Win a Rab Firewall Waterproof Jacket - worth £245!!

[Pegasus]

WIN WITH UKC – Tell us your ‘watery’ tale!

The fourth of the Inglesport fabulous Five is a Rab Firewall Waterproof jacket - worth £245

Mens Firewall Jacket womens Firewall Jacket

Offering all-weather protection, this rugged, versatile shell is geared up for any challenge.

The Firewall Mountain Jacket comes into its own when the forecast threatens to disrupt your plans. Fully featured and highly protective, it uses 3-layer Pertex® Shield to deflect persistent drizzle and torrential rain, so you can keep exploring unfazed. Equipped for year-round hikes, scrambles, and keeping you dry post caving!

Pertex® Shield - a waterproof and windproof fabric that’s breathable, lightweight and packable.

Fluorocarbon (PFAS) free fabric

Fluorocarbon-free fabric is completely free of fluorocarbons (PFAS), whether that’s in the face fabric, membrane, or backer. PFAS-free means Rab have phased out all intentionally added PFAS and are compliant with current EU and US legislation.

The winner gets to choose womens/mens and their preferred size/colour from Inglesport stock – though that gives an excellent choice as Inglesport are one of the premier independent Rab stockists in the UK with a wide range available both online and instore – and all competitively priced

Obviously (hopefully!) this isn't going to be worn underground, however some lucky winner will be glad of it when it’s pouring down.

To enter, simply post your tale/photo on the subject of water/wet weather and caving (before/after/during, both home and abroad).

Entries to the Fabulous Five competitions have been wonderfully varied so far so once again it’s a wide brief - anything to do with water/wet weather qualifies! Photos welcome; they often say it best.

2 entries per person.

Closing time/date 10pm, Wed 18th June. Shortlist to be chosen by me, then over to random.org.

GOOD LUCK!

Many thanks to Inglesport and Rab for supporting the forum with this fabulous prize!

https://www.inglesport.com/about-us/

Inglesport has been trading as a specialist outdoor equipment supplier since 1977.

Although the business began primarily as a caving equipment supplier, we now stock a vast range of products, including Work & Rescue equipment, climbing equipment, walking & camping gear and outdoor clothing.

Our shop, located in the village of Ingleton, North Yorkshire is ideally situated for both cavers and walkers to pop in and browse through our large selection of products.

All our staff are experienced, active outdoor enthusiasts, so you get up-to-the-minute advice on the latest and best gear and equipment for your needs.

https://rab.equipment/uk/our-story

‘Our story began in 1981 in the attic of a small, terraced house in Sheffield where Rab Carrington made the first sleeping bag to bear his name. Hand-stitched and devised with his own ingenious eye, his designs were crafted with years of mountain experience, and soon there was popular demand both from friends and the growing local climbing (and caving!) community’.

T&Cs - This competition is in collaboration with Rab and Inglesport. Prize cannot be exchanged for cash. Rab & Inglesport reserve the right to change the product prize depending on stock availability. Winners must live in UK.​

 

[Rob]

I’ve a few fun stories with water, involving a smorgasbord of elements including flash floods, hypothermia, stupidity, rescue, bad air, and of course the kind of water that is actually mostly mud. To pick one I figure I’ll just retell my most recent:

To set the scene, last year the Eldon found a new cave in the Peak called Little Waterfall Swallet, due partly to a positive dye test to the Stoney Master Cave. Only a bit of digging got us in and through to the top of a 20m pitch and we thought we were off! We found some nice cave but unfortunately the way on was a tiny, water filled hole at the downstream end of a narrow rift.

This section of cave has never been seen flowing but we assume from the flood debris it occasionally does, and sometimes beyond the dig face flowing water could be heard. Spurred on by this some concerted digging, allowed by summer drought, got us through this dig, which was only a body length of down n up, to then get back into tall rift, albeit even tighter this time. We probably left the breakthrough point a bit too small as one member later managed to break a rib fighting his way through, hence it’s name.

Luke pushing through the Rib Cracker for the first time​

We spent a summer furiously enlarging the rift beyond, trying to find the way on which the winter stream takes, but each breakthrough simply led to more tight rift. On the last pushing trip I gave up trying to make it bigger and just squirmed as far as I could along “The Brookland Narrows”. Definitely a bit committing but it (thankfully?!) turned out to be a quick way to kill the cave:

With the project now wrapped up we had to get it all surveyed before the new year (so as to qualify for some glory in the DCA Exploration competition) so a team of us headed in, with myself and Joe hoping to be “Team small enough” whilst Ben and Fabian went for a gander in the upstream section of the cave.

