Hi,

There's a knackered electron ladder (wires broken) coiled up near the top of the short pitch down to the Promised Land in CaF.  On top of it is a little laminated notice saying something along the lines of "Please leave this equipment alone, October 2015".

Because of that notice we obviously left it alone when we were in there yesterday. However, who's is this ladder and do they really want it left there? It would clearly be unsafe to use, so would whoever own's it like it brought out?  We are likely to be in there again in the not too distant future.

Cheers,

LD

Long Drop said:

Hi,

There's a knackered electron ladder (wires broken) coiled up near the top of the short pitch down to the Promised Land in CaF.  On top of it is a little laminated notice saying something along the lines of "Please leave this equipment alone, October 2015".

Because of that notice we obviously left it alone when we were in there yesterday. However, who's is this ladder and do they really want it left there? It would clearly be unsafe to use, so would whoever own's it like it brought out?  We are likely to be in there again in the not too distant future.

Cheers,

LD

Click to expand...

This could well be the ladder I removed from the pitch back in the early to mid 1980s and left coiled up at the top of the drop, because it was unsafe to use.

However, Grwp OCAF, who had put the ladder there in the first place, informed us that the ladder was perfectly safe to use and that equipment in the cave should not be touched. As far as I heard they were planning to re-rig the ladder again, but perhaps had a change of heart once they saw its state . . . ? This could even be the group's successor ladder dating from the same period, but I seem to recollect seeing the same useless piece of rusted wire rigged back in place again, minus a few more rungs, on a subsequent trip, later during the 1980s. We, of course, took our own ladder in to get down and back up the pitch safely.

If nothing else, if this is the same ladder, it would have great historic interest as being a piece of the original exploration equipment used in the cave by the original explorers, with a renewed copy of their 'please do not touch' notice - but in no way should anyone try to use it as a means of getting down the pitch, since they may end up at the bottom sooner than they anticipate.

Long Drop,
This ladder was hanging from a high level passage above the Promised Land. It had been there many years and clearly was in a state (you can still find some of it on the floor under the pitch). I climbed this pitch (not using the ladder) approx 8 months ago and dropped this ladder down and coiled it up ready to remove from the cave one day. The laminated notice is what I kept with my gear so people wouldn't touch it. Just haven't been back for a while. I left my ropes on the pitch, all in good condition, worth having a look up there as not many people have been up there.

Clive G,
This ladder was located above the Promised Land just after you have gone down the pitch into the Promised Land.

Hi Ogof anghenfil,

We saw your rope but weren't equipped for SRT. Maybe next time.

(If and when we next go back I'll ping you a message, in case you haven't been back in the meantime. We had lots of spare hands yesterday and could easily have brought that ladder back to the logbook and left it there for you, protected by your laminated notice.  If we are likely to have capacity to do that next time I'll let you know.)

Will look forward to reading about the hundreds of metres of well decorated passage you find at the top of the climb. 

ATB,

LD

Ogof anghenfil said:

Long Drop,
This ladder was hanging from a high level passage above the Promised Land. It had been there many years and clearly was in a state (you can still find some of it on the floor under the pitch). I climbed this pitch (not using the ladder) approx 8 months ago and dropped this ladder down and coiled it up ready to remove from the cave one day. The laminated notice is what I kept with my gear so people wouldn't touch it. Just haven't been back for a while. I left my ropes on the pitch, all in good condition, worth having a look up there as not many people have been up there.

Clive G,
This ladder was located above the Promised Land just after you have gone down the pitch into the Promised Land.

Click to expand...

Well, the ladder you mention was in better condition than the one I removed from the pitch down into the Promised Land, but it was left out of reach up in the air!

John Parker did the climb and rigged a ladder up there and is the only person I'm aware of who has done any serious looking around at the top. Depending on the direction of the ongoing passage in the roof, because I don't think it has ever been completely surveyed or pushed to a conclusion, this is a major contender for heading in the direction of Daren Cilau and making a 'connection' beyond the chokes of Far Epocalypse - yet, somehow, I don't think this objective has ever been on John Parker's menu list of 'things to do'!

Clive G said:

I don't think this objective has ever been on John Parker's menu list of 'things to do'!

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On the subject of JP's list, I was on another trip into OCaF at the weekend, it was very enjoyable.

We went to the helectites, but also went for to check out choke 5.
When we got to choke 5, we had a good furtle around.

On the left (very near the path, and not quite in the main choke) is a section of dug out choke it has some white coiled up bang wire in it.
There are two things we noticed about this dig.
Firstly the sound of burbling water at the bottom and secondly (more confusing) was a small scattering of bat droppings.

When we discussed it with stuart, we think that the water may come from nearby helectite passage and run under the passage just before choke 5 and head in the direction of the promised land passage and far epocolypse.

As for the bat droppings, i guess they may not have survived any digging project in the passage, unless the diggers were being particularly careful.
So either they are new, in which case where has the bat got in.
Or someones come along and scattered some bat droppings around as a lark (theres not very many, about as much as if you have a small habitation of mice in your shed, ie enough to just notice)
Or they are old, in which case they could have beed deposited before C5 collapsed (which would explain the slight mould on them).

All very interesting, and needs a good furtle by a local.