From
July 28th
to August 11th,
2018
Tent
camp at the caving club building in Blaubeuren - Seißen
Recommended age for
participants: 16 years and older
Caves are geotopes and biotopes and thus sensitive
climate archives which are worth to explore.
Research and protection of those climate archives
and their current climatological conditions being indicators for
climate change is an actual and important European concern.
Speleologists can support the exploration and
protection of those climate archives by international cooperation.
A good training is the best precondition for
research and caving activities.
Therefore we offer different training courses and
a wide supporting program covering all important subjects of caving.
Due to small groups the training will be very effective.
An additional intention of the camp is to meet
other young cavers. You can establish ties, talk about common
interests, hobbies and culture and perhaps meet again in your home
area to visit karst areas and caves for future joint research.
The camp is intended for young people who want to start with
caving or who already have some experience and want to extend their
skills.
You should be able to communicate in English or
German language.
We will offer the following
courses:
I. Techniques for Cave Exploration including Rescue Topics
Main topic of this course is
to learn solid basic skills in cave exploration. There will be topics
about ropes and knots, security, rescue, rappelling in shafts, rope
ladders and single rope techniques (SRT).
II. Cave Surveying
A detailed cave map is
essential for cave research. You will learn the basics techniques of
cave surveying and how to draw a cave map with a computer (Therion).
You will train the use of DistoX together with a PDA and you get to
know other different surveying equipment like compass and clinometer.
III.
Biology, Fauna und Eco-Systems in Caves
Methods for collecting cave fauna and flora will
be shown. You will take samples in a cave and learn how to draft
documentation and interpret the data. Course participants should
develop a concept about the status of flora and fauna in a cave and
become more sensible about the cave as a fragile biological system.
IV. Geology:
Geology is investigating how
caves form but also delivers valuable information for cavers.
We
will learn the basics of karst geology such as:
-
Forms of karst structures: dolines, ponors and resurgences
-
Fossils and minerals, stratigraphy and geological methods of work
-
Karst caves: speleogenesis and contents of caves
As
weather situation allows, we will make field-trips on the Swabian
Alb.
V. Electronics
in Caves
Electronic Radio Direction Finding, Communication
techniques through the earth, GPS navigation. Theoretical
presentations and practical work.
VI. Logging of Climate Data in Caves
Equipment for measuring climate relevant
parameters and transferring that data to the surface will be
explained. Theoretical basics and practical use of the equipment will
be demonstrated.
VII. Cave Climatology
An introduction to the subject of climate in caves
is given. What is climate in caves, why is it done, cave protection
and exploration. Air temperature and air circulation measurements
will be done in theory and practice. It will be explained how to plan
an own project and how to do the data analysis.
VIII. Applied Hydrology
Measurements of water drain and water pile up
experiments will be made to calculate unknown cave volumes behind
springs. We will also do salt tracer experiments and analysis. Theory
and practical work will be shown.
IX. Palaeontology and
Archaeology
Together with a specialist
of the national museum for natural history you will look for
pre-historic bones in a special district and compare these bones with
others from the museum. You will learn to name these findings.
We
offer you field trips to the caves in the world culture heritage
(since 2017) in our region.
For all participants the following additional presentations will
be offered:
-
Regional geology, speleogenesis, cave contents, biospeleology, knowledge about technical caving gear, cave rescue, cave protection, bat protection and much more...
-
Field trip on the Swabian Alb.
-
Field trip: Landscape- and prehistoric hike in the Schmiech-, Ach- and Blau- river valleys.
The evenings in the camp mainly serve a social
purpose. If you own a musical instrument or sports equipment, please
bring it with you to the camp.
The camp is located in the caving club building of
the “Höhlenverein Blaubeuren” near Blaubeuren-Seissen. We can
offer a big room, restrooms and showers and a campfire place for
comfortable evenings. You can camp at the edge of the forest around
the building. There is also enough space for motor homes. Electricity
will only be available occasionally.
Please take the following basic equipment for
caving with you:
Overall (Schlaz), sufficiently warm underwear,
e.g. under-overall, warm track suit or equivalent, rubber boots with
a good profile, helmet with electrical lamp (no carbide lamp), spare
lamp, rechargeable battery loader.
The participation fee is: Age 25 and younger €
270.00 (Sponsored by the EU)
Age 26 and older € 360.00
This includes:
For 16 days: accommodation (recreation room, place
for a tent, restrooms with showers), 3 meals per day, support and
training in small groups by experienced cavers, excursions and
entrance fees for common activities, a CD-ROM with the course
documentation, youth group insurance (health, third party liability,
accident) for participants aged 25 and younger for the duration of
the camp. Please bring an international health insurance certificate
to make processing easier.
For participants age 26 and older we strongly recommend to have their
own insurance (health, third party liability, accident including
salvage costs as offered for example for “Deutscher Alpenverein
DAV”-members).
An advance payment of € 50.00 is oblighatory.
Please send it immediately after receipt of the confirmation of your
course registration. The remaining fee must be send until June 30th,
2018.
For
registration please fill out one of the registration forms with a
computer (prefered). There are 4 variants available: DOC-files or
ODT-files for open-source text programs, both in german or english.
Save
the completed file and please add your name the the file name.
Print
out only the first page and add the required signatures on paper.
Scan
the page or make a photo of the lower half of the page.
Send
this photo with the completed file to:
For
more information, addresses, etc. please see: www.juhoefola.de
or call: +49-7394-1566, mobil: 0174-7463011
Please
send your registration with email to: Markus.boldt@gmx.net
Or
with regular mail:
Petra
Boldt
Hauptstr.4
D-89601
Schelklingen-Schmiechen
Phone:
+49-7394-1566, mobil 0174-7463011
From
4.5.18 – 11.6.18 I can’t get regular mail because I am on
vacation.
Closing date for registration is June 30th,
2018.
Due to the limited capacity, we recommend
immediate registration.
With the confirmation of your course registration
you will get a detailed map where we are located and a list of what
things you should bring with you to the camp.