Expo 2008/What do I need for Expo?
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This is mainly copied from the survex site. Feel free to add, delete, update and comment.
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Clothes
Expo can be hot, cold, wet or dry, or (more usually) all of these in rapid succession and combination!
Essentials
- Sunshades, sun cream, sunhat
- Woolly hat, gloves.
- Raincoat, jumpers, shirts, shorts, trousers - remember that denim isn't good when wet.
- Underwear.
- Socks - lots of them!
- Boots - waterproof walking boots are better than non-waterproof ones. Make sure you get ones with good ankle support, for boulder-hopping.
- Trainers or other such footwear for wearing on the journey, into Bad Aussee or when you've had enough of clumping round in boots.
Extras
- Waterproof over-trousers - highly recommended.
- Gaiters - keeps the snow and/or water out of your socks.
- Swimming trunks for swimming in the river at base camp, thus removing the need for showers.Edvin
Camping equipment
Essentials
- Sleeping bag - make sure it's warm, 3 season at least; it's not uncommon for there to be a few inches of snow on the plateau.
- Something to sleep on at top camp. Last year most people either had a air bed or a camp bed (you can get reasonably light and cheap ones from argos).
- Bivvy bag
- Knife, fork, spoon, mug.
- Plate, bowl and/or mess tin - choose the mess tin(s): you can use them both to cook in and eat out of - less washing up! (Alternatively, get both, and leave the mess tins at the bivvy.)
- Head torch
- Batteries and/or charger for above
- Cigarette lighter
Extras
- Second (rather lower-spec) sleeping bag, for using at base camp. This means you don't have to carry your sleeping bag across the plateau every time.
- Second karrimat, for the same reason.
- Stove for top camp - ideally powered by petrol or paraffin.
- Penknife
- Base camp tent - more or less any waterproof one will do. (The club does have some, but not that many, and you are likely to end up sharing with lots of other smelly cavers!)
Caving equipment
Essentials
- Oversuit, undersuit, wetsocks, kneepads, wellies, helmet, gloves.
- Shreddies - several pairs?
- Light - preferably long-duration LED or carbide, or you'll be going down the hill for recharging after every trip. If you use LED's, make sure you have enough batteries for 30-40 hours caving between recharging stops; and don't forget to bring your charger! (A Continental plug adapter for it might also be a good idea.) See Custom light construction for Nial's design.
- There is facility for lamp charging at top camp, realistically however your charger must be able to accept 12VDC from a car cigarette lighter socket. See ‘Bivi fettling’ in the wiki.
- Backup light - probably a small electric (Princeton Tec LED ones are good, but expensive).
- SRT kit. Absolutely imperative that you gear tape up the bits.
- Emergency whistle.
- 13mm spanner (open ended) for bolting. Good idea to attach it to yourself in some suitably clever manner.
- A common way of attaching a bolting spanner is to use a snoopy loop (a big rubber band cut from an old car inner tube) around your upper arm with the spanner tied to it by a length of tat. When not in use the tat can be wound round the spanner and the whole lot secured beneath the snoopy loop. Personally I find this to be a pain, as the spanner has a tendency to snag on things and come free of the snoopy at inopportune moments. Duncan Collis 09:46, 24 May 2008 (BST)
- I prefer a half-length spanner attached to my wrist with a short loop of elastic. It lives inside the neoprene cuff of my oversuit when not in use. As well as being more compact, a shortened spanner makes it less likely that you will inadvertently over-tighten bolts. When de-rigging bolts which have been over-tightened, I put the spanner on the bolt, place my short cowstail krab over the handle of the spanner and give a quick bounce to loosen the bolt. Duncan Collis 09:46, 24 May 2008 (BST)
- Attaching a spanner to my arm annoys the hell out of me, I find it keeps slipping out of place and getting in the way. My current preferred method is attaching a spanner to a krab with a length of cord and then using the krab to attach the spanner to my harness when not using it, and to my chest tape when I am. Ollie s
- Dangly bag, large enough for spare batteries, Flapjack, fudge, chocolate bars, tube of condensed milk, etc., Water bottle, Survival bag (this could live in a pocket)
Extras
- Thermal vest and leggings - could be essential. The caves are cold and there will be periods of waiting around and slow survey work.
- Balaclava - see above.
- Emergency knife (in case you are involved in a mid-rope rescue - but make sure you know what you're doing before you start slashing around!)
- Pulley. Indispensable if you ever have to haul people, and a great help even for tackle sacks. The Petzl *Fixe P05 is adequate and cheap, but needs to be used with an oval krab.
Excessive
- Ice gear - ice axe, crampons, ice boots, ice screws, etc - essential if you're tackling the icy areas of Eishöhle.
- Skyhooks - pair of, for clawing your way across blank walls when rigging, or just to help hold yourself in position when bolting - it saves a lot of energy, even when you're in a fairly comfortable bolting position anyway.
- Camera, packaged in a waterproof, highly visible, indestructible, tiny, zero-mass box...
- Bolting kit
Miscellaneous
Essentials
- Rucksack or pack frame.
- Compass.
- Water bottle.
- Toiletries - toothbrush, toothpaste, etc.
- Flannel & towel.
- Glasses/contact lenses & spares if you need them.