Joe hadn’t ventured to the Narrows before so he went first. Progress is super slow, not because of the surveying but just because every movement forwards is a fight. Just as we get near the end we hear Ben far behind us. They had finished exploring the other way and he wanted to come for a look. He got some of the way towards us, through the Rib Cracker, before nonchalantly saying “Oh, Fabian said I should mention that the cave is in flood and water is flowing this way”. Myself and Joe paused as we calibrated to the urgency of the information. Ben and Fabian were not familiar with the cave and had not understood the situation we were in.

Together we scream back to him “Get out!” and then do our best to turn around and start making our own way out. It’s impossible to move quickly. We know it’s at least 10 minutes to safety from here with every minute the Rib Cracker will be filling up. We’d joked previously about how awful it would be to freedive if it ever came to it, and here we were with dread in our minds. I get to it first and see it is already mostly filled with swirling water. I shout ahead to “Build a dam!” but already the cacophony of noise from waterfalls beyond meant they were unable to hear me. I plunge through and was able to keep airspace ok, but Joe was still a little way back. By the time he came through there was only 3 inches of airspace – not pleasant in a very tight squeeze. A minute later it was totally underwater. That was close!

 

[tonymck]

The Rowten Sumps

I can't remember when this challenge was parked inconsiderately in the driveway of my consciousness and left for me to deal with. I do remember clearly though when late into Alistair's birthday celebration last August, he took me aside with two glasses of those fantastic whiskies he collects and looked at me intently. 'Slow is calm, and calm is fast' he said deliberately, and held my gaze. Oh boy, I suppose it's time.

During the winter two of the dynamos in my life wordlessly begin preparations. Why else would they ask for a dive vest and a neoprene hood when I offer to include them in a kit order? Come to that, I did put 'diving mask' on my own Christmas list.

You dream up plans for settled dry spells, but that kind of weather becomes a friend whom you've lost touch with, and you can't quite remember their being. Then they show up out of nowhere and you think, 'Oh! I remember you!' The warmth continues and I feel a bit sick when the message arrives. I don't know if I'm still capable of this, or if I have the heart. There are many tasks I should be doing but I can't think of anything else. It can't be that hard? Other people do this, probably fairly regularly. There are no reports of accidents. It's just a psychological challenge to be met with rationality and good preparation. Slow is calm, and calm is fast.

I lay a weighted rope in the lake and standing waist deep in Crummock Water in full caving gear, looking certifiable to Buttermere tourists, I measure 11 metres, turn on both lights and pull myself below and along. I repeat the journey five times, trying to visualise the event and enact composure. On the drive down I do something that I haven't done since sitting bored in secondary school lessons, looking down at my Timex and trying to hold my breath for a minute. It seems a bit harder than it used to be but I can still do it, just.

It's a beautiful evening when we ascend to the Turbary Road, but there is tangible anxiety. Chat is interspersed with heavy silences. As per usual, Mike efficiently rigs us down via the impressive 70m pitch. The moment is getting closer. Rigging is left mockingly in place, should courage fail. All too quickly we arrive into the calmness of death's waiting room, where a yellow hand line runs impassively into the unseen.

'Well this is all a bit serious!' pipes in Mike with a welcome disruption to the tension. Alistair's characteristic thoroughness is reassuring as he triple confirms that we are in the right place. Neoprene hoods are fitted and masks wetted. Mike pokes his head down for a look into the submerged bedding. We recap on procedure then Alistair disengages from us, takes his breaths and disappears. Cord pays quickly out of Mike's hand until it comes tight; he pushes Alistair's gear bag down under the roof and it vanishes.

It's my turn. I duck into the water for a practice and don't even notice the cold. I peer down the line of the rope but it becomes gloomy after a couple of metres with no encouraging indication of liveable space beyond. I take my breaths and to my surprise, lose myself to the process. I'm off, pulling, pulling, disturbing some small stones and then I quickly sense the end. I emerge into a surreal, small, gold hued dome with the unusual large scalloping that seems to characterise this area of cave. I feel very alone but elated that the longest of the dives is over. I have no desire to hang around and with urgency I pull my bag through, re-stack the cord and commit to the following section. Torpedoing through the surface into the next cross rift I clatter into the wall on the opposite side. How did you say we should do it Alistair? Barrel through at top speed? Right you are!

