Ok, here is the story. One fine morning MSD went caving with his son (who shall remain anonymous). We chose a pull-through down Simpsons. We were in something of a hurry, because we had to be down in Cambridge late that afternoon. To cut a long story short, we (like a lot of other people have done in the past) abseiled down the blind pit and pulled the rope down. Since I was the "experienced man" who went first AND pulled the rope down, one could say that the blame was mine.
I have therefore had a very good look at the continuation. Yes, it is possible to abseil down, but it is tight and right in the water. More importantly there is not really a very good belay.
So...to avoid embarassment, getting freezing cold etc. I elected to free climb back up the pitch, which is about 11m high I believe. If you are ever in the position of having to do this then:
a) You need pretty long legs because it's necessary to do some very wide bridging
b) You can use your petzl stop as a runner in a crack part way up. It jammed pefectly and I think it would have held a fall.
c) Do NOT attempt to climb directly up near the top. It's much easier and safer to climb into the alcove to the right (facing where the P-bolts are). You can then arrange a second really good runner around a large thread which protects the final moves over the lip of the pitch.
d) Think twice about doing it! It's a pretty serious climb.
Given that I was wearing wellington boots, climbing in the dark with water running down the walls and improvising the protection, I graded this climb as about HVS. I tried to enter it into the new routes book at Inglesport, but they all just laughed at me. I suppose I deserved some scorn and ridicule.
You might think this story has a happy ending, but it doesn't. We then proceded to get one of the ropes stuck on Slit Pot and as additional punishment for my misdeeds I had to climb up the pitch again to free it. By then we were so late that we had no chance of making it to Cambridge in time.
Mark