Hi there! Welcome to the Imperial College Caving Club.
If you're new here, check out this video to see what we're all about:
If you're interested in caving, this is the place to try it out. Feel free to have a look around at some recent trip reports to learn about what we do, and look here for a brief summary. If you have any questions, just send us an email at ic.caving@gmail.com, or find us at the pub every Tuesday from 6pm - we'll be in 568 or the Union Bar, probably wearing a noticeably muddy helmet.
During termtime we'll be running weekend trips every two weeks or so, with sign-up emails being sent out to the mailing list. The first two trips to Wales won't require any training or experience at all - you can just sign up and come along, and we'll provide all the equipment you need.
We'll be running rope training sessions every Wednesday, 1-5pm in Princes Gardens during Autumn term, where you can familiarise yourself with the equipment and SRT (single rope technique). You can just turn up and stay for as long as you like; just look for some people hanging in trees next to the Ethos sports centre. These skills will be used on trips to Yorkshire and Derbyshire, where the caves are predominantly vertical.
While not strictly a club trip, and with most people bailing on the weekend altogether, this unusual trip involved 3 brave souls joining an overnight digging trip in the far reaches of Aggy with friend of the club Alex Stacey. And as if all that wasn't weird enough already, the largest geomagnetic storm in 25 years gave us an incredible viewing of the Northern Lights on Friday evening as a good omen. So of course this trip had to be written up.
Another year, another AGM, another round of RON's attempts, in vain, to derail the club's glorious future prospects. This year's AGM was in fact in a random room in RSM due to the Union Bar being booked up, but we made the most of the occasion by turning off all lights and handing out pixas, together with the lack of deafening racket from the union made for a shockingly enjoyable evening!
Congratulation to the impending committee of the autoCHRISy!
And, as always, our commiserations to the winners of the following awards (all of which managed to feature Julien):
Herman Herz: Julien, Leo and Perry, for Perry's second collapse in Slov, on a trip specifically intended to calm nerves after Perry's last attempt to demolish the system. Julien and Perry then went on to escape once again via the dreaded Cloaca Maxima before huddling in a bothy bag for many an hour awaiting rescue.
For Evans' Sake: Julien and Laura, for "the shoe incident" in Slov. Not one, but two entire shoes managed to fall into the forbidden depths of "the pit". Both shoes were rescued and disinfected to fight another day, at great personal cost.
Prose and Cons Voted in this same AGM to highlight a year of unusually many outstanding quality reports, this award highlights the best write up of the year, allowing us to reminisce about the most gripping page turners we'd had the pleasure to peruse. The inaugural award goes to Julien for his truly epic multi-chapter novel of a write up about the collapse and subsequent escape mission mentioned above.
This year our annual visit to the Mendips became an "old lags" weekend as ICCC members both young and old descended upon the Shepton for a weekend of Somerset caving. A resounding success with over a dozen old lags attending, many a tale was shared over a pint of cider, and hopefully old lags weekends become a regular item in the calendar!
The inevitable finally occurred; our KYW minibus gave out after enduring months of endless problems and fixes. Stranded in an Asda car park just outside Oxford, we eventually made our way home. A few insane individuals even pulled an all-nighter to reach Yorkshire, immediately embarking on a caving adventure upon arrival.
Derbyshire! Our annual pilgrimage to the land of mud lived up to its usual reputation: a JH - Peak exchange with high highs and low lows, a poke around Nettle Pot, a cheeky rigging trip to Eldon and a hangover cure in P8. Not to mention some hiking, bread and butter pudding, demolished Aldis and Chris being tied to a chair.