Cavechat.org

So, how do you pack for your time underground? Ever see a chart for how much food and water a person needs per day, or half day?

No, I'm not packing for any 48 hour trips just yet, but am curious.

Even on six hour trips, I always pack at least four bottles of water, two Snickers bars, and two granola bars. Along with two spare lights and plenty of spare batteries. But water is heavy and I always think about how I could move faster without all that stuff. Yet I always bring everything... guess I'd rather be safe than sorry.

A couple of things I've learned so far-

A.) Eneloops are awesome
2.) Snickers bars are not waterproof

I think this has been a topic before, but oh well!
32oz nalgene full of water
reese's peices
cheese crakers
some kind of hard candy like lemon drops
small first aid kit
duct tape
40' of webbing
extra ploypro shirt
big trash bag
3 little tea light candles
petlz flashlight
batteries
all my vertical gear if doing a pit.
have two light sorces on my helmet

I can do a 6-8 hour trip with all this.
If I know its going to be a long cold wet trip I bring more of the same food plus some kind of energy drink. Seems to give you that extra ummph to get out of the cave.

I too would be interested in Calories burned while caving. I know it would depend on what cave and if it was wet or dry. How many burned on like a 6 hour rigoruos trip.

I am often accused of over packing...with reason. For "standard" horizontal 6-12 hr trips I have finally gotten to the point of :

1 Xtall Nalgene of water (about 3 plastic water bottles worth)
1 Cliff Bar
1 light (AAA style, I have 2 mains on my helmet)
1 otterbox with P&S Camera
8 AA batteries (enough for both main lights)
1 garbage bag in helmet


I *should* bring, but rarely do:
30ft of webbing
candle or carbide lamp
spare polypro top in gallon ziplock.
1-2 Prescription painkillers in case of a serious accident

See previous topics:

Just for fun, what's in your pack?

Hows your pack packed? (Safety)

Weird stuff in the cave pack

This topic seems more appropriate in the equipment forum, so I moved it there.

I too would be interested in Calories burned while caving. I know it would depend on what cave and if it was wet or dry. How many burned on like a 6 hour rigoruos trip.

Where would we put this post. I think the orginal poster was trying to fiqure out how much food is needed for a cave trip. I could be wrong. I guess that would be considered equipment.

Snickers and granola. Not exactly substance there if you plan on being underground for 6 hours, and if an accident happens, much longer............you should try packing some real food instead like CRF does at mammoth. canned anything and everything, yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. ive long since moved on from snickers and power bars. Yuck. sugar high then a crash.

caveflower wrote:I too would be interested in Calories burned while caving. I know it would depend on what cave and if it was wet or dry. How many burned on like a 6 hour rigoruos trip.

Check out this Calories burned topic.

I like carrying little squished chocolate bars and granola bars, but for real food you can't beat a couple of bagels. I like crunchy peanut butter and super sharp cheddar cheese on mine, which also seems to double as insurance against other people stealing and eating them. I usually carry a 1.5 liter Nalgene with water, and often an additional 1 liter in warmer climates. I deliberately under-hydrate myself a little so I can last about 8 hours without having to pee in the cave. But I carry a burrito bag setup I designed myself and sometimes a pee bottle too, just in case.

I'm a big fan of low self-discharge rechargeable NiMH AA cells (I have Rayovac ones), but I also carry a set of disposable lithiums for emergencies. I also carry 20 feet of webbing, a carabiner or two, a small first aid/survival kit, and a piece of foam padding against my back. I add other items depending on the cave and what I'm doing there.

Thanks NZ I did a search and nothing came up. Good info.

Check out this Calories burned topic.

By the looks of this topic I need to eat more while caving. 400-500 caloriers per hour used while caving is a lot. The bagel thing would be great and I never thought about that. With peanut butter and honey. mmmmm! I'm going to try that on my next Trip. I would also love to take a banana. But I think it would just be mush by the time I got to eat it.

