Hi there! Welcome to the Imperial College Caving Club.
If you're new here, check out this video to see what we're all about:
If you're interested in caving, this is the place to try it out. Feel free to have a look around at some recent trip reports to learn about what we do, and look here for a brief summary. If you have any questions, just send us an email at ic.caving@gmail.com, or find us at the pub every Tuesday from 6pm - we'll be in 568 or the Union Bar, probably wearing a noticeably muddy helmet.
During termtime we'll be running weekend trips every two weeks or so, with sign-up emails being sent out to the mailing list. The first three trips to Wales and the Mendips won't require any training or experience at all - you can just sign up and come along, and we'll provide all the equipment you need.
We'll be running rope training sessions every Wednesday, 1-5pm in Princes Gardens during Autumn term, where you can familiarise yourself with the equipment and SRT (single rope technique). You can just turn up and stay for as long as you like; just look for some people hanging in trees next to the Ethos sports centre. These skills will be used on trips to Yorkshire and Derbyshire, where the caves are predominantly vertical.
December means winter tour, 'winter' being the key word: the NPC's central heating had broken, so we suffered for two bitterly cold days until the weather warmed up. Still we hit a grand array of caves with a grand number of new cavers, plumbing the depths of Leck Fell (Notts, Death's Head), Easegill (Lancaster, County) and Kingsdale (Jingling, Bull). There was also a day of SRT rescue training - and of course, a most excellent Christmas dinner.
This year we celebrated life with the student caving community in the Mendips, swarming upon the unsuspecting town of Priddy to wreak well-meaning havoc. Highlights included a classic Swildon's trip, aerial squeeze machine, and large quantities of baby oil.
For the first SRT weekend of the year we spent most of our time either in Kingsdale or driving to Kingsdale, becoming intimately acquainted with ropes in the depths of Bull, Simpson, and Aquamole. Small teams went to Yordas Pot and Sell Gill Holes on Sunday; the wiser members went to the cheese shop instead.