by tlong_geo » Jan 8, 2007 4:32 pm
I've come to love my elbow pads almost as much as my kneepads; I used to use soccer shinguards with the hard plastic removed (it caused mucho holes in my sleeves) as elbow pads. I would pull them onto my forearms under my suit. As far as strapping kneepads over your suit, wouldn't that keep the suit from moving where it needs to, like when climbing?
It seems as if I've PO'd some zipper-lovers, but its been my experience that the narrow velcro on Lost Creek suits won't last (because its narrow and peels open when you do alot of crawling) and that exposure to clay/rock is what kills the zipper. I was a disbeliever at first (a TSA and 2 LC suits), but heavy 2" velcro will not come apart . . . its even difficult to pull apart with your bare hand when you want your suit open; you've just got to keep it clean. And you can put as much Shoo-Goo or Aquaseal as you want on the nylon over your zipper; it'll wear off with the nylon, just not as quickly. Granted, if you're not belly-crawling on bare rock, there's nothing to abrade the nylon, and if you're not cavin a couple days a week, of course your suit/zipper/whatever will last a long time. It's that nylon between the zipper and the rock that gets worn quickly. If you've seen someone holding their suit shut because the velcro was muddy, then that caver screwed-up by not taking care of their velcro. But hey, whatever works for you and whatever is comfortable and affordable for you, that's the way to go.
Gotta love that rotary hammer drill! And to think we used to let mere rock stop us . . .