Nettle Pot - To Hell And Back - Tuesday 1st Sept 2015
8 Years ago Pete O?Neil set me a job to resurvey to the bottom of Nettle, due to him having doubts about the quality of the existing survey. I mostly ignored him. The Eldon PC?s recent explorations in Crusader (Oxlow) last year were sufficient to increase my interest in the surrounding area including Nettle, and what better way to learn a place than to survey it, even if it is basically a draughtless and overly tight hole to nowhere.
On a single trip with MarkR and SimonG in Jan 2015, we got most of the way, but DistoX battery issues turned us around. It took until September for me to return, this time with LukeC. As always, I had great plans. Finish the survey in Hell, push a lead I remembered from years back, then survey Red River and maybe even Dratsab (and of course make it out in time for the pub). As always, I under-delivered?
The trip started efficiently and pleasantly, the survey to the bottom got completed in no-time, and the mood was generally high, assisted by the musical accompaniment of the Foos playing on my surveying phone.
I quickly smashed that satisfaction aside when I suggested we give the place a bit of a tidy. It
was a state down there, but I still don?t know what came over me. I think it was because the plan was seeming to go so well that I figured it can?t be that hard to remove the few bits lying about in this remote and neglected dig site. I even wondered whether such small amounts would be worthy of note compared to so many of the other sterling efforts in this thread, and wondered how much exaggeration would be needed!?!
It started off slowly. A few bits of stemming wood, the occasional chisel, a few bottles of half full washing up liquid (why, just why?), ooo a hammer, a bigger chisel, a battered old electron ladder, some scaf clips, and even bigger chisel. Ahead Luke had picked up a steel scaf tube and a 1.5m long, really heavy, air drill bit. For some reason things just seemed to slow down.
Once back at the base of the bottom pitch in Hell (Eyes Down?), Luke hauled the seriously heavy tacklebag whilst I freeclimbed alongside to steer it up through the tight and awkward rifts, although that action was primarily as I didn?t want to be below the horrendously dangerous load. As I climbed up passed the lead I was hoping to push I realised this trip was now going to be one compromise after another.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwLJYCLg-pM
We were right when we anticipated the most difficult bit would be at the top of the next pitch (Bingo Pot?), where a tight pitch head leads straight into an even tighter meander. Both memorable obstacles on a normal day. Needless to say, we were both shattered after that section, leading us to reflect how hard it would be removing a casualty from this place! My suggestion to survey Red River was quickly yet politely declined by Luke, and after a quick explore we continued the crawls back to the main pitches.
I wouldn?t say that satisfaction was setting in yet, but the actual process of collecting rubbish seemed to be infectious. We both just kept filling our pockets and oversuits, clipping bits onto belts, and generally trying to make the place cleaner. I was even strangely happy when I realised one of the washing up liquid bottles was leaking.
Once at the bottom of Beza caution defeated valour as we left the drill bit to one side. There was just too high a chance it was going to drop through the base of the quickly disintegrating tackle bag, and as it was Luke?s turn to derig, he was going to be constantly in the firing line below me!
Getting to the surface at midnight after what felt like a lot longer than a 5 hour trip, we agreed that was both a stupid and unusually pleasing thing to do. Certainly a nice change, and if nothing else, I?ve got a scaf bar to take down a different dig?
UKC, Nettle thanks you for encouraging us to clean up her lower bits!
! We hauled out as much as possible with the space we had left in our bags.
