Grotto Vertical Gear Cache

[CaveGimp]

I'm working on a proposal for my grotto (AZ) to put together a Vertical Gear Cache to be checked out by members. What I'm looking for from you guys is any issues that have come up with your grotto's, or how you handle having grotto owned vert gear. A similar thread was posted about a year ago http://www.caves.org/soapbox/viewtopic.php?t=1180&view=next but I wanted to see what the latest view is now. Any suggestions concerns or ramblings would be appreciated. Thanks.

[fuzzy-hair-man]

OK, I'll bite:

My club is a university club and the majority of our members are first time cavers, so it is a rareity for new club members to have thier own gear (some do though, others buy it later on).

Our club recieves some support through the university so this has enabled us to buy enough vertical gear to outfit a large vertical trip (12 sets, realistically we would probably take 2 groups of 6) this gear has been built up over a number of years and the clubs position is a strong one for gear.

Our ascending rig is a frog (Croll, Asension, super-avanti harness, 4 or 5 bar rack or Petzl Simple, tied rope cowstails and 1" webbing chest harnesses) the cowstails and chest harnesses are easily made by club members so there is no need to buy them, hand ascender foot loop is also made from 1" tape (static cord or spectra would be better).

Apart from that we have the usual ropes and crabs ladders tapes helmets and lights which the club owns, we have two gear officers who are responsible for making sure gear gets returned and monitoring the condition of gear.
The trip leader is responsible for all the club gear taken on the trip (signed in and out), even if this is stuff like helmets, or personal srt gear, so it is thier responsibility that it all gets returned in good condition and to report any damaged or malfunctioning gear, it is also thier responsibility to see that the gear gets cleaned after each trip.
As a trip leader I find it a relief when the club supplies gear rather than someone bringing thier own, I know exactly what gear they have and that it is safe and functional and there hasn't been anything forgotten.

One of the ideas I find interesting is the suggestion that the beginners should have the best gear, I agree with this by having a gear cache available they are less likely to be using out of date, less comfortable, less efficient gear, which will add to thier safety.

Ropes: we have a limited number of ropes ~5 which are signed out and in with an indication of thier usage in terms of people and potential wear. Any falls or sheath damage on a rope needs to be reported by the trip leader (hasn't been required) again equipment officers monitor ropes for wear etc ropes are also cleaned and inspected after each trip. A similar thing happens with rigging tapes, except they aren't entered in a log.

The way we have been able to acquire the level of gear we have has been mostly through our trip fees, we charge $AU 10 / day for vertical trips and $5 / day for horizontal trips, we are also funded on a 50/50 basis by the university so this helps

From a trip leaders and a training point of view it is really good when beginners aren't making do or using old or inappropriate equipment whilst they learn or gather up equipment of thier own. It is also very helpful that all of our cavers use the one ascending system, (frog).
A little off-topic but we also insist on seeing EVERYONE on rope before we take them into a cave even if they are experienced cavers, any suspect methods/gear arise at practise and we can have arguments about it / sort it out then not in a cave.