected.
Never leave them in the wheel arch (every petty criminal will feel for this). Either place them somehere bombproof amongst your kit (I use a small dry bag around my neck) or squirrel them away in the undergrowth close to your car.

 

[rsch]

It appears so far I'm the only caver in Britain who wears them

That ain't correct!

 

[andrewmcleod]

Car keys. The first time you drop them in a complex cave is the last time you'll ever take them underground unprotected.
Never leave them in the wheel arch (every petty criminal will feel for this). Either place them somehere bombproof amongst your kit (I use a small dry bag around my neck) or squirrel them away in the undergrowth close to your car.

You can buy a 'dead' key (i.e. without the transponder) for many cars by sending a website e.g. keysinthepost a photo of your car keys. It won't start the engine but it will unlock the doors.

You can then put this key somewhere secure e.g. the 'secret pocket' on an AV undersuit and not worry about it getting wet in the cave. You can then lock the 'real' car keys inside the car (somewhere not obvious) and in the worst case scenario you lose the 'dead' key and have to either break in (but at least you have the real car keys to drive away with then) or phone for help and either get spare keys or get someone who knows how to break into your car non-destructively.

You could even get two 'dead' keys and leave one in a different pocket/taped inside your caving bag or something...

PS if you didn't already know, there are two pockets on a standard AV oversuit - the normal top flap pocket and the 'secret' pocket on the side