A little update, The cost for 5 weeks for an undergrad will be a maximum £350, a little more for non-students and proportionally less for those who are not staying for the whole Expedition. Also if anyone is worried about the amount of kit they may need to buy, reach out to me as we have some forgotten kit in stores, and we may have some cavers with spare kit who could lend some. In about a week I will ask all who have replied to fill out a sign-up sheet, with the dates you will be attending and pay a deposit (secures your minibus seat). Arun On 15 February 2018 at 12:17, Imperial College Caving Club <ic.caving@gmail.com> wrote:
KLIC GLOBIN - CALL FROM THE DEPTHS MIGOVEC 2018 (6th July - 11th August)
TL;DR: Not this time, Freshers.
Hi all,
Sign ups for our summer expedition to Slovenia are open! This email is to give you an idea about the expedition and this year's plans but please reply if you want to join us in Slovenia this year, and for how long you will be there.
Basic overview:
Leading up to but primarily in the week after Uni is out and before we leave(6th July) we will be preparing. This involves:
Oversuit repairing 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.
6th July - Minibus laden with fresh faced, clean cavers leaves stores and drives to Dover, boards a ferry to Calais, and then rolls through continental Europe ( Belgium - Netherlands - Luxembourg - Germany - Austria) arriving in Tolmin, Slovenia 24 hours later.
8th July- 9th August - EXPEDITIONARY CAVING
10th August - Minibus departs Tolmin and does the above journey in reverse, arriving at Beit Quad on the 11th where we will unload the minibus and depart 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 not usually allowed in the Julian alps. So on the morning of the 8th we will depart from Ravne, where the roads end and we leave the minibus, with rucksacks full of personal gear and hike up 1km of ascent to the Migovec plateu to pitch our tents.
Your first view of Migovec & Tent pitching
This will be the first of many carries, as now we need to get caving kit, equipment, food etc up onto the mountain. For the first few days this is the main activity (gets your fitness up and those prussiking legs strong!) along with setting up the Bivi(home for the next 4 weeks) and preliminary rigging of the abseil into Primadona.
Please note: You don’t need your own tent although it is advisable, and nicer to have. 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. If you are unsure just ask one of the committee/old lags. The communal tent (traditionally named the casino) can accompany around max. 4 people, but we may also have 2 person tents borrowed from the union.
The caving:
This year we return to Primadona for the third year with the primary objective of reaching the deepest known parts of the system, looking for and pushing leads there. As this will be reaching >700m underground we will likely need to set up an underground camp to facilitate a serious pushing front, spending up to 3 days underground. The entrance to Primadona features a spectacular 100m+ abseil over a cliff to reach a snow-filled slope down into the cave.
Start of the Primadona abseil, The snow slope in the entrance.
Things you will need:
Here is the rather long annual kit guide for freshers going to Slov, largely copied shamelessly from all previous expedition leaders' emails.
Again here there is no TLDR, you should read it all and make sure you are prepared.
-------------------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 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.
* (Optional) Hiking poles - If you care about the longevity of your knees, hiking poles are highly recommended.
* (Optional) Dry Bags - Big ones for your clothes/electronics on the surface (tent leaks happen, don't let your sleeping bag get wet). Small ones for taking thermals/electronics underground. Bin bags / heavy duty garden sacks are a perfectly acceptable alternative just as a rucksack liner.
* (Optional) Knee support - tubular bandages or other, particularly if
22Yrs
* (Optional) Personal First Aid kit - club has a communal kit, though 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-------------------
* Walking Socks - 'Coolmax' or similar walking socks - 2 pairs minimum, 4 pairs or more → plenty comfort. Liner socks are also nice (Rhys swears by them)
* Hiking boots - Ideally find something with a Vibram sole (or equivalent) if you want to not suffer. Break in boots!
* Thermals - check Uniqlo for their '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.
* SUN HAT - also doubles as a rain hat... ;)
* Sun glasses - it's bright up there when the sun is out, look after your eyes.
* Warm Hat - or two, cheap acrylic from the market / Primark is perfect
* Goretex jacket / waterproof. Cheapest to get a cheap (heavy) goretex or similar for warmth in evenings, and a lightweight waterproof to keep in rucksack (when carrying up / down) in case it rains.
