Equipment used for caving
For caving sport, one has to wear a helmet which is quite necessary. The helmet is worn to protect the caver from any head injury due to bumps or falling rocks. The caver has along with him a primary light source, which is mounted on his helmet to keep his hands free. Mostly, the cavers use electric lights which are common with halogen lamps having standard white LEDs as the latest competing technology.
A lot of cavers opt for two or more light sources, like the one for primary purpose and the others for backup in case the primary light fails to work. Like, the second light is mounted to the helmet for quick usage if the first one fails. There are also carbide lamp systems which are an older illumination form and are inspired by the miner’s equipment and are still being used by cavers.
The type of clothes which are worn when on a caving trip can vary as per the cave condition and environment. For instance, in cold caves, the caver needs to wear warm base layered clothing which retains its insulating properties when it is wet like fleece, a furry suit, cordura, an oversuit of hard wearing and such clothing. If the cave is dry, the caver has to wear light clothing that is worn in a warm climate. Whereas, in the tropical caves, the caver has to opt for a thin polypropylene clothing to provide abrasion protection and remains cool too.
On the caver’s feet, he has to wear boots like hiking style boots in dry caves and rubber boots in wet caves. There are also knee pads and elbow pads which are popular while crawling.
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