Latest updates to the guide, version 13.9:
The P8 topo now has more detailed drawings of the area around Idiot's Leap to help navigation and updated rigging of the high level routes there. There is some confusion as to which of the two high level SRT routes is the one actually called Boney Pitch, so for now the name has been removed. The rigging for the Iron Ladder pitch has been corrected. We had the two anchors used to descend the pitch being part of the high level traverse, when in fact they are a couple of metres lower down and on the opposite wall. The DCA topo has the same thing. There is some confusion over the name of Stalagmite Passage. In surveys it is called Stalagmite Passage, but in lots of guide books over the years it is called Stalactite Passage, even if it is called Stalagmite in a survey in the same book. The same mismatch seems to have been copied from one guide book to the next over the decades. We are trying to trace the name back to the earliest exploration, with help from various people. For now, it stays as Stalagmite. My suggestion has been to compromise and rename it Stagatite Passage!
Snelsow Swallet now includes the rigging for the lower pitch. This is on stainless expansion anchors. Not official DCA anchors, but well placed. The DCA are still working on the anchors and lid for the top entrance, so for now, this part of the cave has been removed from the topo, but there is space for it to go, when the route is open for business.
At Eldon Hole, the South Gully route topo has been modified to make rigging and using the route a little easier. There are two anchors about a metre apart on the East Wall, where the gully goes vertical, the second of which was shared with the East Wall route. Getting to the second anchor from the first was awkward and adds nothing to the safety of the route, so the rebelay on the topo now goes from the first anchor. Provided the deviation on the West Wall is used, then all should be well.
Corrected the introduction. The date of our first publised rigging guide was 1994.
Jen