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Hi all,

 

Welcome to the Imperial College Caving Club mailing list! (or welcome back if you never left)

 

Here’s an overview of what we do during term time:

Weekend Trips

You need no previous caving experience or equipment to go on trips - All the equipment you might need is provided by the club.

 

For the best idea of what these entail, visit our website (union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/caving) where we upload trip reports for all our weekend trips, or read the short attachment on weekend trips.

 

Every two weeks (approximately) we’ll drive a minibus full of kit and keen cavers from Beit Quad at ~17:30 on the Friday night, returning ~23:30 on the Sunday night, aching and satisfied with two solid trips under our belts. Typical destinations include Wales, Yorkshire, the Mendips and Derbyshire, where we sleep, cook and relax together in cosy caving huts to hide from our responsibilities. We’ll make sure everyone caves as much as they like, and that the trips are challenging but not dangerous – if you don’t fancy caving on the Sunday (e.g. too tired) just let us know and you can relax on the surface instead. Incidentally the best caving locations are also prime hiking locations so you can just as well go for a walk if you prefer.

 

The first three trips won’t require you to have learnt any rope skills, however to attend later trips to Yorkshire or Derbyshire you must have come to rope training (see below) at least once and learnt the necessary skills to traverse caves on ropes. To come on any trips you’ll need to purchase the annual caving membership (£30), and the trip fee will be ~£45, however if this is your first trip with us, the £30 membership fee will be subtracted from your trip fee, so the remaining fee will only be ~£15.

 

The trips planned for this term are:

14/10-16/10: Wales 1

28/10-30/10:   Wales 2

04/11-06/11:   Mendips 1

18/11-20/11: Yorkshire 1 (SRT required)

25/11-27/11: CHECC

16/12-23/12: Winter Tour - Yorkshire (SRT Required) 

 

Rope Training

Aka Tree Training runs every Wednesday in Autumn term, 1-5pm In Princes Gardens, but you can turn up whenever you like and stay for as long as you like – Just look out for some people hanging in ropes in front of Ethos sports centre. These sessions aim to teach you the basics of SRT (Single Rope Technique), which will be essential when visiting vertical caves in Yorkshire or Derbyshire later in the year – many would say the best part of caving! You don’t need to sign up or buy membership to come to these sessions – just turn up. It typically takes 1.5-2 hours to teach everything but everyone is different – some people pick it up much faster, some take longer. Its recommended to come to a second session after you’ve learned everything to consolidate it before jumping down caves.

 

Pub

Every Tuesday from 6pm onwards we’ll meet in the union bar or 568 for a couple of drinks over which we discuss the caves we’d like to do over the weekend and tell wild tales of past trips, some of which may even be true. Look out for someone wearing a muddy caving helmet to find us. If you’re coming on the next trip, or interested in future trips this is an opportunity to get to know us before you get thrown underground with a bunch of strangers; Caving is very much a team sport so is more enjoyable if you know your teammates well. You can also ask any questions you may have and get a better idea of what the weekend will be like. You don’t need membership or to sign up, just turn up whenever you like.

 

Socials

We’ll be running a variety of casual socials throughout term, typically on off-weeks (where there’s no trip on the weekend), including (but not limited to) film nights, curry nights etc. More details to follow soon.

 

Any questions – just send us an email.

 

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As you may have noticed above, the first trip is next weekend! You do not need to have been to rope training to go on this trip – caves in Wales are all horizontal.

When: Friday 14/10/2022 17:00 to Sunday 16/10/2022 23:45

Where: South Wales – CSS Whitewalls, Llangattock, Crickhowell NP8 1LG

Membership: you need membership to join weekend trips (£30.00) (membership lasts the entire year)

Price:  Capped at £45 however if this is your first trip with us, the membership fee will be subtracted from the trip cost, making it £15 for the entire weekend. Please only buy the trip fee if your place is confirmed; we aim to confirm spots by early next week and an email with more details will be sent out then. 

Sign up: You must read and understand the statement below before signing up.

“By signing up to this trip you understand that there is an inherent risk involved with the activity, and although the club takes every precaution to bring the danger its members are put in to as low as reasonably possible, it cannot take responsibility for accident or injury during the trip; ultimately you are responsible for your own health and wellbeing over the course of the weekend.”

Please reply to this email with your full name, any dietary requirements, any medical conditions, an emergency contact number for your next of kin and anything else you think we need to know over the course of the weekend.

(Members who have access to our accounts spreadsheet, please just add your name there)

  

We will meet in stores on Tuesday 11/10/22 17:00 to pack the kit required for the weekend – this usually takes about an hour. You do not need any equipment of your own, we will provide everything you could possibly need in a cave. A thermal base layer is beneficial in the winter though, if you happen to own thermals, and please also remember a sleeping bag for the hut (though we can provide those if you don’t have one – tell us when you’re packing kit). We recommend (but its not required of course) to join us at the pub after kit packing to discuss which caves we want to do over the weekend and gain an idea of what the trip involves, and to get to know us a bit better. We’ll be in 568 or the Union Bar from around 6pm with an obvious muddy helmet. 

Again, any questions – just send us an email.

 

Yours till freshers flu mutates into the new variant,

Matti

ICCC Committee