Learning from our mistakes.....

[PeteHall]

Until not so long ago an AA Maglite was fixed to the side of my lid for many years

This reminds me of a nearly serious incident... I too used to keep a backup light permanently fixed to the side of my helmet.

Getting to a particularly squalid dig, I had removed my helmet (an ecrin rock) and the (very flat) buckle had got clogged with mud.

On the way out, I shoved the buckle in as far as it would go and set off up a 40m pitch. At the top, I looked up to clip on my cowstails and my helmet, complete with main light and backup light fell off the top of my head! 

By some miracle, it jammed between my shoulder and the cave wall.

Since then, I have always carried a head-torch around my neck as well. This is also very handy for seeing where you are going when you need to take your helmet off for a squeeze or a duck 

 

[Rob]

Don't have an argument online... 

 

[nobrotson]

Take photos, they don't have to be good, but in 20 years time you'll regret not taking any.
ib

this, and record your trips as write-ups or similar if you don't have a camera. It is fun, helps you relive the trip and will serve as a good way of getting a smile from great memories when you re-read them.

 

[ALEXW]

It took me ages to realise that it is a lot easier to get off a rope at the pitch head if I don?t go too high. I have spent too much time either down prusiking or wrestling with a tight rope.  I now get a cows tail in as soon as I can and weigh  up my options, often it is easy to pull myself up and a bit of slack makes it easy to move away from the edge.

 

[cooleycr]

I too used to have a 1-piece jammer/footloop rig until one day I attempted to ascend a pitch and found that I simply wasn't gaining any height.
Luckily there was that much spring in the rope that I didn't actually leave the ground and someone spotted my error.
Binned that kit and now use a separate cows-tail and footloop straight off the jammer (and leaving everything in-situ helps)...

I once left my "sporting" glasses (flexible frame with plastic lenses) in the car on a trip to bottom Alum Pot...
It actually turned out rather well as I am short sighted and, not being keen on exposed routes, found that everything being in soft focus made it far less scary!

A very good tip that was passed on to me is to always carry (if not use) a steel braking Krab (or a Raumer "Handy" if you have a bit of spare dosh), especially when using thinner/faster ropes for the first time - I got a right surprise the first time I went down a 9mm (back in the day it was always 11mm and you had to push it through the rig!).

P.S.
I wish I had enough hair to be concerned about getting it caught in my descender  :-\

 

[Alex]

Becareful what you eat...

An extract from a journal I am writing...

Is it day 2? I am not sure, all I am sure is that suddenly I am in a lot of pain, my body wants whatever is in me out. Quickly I fumble in the dark grasping for my helmet and switch it on. The pain increases further and I try to hold back my dinner, I cannot afford to loose it, I cannot afford to loose the energy this far underground. Like it or not, my dinner was returning. I thought off my sleeping bag and in my thermals and barefoot I tried to dash for the camp toilet, I failed spectacularly and decorated the narrow passage that led to it. Where did those carrots come from?

This was in an unexplored cave in a foreign land a long way underground!

 

[Mattrees]

On a pull through trip, make sure the rope is long enough. I have made this mistake on two separate trips, both proved awkward. One was a nightmare, alone, under a waterfall.

Make sure the rope is long enough!

 

[Rachel]

A top tip for dealing with long hair is to plait it, then thread the plait through the webbing at the back of the helmet. It keeps the hair nicely out of the way and also stops the helmet slipping down when crawling.

 

[David Rose]

On big SRT trips with long traverses, clip an extra snaplink krab to the end of your footloop. Result: three cowstails, not two, two of them long ones - great for passing horizontal rebelays in exposed positions.

 

[oldfart]

Don't go caving with teetotalers. They have no concept of the importance in making the pub.

 

[cavemanmike]

Very funny but true

 

[tamarmole]

I wear a neckerchief underground, over the years it has doubled as a hanky, a device for getting grit out of eyes, a bandage and bog roll.  Takes up no room and looks stylish to boot!

I also  carry a polythene survival bag in the cradle of my helmet.

A climbers type knife carried around the neck is handy.  Hang it off a decent bit of accessory chord which can also double as a prussik loop or an impromptu deviation chord.