* Waterproof trousers - If you like dry legs and boots
* (Optional, but very recommended) Duvet jacket / down jacket - nice to have a super warm layer to put on for when you're sitting around in the evening. Synthetic ones from mountain warehouse are cheap/good but take up space.
* (Optional) Synthetic 'wicking' tshirts – super nice and cheap. Makes sweating not unpleasant (and damn will you sweat on the carries up)
-------------------Caving-------------------
* Knife - Petzl Spatha or cheaper / smaller / more versatile, a simple swiss army knife.
* Head Torch - Petzl Tikka is the classic (~£20-30). Or get a cheaper/different brand. Important for walking round at night not just in cave.
* Whistle - good for signalling above and underground. (you never know).Borrow one of the club's friendship knives/lights as last resort (but definitely have these things!)
* Thin fleece hat (to wear under helmet) / (balaclava). Very useful when surveying or when waiting for others to rig.
* Fleece neck warmers - or buff (same as above, potentially also just get balaclava)
* Gloves - Thick rubberised work gloves are good, (can buy in Slov from farmers market). In general, gloves need to be more rugged and warmer (but less waterproof) than ones we wear in UK. Often people have builders gloves, gardening gloves, or fingerless wool etc.
* (Optional) Thermals - required for UG camp. Bring if you're susceptible to getting cold.
* (Optional) Cave pants - highly recommended, synthetic form fitting pants help with comfort, warmth and style.
* (Optional) Glove liners – silk/fleece for warmth or comfort.
* (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 (Rhys may try and coerce you into fitting his Spitelite onto your helmet, I advise dissuading him for now)
Note on clothes: Temperature is from ~just subzero (but feeling lower at altitude) to 30C in the valleys. Layers are brilliant. Shorts are ace - especially nylon ones. Thermal long trousers + tracksuit bottoms/ 'technical' fast dry trouser outers are typical evening attire, with thermal layers on top + fleece/wool pullover / jackets.
-------------------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 Bivvi 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, write a novella or learn to juggle while on expo?
* MP3 player - good for the carries / tent action. Probably bring a cheap/rugged MP3 player. A spare set of earbuds would be wise.
* Battery pack - we will have a solar power set up but its always good to have an independent supply to recharge your kindles/mp3s for those cloudy days where a drill battery is sucking up all the juice.
* Phone – there is some dodgy 3g (but mainly edge (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.
-------------------Things you don't need on mountain-------------------
* Cutlery/Plate (loads on mountain)
* Soap (no spare water to wash) - You're only going to smell of pine smoke, but baby/family wipes are nice for hygiene.
* Mirror (don't torture yourself)
-------------------Key points-------------------
* Any questions? Ask someone!
* Don't worry
* All your personal kit not including caving kit should fit into your rucksack.
Questions?
-How good/fit do I need to be? / I haven't caved much recently..
Expedition caving is naturally risky business. However, don’t be put off. If you have been on the SRT trips with us this year you'll be fine. You won’t be thrown down 500m into deep right from the start. You will do several shorter bounce (down and up again) trips with an experienced leader first, on re rigging or surveying trips.
-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 in in Yorkshire.
-What else is there to do besides caving?
Besides kicking it back in the bivi with a book and pine-smoked tea, 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 with a surface dig. Those who stay for the entire expedition will usually drop back down into Tolmin to swim/wash in the Soča, eat pizzas and fruits and drink Laško 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, this is expeditionary caving and 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 flights for yourself. See here for information about that. Someone will of course be waiting to greet you and push you up Migovec.
So that's all! If you are joining this year, please reply to the email within two weeks with the dates you expect to be with with us. In a few weeks I will email all those who have replied and ask you to fill in a sign up sheet and send a deposit so we can start buying ropes and metal work :). The deposit also secures minibus seats (of which there are only 9) and communal tent spaces for those that need. In the meantime if you have any questions do not hesitate to ask me, or any others who have been on expo.
I'll be waiting for you at the sunset spot with a flasks of cocktails,
Arun x Expo Leader
P.S. ;)
-- Imperial College Caving Club