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April 2024

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Slovenia Expedition 2024!
by Imperial College Caving Club 23 May '24

23 May '24

******************* This email originates from outside Imperial. Do not click on links and attachments unless you recognise the sender. If you trust the sender, add them to your safe senders list https://spam.ic.ac.uk/SpamConsole/Senders.aspx to disable email stamping for this address. ******************* *MIGOVEC **2024* *(Sun 30th June - Sun 4th August)* *50th+30th anniversary expo*! JSPDT 1974, ICCC 1994, You 2024! Hello all, The time has finally come, sign ups for our summer expedition to Slovenia are now open! This email is to give you an idea about the expedition and this year's plans! *Please reply to this email if you want to attend.* *Basic overview:* Leading up to the end of summer term and primarily the week before leaving we shall be preparing for expo. This involves: - Oversuit repair and equipment fettling - Buying very large quantities of food - Packing the food, equipment and first aid into crates for stacking in the minibus - Packing personal kit - Dreaming of our glorious return to the mountain *Sun 30th June* - Minibus laden with fresh faced, clean cavers leaves stores and drives to Dover, boards a ferry to Calais, and then through continental Europe (Belgium - Netherlands - Luxembourg - Germany - Austria) arriving in Tolmin, Slovenia 24 hours later. *Mon 1st July- Fri 2nd August -* EXPEDITIONARY CAVING (and all related activities) *Sat 3rd August -* Minibus departs Tolmin and does the above journey in reverse, arriving at Beit Quad on the 4th where we will unload the minibus, venture home and have a good wash. *Camping: * The expedition has special permission to camp on Migovec (the mountain we cave under). This is significant as camping is usually forbidden in Triglav National Park. So on the morning of 1st July we will depart from Ravne, a tiny mountain hamlet where the roads end, leaving the minibus behind with rucksacks on our backs full of personal gear and hike up ~1km of ascent to the Migovec plateau to pitch our tents. This will be the first of multiple carries, as then we will carry caving kit, expo equipment, tasty food etc. up onto the mountain. For the first few days this is the main activity for everyone (which gets your fitness levels ready for alpine caving...) along with setting up the Bivi (our homely hole in the ground for cooking and lounging) as well as rigging the cliff abseil into Primadona. *Please note:** You don’t need your own tent.* If you are going to bring your own tent, make sure it’s expedition worthy i.e. storm proof – don’t skimp on a cheap tent unless you like sleeping in puddles. If you are unsure just ask one of the committee/old lags. The communal tents can accommodate several people. Please share a tent if you can, the plateau can get pretty crowded if everyone has their own and we don't want to attract too many wayward hikers. *The caving:* Notably, the caving here is much tougher than in the UK – deeper bounces, tricky SRT and much colder air temperatures make trips truly epic, and rest days are common to rejuvenate. Gaining experience underground on weekend trips is the best way to build confidence, and building up your fitness in the months before will definitely help; having said that, after a couple trips down Mig you will probably have done more caving than an entire year’s worth of weekends, and carries up the mountain will build your fitness more than any normal human can motivate themselves to do in the gym, so don’t worry too much. If you’re concerned just send us an email, and if we’re concerned we’ll get in touch. There are lots of known areas of unexplored cave referred to as "leads" which we "push" in order to discover, map and stomp around in completely pristine passage, never before seen by humans. These leads are dotted around the system, with others in caves around the plateau that may eventually join the system as well, all of (well, most of) which have the potential to continue for miles and miles... Pushing trips are organised on an informal basis by chatting to people in the bivi the day and night beforehand, often with fervour and eagerness as teams return from the depths telling of their most recent discoveries. This year we will also be setting up an underground camp in the same location as in 2022, Christmas Camp, to facilitate longer and deeper pushing trips, sleeping in perfect darkness, hundreds of meters underground. *Things you will need:* *------------------- Equipment -------------------* * Frame Rucksack - 60L with good anatomical back! * Rollmat - (a few spare in stores) or lightweight inflatable mattress * Sleeping bag (3 seasons+) - a cheap, big, synthetic one is absolutely fine and probably most comfy on the uneven ground * Tent - make sure you've got something arranged (bring