Starting Caving!!!!

[DISCODAVE]

Hi,

I'm looking to join a caving club and after some ideas for which club to join.. I'm after an active club somewhere around the Wirral/ North Wales area.... Any suggestions...?  I'm a complete beginner but have some climbing experience.. so am looking for advice on SRT.  Wot kit do you need to join a club???

Thanks in advance,
Disco

 

[ChrisJC]

The two obvious ones are:
North Wales Caving Club
Grosvenor Caving Club

But how active they are and what variety of places they visit I don't know.

Chris.

 

[wormster]

wot kit do you need:

a sense of humor and a good personality

 

[Skyrmy]

Black Rose Caving Club are an active club who don't go in for meetings and other club politics and hierachies.  Members are scattered across the northwest from Wigan to Barrow and over to Harrogate and Darlington.  We have a varied calendar of meets throughout the year.

Check us out
www.brcc.org.uk

 

[ditzy 24//7]

your best bet is to look up caving clubs around your area and have a word with them, generally you will need to get caving insurance to join.


ditzy

 

[DISCODAVE]

Like to think i've got a sense of humour-- it occasionally gets misplaced whilst dangling off long ropes. :  Personality???  All a bit subjective I suppose.  where do you get Caving Insurance from? How much?? Will it hurt?:spank:


Disco

 

[cap n chris]

Caving insurance cover is a free benefit for anyone joining the British Caving Association (membership is ?18 per year, last time I checked), membership of which is normally a pre-requisite for joining a club (the club will sort out the paperwork for you, `cos they're mostly fluffy and nice). 

 

[wormster]

Like to think i've got a sense of humour-- it occasionally gets misplaced whilst dangling off long ropes. :  Personality???  All a bit subjective I suppose. 

Well you're half way there then matey!

 

[DISCODAVE]

Cheers all ,

glad to hear caving clubs are "mostly fluffy and nice"-- this is good, I think.. :alien:


disco

 

[DISCODAVE]

  So wot kit would I need to splash out on before joining a club-- I have a petzl zoom and a helmet   Probably got a pair of wellies about somewhere... i also have tie-wraps  and duck tape, wot more could I need???? :greed:


Disco:-\

 

[ditzy 24//7]

it really depends on what trips you are planning to do.
if you are going to be doing trips that involve srt then you will need a full srt kit -
harness
croll
jammer
foot loop
descender
cows tails
braking crab
plus sevral other crabs and carabeaners and stuff

although other kit that you may wish to have is a furry and a oversuit.
you may also be able to orrow kit from what ever club you join but as far as srt goes, it is highly recomended that you have your own, it is your responsibility as your life depends on havign everything working properly. you may also wish to get a rope.

 

[DISCODAVE]

How much rope do you need??  I realise this is a very open ended question but have got to start somewhere?  Wot is a useful length?  Also, Wot is a braking krab???

disco :-\

 

[cap n chris]

1.4km.

No, seriously; if you do indeed intend to join a caving club then you won't require any technical kit for rope use whatsoever since you will be able to borrow what you need to get started and, once you are addicted to rope monkeying, you can then purchase stuff with knowledge and experience under your belt. Before that time arrives, however, you'll only require personal gear which equates to:

footwear
headwear
bodywear

Top tip: if you don't own kneepads but live in a caving region where crawling is a distinct likelihood then you'll be wanting to get some.

 

[andymorgan]

The best thing to do is to join a club, or go on a couple of trips before joining. Most good clubs let you borrow kit for a your first few trips, so it is best to wait before splashing out your cash.

 

[ditzy 24//7]

i personally have a 20 meter rope and a couple of ropes that are long enough to do about 100ft.


as far as i understand a breaking crab is used to help you be more in control when abseiling useing a stop or a fig of 8 ?(not sure what else)

can anyone help exsplaine any better ?

ditzy

 

[cap n chris]

Methinks the intricacies of SRT rig set-up are a tad over the mark for a thread with this title.

 

[Cookie]

where do you get Caving Insurance from? How much?? Will it hurt? :spank:

Find your prefered caving club first. They'll sort you out with insurance.

Cost is ?16/annum

Oh and UCET are a good crowd.  www.ucet.org.uk

 

[DISCODAVE]

Cheers Capn for trying to keep the thread basic  but, it is a question that I do fancy knowing the answer to!  I reckon the pea rolling around inside my head can have a go at understanding... Should I start a new thread asking about braking karabiners????

Hope that doesn't sound cheeky,(it wasn't meant to be),
disco

 

[cap n chris]

Welcome to the madness, Discodave; if you want to find out about stuff there's a pretty huge archive on this site already and you can use the search facility to find reams and reams. If you don't get any joy that way then you can ask specific questions which should elucidate useful responses, and possibly some not so useful ones too. Lol.

Anyhow, try "Braking karabiner" "Breaking crab" and/or any combination of spelling/etc. and see what stuff crops up; I'm sure you'll find masses to fill up your pulsating pea. Just in case you can't find it, the search box is near the top of the page, alongside the word "search".

ATB!

 

[Les W]

Just in case you can't find it, the search box is near the top of the page, alongside the word "search".

ATB!

It would also be useful to know that the search function only searches from within the section you are in, so if you want to search the whole forum you need to be at the top of the forum before you search. If you want to search say, equipment, then you need to be at the top of the equipment section. If you search from here then you will only get results from this particular thread. At least I think that's the case. If I'm wrong I'm sure Bubba or SamT or someone will put me right.