Stupot
Active member
During the week leading up to this trip we pre rigged the 20 ft, Lower Fault Chamber and Shatter Pot, dive kit was left at Sump 2 and Sump 4 and rope was positioned at the foot of the 42' rift below Swine Puke, and not forgetting several food and drink dumps. The first Shatter duct and the duct at the foot of lower fault chamber were also pre bailed.
On the Saturday we met at 08.00 at the Wessex where a pre trip cup of tea was enjoyed before making the walk across the dew laden fields to Priddy Green Sink, once unlocked the ladder was dropped down and we descended into what I thought would be a squalid hole of cow sh*t at 09:25 but to my surprise it was relativity clean. After reaching RAF chamber we descended steeply down in narrow but not tight passage until we came to the apparent “crux†of Priddy Green Sink known as Clitoris Crawl, I must admit I had been fearing this for some time as I had been informed that it was very committing and once you are in that's it, well NN went first (head first) around the sharp right hand entrance, the rift then heads off in a horizontal position before dropping away vertically (the committing section) once at the bottom of the rift there is a low section and a left and right movement, as I followed in his steps my concern was the kit bag and helmet getting in the way but to be honest I got through with no problems, I would not class it as tight just awkward and head first was certainly the way forward (no pun intended).
Once through the “Crux†we were soon faced with Tin Can Alley which was a flat out low crawl where at the end the kit has to be forced up onto a ledge just the other side of a squeeze, this was a pig as you would push the bag through then follow on behind, the bag would then catch and jam blocking you in the squeeze with no arm movement, it was then a case of backing up and forcing it up high, once through we made our way to the series of pitches including El Krapitan and finally Mains Aven down to the Swildons 4 stream way. From here the SRT kit was packed away and the dive kit was donned before going through Sumps 4 and 5 and up to the Damp Link, the dive kit was ditched and we made our way up to the siphons where after some good old sucking power we managed to get all 4 siphons going, here we turned around to collect the dive kit and move back through Sumps 5 and 4 where the kit was left, one set of SRT kit along with batteries food and drink was collected before heading towards the start of the Watergate. This involved an awkward 3m climb up into a tightest section before the passage bends around to the right and opens out enough to walk in, a series of muddy ducts and rift passage was then followed with most ducts low enough to pass apart from one, there was about a 4†air space between water and ceiling but the start involved a constricted section, so as I lead on my back with helmet off I forced my through the tight section with water lapping around my nose, once through the tight section my head was met with a large black bucket which was not visible to start with, my problem here was that my arms were down by my side dragging kit bag and helmet and trying to move back through the squeeze without drowning was impossible and I couldn't move forward as the bucket was stuck fast, thoughts such as running out of air and drowning in a vial tight duct was slightly off putting, after some very careful manoeuvring as not to create any waves I managed to free an arm enough to force the bucket but even now it would not move as to my horror there was another bucket directly behind it digging into the mud as I pushed. So it was 3 – 2 -1 (lots of swearing and mud and water everywhere) I managed to move the buckets enough to reach a slightly wider section where I could roll over and punch them out the way. The final duct needed a fare amount of bailing before it was passable and before long we were at the last duct which was bailed in the week (still open) and there was our double ladder in Lower Fault Chamber, we climbed up and tucked into some food and drink which had been left at the head of the pitch.
Next we were off to Swine Puke, a climb up into the Air Less Oxbows presented us with our previously positioned kit bag which was collected and then pushed and carried around with us, we were now below the 42' rift leading up to Swine Puke, NN tied the rope around himself and then made the difficult free climb to the top, once up I tied the kit bag on and everything was hauled up, I then followed up behind, now the first 3 quarters of the climb is fairly easy with some reasonable foot and hand holds but it then gets a bit more serious as the rift becomes a lot smoother and more vertical, a slip here would be extremely serious if not fatal, it was a case of wedging yourself in the rift which is slightly too wide to hold yourself there comfortably, the final push was the hardest as it involved a standing up movement in the rift and your footing was critical as a single slip would send you straight down, the only real foot hold there was a tiny piece of stal no more than say 2 – 3 “ wide and quite slippery, but after a few attempts and a few heart stopping moments I made the committing move up into Swine Puke and what a relief that was. From here we headed on down to the pitch above Shatter Pot, NN rigged up a pull through and he descended half way down before swinging across onto the ladder, the SRT kit was then tied onto the rope and I followed suit.