I pull my bag through again and we wait for Mike. Soon there's a glow, a red helmet appears and a beaming smile. We're jubilant, the relief in such contrast to the mood of the last two hours. We stomp gaily through to the roof tunnel pitch and on to Valley Entrance to emerge in the stillness, warmth and fading light of an exceptional day. Kirby Lonsdale's Royal Barn then hosts for us the cheeriest of trip appraisals.

 

[cavingbiker]

Many years ago, when ladders were still in regular use, I was on a trip down Simson’s Pot, we had rigged slit pot, our guide for the day went under the name of Snagglepuss, he, life lined us down then dropped the ladders, then rigged the rope for a pull through for his abseil. Whilst life lining, he couldn’t help but notice each person descended faster than the one before. It wasn’t until he came down that he gained an insight into what was causing our rapid descents, the last two used their hands only. The crawl through to the master cave was to say the least a little damp and the float down to the climb up to valley entrance if not enjoyable was rapid.
On exiting the cave, we discovered that there had been an expected thunderstorm, which caused a rapid rise in water levels in the cave.

 

[littlesunshine]

As a relatively new caver I feel like I don't have any stories quite so dramatic as the ones posted so far, however I do have one that fits. A couple of fateful weeks ago someone put an open invite out in my club for an evening trip to Bogg Hall to take advantage of the dry weather. As an eager and slightly stupid caver I immediately signed up without doing any research. I was informed that this cave was a 'wetsuit kind of cave' and I took this as a great chance to use my new-ish cave wetsuit; only to realise halfway there that my lovely wetsuit was only 2 millimetres, and I am a very cold person (flashbacks to having to get other people to take off my jammers at the top of pitches when I couldn't move my fingers).

Bogg Hall begins with a very muddy slip and slide down to join the diving entrance where we met up with our cave diver - from there we admired the tree roots hanging from the ceiling showing how close we were to the surface. We made it maybe 5 minutes in and gathered in a small room with some very loose boulders coincidentally right above my head - from there we had a few options on how to go on. Nobody really knew the easiest route and we had only one survey that was not in my hands, so I made the fantastic decision to go on ahead and explore. There was an incredibly tight squeeze over a boulder leading to crossroads where somehow each path looked shitter than the last. Trying the least shit route I continued until the airspace got low and I could barely fit my shoulders, and deemed it the wrong way (surprisingly this ended up being the right way in the end). By this point everyone had started following me so the complicated process of backing up began. I took a different route out hoping it would lead back to the main room, which luckily it did, however managed to tear a large hole in my already thin wetsuit doing a squeeze. A few more attempts at finding the correct way led to me and 2 others being reluctant to continue.

Cue the shivering beginning. Still only 5 minutes from the entrance, I was shaking so much I couldn't think and sadly decided I had to turn back.
Somehow I still enjoyed the trip and am planning to come back with a thicker wetsuit and someone who knows where theyre going!

 

[Pegasus]

Hello littlesunshine, thanks for posting. I'm not looking for the most dramatic entry (or the thai cave rescue divers would win a bit of a waterproof each ). Yours in an excellent entry, thank you!

 

[andrewmcleod]

I think I mostly manage to avoid the cold these days... although in a recent trip down White Scar, my nice sleeveless 5mm wetsuit (with a cheaper wetsuit top) was much less warm than I was expecting with a lot of flushing coming through from the 'rear' region... after coming out of the cave, I discovered that there was a massive leak in the seam between the cheeks (as it were) hence the unexpected cold water!

Out on the Dachstein we have probably some of the coldest non-ice caves, although you try to avoid getting wet (we have a couple of ice caves as well). Ectoplasm (which we were pushing a couple of years ago) was measured at around 1 °C as I remember, and had a strong cold draught as well! There were delicate ice formations on quite a few of the walls, plus a weird horizontal ice disk about 50cm thick and several metres wide across the head of a pitch, looming over it ominously!

There was also when we did Hyperthermia in Sleets Gill from the bottom connector up to the top. If we'd gone in the top first, at least one of my two companions would have said something along the lines of 'bugger that', but the bottom bit isn't quite so bad, and once you've gone a long way upstream you don't want to turn around and do it all again... one of us had a definitely insufficient wetsuit and I was really quite worried for a while about hypothermia (since there is nowhere to get out of the water, and being very cold only makes you go slower) but fortunately after about an hour and a half (much slower than ideal) we broke out into the end of the Main Gallery, went for a gentle walk back to the entrance and out into the sunshine about two hours after entering - but probably the most intense two hours of caving I've done in some ways!

