* MIGOVEC 2019 * *(5th 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 we will be preparing. This involves: - Oversuit repairing and equipment fettling - Buying very large quantities of food (cheese and chocolate) - Packing the food, equipment and first aid into crates for stacking in the minibus. - Packing personal kit. *5th July* - Minibus laden with fresh faced, clean cavers leaves stores and drives to Dover, boards a ferry to Calais, and then rolls on through continental Europe ( Belgium - Netherlands - Luxembourg - Germany - Austria) arriving in Tolmin, Slovenia 24 hours later. *7th 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, 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 7th 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. 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. 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. *The caving:* This year we return to Primadona branch of the 40+km Migovec system for the fourth 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 set up an underground camp to facilitate a serious pushing front, spending up to 3 days underground. The entrance to Primadona features a spectacular 130m abseil over a cliff to reach a snow-filled slope down into the cave. [image: DSC09586.JPG] The snow slope in the entrance and the 2018 camp. *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 TL;DR, 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, or are aged 23+ hiking poles are highly recommended. * (Optional) Dry Bags - Big ones for your clothes/electronics on the surface (tent leaks happen, only idiots let their 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) Personal First Aid kit - club has 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 (personally I take as many as I can). Liner socks are also nice and help protect your boots (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 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). * (Very Optional) A sturdy pair of jeans. Comfortable and rugged for chillaxing/surface exploring. Many in the club will sternly heed against them, but personally I believe they're wrong. Just don't get them wet. *-------------------Caving-------------------* * Knife - Petzl Spatha or cheaper / smaller / more versatile, a simple swiss army knife, just make sure it locks. * 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 superfriends 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 bolt an epic traverse. * 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. * Cave 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. Of course all caving kit can be borrowed from the club. Note on clothes: Temperature is from ~just subzero (but feeling lower at altitude, with windchill) to 30C+ in the valleys and Tolmin. 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 /down jackets. Also **Baby wipes - as we collect rainwater/melt snow to drink, water is scarce and there is non spare to wash. you're only going to smell of dwarf pine smoke anyway. But baby wipes are very nice to keep things clean. *-------------------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? * MP3 player - good for the carries / tent action. Probably bring a cheap/rugged MP3 player. A spare set of earphones 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 phones/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) * 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 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 in in Yorkshire. Also, colder. *-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 fresh 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 <https://union.ic.ac.uk/rcc/caving/wiki/expedition-information-for-novices> for information about that, or ask a Dubz bruv on how to get there as cheap as possible. Someone will of course be waiting to greet you in Tolmin and push you up Migovec. So that's all! If you are joining this year, please reply to the email with the dates you expect to be with with us. In a few weeks we 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. [image: 40539697_10156713688143057_8194369259384602624_o.jpg] We'll be waiting for you at the sunset spot with cocktails and wine, Arun x -- Imperial College Caving Club <http://union.ic.ac.uk/caving>