Giant's round by Luciana
8/06/19
How is it possible for people to stay up until 2am (or was it 3?) and still do something like caving the next day? This is insane!!! Science has yet to find the answer to this question.
It was definitely a trial by fire having my first caving weekend be the 60th anniversary (ish) reunion. Never has Todd's "my drinking club has a caving problem" t-shirt been more accurate! Here was me expecting we'd drive to the hut, have some snacks, and get an early Friday night before the busy Saturday... Nope!!!
Most of my above - ground memories of the Saturday involve a lot of rain. Driving to the cave in the rain, changing into caving gear in the rain, trying to adjust my harness in the rain. It was probably a good day to go caving, I couldn't wait to go underground.
Alex was the trip leader, I was second in, and everyone else behind me: Tom (the enthusiastic chap), Eric (the quiet fresher), Caleb (whose name I'm not sure I spelled right) and Sahil (who actually went caving!).
Going in after Alex was the best idea ever - he's patient, knowledgeable, and a good mix of keep-the-group-moving and make-sure-everyone's-okay. He told me where the water was deepest, where the crab-walk was narrowest, and where to put my feet when I got flustered walking across the top of the crevasse. Don't really know what everyone else was doing, as they were behind me - summoning daemons? Contacting aliens? Possibly.
You know, for a group of people who slag each other so much. I didn't expect such a sense of camaraderie and a distinct absence of slagging once we got underground. That really impressed me. (You're still a bunch of weirdos though. <3 )
After 4 hours underground, all I wanted to do was nap. Well, shower off the mud, and nap. Mud that had gotten absolutely everywhere. Mud in places no mud should ever be. Holy shit, just so much mud.
We still had the fancy dinner though which was by all accounts a civilized affair I'm possibly a poor choice for writing this entry, as I didn't know most people there, and I've forgotten the names of the people I was introduced to, all ex-MUSC of course. Is it just me or are there a lot of poop stories from the older crowd? Never thought a fun after-dinner story would involve someone pooping into a crevasse, but here we are... I can never un-hear that.
The games were brilliant though - three-armed three-legged paired Twister anyone? That really needs to be marketed, it would make millions! And never have I seen as insane a sight as suspended sock-wrestling (while tipsy). That deserves to be an Olympic sport. I don't know how some people managed to go caving on Saturday, partake in suspended sock-wrestling, then go caving on Sunday again. It's mental.
On the whole, I think the weekend (and caving in general) was the definition of work-hard-play-hard. You guys definitely know how to "have the craic" as we say in Ireland! Looking forward to my next caving adventure!
How is it possible for people to stay up until 2am (or was it 3?) and still do something like caving the next day? This is insane!!! Science has yet to find the answer to this question.
It was definitely a trial by fire having my first caving weekend be the 60th anniversary (ish) reunion. Never has Todd's "my drinking club has a caving problem" t-shirt been more accurate! Here was me expecting we'd drive to the hut, have some snacks, and get an early Friday night before the busy Saturday... Nope!!!
Most of my above - ground memories of the Saturday involve a lot of rain. Driving to the cave in the rain, changing into caving gear in the rain, trying to adjust my harness in the rain. It was probably a good day to go caving, I couldn't wait to go underground.
Alex was the trip leader, I was second in, and everyone else behind me: Tom (the enthusiastic chap), Eric (the quiet fresher), Caleb (whose name I'm not sure I spelled right) and Sahil (who actually went caving!).
Going in after Alex was the best idea ever - he's patient, knowledgeable, and a good mix of keep-the-group-moving and make-sure-everyone's-okay. He told me where the water was deepest, where the crab-walk was narrowest, and where to put my feet when I got flustered walking across the top of the crevasse. Don't really know what everyone else was doing, as they were behind me - summoning daemons? Contacting aliens? Possibly.
You know, for a group of people who slag each other so much. I didn't expect such a sense of camaraderie and a distinct absence of slagging once we got underground. That really impressed me. (You're still a bunch of weirdos though. <3 )
After 4 hours underground, all I wanted to do was nap. Well, shower off the mud, and nap. Mud that had gotten absolutely everywhere. Mud in places no mud should ever be. Holy shit, just so much mud.
We still had the fancy dinner though which was by all accounts a civilized affair I'm possibly a poor choice for writing this entry, as I didn't know most people there, and I've forgotten the names of the people I was introduced to, all ex-MUSC of course. Is it just me or are there a lot of poop stories from the older crowd? Never thought a fun after-dinner story would involve someone pooping into a crevasse, but here we are... I can never un-hear that.
The games were brilliant though - three-armed three-legged paired Twister anyone? That really needs to be marketed, it would make millions! And never have I seen as insane a sight as suspended sock-wrestling (while tipsy). That deserves to be an Olympic sport. I don't know how some people managed to go caving on Saturday, partake in suspended sock-wrestling, then go caving on Sunday again. It's mental.
On the whole, I think the weekend (and caving in general) was the definition of work-hard-play-hard. You guys definitely know how to "have the craic" as we say in Ireland! Looking forward to my next caving adventure!
- Luciana :)
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