 

[Lara_]

The water flowing from Peak Cavern looks so picturesque so I managed to persuade my friends to take an Ophelia inspired photo.

The brain freeze was worth it but tourists in Castleton thought we were even crazier than normal!

 

[dougle89]

Who needs enemies when you have friends like our caving club. During a trip to Bull Pot Kingsdale, I was happily rigging away, fed myself down the slot making my descent to the rebelay. My friends must’ve thought it was hot work as they decided to build up the water in the pools above and direct it on to me, nice cooling and refreshing moment

 

[yrammy]

Emerging from Swildons Hole one day in the 80s piss wet through and standing is a gushing stream, a couple of tourists asked (cue posh accent) ' is it wet down there'

 

[Graigwen]

Emerging from Swildons Hole one day in the 80s piss wet through and standing is a gushing stream, a couple of tourists asked (cue posh accent) ' is it wet down there'

I think most of us have experienced something like that. It makes a change from them asking "Is it dark down there".
.

 

[Keris82]

Photo taken of my lovely handsome other half last time we were caving in ofd. This is in the waterfall series It's one of my favourite caving photos recently

 

[PeteHall]

21st February, last year, after a lot of rain, the Cheddar Caving Club decided it would be fun to have a Swildon's trip.
I know people have been down the cave in wetter conditions, but I'm pretty sure it's the wettest I can remember it.
Although not a long or hard trip, it must rate as one of the most fun trips I have ever done. Great cave, great company, lots of water and lots and lots of laughs!

 

[Pegasus]

Bump!

 

[MarkS]

During the Ario '22(?) expedition(?) Sandy and I had just returned through the Ario Reality rift that we'd first explored in 2019 before the expeditions went on hold during the pandemic. Sandy was on his way up Foot Hang, while I was wedged in at the rift's exit 10 m off the floor putting my SRT kit back on.

We both heard what initially started as a low, resonating sound, which rapidly grew to quite a loud hum. After a very brief period of puzzlement, we quickly realised this must be the noise of water somewhere. The sound got steadily louder and louder, becoming an intimidating rumble, although the cave around us was as dry as ever.

My main memory at this point is the number of questions that went through my head in a very short space of time. This was a cave that normally took no water at all, save for a small dribble down one of the pitches and a few drips here and there. We'd been in the cave when it had rained before, but not noticed anything drastically change underground, so what on earth was going on now? How much water did it take to make the noise I could hear? How far away was the water that was making that noise? How long would it take for the water to reach me here? And possibly most importantly, where in the cave was safe (or not) to be?

By this point the rope above me was free and the noise was pretty alarming. I figured I had the choice of either rapidly dekitting and heading back into the rift, which was presumably safe, or heading up the rope knowing that the rebelay about 25 m above must be safe due to the rock dust remaining on the walls for the 3 years since it was bolted. Whatever I was going to do I felt like I needed to do it fast because the slight drippiness around me had escalated somewhat, and the rumble far above was still increasing in volume.

I opted for the quick prussik, already being kitted up for it, and swung out into the main shaft, pleasingly into slightly less water than was now raining down on my previous perch. With the water flow increasing with every prussik it was with no small amount of relief that I reached the rebelay and looked down at what would have been a bad place to still be waiting at the entrance to the rift below.

As it turned out, although there was an awful lot of water relative to normal conditions, the water levels didn't get dangerous, and they must have fallen fairly rapidly as I don't have any distinctive memories of most of the trip out. However, the ever increasing rumbling sound and my mind racing with questions of what to do and where to go are certainly memories that will stick with me, and not really something I want to experience again. A good reminder of how seemingly benign places have the potential to get hostile in a very short space of time!

 

[Ian Ball]

Not much of a story but after a trip to the CPC winch meet, I lolled around in the swimming pool they build and I can say the weather helped but after an hour of floating, I my caving days may be over unless there is a hot tub at the entrance.

 

[bagpuss]

Not the best photo, but the only time I've ever encountered a stal spurtling water in a cave, like a water pistol (Loxton Cavern)

Another memorable trip was during the autumn floods on November 2012, the sketchy drive from Bristol to Mendip where at points water was lapping at the door entries of the car (probably should have turned around at that point) Tons of water in Burrington Combe, with the stream raging down the path, across the road into Avelines hole and also running through the old Burrington Inn carpark. I think that was the flood that closed off Cheddar gorge for a while due to road damage. Not seen it like that since.