your own/share/use club tents) * Decent sized durable water bottle - for drinking from on carries up and down the mountain * Baby wipes - we collect rainwater/melt snow to drink, water is scarce and there is non spare to wash, but baby wipes are very nice to keep things clean * Travel towel - a cheap microfibre towel for swimming in the Soča or drying off after a rainstorm, but there are no showers on the mountain! * (Optional) Sleeping bag liner - some extra warmth and some extra cleanliness between your sweaty self and your trusty sleeping bag * (Optional) Hiking poles - if you care about the longevity of your knees, or have already shed your milk knees, then highly recommended - knee compression sleeves are often used by those deepest into the knee culture * (Optional) Dry Bags - big ones for your clothes/electronics on the surface (tent leaks happen, only fools let their sleeping bag get wet) and small ones for taking thermals/electronics underground. Bin bags / heavy duty garden rubble sacks are a perfectly acceptable alternative as a rucksack liner, but may succumb to a flooded tent. A puffy jacket in a dry bag also makes for a great pillow! * (Optional) Personal First Aid kit - the club has communal first and second aid, but the ideal is to get a crush-proof beaker and assemble your own from spare bits 'n' bobs (include spare contact lenses, personal medication etc.) *------------------- Clothes -------------------* *NO COTTON!* Cotton absorbs water and takes forever to dry, making feet sweaty and blister prone, rainstorms deeply unpleasant and cavers cold and hypothermic. Cotton club t-shirts are of course exempt and at the end of the day you can bring whatever you want, but it really is worth checking the label on thermals, socks and other clothing just to double check. In brief you should be ready for: * Mega sweaty alpine hiking * Scorching Tolmin shopping trips 30C+ * More pleasant but higher UV plateau weather (10-25C) * Cold sometimes very windy nights on the mountain (might feel like <0C) * Swimming in the Soča * Getting caught in a rainstorm now and then * Waiting around in caves at 1-2C (very cold!!) A variety of layers is therefore key! Specifically: * Walking Socks - Lightweight ones are good for carries, warm ones are nice for cold bivi days (cheap ones work fine e.g. Mountain Warehouse/Decathlon, Bridgedales are highly recommended if you want to spend a bit more and they last for many years) You'll want 2 pairs minimum (a sweaty carries pair and a plateau pair) more pairs will make you like life more (I personally take 3 pairs and occasionally wash them at Ravne). Liner socks are also nice and help prevent blisters (Isocool from Mountain Warehouse are what the cool kids wear) * Hiking boots - Ideally find something with a Vibram sole (or equivalent) if you want to not suffer. Break them in before expo!! * Hiking sandals / backup trainers - for walking around Tolmin in the baking heat, and the camp when your boots are soaked from sweat or rain or both. Many opt for cheap hiking sandals from Decathlon but some toe protection prevents painful stubbed toes. Flip flops tend to fall off with sweaty feet and the uneven terrain of the mountain. * Thermals - check Uniqlo for their ultrawarm 'heatmax' range - read materials to check for 'NO COTTON'! 'expensive'/nice versions are the Helly Hansen LIFA stripes range (~£20). Merino wool ('woolpower' or similar) is probably over-doing it but nice, particularly for dossing on the surface. Recommend having a pair for caving and a pair for on the surface! * Sun hat - fashion! ...and sun protection (UV is much stronger at 2km altitude) * Sun glasses - it's bright up there when the sun is out, look after your eyes * Warm Hat - or two, cheap acrylic is effective/ Rab(-agucci) is fashion * Waterproof jacket - alpkit have some really nice ones but decathlon etc also work fine (waterproof ponchos are also great) * Waterproof trousers - you'll regret not having these! Wet legs and boots are very sad * Hiking trousers / shorts - zip of trouser/shorts work well, also running legging type things are good, ideal to have things that dry quickly. Good to have at least one backup pair * Sports underwear - no cotton!!! Anything designed for sports should be fine, Decathlon has a good variety * (Optional but really highly very recommended) Duvet jacket / down jacket / something really warm - nice to have a super warm layer to put on for when you're sitting around in the evening but some people get away with lots of thin fleece layers and thermals. Cheap ones from mountain warehouse are cheap/good but take up space, Decathlon ones are a little more pricy but pack down better * (Optional but also very recommended) Synthetic 'wicking' tshirts – super cheap and super nice. Makes sweating not unpleasant (and damn will you sweat on the carries up). Decathlon's cheapest hiking tshirts are perfect * (Optional) Gaiters - most people don't