Voldemort Hole pull through out Notts II

nobrotson

Active member
After another excellent day poking around, we headed off to Voldemort Hole on the recommendation of Richard Bendall, one of the initial explorers of the cave. He told us that the cave was rigged for a pull-through, and that the Haywagon was spectacular. He was not wrong.

The entrance was located quite easily despite the dark with the aid of Richards excellent description and CSJs GPS. Go to the GPS location, then look for a small covering made of blue plastic and a small metal grille with moss over the top. Alternately, if without a GPS, walk up the wall from the Notts II parking area, go past two big shakeholes, and at the second follow the small dry valley/line of shakeholes for 40m southwest of the wall.

A short spate of crawling lands you at the first drop. There are in situ ropes for all traverses, and all pullthrough bolts are well placed pairs of resin ring bolts, some equalised with chain and with a rappel ring. At the bottom of the first pitch, there is the option to go and look at the amazing formations in the Haywagon, which consist of really spectacular long roof straws, translucent curtains and funky helictites. Well worth a look, but be very careful, its obvious not many people have been there to disturb things and it would be good if it stayed as pristine as possible.

Thence on to the next two pitches, easy rigging but quite a bit of loose material at the top of the Incredibles pitch (#2) so care required. A long wet crawl follows which looks like it floods to the roof in very wet weather (it was pretty dry today). After this you reach Oliver Lloyds aven, which is 35m tall with 2 big ledges. There is an in situ deviation for when it gets wet to take you out of the water. On the second ledge it is possible to rig a second pull through, but we decided to try it as one big pitch. A test run proved that there was no jamming on the pull down so we left it as one, but be warned that it is possible for the pitch rope to become caught up in all the big boulders on the second ledge, necessitating some aggressive pulling and the possibility of pulling some big rocks down near yourself, so use your own judgment to decide what to do.

CSJ met us at the bottom of the pitch, and then we swiftly exited after about a 2 hour trip entrance to entrance. Overall, an excellent trip, which would be good as a Sunday trip for more experienced groups of cavers. I?d go again.
 
It is a good trip which works well as a pull through. Beautiful formations. Do be careful.. visit once.
I'm sure the crawl could be scary if wet (I thought the passage quite elegant) and the rift at the end is a bit snug... I acquired an unwanted something on the crawl, so when I went to descend Oliver Lloyds Aven my stop wouldn't open...


38085067832_110cefb5b7_b.jpg
 

JasonC

Well-known member
nobrotson said:
...
A long wet crawl follows which looks like it floods to the roof in very wet weather (it was pretty dry today).
...

My one experience of this crawl was the same.  It's been reasonably dry lately, but there's some rain forecast for Saturday, so I'm wondering whether attempting a pull-through then (on Saturday, preferably without involving CRO :)) is on.
Any advice welcome from those more familiar with the trip...
Thanks
 

mikem

Well-known member
There is a warning on cncc about collapsing entrance back in February, that may not have been helped by the recent wet weather...

Mike
 

langcliffe

Well-known member
mikem said:
There is a warning on cncc about collapsing entrance back in February, that may not have been helped by the recent wet weather...

I last did the pull-through in July, and the entrance was stable enough then.
 

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
CNCC checked the entrance following those reports.  There was some deterioration around the top of the dug shaft but the bottom was in good order.  It will need some attention in the future but seemed easily passable at the time of inspection.

The wet crawl carries a fairly small stream under most conditions.  I'd avoid in very wet weather and the pitch at the end will also be unpleasant in those conditions.
 
Top