 

[Cave_Troll]

If we're allowed to tell two stores how about

That time I got hit by the same flood pluse twice in the same cave
Back when i was younger I found myself on a de-rigging trip in the Gouffre Berger. This might have been the trip where I took a photo of a young lady crying at the top Huricane pitch, but that's another story.
The plan was to bring kit from further in the cave up past Lake Cadoux to the entrance pitches and out as far as we could with the option of starting to de-rig Aldo's and the rest.
We'd got to the bottom of Aldo's which was dry and the first team member started up the pitch. After a while water started to come down the pitch which was interesting. The next person in the group started to climb the rope, the amount of water coming down had increased and we we had a quick conflab and those of use left on the floor decided to leave the bags at the bottom of the pitch and just run away. This would be lleaving it to be "someone else's problem" on another day.
More and more water came down the pitch and when there were two of us left, we decided to tie all the bags to the bottom of the rope as we were not sure how much this section flooded and we didn't want them to get washed away.
I was the last one up the pitch and by the time I got to the top there was the water coming down the streamway and more water coming out of seeminly random holes in the roof and cracks in the walls at the top. Water water everywhere !
Exiting the pitch head, thought "Fantasic, I've survived". I was sat at the top waiting for the ropes up Relay Picthes to become free, when I heard "sploosh gurgle gurgle gurgle" then a small pause and then another "sploosh gurgle gurgle gurgle".
It seems that water was flowing down the pitches and filling up the plunge pool at the bottom before overflowing and falling down the next vertical section. "So" I thought "this water really wants to get me"
As you may guess I manged to get up the ropes and was able to hide in the top of a traverse

 

[Cave_Troll]

Second Story

That time I thought Ed was going to be the soundtrack to my death

I was in a group finding and exploring bits of Encaramada in Matienzo. One section ended in a sump and being a young keen cave diver I though i'd have a go at pushing it. Exploring underwater! The dream of all cave divers!
I started with a good belay, using slings around a stal, and then down to water's edge. I linked that onto my dive line and put a snoopy to block at water level.
I tried to enter the sump head first without fins (as it looks tight) for a couple of metres and then decided it looked too tight. I turned around and backed in but was going to give up as it was too tight with the floor and roof in contact with my body at the same time.
Then I could my feet going over a lip and felt a taller passage. I forced my way backwards over the lip into passage that was maybe 1m high. I belayed the dive line to another block via a snoopy and carried on.
Every now and then I could get my head above water level, well parts of my head - mainly one ear. There was at least an inch of airspace back to dive base and I can shout to Ed and Louise who were waiting for me at the start of the sump
The passage dog legs to the left. Belayed to another block in zero vis. Carried on to where passage rose, surfaced and met a cross rift with sandstone blocks falling down and blocking the way on. Here I could sit and breathe fresh cave air.
I thought I might be able to get out of the water, but it was at the bottom of a virgin boulder choke and I didn't fancy taking my cylinders off to crawl over unstable blocks. I could see what might be the other side and the continuation of my passage. I belayed and cut the dive line with an extra 2m and tied on an "ENCARAMADA" plastic label to the end so I could post that over at where the continuation came in. Hopefully anyone coming in from the Wild Mare system will get to there and be able to see the tag and know the link.
I set to survey forward to the continuation and back to dogleg and managed to shout to Edd "I’m coming back". Floated along back towards dive base surveying.
I got to the lip where it starts getting tight and break a few bits of flaky calcite off in preparation.
I tried to get through and discover that its way too tight to get through. "That's odd", I thought "I fitted through this on the way in"
I backed off and put the survey notes in my thigh pocket "I dont wan't to loose those, they're important science".
Tried again. Definitely too tight, maybe I've got fat in the last 10 mins.
This time, I threw the line reel forward so i don't have that in the way. Thrash around, but think that I'm really not going to get through this. My left ear was just above the water level and i can hear Ed singing to Louise.
Back off again. Think. Don't make things worse. Work the problem. What are my options?
I could go back to the other end and get to breathable airspace, but what then? I'd just die of hypothermia. Beets drowning I guess
"Could I take my tanks off?" I thought, but thats quite desperate and I'll leave it for a last resort.
Try again. Thrash around. I've got my head facing left, my red reg in, so the hose is pushing against the floor and forcing the reg out of my mouth. This limits the thrashing as I don't want to lose my source of breathing air. Also my mask is being forced sideways off my head. Still, I've heard that being able to see can be overrated.
I want to shout at Ed to "Shut the f*** up". I don't want the soundtrack to my death in this water filled cheese press to be him singing. However I can't becuase my mouth is underwater full of regulator with that sweet sweet breathing air.