bring these, they can be useful for keeping boots dry but are very handy if you plan on stomping through dwarf pine for hours on end * (Optional) Swimming clothes - but many just jump in the river in their hiking clothes *------------------- Caving -------------------* * Knife - Petzl Spatha or cheaper / smaller / more versatile, a simple Swiss army knife will do * Whistle - good for signalling above and underground. I have one like this <https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifesystems-Unisexs-Hurricane-Whistle-Orange/dp/B0…>which has a lanyard that I attach my knife to. Borrow one of the club's superfriends as last resort (but this could save a life, definitely have one!) * Backup head torch - Petzl Tikka is the classic but they've recently got less good, Black Diamond also does some good ones. Or get a cheaper/different brand. Important for your tent and walking around at night, not just in cave * Thin fleece hat / balaclava (to wear under helmet) - very nice when surveying or waiting for others to bolt an epic traverse * Fleece neck warmers / buff - same as above, can get cheap ones from MW/Decathlon/Millets but do have something * Gloves - thick rubberised builders / gardening gloves are good (can buy in Slov from farmers market - these are the best!!). In general, gloves need to be more rugged and warmer (but less waterproof) than ones we wear in UK * Warm layers - absolutely essential. I personally have extra layers for caving because it gets well cold (eg. one set of cave thermals, extra top + possibly a cheap fleece depending on how cold a human you are) * (Optional) Cave pants - highly recommended, synthetic form fitting pants help with comfort, warmth and style. Some people in the club wear these: womens fit <https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CG2T24F/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o…> , mens fit <https://www.amazon.co.uk/Under-Armour-Original-Underwear-Brilliant/dp/B014V…> * (Optional) Glove liners – silk/fleece for warmth or comfort. Decadence?! * (Optional) Your own helmet + super-duper expo light - ideal time to get your own if you're planning on caving a lot in the future. Talk to older members of the club for advice here Of course all normal weekend caving kit can be borrowed from the club. *------------------- Entertainment -------------------* * Books/Kindle - find books with really small text / get an e-Reader. You will have doss days when it's raining / you're recovering from caving and it's nice to lie in tent, doze, pop to Bivi for more cheese + tea, & otherwise spend your day 'getting the chapters in' * A hobby - why not learn to sew a reusable tea-bag, devise a better mousetrap, learn to play guitar/ukulele/harmonica/panpipes, write a novella or learn to juggle while on expo? Ellie and Chris will almost certainly teach you to crochet if you ask them to * MP3 player + earphones - good for carries / tent action. A cheap / rugged MP3 player helps minimise risk to your phone + bring some earphones you don't mind getting sweaty or broken. A spare set of earphones is wise * Battery pack - we have a solar power set up but its always good to have an independent supply to recharge your phones/kindles/mp3s for those cloudy days where a drill battery is sucking up all the juice * Phone – there is some dodgy 4G (but mainly even more dodgy 2G) signal floating around on the mountain so it can be worth bringing a phone to check exam results/tell parents you're not dead etc. There is better signal on the hike up, so it's always possible to get exam results or important life updates etc. ------------------- *Periods on the mountain *------------------- * Recommend tampons / moon cup type things if you can use them (moon cup is good because no waste to carry down the mountain but washing is more effort than usual and changing underground can get complicated. Tampons maybe wise for long caving trips.) * Steal a resealable bag from the bivi and carry rubbish down to Ravne * There will be emergency tampons in all first aid kits if periods should arise unexpectedly underground * Celia wrote a good thing about periods on the mountain on the club wiki <https://union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/caving/wiki/expedition-information-for-novices?f…> (under "periods on the mountain") *------------------- Things you don't to bring -------------------* * Cutlery / plates / other cooking stuff / food * Laptop or anything else that eats all our limited solar power * Suncream, the club has loads *------------------- Key points -------------------* * Any questions? Ask a group chat or any of the old lags! * All your personal kit (not including caving kit) should fit into one rucksack * Don't worry! Decades of students (exactly three decades this year, in fact!) have trodden this path already, so almost all questions have been asked before! *Questions?* *How good / fit do I need to be? / I haven't caved much recently... ?