Drysuits for caving...

[txcaver]

Greetings cavers-
I'm looking for a drysuit and though I'm not yet cave certified, I'm pursuing the training actively, and an active diver here in Colorado (lots of cold water). I would appreciate any insight from cavers on features of drysuits that make them better suited for caving vs. openwater use.
Cheers----Chris

[Arnold Mesiser]

I use a drysuit for a couple of caves we have here that have COLD river water running through them(winter caving).It is an old Poseidon unisuit with the valves removed and patched.It stands up to the abuse but for any cave with miles or walking it would get WAY too warm.Another concern is if you dont wear drysuit thermals underneath,how well will you handle a leak way back in a system.

I recently talked with David Sawatzky on this subject and he mentioned both himself and many of our west coast Rocky mountain cavers/cave divers have found drysuits NOT to be durable enough and overheating is a huge problem.Even in the caves with glacial melt water ( winter caving),drysuits are only carried to the sumps not caved in.I was looking at some of the SAR drysuits but he felt Bilam would not stand up to the abuse at all.

For the shorter winter river trips the crushed neoprene is working for me but its use is limited IMHO.Duncan Price may be able to offer some thoughts as I was sure I read about some Brits drysuit caving outside of needing one for the sumps.

[txcaver]

Sound like I'll be using the 7mm. Thanks----Chris