Madness
New member
Me and my mate have been doing the odd evening trip recently. What differed from the norm this week was that we had a novice with us.
Now, this novice has done a bit of caving, but their SRT experience is very limited. Basically they'd never had to deal with a deviation or rebelay. I'd shown the novice how to deal with these the evening before and they appeared to understand what they needed to do.
So, taking into account the novices level of experience, I decided that we should go and do Knotlow. (A bad choice as it turned out)
The first pitch was easy as it's just a straight drop. The second pitch has an easy deviation and it's right at the top of the pitch so it's easy to give advice. No problem there either.
But, I'd forgotten how awkward the waterfall pitch is and how noisy it can be. The inevitable happened, i.e. the novice had a bit of a epic. Advice couldn't be heard above the noise of the water and it was blatantly obvious that the novice was not a happy bunny. They eventually managed to get down (with help) and back up (with help), but they expended enough engery to light Monyash for a week in the process.
I'm feeling a bit guilty, as I overestimated their ability, and in hindsight I could have rigged the pitch slightly differently to make getting on an off the traverse and onto the pitch a fair bit less strenuous. I hope that the experience doesn't put them off.
I think all three of us learned a bit of a lesson last night. Probably me more than anybody.
Now, this novice has done a bit of caving, but their SRT experience is very limited. Basically they'd never had to deal with a deviation or rebelay. I'd shown the novice how to deal with these the evening before and they appeared to understand what they needed to do.
So, taking into account the novices level of experience, I decided that we should go and do Knotlow. (A bad choice as it turned out)
The first pitch was easy as it's just a straight drop. The second pitch has an easy deviation and it's right at the top of the pitch so it's easy to give advice. No problem there either.
But, I'd forgotten how awkward the waterfall pitch is and how noisy it can be. The inevitable happened, i.e. the novice had a bit of a epic. Advice couldn't be heard above the noise of the water and it was blatantly obvious that the novice was not a happy bunny. They eventually managed to get down (with help) and back up (with help), but they expended enough engery to light Monyash for a week in the process.
I'm feeling a bit guilty, as I overestimated their ability, and in hindsight I could have rigged the pitch slightly differently to make getting on an off the traverse and onto the pitch a fair bit less strenuous. I hope that the experience doesn't put them off.
I think all three of us learned a bit of a lesson last night. Probably me more than anybody.