Ian Adams
Active member
Hi,
I had a club trip to Rhosydd Mine on Saturday (6th Feb) and met another club coming through from Croesor. They have reported that there is damage to the equipment which is likely to impede other clubs visiting.
There is no single club that takes responsibility for the equipment in Croesor but I have posted this to the local mine forum too (plenty of the frequenters there know the mine well and someone may be able to effect repairs).
In the interim, here is the damage report for anyone thinking about a trip (copied and pasted);
Hi Ian,
I was one of the party that you met on Saturday afternoon, in Rhosydd mine. We experienced a problem on the first Tyrolean that we need to make others aware of. Hopefully you're well connected with local miner explorers and will therefore be able to pass this on to those who need to know.
When we arrived at the side of the 1st lake we tried to retrieve the fixed pulley, using the return cord. However, about 40% of the way across there was a 30cm strand of cable pointing directly upward. This completely prevented the pulley from returning. Luckily one of the two fixed cheek pulleys we were carrying, was wide enough to fit over this wider gauge wire. We also had a roll of blue insulation tape with us. I went out to the blockage and used tape at 10cm intervals to tie the strand down to the main wire. When I say strand, it was actually more like 4mm in diameter. Whilst the end was taped down, it was possible for the fixed pulley to travel carefully in both directions, across the breakage. We obviously weighted the pulley so that it return more smoothly.
We were lucky that we had a suitable pulley and had some tape. Otherwise we would have had to abort the through trip and prusik back up the pitches. Obviously the insulation tape is a very temporary fix and will not last for many more crossings.
I'm not sure who we should tell about this, but we need to make some effort to inform those involved in managing the fixed aids, so as to minimise the impact on the next explorers.
I had a club trip to Rhosydd Mine on Saturday (6th Feb) and met another club coming through from Croesor. They have reported that there is damage to the equipment which is likely to impede other clubs visiting.
There is no single club that takes responsibility for the equipment in Croesor but I have posted this to the local mine forum too (plenty of the frequenters there know the mine well and someone may be able to effect repairs).
In the interim, here is the damage report for anyone thinking about a trip (copied and pasted);
Hi Ian,
I was one of the party that you met on Saturday afternoon, in Rhosydd mine. We experienced a problem on the first Tyrolean that we need to make others aware of. Hopefully you're well connected with local miner explorers and will therefore be able to pass this on to those who need to know.
When we arrived at the side of the 1st lake we tried to retrieve the fixed pulley, using the return cord. However, about 40% of the way across there was a 30cm strand of cable pointing directly upward. This completely prevented the pulley from returning. Luckily one of the two fixed cheek pulleys we were carrying, was wide enough to fit over this wider gauge wire. We also had a roll of blue insulation tape with us. I went out to the blockage and used tape at 10cm intervals to tie the strand down to the main wire. When I say strand, it was actually more like 4mm in diameter. Whilst the end was taped down, it was possible for the fixed pulley to travel carefully in both directions, across the breakage. We obviously weighted the pulley so that it return more smoothly.
We were lucky that we had a suitable pulley and had some tape. Otherwise we would have had to abort the through trip and prusik back up the pitches. Obviously the insulation tape is a very temporary fix and will not last for many more crossings.
I'm not sure who we should tell about this, but we need to make some effort to inform those involved in managing the fixed aids, so as to minimise the impact on the next explorers.