Dear Cavers-to-be, Great to speak to so many of you at Freshers Fayre! I hope that you've all had a great time in your first week here at imperial! Here are a few things about our plans for this term and events that are taking place: * Tree Training Wed 14th Oct 1pm - FREE* It looks a little like this: TREE TRAINING WITH BALLAST<http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/caving/photo_archive/trips/2004-12-01%20-%20treetraining%20-%20jarvist/dirindex.html> We'll meet in *Beit Quad at 1pm*, go down to stores (in the far left basement corner of the union) and gather some equipment before heading off to the trees. Here are some photo directions for stores, or look for someone familiar (& probably wearing a helmet with a *LIGHT*) in the Quad: http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/caving/stores.php This will also be a chance to chat about caving in a slightly more relaxed setting, and to signup to the weekend trips - bring a 10 squid deposit to guarantee a place! If you're much later than 1pm - go straight to Princes Gardens (you'll see the ropes in the trees), its the patch of grass to the north of SouthSide and south of Ethos, the otherside of Exhibition road. If you miss this one don't worry - we'll be out most Wednesdays in October, weather permitting. *Slide Show Wed 14th Oct 7pm* Discover the true realities of caving, a description of sports and exploratory caving at home and abroad. *FREE wine and cheese to munch on during the pretty picture slide-show*. *Frechers Trip - **16-18th October* Our first trip will be to OFD in Wales, it'll will be a nice easy trip to show you what caving is all about and so that you can get to know everyone in the club. To come on the trip this weekend you must first signup to the club (include link to online subs) for £20. We understand that this is a big cost for you first years, so we have dropped the fresher trip price to £10. Places are first come, first served: please come along either on Tuesday evening to our usual bar meet, or Wednesday to the slideshow to pay your trip cost + signup for the trip. See below for more info on the kind of thing a caving trip involves, or check out our website. *Weekly Meetings Tuesday 7:30pm Union Bar* Come along for a few choice ales / coca-colas, and chat about plans for future caving... This is a great chance to meet people in the club and other freshers that have joined. We look forward to meeting you all! We'll probably be in the corner of the bar so look for someone familiar (& probably wearing a helmet with a *LIGHT*). *Events Calendar* Standard weekend trip involves: Meet Fri 6pm in stores, pack vast quantities of expensive club kit which fits, pile into back of minibus at 7pm, razz along the M6 with the Joy Division pumping, stopping at a Tesco super stores to stock up on porridge and mars bars, rock up at a fabulous hut in the middle of nowhere and get the fire & cheese-on-toast production line cranked up, sleep in bunk beds, get up on Saturday and conquer caverns measureless to man, get out & go via the pub if still open then back to the hut and cook a 3000+ calorie meal. Repeat on Sunday, then drive home in time for last tube. Dump stuff in stores & cleanup before the Tuesday social meet. Ideally you'll bring your own sleeping bag, though we have a few club ones to lend. * 16-18th October* - Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, WSG hut, South Wales (Confirmed) *30th Oct - 1st Nov* - Aggy, Chelsea Hotel. Halloween with real bats (Confirmed Minibus, Hut TBC) *13-15th Nov* - Yorks, Northern Pennine Club (Confirmed) *27-29th Nov* - Derbyshire, Orpheus (Confirmed) Just a to clear up any confusion some people have, we stay in really quite plush dedicated caving huts with showers, flush toilets & bunk beds with mattresses, well stocked kitchens and fridges, common rooms with entertaining locals and log fires. We have a monumental greasy fry up / porridge fest to acquire the calories at breakfast, pause for a chomp on pita-bread sandwiches poised above crashing underground torrents, and round off the evening eating an enormous meal before slumping in front of the fire and playing dubious health-and-safety games with the other student cavinggroups. * WE DO NOT CAMP, OR STAY IN 'CAMPING BARNS', OR CAMP UNDERGROUND*! ***[Unless you really want to go camping & cave exploring in Daren]* *Website *There's an absolute shed load of information on our website, so hit: http://union.ic.ac.uk/caving To see the pretty pictures & read the wicked stories. If you're interested in the exploration side of caving, you might want to jump straight in at our Slovenia exploits: http://www.union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/caving/slovenia/intro/slov_intro.php I look forward to seeing you all at our events, Alex (Club President) -- Imperial College Caving Club http://union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/caving ic.caving [AT] gmail.com