Page 37 - The Wish Stream Year of 2021 (Crest)

Exercise SANDHURST CAVERN
CADET – An Adventure
Cold, wet, dark, cramped and acrophobic. Many people have experienced these in the past, and even during the Commission-
ing Course, OCdts would have felt the pressure some of these can have on your senses and the added vigilance and courage needed to work through it. However, few would experience all of these at one time. Those, who undertook Ex SANDHURST CAVERN CADET, the Intermedi- ate Term’s Caving expedition, had the privilege of being these few.
The adventurous training took us to the small village of Tosside on the border between North Yorkshire and Lancashire which was the base for our week of underground exploration. We were very much reliant on the instructor on the first day to manoeuvre down through the passage- ways until we came across an opening with a waterfall – something which felt very Jurassic World (and not only because of OCdt Wilkes stellar dinosaur impression). This first day taught us what to expect when it came to caving – a multi- discipline sport with a variety of challenges to overcome, as well as how damp these caves can become when the decision was made to
in Claustrophobia
OCdt Welsh
leave via a different route, in this case using the river entrance to crawl out of.
The next day took us through some of the rope techniques we would use for the remainder of the week, utilising a local caving society’s facili- ties to learn and improve our skills before hitting the next caves. Wednesday certainly brought claustrophobia to the forefront, with the entrance to the cave being large enough to crawl into and needing the group to shimmy through by side stepping and then climbing up and down a cou- ple of sheer drops. The remainder of the week was not as confined, but focused more on our rope skills, climbing from rock to rock to get to a point where we could then start to descend. The highlight was a descent through a waterfall, add- ing additional challenges to something we had already deemed quite perilous.
Overall, caving is for those who have enjoyed their time doing AT and want to combine a few of the skills they have learnt into an individual sport. If you find rock climbing easy, try doing it with just a headtorch to see and only a small ledge to move around on to set yourself up for your descent! Thank you to 2Lt Charlie Howe, REME, for taking the time to instruct us over the course of the week.
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