We were now off to Tratmans Temple via the Greasy Chminey and Mud Sump but not before completing the Muddy Oxbows which took a good 15 minutes to bail and the liquid mud just filled our wetsuits, once out we were soon at Tratmans and heading back down the stream way to sump 1, at Sump 2 NN donned his dive gear and I opted for free diving as my kit was in Swildons 4, once through sumps 2 and 3 NN gave me his dive gear as he was happy to free dive 4 but I after numerous helmet issues in there I wasn't. On the far side of sump 4 all the dive kit was dumped and we made our way through sump 5 using the air bells and onto the start of the Damp Link, as we had set the siphons running earlier Gloop Sump was empty and we passed this with ease, next followed flat out crawling for what seemed like an eternity before we were faced with the second sump “Gritâ€, this was fully sumped and bailing it meant we would fill up “Gloop†behind us technically trapping ourselves in, after about 30 minutes of bailing and a little help from the siphons which were slightly temperamental too say the least the sump was almost dry, passing this involved lying on your back moving into the sump and then bending around a right angle until more space is found and you can roll over and exit the sump, not difficult but as the guide book states it could be if you had long legs. After some more flat out crawling and some rift sections we were finally into the Shatter Series and bailing the first duct and after around 10 minutes we had lowered it enough to pass, the second duct was low enough as this had been bailed during the week as part of the preparation, onto Shatter Pot and up the ladder where a quick drink was downed along with a Mars Bar before completing the Round Trip in traditional style (Troubles, Bang, Birthday Squeeze) and onto the Landing where a slide down positioned us in the Swildons 2 stream way, this was followed up all the way to the Water Chamber where we climbed up into the Oxbows to complete this loop of the trip, we entered back onto the Wet Way and took the link back around to Jacobs Ladder before the Shower Bath, the Short Dry way was then taken back to the Water Chamber where the Wet Way was completed in full before heading through the Shower Bath and Benny's Link to Jacobs Ladder again, the Short Dry way was then taken again before heading up the Long Dry way to Jacobs Ladder for a third time, the Zig Zags were then completed before exiting the cave at 19:25.
Total Trip Time 9hrs 55minutes.
A fantastic tour of Swildon's and one that I will never forget, nor will every muscle in my body, highly recommended.
Stu.
On the Saturday we met at 08.00 at the Wessex where a pre trip cup of tea was enjoyed before making the walk across the dew laden fields to Priddy Green Sink, once unlocked the ladder was dropped down and we descended into what I thought would be a squalid hole of cow sh*t at 09:25 but to my surprise it was relativity clean. After reaching RAF chamber we descended steeply down in narrow but not tight passage until we came to the apparent “crux†of Priddy Green Sink known as Clitoris Crawl, I must admit I had been fearing this for some time as I had been informed that it was very committing and once you are in that's it, well NN went first (head first) around the sharp right hand entrance, the rift then heads off in a horizontal position before dropping away vertically (the committing section) once at the bottom of the rift there is a low section and a left and right movement, as I followed in his steps my concern was the kit bag and helmet getting in the way but to be honest I got through with no problems, I would not class it as tight just awkward and head first was certainly the way forward (no pun intended).
Once through the “Crux†we were soon faced with Tin Can Alley which was a flat out low crawl where at the end the kit has to be forced up onto a ledge just the other side of a squeeze, this was a pig as you would push the bag through then follow on behind, the bag would then catch and jam blocking you in the squeeze with no arm movement, it was then a case of backing up and forcing it up high, once through we made our way to the series of pitches including El Krapitan and finally Mains Aven down to the Swildons 4 stream way. From here the SRT kit was packed away and the dive kit was donned before going through Sumps 4 and 5 and up to the Damp Link, the dive kit was ditched and we made our way up to the siphons where after some good old sucking power we managed to get all 4 siphons going, here we turned around to collect the dive kit and move back through Sumps 5 and 4 where the kit was left, one set of SRT kit along with batteries food and drink was collected before heading towards the start of the Watergate. This involved an awkward 3m climb up into a tightest section before the passage bends around to the right and opens out enough to walk in, a series of muddy ducts and rift passage was then followed with most ducts low enough to pass apart from one, there was about a 4†air space between water and ceiling but the start involved a constricted section, so as I lead on my back with helmet off I forced my through the tight section with water lapping around my nose, once through the tight section my head was met with a large black bucket which was not visible to start with, my problem here was that my arms were down by my side dragging kit bag and helmet and trying to move back through the squeeze without drowning was impossible and I couldn't move forward as the bucket was stuck fast, thoughts such as running out of air and drowning in a vial tight duct was slightly off putting, after some very careful manoeuvring as not to create any waves I managed to free an arm enough to force the bucket but even now it would not move as to my horror there was another bucket directly behind it digging into the mud as I pushed. So it was 3 – 2 -1 (lots of swearing and mud and water everywhere) I managed to move the buckets enough to reach a slightly wider section where I could roll over and punch them out the way. The final duct needed a fare amount of bailing before it was passable and before long we were at the last duct which was bailed in the week (still open) and there was our double ladder in Lower Fault Chamber, we climbed up and tucked into some food and drink which had been left at the head of the pitch.
