Useful Things to Bring on Expo

(Written from my experience as an Expo novice last year, when I managed to forget about half of this.)

• Caving gear (obviously). Full SRT kit, the works. Probably not a good idea to attempt to borrow too much of this off the club, as the rental price would add up to about the cost of a new kit over the length of a reasonable stay.
• The caves of the plateau are a great deal colder than in the UK, so a balaclava, and possibly thermals, are a good idea. On the other hand they tend to be fairly dry so don't bother with a wetsuit/neofleece (even if you have one).
• There are no battery charging facilities on the plateau! Either use carbide, which is what most of the old lags do; or use a long-duration (pref. LED) light. The latter are much easier to use, and a modern LED can last 50 hours on a single charge; but they are quite expensive if you buy one, and difficult to make yourself unless you know quite a bit about electronics (talk to someone like Mark or Wookey). I've never used carbide, but no doubt someone else will extoll the virtues of it.
  If you use an electric lamp, you will be able to charge it at Base Camp with the Inferno Machine; but this is not entirely trustworthy, and many people prefer to bring their own chargers. If you do this, you might like to also bring some kind of multiway socket thing, and/or a Europe to UK plug adapter.
• Camping stuff. It's a good idea to have two sleeping bags, as this will save you lugging one back and forth across the plateau repeatedly, which is a Bad Idea (the plateau is bad enough walking without a heavy pack). You'll need a reasonable quality sleeping bag (3 season or so) for the bivvy, but more or less anything will do for base camp.
• The same goes for karrimats - you will need two of them; and make sure you have at least one completely knackered one, as the bivvy spaces at Steinbrücken are floored with sharp stones which will destroy mats very fast.
• The club has some tents, so don't go out and buy one especially for Expo - we will sort this out nearer the time.
• Good quality walking boots, with good ankle support for hopping about on rocks. Have a look at some of the photos of the plateau on the website and you'll see what I mean.
• Eating irons: knife, fork, spoon, plate, bowl, mug for use at base camp; duplicates, preferably something like a mess-tin you can also cook in, for top camp. (This is one of the things I forgot last year, sentencing myself to two weeks trying to drink tea out of a broken plastic jug patched with gaffer tape.)
• Bolting spanner (14mm) - necessary for using old-style screw-in anchors, which are being replaced with P-hangers in the UK but are still going strong in Austria. It's a good idea to tie it to yourself with cord. Not entirely compulsory for the Expo novice who is unlikely to be leading a rigging trip, but as we found out in the Ardèche at Easter, it's a good idea if we have a few spares!
• Obviously one person's karabiners look very much like another's, so you should mark all your gear. Most people use electrical insulation tape in various colours; ask around to see whether your chosen colour combination is already in use. (There used to be a list maintained of the gear tape colours of everyone who regularly caved with CUCC, but it seems to have lapsed.)

David Loeffler, April 2003