Club Equipment
For members or GIAG participants on a club trip, the club will provide: a helmet and light, oversuit, wellies, belt. A 'safety sack' (containing first aid kit, emergency food and water etc) per group will always be carried. For more technical trips, other equipment may be carried at the discretion of the trip leader.

So you want to buy your own caving gear…

Disclaimer: any gear you'll need for club trips will be provided to you with a £3 rental included in your ticket. This page is to guide members who want to invest in their own kit beyond what the club has, either for comfort or style. If members would like advice for SRT kit or other PPE, contact a committee member directly. We also can't take any responsibility for your kit on club trips...

This is stuff you might want in addition to the club kit we provide:

Wetsocks (£15-25) - made of neoprene, they keep your feet warm even when wet - winner! Warmbac do some good ones, 3mm at least if you want to stay toasty.

Kneepads (£15-25) - Essential before you do the Daren Cilau thru trip (definitely useful in other crawly caves too). Soft and padded are good, hard plastic ones can get caught (not ideal). Builder's kneepads will do if you want a cheap pair. This is usually the first piece of personal kit that everyone buys!

Neckwarmer (£10-15) - You'd be amazed what difference it can make to have some extra cloth round your neck. You can get some cool ones with a map of OFD from the SWCC 'giftshop'.

Undersuit / Wetsuit - These are great pieces of personal kit to keep you warm and semi-dry on wetter trips like Swildon's Hole. They also provide extra padding but can lead to being too hot on dryer trips if you overdo the layers. Many of committee swear that caving became a whole lot easier with an undersuit but some cavers say it isn't worth it so I guess its up to you.

Now we're getting serious! This would be instead of using club kit:

Helmet (£30-60)– For caving, you’ll want a ‘hard-shell’ helmet that can cope with the caving environment. Luckily for you, these are also cheaper than lightweight EPS ones! Bonus is you can use these for climbing too.

Most importantly, you want a helmet that suits the shape of your head – so go try some on. Good manufacturers include Petzl, Edelrid and Black Diamond. You can also get helmets with lights built in, however they can be quite expensive.

IMPORTANT: BUY NEW, used helmets can have hidden damage.

Main light (£25-600+!!) – Unsurprisingly for a sport that’s entirely in the dark, headtorches can get ridiculous! We recommend a good midrange light by Fenix (HL60R), which you can buy from Up&Under for about £60. It’s reliable, bright enough for club trips and has good battery life. Only downside is its popularity, so write your name on it.

Cheaper lights are ok too, as long as they’re at least XP67 rated (can go for a swim). Petzl, Fenix and Black Diamond are all good manufacturers, but just keep an eye on battery life. You want something that can produce at least 200 lumens for maybe 6 hours, or it won’t do the job.

At the other end of the spectrum sit Rude Noras and Scurions, incredible lights but only really worth it if you're routinely doing 8h+ trips or going on expedition.

Spare light (£20-70) – When you’re getting into bigger and more vertical systems, it’s worth getting a spare light too so you don’t have to rely on others being nearby. Here, cheap and compact is alright as hopefully all it’ll do is live round your neck, but remember you’ll be relying on this when something might have gone a little askew. Petzl Tikkas have good battery life and a handy whistle so are ideal for this.

Oversuit (£50-100) - all the club suits are made by Warmbac; they're durable and functional and keep you warm (ish). You can just get your own and you'll never have to worry about finding the right size ever again. Otherwise, you can go a bit upmarket and buy an Advenure Verticale suit - they're comfier, more breathable, but still have padding in the places that count. You'll also look like you know what you're doing! If you plan on doing a lot of wet & muddy caving you can also get a PVC suit, but you'll be sacrificing durability for extreme water repellancy and ease of cleaning! (also they're not very breathable...)

Wellies (£15-30) - Any wellies will do, but for a few extra quid you could get a more durable pair, or maybe even a nicer colour?

Gloves (£5) - any work or gardening gloves are good, or if you have some trashed watersports gloves they can work well in wetter caves. Club currently has loads but having your own that properly fit is very satisfying.

Belt (£10-25) - Ideal if you're doing a lot of ladder and line caving, you can even get a fancy one with a mallion and gear loops now! Similar to the helmet, BUY NEW!

Recommended retailers:

Up & Under - Local retailer with ties to the club; not that much in stock but very happy to order things in for you to try on or have a look at. Pretty cheap too. Mention you're from the club! Their website is: http://www.upandunder.co.uk/

Starless River - Anywhere where there's cavers, you might find Tony Seddon and his magical car. He'll be at all the CHECCs and is a very experienced caver with a wealth of knowledge. He also has a website: http://www.starlessriver.com/shop/

For things like gloves, neckwarmers, wellies; any shop will probably do.