Peak Cavern rigging

[Rob]

The two pitches down from Fingernail Chamber to the Ride were both rigged...

Has anyone been up there recently and know if the 2 short pitches still are? Want to do ROTV, and being lazy, don't want to carry excess ropes...

Sorry, no update from me.

You could pull through ROTV so wouldn't need those ropes, but it is a bit committing if the ropes aren't there.

Also actually you would almost certainly need more ropes to pull through, but it is a right good trip.... (although normally a right bugger to pull down!)

 

[hrock]

the up pitch to vortex 3 is still rigged though not no nice rope or bolts and there is some bits and bobs of mine up there that i need to tidy up.

if it keeps raining i will be rerigging these ropes on wednesday and moving them on to the bolts that have been in for years but are still unused.

rotv v1 or v3 and balcoms way are all still not on the survay

if any one is up for some caveing on wednesday let me know the dry weather option is proof loading the new cliff caven bolts and haveing a look up clifhanger and JE

 

[MikeyP]

Cheers guys, was down there today. The 2 pitches are still rigged down to Balcombes way, unfortunately didn't do RoTV in the end though as there were only two of us.  Didn't fancy lugging all that rope about, along with the titan ropes...  :-[  Next time!

Western highway is incredible though, hats off to you guys for the amount of work that's gone into it. Hope it pays off soon! 

 

[Pitlamp]

W H is an impressively big passage isn't it? The day we got into that it felt like journey to the centre of the earth. Makes you pause to ponder on what other secrets the Peak system has to treat us with. It'd not surprise me if there were other Titans lurking under Castleton Moor.

 

[hrock]

mikeyP whats the water like down there at the mo.

pitlamp yes i hope there are more and i hope they hurry up and show them self.

 

[MikeyP]

Titan was quite wet but still easily passable. And there was a bit more than the usual trickle coming from stemple highway. Didn't venture into speedwell, so couldn't say what it'd be like beyond the boulder piles, unfortunately. I'd say 'average wet' - if that's in any way a useful term 

 

[hrock]

yes that sounds like what i was expecting but now it is raining quite a bit.  and i have spent today making a pump for JE rather than sorting kit for weston highway

 

[MikeyP]

. . . in fact, before I forget to mention it, there is another large and probably still undescended pitch in that area of Far Sump Extension. If you set off abseiling down the original exploration route of Ride Of The Valkyries (i.e. the unsatisfactory route down the gully rather than the better more recent route which is further out) about 10 to 15 metres down is a small oval hole leading back under Balcombe's Way. It leads almost immediately to yet another great shaft which enters Stemple Highway between Salmon's Cavern and the crawl through to AI Passage...

Did anyone get round to doing this?

 

[alastairgott]

Don't think it's been done yet.

i think the "up" ropes from calcite aven to ROTV need a bit of fettling too, i think theres some rope rub tied out and some maillons need replacing.

 

[MikeyP]

Thanks Alastair. It?s been done now and (as Pitlamp suggested) makes a very impressive descent which lands you bob-on the top rung of the 1st ladder in Stemple Highway.

We both had a good look on the way down (and up), but all the ways off appear to be along the same line as the rest of the major development in the area, with further shafts in the roof probably going straight up into the floor of Balcombe's Way and windows lower down dropping elsewhere into Stemple Highway. Shortly before the base of the pitch you could also see north-west through into the continuation of the main Stemple Highway tube and see the top of the rope protecting the 2nd ladder pitch, there didn't appear to be anything exciting happening in between. The whole Stemple Highway/Balcombe?s Way area really is like a massive block of Swiss cheese.

We stripped the hangers, as we thought it very unlikely that it would be repeated what with the main RoTV pitch right next door, but left the stainless bolts and nuts in place just in case (they?ve been over-drilled so can be knocked in if need be). If anyone does fancy a look, you?ll need 5 hangers, 1 deviation and a 70m rope and can start the pitch by rigging a large Y from the existing bolts approx. 2/3 of the way along the RoTV traverse. 

For the record, the aven above the start of the RoTV traverse is blind after approx. 25-30m and the rope on those 2 short pitches down to Balcombe?s Way is still in good nick.

 

[Rob]

Great work guys.

I'm guessing none of it was surveyed but do you plan to update the cross sectional survey with at least a sketch?

 

[Scud]

Rob.

It's still on my list of things to do to re-survey some of the higher level passages of Far Sump Extensions, hopefully in the Spring. I might be able to pick that up then.

Wayne

 

[Rob]

Scud, we don't even have RoTV on the 3D model, so anything from Fingernail Chamber on would be excellent.... 

 

[MikeyP]

I'm guessing none of it was surveyed but do you plan to update the cross sectional survey with at least a sketch?

Yup, just done this http://thedpc.co.uk/projects/other/263-13-far-sump-extension-2 (I hope Pitlamp doesn't mind me meddling with and sharing his original sketch). There's quite a bit that needs updating, I'm not sure if there's a more recent version?

Wayne, if you need some extra bodies to help with the surveying, let us know - we'll be more than happy to help!

 

[Pitlamp]

Well done folks; sounds like you enjoyed it. There's certainly a lot of fine vertical cave in that area. If you include Titan and JH I doubt there's any other British cave system with such a concentration of magnificent shafts in such a small area. (Good luck with that other thing I mentioned as well.)

By all means make use of my elevation on Far Sump Extension if it's helpful.