* Expedition caving is naturally more challenging than normal weekend caving; however, don’t be put off. If you have been on several SRT trips with us this year you'll be fine. You won’t be thrown down 700m into the deep right from the start. You will do several shorter bounce (down and up again) trips with an experienced leader first, on re-rigging/surveying/kit drops to get yourself acclimatised. *What is caving like in Slovenia... ?* We are caving in the Julian Alps - so alpine caving! This means largely more vertical and mostly more spacious than some caves you will have been to in Yorkshire. Also, much colder, and much looser. *What else is there to do besides caving... ? * Besides kicking it back in the bivi with a book and hot vitaminski, as we are camped in the stunning Julian Alps and it would be a shame if you were not to explore the mountains further than the plateau. Many people will do day hikes or longer during the expedition. Also you could explore the old system, visit a few of the ice caves, be roped into assisting Tanguy with cave science or help Ben with some surface bashing. Those who stay for the entire expedition will usually drop back down into Tolmin to swim/wash in the Soča, eat many many pizzas and fresh fruits and drink Laško and Radler in the sun for a few days of rest in the middle. *I can't go for the whole time, how do I... ? * We realise that 5 weeks is a serious commitment, but going for less than two weeks will probably leave you with a shallow experience after having carried all your kit up to the top and then back down again. This is expeditionary caving not a weekend trip, and therefore requires a lot of time spent in preparation and planning. If you are joining us late, or leaving early then you will need to organise transport for yourself. See here <https://union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/caving/wiki/expedition-information-for-novices> for information about that, or just ask - many humans have travelled via interesting routes and ultimately everything works out fine (and what’s the worst that can happen? You get stuck in gorgeous Slovenia for a few days...) Lake Bled, Lake Bohinj and the capital Ljubljana are just some of the stunning tourist destinations that can easily be linked to a journey to or from Tolmin. Don't worry if you're not yet sure of your plans. Things change and it's very easy to change plans later if life things get in the way. If you're at all interested in coming, even if you're not yet sure whether you'll be able to come, then reply to this email and the sign up sheet has options for maybe. There are however only a limited number of seats on the minibus and so these are secured by paying the deposit - if not going on the minibus would be too expensive for you, but you can't yet commit to paying the deposit, then let us know and we'll figure something out. *Wow, that's a long list of expensive looking kit items... ?* If you need to buy things in the lists above (highly likely) and are worried about the prices adding up then let someone know or message a group chat - we can point you towards surprisingly cheap options and often people have spares they are happy to donate. We may be able to help out financially also, particularly if this is your first ever expedition - as always, just let us know! *What travel document things might I need... ?* Obviously you'll need a passport since this is outside of the UK. Slovenia is in the EU and while UK passport holders can visit for less than 90 days without any additional paperwork, if you do need a visa to enter the EU then feel free to ask us for advice, and get one as early as possible since these can take a while to sort out. If you can get one then grab yourself a GHIC/EHIC and I'll send round a followup email on insurance closer to the time. *How much will it cost... ? * This depends on how long you’re there for and how much we end up spending but should be £300-400 all inclusive for the full 5 weeks (yes you read that correctly, significantly less than rent in London!) So that's all! *if you plan to come, please reply to the email and I’ll then send you a link to a sign up sheet to fill out. *Usually space is made for anyone that wants to come, there’s no first-come-first-served system, however there is a minimum amount of caving experience you need to have acquired to keep yourself safe given all the SRT involved. Again, just ask if you have questions, and we’ll get in touch if we have concerns. I shall send an email at some point in the future asking for deposits which can secure minibus space for the way there / way back. In the meantime if you have any questions feel free to ask me, or any others who have been on expo before. Yours 'til our true lives <https://imperialcaving.com/app/slov>, Ben -- Imperial College Caving Club <https://imperialcaving.com/>

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