Hi All,

allthough most mines in Switzerland are pretty dry, I am planning some wet trips in the near future.

What sort of (semi)waterproof overalls are you using? How long is the material lasting and whats you source for that stuff?

Thanks,
Stefan

For mines in the UK up to waist depth water I usually have a furry suit and then an oversuit, one of the warmbac cordura ones or the meander PVC yellows ones. The PVC ones tends to be better I feel due to it being PVC and not PU backed like the warmbac one (which tends to leak after a while, also a ****** to clean as mud gets worked into the material).

For long waist water depth trips or deep water I will put on a 3mm wetsuit, which is fine for water found in mines as it is still, running water like in caves is a different matter as it is colder, so a thicker wetsuit is needed.

All stuff available from Bernies, Inglesports, Warmbac direct, Caving supplies.

I have had my warmbac cordura suit since summer 2004, approx 2 trips a month since then, suit material is good, no rips, but the PU waterproof film on the inside leaks now. Others use the Meander PVC suit and seem to get a similar life, but without the leaks.

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could you name a few mines for me im going to zermatt for 2 weeks in july..the odd mine will make a change from skiing,preferably near to public transport.

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Well, in the Zermatt valley there is not much about mining. Two valleys away in the Val d'Anniviers are about 20 mines, in the Rhone valley itself half of that (mostly Anthracite). I live half an hour away from Zermatt at the entrance of the valley leading to Zermatt. Easiest would be to drop me a note and I could show you some of the larger mines here. By car its far easier than by public transport.

Vice versa, I am interested into a trip to the Carrock Wolframite Mine. After the visit of the Montmins Wolframite Mine in France (not underground though) I am a bit addicted of Wolframite...any informations are welcome (especially about equipment needed).

I use a beaver oversuit from Bernie's cheap and works well 🙂

http://www.berniescafe.co.uk/catalog/ 

http://www.inglesport.co.uk/ 

http://www.caving-supplies.co.uk/ 

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Thanks for the infos and the links. I will study the catalogs and see whats best.

I use a beaver oversuit from Bernie's cheap and works well :)

I am using one of these Beaver Suits at the moment, but I find that the waterproof membrane on the inside make it a very sweaty suit to wear. I think I will go back to the Kingsdale suits when I wear it out.

http://www.daleswear.co.uk/  (Seems to be off line at the moment)

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