- Plastic bags - the secret to dry clothes is bags in bags, with spare bags to hand...
- Reserve supply of gear tape, unless you need to relabel anything.
- Money - There are Visa cash dispensers in Bad Aussee.
- Passport.
- EHIC (European health insurance card)
- Insurance (Austrian Alpine club?)
- Food for the journey out.
- PVC (TSA/Meander) oversuit owners: appropriate patching kit.
Extras
- Walking pole(s) for walking across the plateau. Useful for balance when stepping across big holes. Most people seem to just use one as two get in the way on the scrambly bits.
- Camera
- Cash for the journey (in Euros).
- Book to read at base camp when it rains.
Excessive
- GPS receiver.
- Handheld computer (e.g. Psion) - can be loaded with the Expo website for on-site information...
- Spare stuff - suppose you break (eek!) your jammer? There is a climbing shop in the next town.
From Frank's Expo Training Weekend
On 3rd-4th May Frank and Martin went to an expedition training weekend in Wales run by Joel Corrigan (who does the Dachstein expeditions). Frank wrote a document with a list of useful kit that was suggested during the weekend. I've pasted it below as Frank doesn't currently have wiki access. Feel free to comment, as it's interesting to see how the Dachstein people kit themselves out slightly differently from us. Edvin
Report on Expedition Training Weekend 3rd -4th May 08 South Wales Climbing Centre and OFD Organised on by Joel Corrigan and others to give university clubs some advice about expeditions Attendees; Frank Tully; Martin Jahnke
Writing this report primarily because lots of useful stuff was discussed.
First aid
Over the weekend I attended a 2-3 hour seminar on first aid which was useful, it always is. Covered all the basics. Much the same as Martins talk which he has done on expo a few times. Something I found useful is a list of stuff that would be useful to carry in a first aid kit.
Personal first aid kit could include:
- Note If your not going deep you may require less, similarly within a team you do not need loads of duplicated kit. Although do not put it all into one bag because sods law says someone will drop the lot down a pitch. Most of the stuff fits into a small BDH, 8”x3”
- Triangular bandage, Useful for loads of stuff,
- PVC Electrical tape, Useful for everything, Don’t bother carrying surgical tape.
- Tube of Eyewash, Washing stuff out of wounds or eyes.
- Steri-Strips, Cheap from Boots useful for many small wounds
- Tampons, very absorbent
- Non-stick dressing, Less useful but if you have room it doesn’t weigh much.
- Crepe bandages Again less useful but doesn’t weigh much
- Small personal lightweight bivibag, Put over head and breathe through hole.
- Candles/nightlights, if used with bivibag will keep you warm, especially as we no longer use carbide. *Note they produce a small amount of carbon monoxide so you must not use them without breathing through a hole in your bivibag.
- Waterproof matches for candle.
- Paracetamol, a very effective pain killer that few are allergic to. Write down maximum dose on paper if you cannot remember it.
- Sachet of Imodium, shits on a pitch is unpleasant.
- Antacid or Ranatadine, weights nothing could make things much more pleasant.
- Emergency food, marzipan or similar, something you don’t like is better because then you wont eat it unless it’s an emergency.
- Bit of karimat in personal bag or wrapped around first aid kit, to sit on in emergency
- Spare batteries for light
- Spare top, put on when waiting
- Balaclava
- Water
Stuff to be shared between pushing team
- KISS shelter, sort of like a super light nylon tent where you are the poles, Makes long waits less unpleasant, weights next to nothing
- Brew kit, ultra light re-sealable gas type using smallest propane mix cylinders.
Stuff for top camp which could be useful
- Sudocrem, arse cream for babies, great fro grot rot or harness pressure sores. Was told story about someone who repeatedly used the alcohol hand cleansing gel on harness pressure sore… very unpleasant don’t do it.
Clothing for Austria
- Their caves are similar in temperature to ours but the clothing they use is slightly different. Generally they wear more thinner layers and a ‘Gimp top’.
- Oversuit, Possibly carried in bag when moving fast in the dry. Cordura or PVC
PVC is warmer but modern suits wear out quick, Cordura is similarly warm when new and is harder wearing.
- Thermal top
- Spare thermal top
- Thermal salopettes, A favourite seems to be using ‘Imax’ fishing thermals (cheap), instead of a fury suit
- Biking lycra pants.
- Balaclava
- Snood type thing round neck
- Wetsocks and thin socks as liners
- Spare light (Tika or similar) Keep in first aid kit or round neck for when helmet goes down pitch etc.
- Spare batteries. It is not uncommon for something to go wrong when charging.
- Look at the Blizzard vest, Expensive but can really keep you warm in an emergency,
- Water of dilute juice, there may not be any water underground in Austria.
- Gimp top
Gimp top, One of those super cheap nylon rain coats prized by church walking groups on trips to the lake district. Charity shops are the best place to find them, envy and adoration by other cavers for the most unplesant colours.
- Don't spend much money as caving will destroy them in no time.
The gimp top was first used as a way of staying warm at the top of pitches however people soon started taking off their oversuit and using the gimp top when moving fast and ascending on dry pitches.
This has been recomended by people who cave extensivly in the hill 20 miles west of our hill. frank
