Wales (SWCC based) SRT suggestions ??
- Thread starter Geoff R
- Start date
As dunc says, Pwll Dwfn and Pant Mawr would be your best bets.
Lots of smaller caves on the Black Mountain can be descended using SRT including Pwll Swnd, Gwynt yr Eira and Sinc y Giedd.
Further afield you could try Crescent (near Trefil) although it is rather loose in the upper parts.
Lots of smaller caves on the Black Mountain can be descended using SRT including Pwll Swnd, Gwynt yr Eira and Sinc y Giedd.
Further afield you could try Crescent (near Trefil) although it is rather loose in the upper parts.
paul
Moderator
Yes, Pwll Dwfn is an excellent trip - almost a Yorkshire pot transplanted to South Wales.
It is above Dan-yr-Ogof near where Tunnel Cave top entrance is (if that is any help!).
The entrance is a bit tricky to find but as you approach the area there is a large rectangular block which is a good target and the entrance is a smallish hole about 10 metres away in a small hollow. It drops down about ten feet and you can't really see where to put your feet. Also watch out for the pitch where there is a blind pot and you have to swing accross to a passage - you'll see a P bolt so it will be obvious.
It is above Dan-yr-Ogof near where Tunnel Cave top entrance is (if that is any help!).
The entrance is a bit tricky to find but as you approach the area there is a large rectangular block which is a good target and the entrance is a smallish hole about 10 metres away in a small hollow. It drops down about ten feet and you can't really see where to put your feet. Also watch out for the pitch where there is a blind pot and you have to swing accross to a passage - you'll see a P bolt so it will be obvious.
Ship-badger
Member
In OFD itself there is an excellent pitch from the end of Swamp Creek into the main streamway upstream of Maypole Inlet. It consists of a bolted traverse to an airy pitch head. About a third of the way down there is a deviation (I didn't find it) which avoids the worst of the water on the bottom half of the pitch. The pitch is about 30m, and is very impressive.
Ship-badger said:
Rebelay, not deviation. But it's a pair of bolts in an otherwise entirely blank wall which can be difficult to spot, especially with as much water thundering past your ears as there will be today - that's one of the great things about the pitch, that it's an all weather option.
Andy Sparrow
Active member
rsch said:
Yes, perhaps, but the Main Streamway you land in isn't!
It lands on a ledge comfortably above the normal water level, and there's another ledge above that. In normal conditions, a 40m rope is just the right length to rig the full traverse, miss out the rebelay and leave an improvisation minded caver attaching a long sling to the bottom of the rope so it remains accessible from below, getting off the rope and downclimbing the last dozen or so feet to get down to the main streamway.
A longer rope is needed if the party has anyone much under six foot tall though, so take a 45m rope for spoilsports who like to avoid extra fun and games :read:
A longer rope is needed if the party has anyone much under six foot tall though, so take a 45m rope for spoilsports who like to avoid extra fun and games :read:
Not sure when Geoff R was considering doing his trips but I would like to emphasise the point made by Andy Sparrow regarding the OFD Main Streamway. Under current conditions and taking the present weather forecast into account a trip there is quite simply not a viable option. The last pitch in Pwll Dwfn will also be very wet, cold and unpleasant, particularly if you are wearing dry gear so please bear this in mind as well.
Hammy said:
Pwll Dwfn is definitely all on P-bolts now. It was originally only partly p-bolted, but was done fully some years back.
As for OFD, Pendulum Passage is a good bet (3 pitches with good bolts). This can be done as an exchange with the Nave (2 pitches, look around for naturals on the first), or the two could be done as separate entities.
There are two more really good training pitches between Ted's Shortcut and Shatter Pillar (don't know the name of the passage they're in unfortunately). They are brilliantly positioned opposite each other with very easy connections between each at top and bottom, and a non-pitch route between the top and bottom too. They are extremely well botled with spits ... one (the longer one on the left) has a very easy pitch head and a free hang. The other (on the right) is shorter, has a more interesting pitch head and a rebelay (I think) can be manufactured half way down too.
There's another pitch down to the stremway at the end of Swamp Creek, which I've never done but has good spits, as far as I have seen.
Tony_B
Member
I echo the suggestion of the pitch in Swamp Creek, it's superb. But contrary to the earlier suggestion of a 40m rope I suggest you need 45m or even 50m; last time myself and a companion rigged it with a 40 it was slightly too short, which made getting off the rope (and back on it) interesting to say the least. And we hadn't rigged the deviation.
Tony.
Tony.
Hammy said:
Thanks, I just added up the number of P bolts in their scheme and it seemed less than those shown on the topo so I wondered;
then I never could count
The topo post was great, thank you; does anyone know if I can buy a survey of Pwll Dwfn from SWCC or would you know where I could get one ? (never having been down Pwll Dwfn Im always cautious to check things out)
Geoff
Peter Burgess
New member
Tony_B said:
No! Don't say that! He'll be asking for a route-map to the entrance next! Only kidding, Geoff!
