a good time to go to Alum

N

newcastlecaver

New member
does anyone who has spent ages at Alum have any tips on when is best to go down dollytubs over a weekend? I'm planning on taking a friend from work on a saturday and was hoping to miss the activity centers, do they normally go early/ lunchtime or afternoon or is it just random? its not a big problem but just easy if you get a clear run at it!!!

 
paul

paul

Moderator
I would say that you cannot guarantee having the place to yourself but will have a better chance by getting there early in the morning or in the evening when everybodys' gone home or to the pub!
 
M

Mr Fell

New member
Bet there will be loads of instructed groups about this time of year - summer jollies and all that. Early AM would be the best :sleep:
 
D

dunc

New member
Yep, the earlier the better for that place!

Drove past it last Friday, midday/early noon, at a passing glance I saw a couple of cars and a minibus.. :sleep:
 
kay

kay

Well-known member
There seems to be fewer minibuses parked there at a weekend than during the week, so you may be OK
 
Stu

Stu

Active member
For what it's worth and this is only my experience...

If you're canny you can do routes that avoid being in a queue, where you only meet them in passing. Also I've found that even when the place has two or three groups in they hardly ever go further than the top of the first pitch. The windows route seems to often be empty. Like others have said. Early doors is best.
 
cap n chris

cap n chris

Well-known member
I got there at 9:00amish and was the only vehicle there... for about five minutes; a minibus arrived. As they were all tinies it was unlikely they'd be doing much in the way of SRT (perhaps a generalisation but it seemed pretty realistic to me) so we wouldn't be tripping over one another. Anyhow, by the time I was on my way out for an early lunch I bumped into two groups inside the cave making their way to the Dolly Tubs with a further three groups en route to the cave as I walked back. There were somewhere in the region of 5-6 minibuses in the layby.

I reckon if you were really keen you could get there at, say, 7:00am and have the whole place to yourself and pack up and return before anyone else even got kitted up and walked to the entrance(s).  :D
 
M

Mr Fell

New member
Yep its the jolly hollies and lots of groups down Alum - preparing a new generation of rock hard potoilers no doubt ;)

Wats these here Mendippers doin down our hoils then :tease:
 
H

hoehlenforscher

Guest
Do the 60-odd metre free hang, shouldn't get many groups on that route (or do they even use that nowadays). Have fond (NOT) memories of going over the edge on my first ever SRT trip. Scared the bejezus out of me! :cry: Worse still was being the first man back up and having to wait for almost 2 hours for the other 3 to prussik back out in the pouring rain as the last man had the car keys. Ended up sat in the outdoor bog of the farm at the bottom of the lane sheltering from the rain in an attempt to advert hypothermia :cautious:
 
cap n chris

cap n chris

Well-known member
Sounds like whoever took you was well attuned to your status as a newbie and did their utmost to make you feel relaxed, engaged within your comfort zone and left with the overwhelming urge to relive the experience at the next opportunity. Obviously you weren't put off by their pathetically feeble attempts to scare you away.

 
H

hoehlenforscher

Guest
NAh I was hooked. Was back in the good old days when ladders were still (just about) king. Quick practice on a tree in the Ingleborough caravan park under the viaduct then drop Alum pot. Looking back now we must have been nuts. At least I didn't use my home made figure of 8  ;)
 
N

newcastlecaver

New member
got there about 10.30 and as suggested there were a couiple of groups just going to the cheese press, CRO were also there doing some sort of documentary for a medical conference and were filming down Diccan, there was also a group who were vaguely considering a through trip- they'd rigged a rope down from the tree in the corner (SE?) which was 42m long... :confused: but hadn't abseiled down it (luckily!) and were going down Dollytubs to try and exchange somewhere! Strangely I didn't think they had enough rope to get to the bottom from Dollytubs so not really sure how they were going to exchange?  :confused: :confused:

anyway we got a novice to the bridge and back- as always very nice trip.
 
gus horsley

gus horsley

New member
newcastlecaver said:
there was also a group who were vaguely considering a through trip- they'd rigged a rope down from the tree in the corner (SE?) which was 42m long... :confused: but hadn't abseiled down it (luckily!) and were going down Dollytubs to try and exchange somewhere! Strangely I didn't think they had enough rope to get to the bottom from Dollytubs so not really sure how they were going to exchange?  :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...

Perhaps they were going for the old SRT (short rope technique) where half a dozen people abseil down the same rope to a knot and then pendulum backwards and forwards until the rope stretches sufficiently to perform the swing onto the Bridge ledge.  Occasionally the rope will reach the OSL (optimum stretch limit) wherepon it will snap and catapult the person highest on the rope across the valley to Sell Gill.  The remainder have to do a speedy WOD (wall of death) run along the side of the shaft before gravity overcomes HMV (horizontal mass velocity) in order to complete the maneouver.  It's spectacular if it works and spectacular if it doesn't.  At any rate, somebody's bound to get wet, they always do.

Sorry, it's Monday and I'm bored at work.
 
Roger W

Roger W

Well-known member
It's much easier to descend to the knot, then get the guy at the top to unfasten the rope up there and throw the loose end down to you.

You can then use the bit you've already climbed down - and so don't need any more - to extend the rope downwards...

:)
 
gus horsley

gus horsley

New member
Aha, you're reffering to the old NEST (never ending string technique) which, as far as I know, was only previously attempted in the Big Pitch in the entrance series of Birkwith cave.
 
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