Buying Caving Gear

Acquiring and using the correct gear is an essential part of any caving trip. All caves require at minimum: a warm, preferably thermal underlayer, a caving oversuit, a helmet, a headtorch and wellies. A belt is usually used too. As caving is a relatively niche activity, it is likely that those trying it for the first time will not have all the gear of their own. Thankfully, essential caving gear can be rented from our tackle store for £4 a trip/weekend. This includes oversuits, undersuits, helmets, lights & batteries, belts, SRT kit and wellies. As you get more into caving you will probably decide that you want to buy gear of your own. This guide will help you decide what gear to buy, and at what price points.

It is worth remembering that the club puts in an order for new gear about once a year - ordering your gear with this can often mean a fairly large saving. For more details ask our Tackle Warden.

Where to buy caving gear

Living in Bristol, the main source of purchasing caving gear will likely be Starless River. This website is run by Tony Seddon, a well known caver, and sells almost(!) any piece of caving gear you could dream of at competitive prices. Tony also travels around the country to different caving huts setting up temporary shops in person. A place he often visits is the Wessex, a caving hut on Mendip about a fifty-minute drive from the SU. Gear from Starless River can either be ordered online or in person at one of these popups.

Alternatively, if in Yorkshire, Inglesport, located in Ingleton, sells a wide range of caving gear too. This is especially handy if you travel to Yorkshire intending to cave, only to find you have left something, say a pair of cows tails, at home. A quick trip to Inglesport promptly fixes this, saving your weekend.

Finally, many good deals can be found on Facebook Marketplace. Although this cannot be relied on if looking for specific gear, good deals do occasionally pop up, in which gear can be purchased for below the going rate. Caving Gear Exchange UK often has good deals, and Outdoor Gear Exchange UK occasionally has caving kit listings.

See the Links Page for shops in and near Bristol and other areas of the UK .

(Beware of second hand gear etc. and make sensible choices.You want to know the history of something you’re trusting your life to (SRT kit, rope etc.). Be aware of the potential pitfalls of buying gear unseen from someone they don’t know)

Standard Caving Kit

Poulnagollum. Photo © Jess Brock

Oversuits

This is a protective outer layer that protects against abrasions and prevents heat loss through evaporation. An oversuit is made of rough, durable material that allows you to slide and crawl through caves without worrying about your clothes ripping. A few brands offer oversuits at different price ranges each with their own pros and cons.

Warmbac – This is the gold standard of Mendip caving. A very durable, tough oversuit that specialises in protection against tight, high contact caving. These typically have the longest lifespan of any brand of oversuit, albeit this comes as a trade-off with comfort. The toughness of the material means that movement is not as flexible as some other brands, and they have been known to shrink when exposed to heat – this should be factored in when considering size. Currently a Warmbac oversuit costs £99 from Starless River.

AV – AV specialises in comfort and flexibility of material. Well suited to caves with larger passages and chambers, and SRT, these oversuits are a favourite among many. No oversuit offers better range of movement. These also come fitted with a waterproof hood and a layer of microfleece within the collar, making them excellent for wetter caves. This comfort and flexibility comes at the cost of durability, as these oversuits can be prone to tearing and may need repairing more frequently than other brands of oversuit. The higher price of £150 off Starless River also needs to be taken into consideration. Despite these cons they are still a great pic, especially if you value freedom of movement and comfort within caves.

Other brands (Beaver etc.) also available - most people do end up with one of the above two though.

Most oversuits are ‘waterproof’ at first, but this tends to wear off pretty quickly! It’s well worth keeping on top of any hole/rips and patching them before they have a chance to get any bigger. (Plus mud and grit inside your oversuit is grim!)

Undersuits

Undersuits, sometimes called furrysuits, are thermally insulating one piece under garments that keep warmth in and drain quickly, allowing you to warm up quickly from getting wet.(Think onesie - in fact some people have started caving in cotton onesies!) When starting out caving, many use normal thermals or even regular clothes and shorts as their undersuit, but as you attempt more ambitious caves, it becomes wise to purchase a specially made caving undersuit. This is probably worth getting pretty soon. It make a huge difference in a wet cave (plus you get some padding). But a primark onesie for £10 is often good enough, perhaps with something underneath, at least to start with.

AV – AV undersuits are very comfortable and stretch to a close but comfortable fit. They drain very quickly and keep in a lot of warmth. They are an excellent all-round choice. Currently they cost £117 from Starless River

MTDE – The MTDE ‘Butron’ undersuit is lightweight, flexible and quick drying. It also comes with a hood. They cost £102 from Starless River

Warmbac - Warmbac fleece suits are also fine. They currently cost £90 from Inglesport. Warmbac also produce the Neofleece. This is a wetsuit-undersuit hybrid that is designed for extremely wet trips in which long free dives or extended periods of swimming are involved. The fleece is made from 3mm neoprene in the body area, and Warmbac fleece matieral on the lower arms and legs. For most trips this will feel too warm, although for those who are especially susceptible to the cold, or those interested in extremely wet caves or short dives, the neofleece could be worth looking into. A Warmbac Neofleece costs £129 from Starless River.

