Hello, I'm new!

[ooohfishy]

First off! "Hi" I'm Tina from Sunny Southern California!

I took a sudden interest in caving when I saw a rather entertaining (horror) film last year about caving. I becamse obsessed with the idea of wanting to crawl through tiny spaces and get so unbelieveably wet and dirty!!!

I checked the, "yes" box that i am a caver. If this intro message gets me kicked off the forum, that's okay. I understand.

I have absolutely no caving experience whatsoever. I've done the hand rails and gift shop kind of caving, but that's not what I want.

I figured caving doesn't really have an age limit (only experience) so why not take it up now?

So any advice for a beginner? I'm looking into a 'tour' (Moaning Cavern Adventure trip, just to get an idea) since I'm a beginner. Good idea? No? Should I just leave here and never come back again? Your help is greatly appreciated.

[killian]

First of all welcome and do not even think of leaving the world of caving..... You are on the right track with the wild cave trip. i think you will love it. That is one of the best, most rewording, and most of all safest ways to start caving. If you come back from the trip and decide you cannot get enough of caving then the next step would be to join a caving club or "grotto". And you are right there is no age and the best way to get experience is through going caving.. Hope you love it as much as me and all of these other cave nuts..
Killian

[ooohfishy]

... and after watching the movie, I went to REI and purchased a couple caving books (REI, isn't really caving gear friendly, but that's okay. I don't really have any caving gear friendly retail stores in my area) and a Ecrin Roc helmet

So, caving gear from "The Descent" movie, headlmap wise... none of them used carbide lamps and having done little reading on headlamps... your opinions on the advantages and disadvatages of electric and carbide?

The next 'toy' i'd love t purchase myself is the Petzl DUO 14 LED good idea? Bad idea? I know I'm jumping way too far ahead... coz I've never gone caving... but I'm just SOOO excited!!!!

[wendy]

welcome! glad you are here. if you go to caves.org you can find the grotto closest to you. A grotto is a caving club associated with the NSS. There are several in Californaia, you just need to find one near you. Also the western region of the NSS has several annual events. There is one coming up in May in northern Cali that I will be going to, details for it should be coming soon. I'll let you know when I find out more.

Read in the equipment section, there is good info in there. But be careful buying a bunch of stuff until you know what you need.

Also Moaning cavern is cool. I did the 165' rappel there last May, but didn't get to do the tour.

[Mike Cato]

I've got the Duo 14 LED and love it. Absolutely no complaints. I did buy the belt version which uses C batteries. I can wear the batteries on my belt but they're usually in the shirt pocket. Get the helmet mounted AA battery version if you don't want to deal with the cord. I usually get more than two trips out of a set of batteries and I'd expect the AA version is good for at least a 3-4 hour trip.

Also, get a small 3-watt LED flashlight (2 C batts.) to whip out and spot things in the distance that your Duo halogen beam can't reach. Very handy. The smaller 1-watt versions (AA batts.) are also useful.

[Wayne Harrison]

[quote="ooohfishy"]I checked the, "yes" box that i am a caver. If this intro message gets me kicked off the forum, that's okay. I understand.quote]

That's a function more to keep spam bots from registering. The "default" question was "Are you a human?" but I changed it to caver. So, I just changed it to "Are you interested in caving?" The point is a bot can't select from the pulldown -- a human has to do it.

Welcome to the forum!

[ooohfishy]

Thank you all for the warm welcome!

I did go to Caves.org and that's where I stumbled on this forum. But there are still a lot of features on that website that I still haven't read up on... that am very anxious to read!!!

Anyway, thank you again and I look forward to chatting and messaging it up with everyone!

[Dawn Ryan]

Welcome! I hope you consider joining the NSS. It can be a good resource for new cavers.

Dawn Ryan
NSS Membership Committee

[Baazalung]

I know it's been a while since the last reply on this topic, but...
Before making any investment (in anything, from books to squeaky toys or huge flats) you should try and make sure it's worth it.
Before buying anything, go visit a real cave (not a tourist attraction point, but a real wild one) and see if your dreams about caving can come true. Talk to the local grotto, etc. Ask someone to take you with her/him...
Money well spent always makes you happy...


Don't act like an idiot (ME) and pay 1500$ for caving gear, when you're caving 1 month/year only. Try planning and thinking about what you actually need, not what you dream of...

And if you're a caving fanatic like I am, put all your money in gear, exploration, books, etc. It's a wonderful feeling...

[ooohfishy]

I know it's been a while since the last reply on this topic, but...
Before making any investment (in anything, from books to squeaky toys or huge flats) you should try and make sure it's worth it.
Before buying anything, go visit a real cave (not a tourist attraction point, but a real wild one) and see if your dreams about caving can come true. Talk to the local grotto, etc. Ask someone to take you with her/him...
Money well spent always makes you happy...


Don't act like an idiot (ME) and pay 1500$ for caving gear, when you're caving 1 month/year only. Try planning and thinking about what you actually need, not what you dream of...

And if you're a caving fanatic like I am, put all your money in gear, exploration, books, etc. It's a wonderful feeling...

The only thing I've purchased (for possible future caving purposes) is a helmet (the Ecrin Roc one - coz it was pretty...). I'm DEFINITELY not going to purchase ropes and other technical caving gear until I've had at least a few hundred million caving experiences (when it comes to ropes I get super scared)... so I actually did purchase 20 ft of climbing rope to learn to tie knots (along with a 'learn to tie knots' book)... which I've seem to have lost in my room somewhere.. heck I could go caving in my room it's so dark and messy!

I do know, since I have a flashlight fetish, that I'm going to be purchasing the Petzl DUO 14 LED soon, even if I don't go caving, I still relaly like the light :)

My first ever, testing the waters, experience will be the Moaning Cavern Adventuer trip.. which I'm REALLY REALLY REALLY looking forward to.

Anyway, I still have a lot of reading and catching up to do! Thanks for the tips and advice Baazalung!

[wendy]

http://www.animatedknots.com/indexclimb ... dknots.com


try that link for some knot tying tips

[ooohfishy]

http://www.animatedknots.com/indexclimbing.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com


try that link for some knot tying tips

WAY COOL! Thanks for that link Wendy!!!!

This helps SOOO much! You so totally rock!