Caving Advice

For people under 16.

For people over 16 with no caving experience.

For Intermediate and Advanced Cavers.

More than just a sport.

Rules Regulations and Guidelines.

Equipment.

The Novice Caver.

For people under 16.

Caving is really a Venture Scouts activity, and in general it is recommended that very young people are not taken caving. Interest could be satisfied by visits to underground sites accessible to the general public. Examples local to Sussex residents are the Brighton sewers and the mines at Hastings. Small groups of mature 14 to 16 year old Scouts can be taken down small mine workings in the local Greensand or the easier caves in the limestone areas by experienced leaders. In the limestone areas the commercial show cave may still be more appropriate.

For people over 16 with no caving experience.

Many of the local West Sussex Venture Scout Groups regularly go caving and might be willing to take novices from other groups with them. The County Caving Adviser usually runs 1 or 2 caving trip per year the first of which is aimed specifically at novices. Dates and venues will be published as soon as possible (see Diary) There are also courses run commercially in the major caving areas which take participants of varied experience. People wishing to organize events but lacking leaders may be able to find cave leaders willing to assist by contacting the County Caving Adviser for the current caving permit holders. Novices will find many of the things learnt in Scouts will be put to practical use. i.e. map reading, knots, camping skills etc. Those people who didn't learn this in the Scouts will find caving is a good place to learn. Most of all the necessity to work as a team and the strong camaraderie this generates will quickly become apparent.

For Intermediate and Advanced Cavers.

Intermediate and Advanced Cavers would enjoy the more advanced S.R.T or cave rescue courses, run commercially. They are also welcome to come on the County Caving trips; advanced cavers will usually be asked to assist in leading on the novices trips. The second County Caving trip when run tends to be aimed more at exploration with people caving as a team rather than being led. Past trips have included the larger caves in Yorkshire and trips to France and Ireland. Some units of the Scout fellowship also run caving trips which the intermediate and advanced cavers would enjoy; dates for these trips are usually available from the Scout Fellowship Group running the trip. We also run S.R.T. ( single rope technique) practice days at a local School which have proved useful and fun; as with other trips the date for this is published as soon as known.

For latest County events see diary.
For Fellowship other Groups and commercially courses  see link page

More than just a sport.

Caving has always been more than just a physical sport and to this end there are a variety of more specialist side lines to caving, for instance :-

Cave diving.

Single Rope Technique (SRT).

Cave Digging (and blasting) .

New Cave Exploration. (sadly not much in this country).

Cave Surveying.

Cave photography.

Plus the various Cave Sciences :-

Geology.

Hydrology.

Geomorphology.

Paleontology.

To name just a few. Some of these will be purely amateur and just part of the general interest in caving, whilst others may be the basis for a degree or even a career. All will tend to overlap, one spurring interest in others. There are various specialist books available on all these subjects and more to be written, (maybe by you). Those (fully bitten by the bug) who wish to take their interest further are recommended to join a Caving club.

Rules Regulations and Guidelines.

All Scouts caving must be led by someone with a current Form C. Caving parties must leave an E. T. O. Most leaders would do this automatically. Scouts under 18 must have parental consent forms. The minimum party size is 4 people, at present there is no maximum number, but common sense will usually limit this to 8 or less. It is the opinion of the County Caving Assessors that groups should have a second experienced caver in each group where possible, even if he/she is not a form C holder.

Cave leaders ("Form C" holders) can delegate others to lead groups provided they themselves are present, on the trip. Form C holders do not need to be members of the Scout association.

Cave leaders ( form C. Holders)

The Scout Association subscribes to the national standards as recommended by the National Caving Association Training Committee. Firstly the Scout Association recommends that cave leaders should be experienced cavers. The underground environment is not one in which the normal Scout Leader can work without caving experience. It is potentially hazardous, and requires a more experienced leader than a mountain expedition of equivalent difficulty. Secondly in order that the leader of any party will be suitably experienced, the Scout Association has introduced a system of authorization ( "Form C") for people wishing to lead parties of Scouts on trips down caves or mines. All new "Form C" applicants will be assessed before authorization is granted, existing "Form C" holders will have the same assessment when there current authorization is dew for renewal.

For further information on "Form C" and the requirements for caving authorization please contact the County Caving Assessor at scouts.caving@btinternet.com

"Form C" applications, can be obtained from your D.C. or from the County Caving Assessor. The forms issued by West Sussex require slightly more information than those produced by the Scout Association. This has been done to enable the County Caving Assessor to more accurately assess the applicants grade, especially as S.R.T. become more widely used.

The authority to lead caving parties is not a certificate of competence. It is a recognition that the District Commissioner, as advised by his Caving Assesor, is satisfied by the level of maturity and experience of the authorized leader. It would normally be expected that any authorized person will be over 18 years of age. A Troop or Unit without caving experience should obtain the advice and assistance of experienced cavers before going caving.

Caves are particularly prone to damage, and all caving parties must take very great care to ensure that they leave the cave as they find it. It is also important to check on access arrangements before visiting the cave.

Cave Rescue and safety
A cave leader must be aware of the hazards which can be met underground. These vary from rapidly rising water levels following rainfall to people falling off rocks and hypothermia . These are in addition to the more readily understood dangers of getting lost or physically stuck. The hazards of mine exploration include those of rotting timber and unprotected shafts in the floor

A network of rescue teams covers the caving areas. Their work is entirely voluntary and their existence should not be taken to mean that help is automatically available if things go wrong Rescue from some caves is impossible. If you are unable to estimate this yourself, you are not fit to take a party down . Remember that all requests for emergency cave rescue assistance should be made via the 999 emergency telephone system. Ask for the Police.