Helmets

Helmets are essential in caving to protect your head and mount a light from. Caving helmets need to be durable enough to take many small hits and still offer resistance (as opposed to many climbing helmets that are designed to crumple inwards upon impact offering only a one time use per helmet.) The most commonly used caving helmets are produced by Petzl and Climbing Technology, but any helmet that fits well, has clips for a light, and offers protection against repeated bangs, will do the trick. They typically cost around £50. Various designs exist - polystyrene filled, cradle etc. Some people prefer the cradle as you can keep snacks in the helmet (and use it as a bucket to bail out sumps if you’re desperate!). Make sure there is nothing hard (screwheads etc.) on the inside of your helmet though, especially if you mount custom light fittings etc. - if you take a fall that would end up being pushed into your head - not a good idea!

Lights

Lights are essential pieces of caving equipment. There are a number of brands to consider.

Petzl – Petzl used to dominate the caving light market, but in recent years has been usurped by the wide range of 18650 cell lights which are now on the market. Petzl lights are decently reliable and decently bright. They typically take standard AA batteries which can be convenient. They also offer the cheapest caving lights, with the typical Petzl lamp costing around £65. Far higher quality options are available, though, and Petzl lights are more used as backup lights rather than primary options these days.

Fenix – Fenix offers excellent lights and are, relatively speaking good value for money. Fenix lights are highly durable, extremely bright and offer very good battery life. A typical Fenix light (HM70R) offers a more than satisfactory 150 lumens of output for thirty hours – long enough for even the most demanding of trips, and backup batteries can of course be carried in waterproof drums. This same light can provide two hours of the staggeringly bright 1600 lumen turbo mode, excellent for photography and lighting up huge passages and chambers. It also comes with an 800-hour battery life S.O.S mode in which a red light flashes morse code help signals for a month before dying. These are easy to use and all-round excellent lights, all for only £105. A bargain that is highly recommended for anyone interested in taking caving more seriously.

Little Monkey- Little Monkey produce the Rude Nora and the Filthy Edna (yes cavers have odd ideas about names). These lights are made locally, by cavers . They are more expensive than most Fenix lamps, but are well worth considering.

Scurion – These are lights that will almost certainly be well out of the price range for any student caver. They are excellent pieces of gear that offer exceptionally bright focus and flood beams, that can be used separately or simultaneously. Over 100 hours of battery life on the lower (but still relatively bright) settings. These are designed for exploratory, expedition caving in which precise, bright beams into the distance are helpful for spotting spots for bolting, potential leads etc. They are undoubtedly the best non-diving caving light on the market, but are extremely expensive. The ‘cheaper’ variant costs £440, while the even higher tech, more expensive version costs £750.

Many manufacturers of 18650 cell lights now exist, from the high end models from Fenix, Zebralight, etc. to much cheaper Chinese versions. As well as having a main light it is worth remembering that carrying a reliable backup light can be important and having battery compatibility between your main and backup lights is sensible. Many suppliers of 18650 cells exist but be sure to purchase reliable good quality ones from reliable suppliers. Steer clear of the poor quality ones often found on ebay or Amazon Marketplace.

Kneepads

Kneepads are very useful pieces of gear for cavers interested in prolonging the ageing process of their joints. Knees get battered in caves, and for any caver interested in longer, more demanding trips, knee pads are a must. Warmbac offers very good Kevlar kneepads that are comfortable, flexible and offer good protection. These cost £42. Their non Kevlar kneepads are quite similar, offering slightly less but still a solid amount of protection for £33. These can be purchased either as slideons or Velcro strap ons. The choice between these is personal preference, although non-velcro kneepads are known to slip down, meaning that the caver must periodically pull them back up to cover the knees. Velcro kneepads help circumvent this issue, but are less durable as the strap buckles are a weak point.

Gloves

Gloves are highly recommended for caving. They provide abrasion resistance for your hands and knuckles and offer an extra layer of warmth for your fingers. Gloves vary in thickness and durability, with thinner gloves allowing for more precise, technical finger movements (like rigging) without having to take them off, but often lacking in the durability that thicker gloves provide. Thin, rigging gloves can be brought for £6, and thicker gloves for around £9. Gardening and washing up gloves work too, but will not last as long and will not provide the same protection against abrasion and cold as specially made caving gloves. One recommendation is for the waterproof gloves from Screwfix or Toolstation. But as with all things this choice can be very personal.

Wet Socks

Wet Socks are neoprene socks that go underneath wellies. Made out of the same material as wetsuits, they use the body heat of your feet to warm up the water surrounding them, keeping your feet warm in wetter caves. They are Highly recommended for anyone who finds that their feet get cold in wetter caves. Warmbac offers wet socks in two sizes – ones that come up to the ankles, and ones that come up to the knees. Both are functionally identical but the longer ones offer extra warmth for higher parts of the leg, so if you get cold easily, these are probably the best to go for. Otherwise the preference is personal. Knee high wet socks cost £39 whereas ankle high ones cost £33. Less expensive ones can also be bought from Decathlon.

SRT Kit

SRT stands for Single Rope Technique, and is the primary way in which vertical cave pitches are descended and ascended. Although less common on Mendip and in South Wales, due to the horizontal nature of the caves, in Yorkshire nearly all trips worth doing require SRT. SRT works by abseiling on the way down, and using jammers to ‘prussik’ on the way up, climbing the rope using specialised gear. If you would like to learn SRT, contact the training officer for information on training sessions which we conduct in the SU and read our SRT guide. You can hire SRT kits from UBSS. Once you have learnt the basic techniques you will want to obtain your own equipment. Feel free to ask for advice, many cavers really enjoy talking about gear, though you may encounter one or two strong opinions!