Next we were off to Swine Puke, a climb up into the Air Less Oxbows presented us with our previously positioned kit bag which was collected and then pushed and carried around with us, we were now below the 42' rift leading up to Swine Puke, NN tied the rope around himself and then made the difficult free climb to the top, once up I tied the kit bag on and everything was hauled up, I then followed up behind, now the first 3 quarters of the climb is fairly easy with some reasonable foot and hand holds but it then gets a bit more serious as the rift becomes a lot smoother and more vertical, a slip here would be extremely serious if not fatal, it was a case of wedging yourself in the rift which is slightly too wide to hold yourself there comfortably, the final push was the hardest as it involved a standing up movement in the rift and your footing was critical as a single slip would send you straight down, the only real foot hold there was a tiny piece of stal no more than say 2 – 3 “ wide and quite slippery, but after a few attempts and a few heart stopping moments I made the committing move up into Swine Puke and what a relief that was. From here we headed on down to the pitch above Shatter Pot, NN rigged up a pull through and he descended half way down before swinging across onto the ladder, the SRT kit was then tied onto the rope and I followed suit.
We were now off to Tratmans Temple via the Greasy Chminey and Mud Sump but not before completing the Muddy Oxbows which took a good 15 minutes to bail and the liquid mud just filled our wetsuits, once out we were soon at Tratmans and heading back down the stream way to sump 1, at Sump 2 NN donned his dive gear and I opted for free diving as my kit was in Swildons 4, once through sumps 2 and 3 NN gave me his dive gear as he was happy to free dive 4 but I after numerous helmet issues in there I wasn't. On the far side of sump 4 all the dive kit was dumped and we made our way through sump 5 using the air bells and onto the start of the Damp Link, as we had set the siphons running earlier Gloop Sump was empty and we passed this with ease, next followed flat out crawling for what seemed like an eternity before we were faced with the second sump “Gritâ€, this was fully sumped and bailing it meant we would fill up “Gloop†behind us technically trapping ourselves in, after about 30 minutes of bailing and a little help from the siphons which were slightly temperamental too say the least the sump was almost dry, passing this involved lying on your back moving into the sump and then bending around a right angle until more space is found and you can roll over and exit the sump, not difficult but as the guide book states it could be if you had long legs. After some more flat out crawling and some rift sections we were finally into the Shatter Series and bailing the first duct and after around 10 minutes we had lowered it enough to pass, the second duct was low enough as this had been bailed during the week as part of the preparation, onto Shatter Pot and up the ladder where a quick drink was downed along with a Mars Bar before completing the Round Trip in traditional style (Troubles, Bang, Birthday Squeeze) and onto the Landing where a slide down positioned us in the Swildons 2 stream way, this was followed up all the way to the Water Chamber where we climbed up into the Oxbows to complete this loop of the trip, we entered back onto the Wet Way and took the link back around to Jacobs Ladder before the Shower Bath, the Short Dry way was then taken back to the Water Chamber where the Wet Way was completed in full before heading through the Shower Bath and Benny's Link to Jacobs Ladder again, the Short Dry way was then taken again before heading up the Long Dry way to Jacobs Ladder for a third time, the Zig Zags were then completed before exiting the cave at 19:25.
Total Trip Time 9hrs 55minutes.
A fantastic tour of Swildon's and one that I will never forget, nor will every muscle in my body, highly recommended.
Stu.
