Necessary equipment?

[paoconnell]

I've had problems with polypro--some of it chafes badly. I look for polyester underwear, which is softer.

Agreed - although it took me years to realize I could easily fix this problem by replacing polypro with something better!

It took me exactly one trip wearing polypro longjohns to realize that my knees and elbows did not like being sandpapered by polypro. Fortunately someone I knew also had been through the agony of crawling with polypro, and suggested a trip to a ski store that had polyester.

[ArCaver]

There is one function of many cell phones that does work in caves and which would be useful in the event that someone was injured and needed to be rescued--the camera. You could take a picture of the injury and then take the cell phone out of the cave to show the rescuers.

Of course, a dedicated camera would work even better.

Not only the rescuers, also the ER docs. The position of a patient after an accident can give them a much better understanding of the "mechanism of injury" and a better idea of what kind of injuries to expect. This is the sort of thing that could be sent out during the rescue with vitals, before the patient reaches the entrance.

[Rick Brinkman]

ek and ArCaver...THANKS...don't know why, but I never would have thought about taking photos of the injured caver before going for help. (little bit , but oh well)

All the rest is good advise.

I personally caved for 10+ years in cotton (jeans, t-shirt, etc) before "discovering" synthetic clothing. Synthetic clothing works great in dry caves too, because 1. stays warm when wet(sweat) 2. drys out quick(er).

Good places to look for cheap, expendable (it WILL rip, tear, and fall apart when caving) synthetic clothing...THRIFT STORES and sometimes Walmart, Target, Pamida, K-mart, etc. Inexpensive fleeces can be found at these stores...especially in the spring, when the summer clothes get put on the racks.

[ek]

ek and ArCaver...THANKS...don't know why, but I never would have thought about taking photos of the injured caver before going for help.

One of the many valuable things you can learn from the NCRC.

[David Grimes]

I say if your getting caving gear for Christmas, you might as well ask for quality gear such as a nice Petzl Ecrin Roc helmet and some good lights since those will be used in eery cave you visit in the future regardless of the type of cave. I do almost all of my caving in southern Indiana and I find my PT Apex light is really nice for this area and very affordble compared to other manufacturers of similar lights. For gloves I used some cheap ones from Walmart that are rubber coated with nylon backing, they are about $2 a pair and they are excellent in my opinion for the caving I do which should be similar to caves in your area. I always take a camera with me so I carry a waterproof container from Walmart $9 which has worked well in the past but I am considering buying a nice pelican case for the added protection for my cameras. As for clothing and insulation I say buy what is comfortable for you since everyone is different in that respect.