From NUCC

Welcome to NUCC

The National University Caving Club (NUCC) is based at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, and has been running caving trips for over 45 years. Members include ANU students & staff as well as ANU Sports and Recreation Association affiliates.

Caving trips are run on most weekends throughout the academic year, with longer trips over the Summer break.

NUCC is a member of the Australian Speleological Federation (ASF)

What is caving?

The simple answer is: “we go into caves”.

The reality is that caving covers a range of interests and skills. Some reasons for wanting to go into caves include:

• Exploration - finding previously unknown parts of a cave or even a completely new cave drives a lot of cavers. If you've ever been on a guided tour of a cave and wanted to explore the side passages, then caving is for you.
• Recreation - just walking through and photographing known cave routes is fun. Most caves have crystal decoration (stalagmites, stalactites, etc.), large chambers and sometimes underground rivers and lakes. If you've ever enjoyed a tourist cave then you'll love getting to see the 'wild' caves that most people never get to see.
• Sport - most caves offer fun and challenging (sub)terrain to get through and often involve climbing, crawling, abseiling and sometimes swimming!

Caving is quite similar to canyoning in that it requires climbing and scrambling over rocks and some abseiling, but we also have to do some crawling to get to the best parts of the cave. It is also similar to the approach and exit climbs of outdoor climbing, or just walking over boulder fields.

No experience is required to come caving with NUCC - most of our members had never been caving before joining. However, for trips that require rope work you will need to demonstrate your competency at the SRT training nights.

Caving Gear

You won't need to purchase any gear to come caving with NUCC - we provide helmets, headlamps and harnesses. All you need is suitable clothing, food & water, and batteries. The standard checklist for our trips is:

• 8xAA batteries for the headlamps (4 for the headlamp and 4 spare)
• A small bottle of water for in the cave (plastic water bottles are fine)
• Snack food for in the cave (non-crumbly - space food sticks, jelly snakes, etc.)
• Clothes that you are willing to get dirty and possibly ripped (long pants and long-sleeved shirt to avoid cuts).
• Sturdy shoes such as running shoes or hiking boots.
• A change of clothes for the trip home.

Our overnight trips also require camping gear, namely a sleeping bag and sleeping mat. There will usually be enough tents to go around and we have portable stoves for cooking.