Lake District Sports - Caving Safety

Caves can be dangerous places; hypothermia, falling, flooding, and physical exhaustion are the main risks. Rescue from underground is difficult and time-consuming, and requires special skills, training, and equipment. Full-scale cave rescues often involve the efforts of dozens of rescue workers, who may themselves be put in jeopardy in effecting the rescue. This said, caving is not necessarily a high-risk sport (especially if it does not involve difficult climbs or diving). As in all physical sports, knowing one's limitations is key.

The risks are minimised by a number of techniques:

• Checking that there is no danger of flooding during the expedition. Rainwater funneled underground can flood a cave very quickly while the surface remains clear.
• Using teams of at least three cavers.
• Use of helmet-mounted lights with extra batteries. American cavers always recommend a minimum of three independent sources of light per person, but two lights is common practice amongst European cavers.
• Sturdy clothing and footwear, as well as a helmet, are necessary to reduce the impact of abrasions, caver falls, and falling objects. Synthetic fibers and woolens, which dry quickly, shed water, and are warm when wet, are vastly preferred to cotton materials, which retain water and increase the risk of hypothermia. It is also helpful to have several layers of clothing, which can be shed (and stored in the pack) or added as needed. In watery cave passages, partial or full wetsuits reduce the risk of hypothermia.
• Cave passages look different from different directions. In long or complex caves, even experienced cavers become lost. To reduce the risk of becoming lost, it is necessary to memorize the appearance of key navigational points in the cave as they are passed by the exploring party. Each member of a cave party shares responsibility for being able to remember the route out of the cave. In some caves it may be acceptable to mark a small number of key junctions with small stacks or "cairns" of rocks, or to leave a non-permanent mark such as high-visibility flagging tape tied to a projection.
• Vertical caving involves ladders or SRT (Single Rope Technique). SRT is a complex skill and requires proper training before trying it underground.

Caving Equipment