This is more of a best of for cave food. In the 90’s I did a lot of caving with a guy who would eat an Arby’s Roast Beef sandwich in front of us. We would stop to snack and we would all pull out our snickers or jerky and he would pull out this sandwich. I can say I was always wishing I was the guy with the fine dining food inside a cave. Yum Yum

caveflower wrote:

Check out this Calories burned topic.

By the looks of this topic I need to eat more while caving. 400-500 caloriers per hour used while caving is a lot. The bagel thing would be great and I never thought about that. With peanut butter and honey. mmmmm! I'm going to try that on my next Trip. I would also love to take a banana. But I think it would just be mush by the time I got to eat it.

Au contrare! I would be delighted to sell you a banana guard (or two or three) for a mere $7 + shipping and handling. In fact, today, I brought an entirely unsmushed banana for lunch in my messenger bag.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5896&hilit=Banana+guard

As far as water goes if I am going into a "hot " cave where I use the same entrance to go in and out on a long trip I always stash some water in the cave on the way in for the way out. I just use small bottles of spring water and collapse the bottles when done and carry them out in my pack. Blue Springs Cave in Tenn. is an example where trips are long and you are going up and down breakdown getting hot, on a 6 hour trip I can easily drink over a gallon of water. My option only option is to stash along the way in.Sometimes I use Gatorade also. As far as in cave food ,the small cans of beanie wienies are great, no opener needed. I will wear a large Fannie pack to carry in the extra water so I can still use my normal cave pack.

On the topic of food, I've gained a lot of fans on cave trips by simply bringing a thermos full of hot chocolate (with maybe a dash of peppermint schnapps) or tomato soup. Works wonders on colder trips.

On occasion I'll suggest an in cave potluck and we'll load up a darren drum or two with REAL food. Some of my favorites - baguette with hummus, pear cobbler, and homemade banana bread. Can't beat real food for keeping spirits up on a long trip.

Usually though, it's just energy bars of some sort. I think I'll have to use the bagel idea.

Squirrel Girl wrote:

caveflower wrote:

Check out this Calories burned topic.

By the looks of this topic I need to eat more while caving. 400-500 caloriers per hour used while caving is a lot. The bagel thing would be great and I never thought about that. With peanut butter and honey. mmmmm! I'm going to try that on my next Trip. I would also love to take a banana. But I think it would just be mush by the time I got to eat it.

Au contrare! I would be delighted to sell you a banana guard (or two or three) for a mere $7 + shipping and handling. In fact, today, I brought an entirely unsmushed banana for lunch in my messenger bag.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=5896&hilit=Banana+guard

NO WAY! I have to have one of these. PM me Barb with the info.

400-500 calories per hour while caving? Erm...wow. Considering my normal intake is more like 1000-1400 per day...and I don't get hungry while caving (I just make sure to eat something when others stop).

Anyway I normally carry 2 quaker chewybars, 2 snickers/similar (lately I've liked the planters peanut bars), 1 L water (or 2 if it's a long trip...more in case I need a pee bottle lol) extra batteries, migraine med, 20 ft of webbing, few 'biners, some medical wrap for bracing if something gets broken/sprained or something. I've never finished 1 L of water and I've never ate more than 2 of the bars even on the longest (9 hrs) trip I've been on. My friends usually have trail mix and dried fruits in their packs that sometimes I'll snitch a bit.

Usually first break I'll eat one of the small chewybars and have a bit of water. Second break I'll have a snickers or something and a bit of water...usually nothing after that. It tends to make me nauseous and cold when I eat underground so it's better I just don't. I'll usually be shivering for a bit I can't take long breaks when I eat because if I stop moving after eating I'll start shivering no matter how warmly I"m dressed and how dry and warm the cave is.

OH and edit: HOT CHOCOLATE GUY YOU WIN!!!! Just no schnapps, its always been fine for me but with alcohol sometimes being a migraine trigger I refuse to drink it anytime around being underground. But yeah, you'd be my instant BFF with that (also I'm going to get a thermos to carry something warm with me, tea instead though, probably, I think it might help me freezing when I eat)