Cave Rescue

In the unfortunate event that you need to contact cave rescue call 999, ask for the police and then ask for cave rescue.

Every caver hopes they never have to call cave rescue.

Cave rescue is a volunteer organisation, with groups all over the UK to ensure every caving region has a group of experienced cavers who are trained in rescue techniques and specialist skills such as casualty care.

Although we do everything we can to minimise the risks associated with caving there will always be some risks. Getting an injury on the surface is typically a simple job of getting you to a doctor, but in a cave just getting you to the surface can be a long, arduous task. A general rule of thumb is that 20 minutes of able body caving translates to several hours of cave rescue even with a team of typically 40+ volunteers on the case. Cave rescue is never a fun experience for anyone involved.

So on top of all of the things we can do to ensure our trip runs smoothly described in caving safety we also always leave a "call out" with someone staying on the surface. A call out comprises of the participants on the trip and their respective abilities, the intended trip and route, a car registration (if necessary) and most importantly your expected time out. If you have not informed the person you left your call out with of the safe return of all of the parties to the surface by your call out time cave rescue will be called. Cave rescue can also be called if someone on the trip leaves the cave before everyone else to inform cave rescue of an accident that has happened or in rare cases if there is a sudden change in weather that could put the cavers at risk.

There are 15 cave rescue organisations in the UK, all of which and the regions they cover can be found on the British Cave Rescue Council website. The areas that we typically cave in are covered by the Cave Rescue Organisation (CRO) based in Yorkshire and the Derbyshire Cave Rescue Organisation (DCRO) in the Peak district.