A3-5) Fat people and Caving
Description
This article is from the Big Folks Sports and Activities FAQ, by sharon@ecs.ox.ac.uk (Sharon Curtis) with numerous contributions by others.
A3-5) Fat people and Caving
Caving combines seeing the beauty (or mud!) of the underground world
with physical exertion and challenge. Going underground can be a cross
between a obstacle course, a multigym and an art gallery!
All the different muscle groups get used (in fact I guarantee each time
you go caving, the next day you will find a muscle aching that you
never knew you had!). Typical physical exertions underground are walking
along upright, clambering over boulders, crawling on hands and knees,
crawling flat-out, climbing, ascending/descending ladders, abseiling
or ascending a rope using some sort of ascending system.
There are plenty of large cavers about, and it is perfectly possible to
cave whether you are short or tall, thin or fat, though different body
types tend to have their own advantages and disadvantages.
Tall people tend to be able to reach handholds and footholds more easily.
Then again, in a small space, tall people's limbs sometimes get in the
way and the short people have an advantage.
Fat people have the advantages of staying warm more easily, extra padding
in case you bump into a rock, fat people float more easily, and if going
down a steep narrow section, fat thighs make very good friction brakes
against the sides.
Thin people have the obvious advantage that they can get through
smaller rock gaps, and as thin people weigh less, a lot less effort is
required to ascend (whichever method).
The main advantage of being fat is the warmth advantage, but the
physical limitations of not being able to get through a tight passage
and having to put in a greater amount of effort are significant
disadvantages. The most useful asset for a caver is a large
upper-body-strength to weight ratio, and many large people (particularly
women) have a low ratio. This limits in particular the length of
ladder one can climb.
When you go caving, you can always choose an appropriate cave. Caves
come in varying degrees of difficulty, and have different heights of
pitches (vertical drops), and their narrowest sections vary, as do
the difficulty of the passages. Ask a friend for a recommendation.
Useful techniques for the large caver:
You can do weight-training exercises to strength the upper body and arms.
Also important is a good ladder technique. When using electron ladders,
concentrate on letting your feet support your weight, and your arms
keeping you close into the ladder. To get the correct position, put
your arms crossed over the other side of the ladder (Tutankhamen style!)
with hands gripping onto the wire sides of the ladder. Make sure as you
climb that your arms are only providing horizontal force. The great
temptation is to use them to pull you up with, which will tire them very
quickly. You may find (particularly if you have large calves) that putting
feet either side of the ladder to climb, or both feet on the other side
of the ladder may prove useful.
Equipment for the large caver:
To get a sit harness that fits, you may well be able to ask the
manufacturer if they can make one with a little more adjustment to
it. For clothing, you can go caving in tough old clothes that you
don't mind getting torn and muddy, but if you are going to be in a
wet cave, you *need* a proper fleece/furry and oversuit that will keep
you warm when wet. Furries are heavier than fleeces when wet, so you
may wish to go for a fleece. Caving clothing goes up to reasonably
large sizes, as there are plenty of large male cavers with beer
bellies. You can get large female clothing, but you might end up
having to alter a large men's size.
Most importantly, if you're interested in caving, join a local club!
In the US these are called grottos. They can teach you safe techniques
and you will then have plenty of friends to go caving with.
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