Oxford University Cave Club

Club Caving Meetings, Hilary term 2013

Accommodation:
BEC: Bristol Exploration Club; Blackwalls: Tim's luxury chalet, Pwll Du; BPF: Bull Pot Farm;
Chez Gregson: The Gregson's cottage in Bradwell; MCG: Mendip Caving Group; NPC: Northern Pennine Club;
Orpheus: Orpheus Caving Club; SMCC: Shepton Mallet Caving Club; SWCC:  South Wales Caving Club;
TSG: Technical Speleo Group; UBSS: University of Bristol Speleological Society;  Wessex: Wessex Caving Club;
WSG: Westminster Speleo Group; YSS: Yorkshire Subterranean Society.

Cost covers: loan of equipment, transport, accommodation, food on site; but not food in transit or what you spend in the pub! See here for more information.

Your first caving trip? Read this important information and complete this online OUCC Pre-Trip information form

Going to the Dales? Going to Spain? Don't know the ropes ? - try SRT Training.

PLEASE help and volunteer to organise a weekend. If no-one organises the weekends they won't happen.
There is a detailed crib sheet on the website telling you exactly how to organise a weekend. TAKE A LOOK.

Other meets may be organised - please check at Wednesday meetings or via the OUCC mailing lists.

As the Meets Secretary of the Cave Club I have once again spared no effort to come up with an exciting list of caving trips for Hilary Term. If you've already been to some of the previous trips, you should know the game. If you haven't had a chance to try caving in Michaelmas Term, please do try and come to the first trip of the term in the Mendips, where we can give novices a gentle introduction to the subterranean worlds.

2nd-3rd February (3rd week) "Pretties of the Mendips Weekend"
Caves: St. Cuthberts, White Pit, Swildons, Thrupe Lane Swallet,G.B.
Some of the prettiest caves in the UK and particularly on the Mendips are only accessible to "experienced cavers" and require a leader. St. Cuthberts and White Pit are prime examples, and we've got leaders for one on Saturday and the other on Sunday. And if you've already been caving with us for at least a weekend or two, then you also count as an "experienced caver". However, there are many other good caves in the area and if you want to, we are happy to take you on a classic novice trip to Swildon's Hole, do a round trip in Longwood-August, or maybe even practise SRT in Thrupe Lane Swallet. We'll be staying at the hut of the Wessex Cave Club which also has a nice SRT training tower attached to it. So we really have a wide range of options and can adjust the plans depending on what you want!

9th-10th February (4th week) "Yorkshire SRT Jolly"
Caves: Gaping Gill, maybe Washfold, Little Hull, Penyghent and Kingsdale caves
This weekend should really get you going at the Single Rope Technique SRT, as we'll visit plenty of vertical caves. So we strongly recommend that you have had a go at one of our SRT training sessions if you want to come along to this trip. You probably won't need any fancy expert skill, though, as for example the trip to Gaping Gill is an absolute classic introduction to SRT. And the Main Chamber of Gaping Gill is really spectacular to visit! We'll probably also go to some other caves further east, depending on the weather and water levels. We'll be staying at the BPC hut Brackenbottom, and I've not yet been to all that many caves around the hut myself, but I'm sure there'll be some good ones!

23rd-24th February (6th week) "OUCC-OUMC Crew Date in Wales"
Caves: OFD, maybe Gower Peninsula Crags: Gower Peninsula
As a specialty trip for this term we've arranged a crew date with the mountaineers from OUMC. There is quite an overlap between caving and climbing anyway, so why not try both in one weekend? The plan is to stay at the hut of the South Wales Caving Club in Penwyllt. On the Saturday we'll go for some gentle or harder trips in the Ogof Ffynnon Ddu system, which some of you may already know parts of, and on Sunday we'll try climbing on some crags along the coast of Gower Peninsula. Depending on the weather we might change the plans, of course, and there are also caves on the Gower and climbing routes in a quarry just outside the hut. I don't know much about the climbing part and we'll have to see what OUMC will have on offer, but we should make sure they'll all get an unforgettable time underground and an awesome weekend with the cavers!

2nd-3rd March (7th week) "Advanced Derbyshire SRT Trip"
Caves: Hillocks and Knotlow, Lathkill Dale, Peak Cavern, JH and TITAN!
The last trip of the term will take us to Derbyshire, sporting some of the most vertical caves in the UK. In particular you can find Titan, the deepest pitch of the UK, in Derbyshire which is a whopping 140m straight down. And on top of these 140m of sheer blank space there is another small entrance pitch of "only" about 45m. This is a serious trip and we'll only take you there if you have had at least one SRT trip before. However, there are plenty of other caves in the area that should be fine for starting with this whole rope business. It's worth noting that various caves in the area were found during mining operations in the 18th and 19th centuries, so there is a variety of mixed caves and mines with a few old miner artifacts from ages ago as well as beautifully shaped natural cave passages. We'll stay at the Orpheus hut, which is a bit off the beaten track, but very close to a variety of interesting, less frequently visited caves.

The meet fees have now been standardised to £40 per weekend, regardless of where we are going. This includes transport, accommodation, food, caving gear and all the other things. If you have been caving for a while now, your "free trial period" might also be over and you might have to become a member of OUCC, as Thomas (Ka Leung) announced in his previous mail.

And as usual details of the trips will be advertised closer in time. As a reminder: They will mostly be advertised on the oucc-all mailing list. So if you want to stay up to date, please sign up following the instructions on the website: http://www.oucc.org.uk/current/mailists.htm