Cable ties are your friend.

In terms of techniques / skills:  Learn to build a z rig (and carry a pulley).

Learn to improvise, having the option of plan B (and C) is no bad thing.

Choose your companions carefully, at some point your life will depend on them.

You can get away with having a crafty wee if you are wearing a wetsuit but not a furry suit!

Don't follow the herd.  Try and get off the beaten track, don't just do the classic trips.

REMEMBER THAT CAVING IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!

 

[Les W]

I also carry a polythene survival bag in the cradle of my helmet.

Replace this regularly or when you finally need it you will find it has converted itself into a pack of small squares of plastic rather than a bag... 

 

[kay]

A top tip for dealing with long hair is to plait it, then thread the plait through the webbing at the back of the helmet. It keeps the hair nicely out of the way and also stops the helmet slipping down when crawling.

How long a plait can you cope with by that method?

My top tip is that a plait that you can sit on is incompatible with caving (and a lot of other things too)

 

[nobrotson]

On big SRT trips with long traverses, clip an extra snaplink krab to the end of your footloop. Result: three cowstails, not two, two of them long ones - great for passing horizontal rebelays in exposed positions.

do you mean footloop, or do you mean safety cord/link? my footloop is made of dyneema; not a good material to be shock loading...

 

[CavingPig]

A top tip for dealing with long hair is to plait it, then thread the plait through the webbing at the back of the helmet. It keeps the hair nicely out of the way and also stops the helmet slipping down when crawling.

I do two plaits then tie them together at the back a few times (in a reef knot fashion, so it ends up looking a bit like a lumpy bun) then a buff over the whole lot - I've had a little bit of hair stuck before so I don't want to take any risks! Plus it stops the hair sticking to any oversuit velcro, which is dead annoying.

On big SRT trips with long traverses, clip an extra snaplink krab to the end of your footloop. Result: three cowstails, not two, two of them long ones - great for passing horizontal rebelays in exposed positions.

do you mean footloop, or do you mean safety cord/link? my footloop is made of dyneema; not a good material to be shock loading...

As someone with really not very much upper body strength, an extra krab on my safety cord creating two long cows tails is the only way I can do blank wall traverses (something I learned while 90m above the floor on a blank wall traverse with a maillon attaching my footloop - luckily I had a spare krab on my harness and managed not to drop it!)

 

[DavidCofNinjadom]

Wearing wellies that are too big!!

Couldn't find my wellies before one of my first SRT trips down Yordas, so I found a pair that were far too big and wore big socks. Got to the top of the Chapter House waterfall pitch, weighted the rope, and watched my boot fill with water and dissappear off the end of my leg!! Fortunately I wasn't in a bigger cave and easily retrieved it once I got to the bottom!! Lesson learned lol

 

[steviet_scg]

I'm another victim of the hair in the rack - this time whilst self-lining a very wet first pitch in P8. I started to climb up the ladder but pondered on what would happen if I fell off - my mate dragged me out to the ledge. Went to the barbers shortly after ...


Early on I frequently made the mistake of rushing to get out of a long trip - fine in summer but a bugger in winter when conditions are better in the cave. Subtly move yourself to the back of the party / offer to derig and you'll be toasty warm compared to everyone else - if only for a little while.

Steve

 

[Fulk]

With regard to the last post ? it's sometimes worth taking off your SRT kit in the cave (if it starts horizontally) before emerging into cold windy conditions.

 

[Simon Wilson]

... Got to the top of the Chapter House waterfall pitch, weighted the rope, and watched my boot fill with water and dissappear off the end of my leg!! ...

That would not have happened if your suit was over the top of your wellies. Better still, fix the suit in place with bands of car inner tube. That holds your suit in place and makes it easier to bend your knees and gives you the choice to wear or not to wear knee pads. Even better (much better) stiffen you welly tops, seal your suit to your wellies and keep your feet dry. An added bonus is that when it comes to undressing, after removing your knee pads, you stand on the heel of your welly and simply pull your foot out of both welly and suit in one smooth, quick action.