I think this has now reached the "last resort" stage. Time to take at least one tank off. I'm breathing off my left so take the right (yellow) off and post it forwards. Check I still have the yellow reg available on necklace just in case something happens to the one I'm using.
If I wasn't underwater I'd sigh. The helmet is going to have to come off as well. I find the clip with one hand and take it off, posting it forward. There goes the light.
I thrash some more. Still stuck. Jiggle left cylinder a bit to get it up onto the ledge. Thrash and push forward. Progress!
But progress is stopped.
The snoopy loops on a snapgate on a D ring on my dive harness are caught on something. I pull them with my left hand until they break.
Thrash some more. Make some progress! Keep thrashing. Never mind the probable rips to wetsuit etc. Push my free bottle and helmet forward to the point that it appears that i'm going to get out. Look right and see my line reel. Thankfull for a small win I pick it up and throw it forward.
A bit more thrashing and i make it out to the chamber to collapse in the mud on the floor.

"Can we find something bigger or maybe less full of water next time please"

 

[Badgerbadger]

View attachment 22712

WIN WITH UKC – Tell us your ‘watery’ tale!

The fourth of the Inglesport fabulous Five is a Rab Firewall Waterproof jacket - worth £245

Mens Firewall Jacket womens Firewall Jacket

Offering all-weather protection, this rugged, versatile shell is geared up for any challenge.

The Firewall Mountain Jacket comes into its own when the forecast threatens to disrupt your plans. Fully featured and highly protective, it uses 3-layer Pertex® Shield to deflect persistent drizzle and torrential rain, so you can keep exploring unfazed. Equipped for year-round hikes, scrambles, and keeping you dry post caving!

Pertex® Shield - a waterproof and windproof fabric that’s breathable, lightweight and packable.

Fluorocarbon (PFAS) free fabric

Fluorocarbon-free fabric is completely free of fluorocarbons (PFAS), whether that’s in the face fabric, membrane, or backer. PFAS-free means Rab have phased out all intentionally added PFAS and are compliant with current EU and US legislation.

The winner gets to choose womens/mens and their preferred size/colour from Inglesport stock – though that gives an excellent choice as Inglesport are one of the premier independent Rab stockists in the UK with a wide range available both online and instore – and all competitively priced

Obviously (hopefully!) this isn't going to be worn underground, however some lucky winner will be glad of it when it’s pouring down.

To enter, simply post your tale/photo on the subject of water/wet weather and caving (before/after/during, both home and abroad).

Entries to the Fabulous Five competitions have been wonderfully varied so far so once again it’s a wide brief - anything to do with water/wet weather qualifies! Photos welcome; they often say it best.

2 entries per person.

Closing time/date 10pm, Wed 18th June. Shortlist to be chosen by me, then over to random.org.

GOOD LUCK!

Many thanks to Inglesport and Rab for supporting the forum with this fabulous prize!

https://www.inglesport.com/about-us/

Inglesport has been trading as a specialist outdoor equipment supplier since 1977.

Although the business began primarily as a caving equipment supplier, we now stock a vast range of products, including Work & Rescue equipment, climbing equipment, walking & camping gear and outdoor clothing.

Our shop, located in the village of Ingleton, North Yorkshire is ideally situated for both cavers and walkers to pop in and browse through our large selection of products.

All our staff are experienced, active outdoor enthusiasts, so you get up-to-the-minute advice on the latest and best gear and equipment for your needs.

https://rab.equipment/uk/our-story

‘Our story began in 1981 in the attic of a small, terraced house in Sheffield where Rab Carrington made the first sleeping bag to bear his name. Hand-stitched and devised with his own ingenious eye, his designs were crafted with years of mountain experience, and soon there was popular demand both from friends and the growing local climbing (and caving!) community’.

T&Cs - This competition is in collaboration with Rab and Inglesport. Prize cannot be exchanged for cash. Rab & Inglesport reserve the right to change the product prize depending on stock availability. Winners must live in UK.​