tim.rose2
Active member
Sat 26th Jan 2019. Myself, Richard & Nick explore Rumble Chasm with Sam outside guarding the path.
None of us had been in this seldom visited rift, however having connected Grove Cliff Fissure (the rift next door) to Grove Cliff Caves (AKA Flagpole) we decided we'd better have a look. The end of Grove Cliff Fissure heads South, directly towards Rumble Chasm - bet you can't guess what we're hoping to achieve!
A bit of trad climbing tactics and we were up. The 10 m climb to the entrance from the path is straight forward, but loose and dirty. Richard did a lot of gardening lower down on the climb whilst myself and Nick installed a couple of bolts for descent. We then belayed Richard up and went for an explore whilst the resin set (had to waste 90 mins!). Sam declined to join us and instead decided to guard the path.
The linear rift is approx 50 m long, fairly stable (compared to some of the others in the area) and of reasonable size. There are a couple of kinks to the left but essentially the cave heads straight into the cliff. There are 3 rift heading right toward Grove Cliff Fissure. The first two are too tight for their entire height being only about 4 inches wide and are found at the corners of the above mentioned kinks in the passage. The final can be found at the end of the cave where a T junction is met. Both left and right are too tight. My gut feeling is that the left hand branch in Grove Cliff Fissure may well be the same rift as found at the T junction at the end of Rumble Chasm. Checking for vocal / light connections between the two is now needed to determine if we should start digging.
Whilst wasting time waiting for the resin to set some photo's were taken. I dare say these might be the only ones ever taken in the cave:
Richard in the entrance:
A couple of Nick in the Rift:
A friend:
If anyone wishes to visit there are now two bolts suitable to rig a belay / abseil on the left just inside the entrance. At the moment there is nothing to aid the first person up. Competent climbers should have little problem as it's pretty much just big steps but feels very exposed.
Location and description can be found here:
https://sites.google.com/view/the-caves-of-portland/rumble-chasm
None of us had been in this seldom visited rift, however having connected Grove Cliff Fissure (the rift next door) to Grove Cliff Caves (AKA Flagpole) we decided we'd better have a look. The end of Grove Cliff Fissure heads South, directly towards Rumble Chasm - bet you can't guess what we're hoping to achieve!
A bit of trad climbing tactics and we were up. The 10 m climb to the entrance from the path is straight forward, but loose and dirty. Richard did a lot of gardening lower down on the climb whilst myself and Nick installed a couple of bolts for descent. We then belayed Richard up and went for an explore whilst the resin set (had to waste 90 mins!). Sam declined to join us and instead decided to guard the path.
The linear rift is approx 50 m long, fairly stable (compared to some of the others in the area) and of reasonable size. There are a couple of kinks to the left but essentially the cave heads straight into the cliff. There are 3 rift heading right toward Grove Cliff Fissure. The first two are too tight for their entire height being only about 4 inches wide and are found at the corners of the above mentioned kinks in the passage. The final can be found at the end of the cave where a T junction is met. Both left and right are too tight. My gut feeling is that the left hand branch in Grove Cliff Fissure may well be the same rift as found at the T junction at the end of Rumble Chasm. Checking for vocal / light connections between the two is now needed to determine if we should start digging.
Whilst wasting time waiting for the resin to set some photo's were taken. I dare say these might be the only ones ever taken in the cave:
Richard in the entrance:
A couple of Nick in the Rift:
A friend:
If anyone wishes to visit there are now two bolts suitable to rig a belay / abseil on the left just inside the entrance. At the moment there is nothing to aid the first person up. Competent climbers should have little problem as it's pretty much just big steps but feels very exposed.
Location and description can be found here:
https://sites.google.com/view/the-caves-of-portland/rumble-chasm