Finally got down Winnat's Head yesterday to inspect JB's shiny new bolts and the pitches he's glued them to. I'll try to describe the rigging we used to see if JB recognises how we used his bolts (I wasn't rigging so to be honest I just followed the rope!).
The chokes and the Sewer were distinctly soggy, with water running down the 2 squeezes in the 2nd choke and a definite stream running into the Sewer.
Up the up pitches and through to an impressively noisy stream series and the downstream pitches that had been on my to-do list since I tried to screw a hanger into the first spit and went home a few years back!
2 bolt traverse to a one-bolt hang. about 5m down is a p-bolt with a "do not use" label on it. We used it for a deviation 'cos we can't breathe water and it looked OK - may work better as a rebelay if the label's incorrect. Down another 10m to a decidedly damp ledge - even with a very tight deviation the bottom 5m is in the full spray. Down the ledge above and away from the water to a 1-spit rebelay on the right wall at the end of the ledge, 2m to a y-hang to the floor.
Used the tail of the (35m - just enough with tight rigging as described) rope as backup for the 2nd pitch (28m rope - about right), y-hang followed immediately by a deviation (again, maybe better as a rebelay?). The water shoots out parallel to (but away from) the angle of dangle which makes the top half of the pitch quite fun; the rope then runs very close to the rock as you drop down the rifty 2nd half of the pitch (JB - did we miss something? or when you went in summer did you stay out of the rift and go down with the water?).
Run under the waterfall to a short stretch of streamway; backup to the previous pitch, traverse bolts to a y-hang, 1-bolt rebelay (deviation in the dry?) about 2-3m down. Lands on a bouldery ledge where we couldn't find any bolts for the continuation. The options seemed to be with the water (soggy) or a dry rift; plenty of natural threads got us to the floor and down the climb to the sump - 30m rope ran out about 3m above the sump but well into the freeclimbable bit.Turn around and clear off out!
The pitches are quite impressive - I can't think of a comparable streamway pitch series in Derbyshire - Moosetrap is perhaps the nearest. I'd like to have a proper look around in the dry to see if there are any ways off - the passage is a decent size but we weren't hanging around to look about! TU 5 1/2 hrs, probably could save 1hr on the rigging if you were quick about it.
As JB has said, the bolting is not ideal for high water - but stay-dry bolting would take a pretty big effort for limited reward. I'd be interested to know what water levels in Giant's/P8 were like yesterday as I would be surprised if they were very high. It's also worth being aware that these pitches are not much visited - there's a fair bit of loose rock at the top of most of them (we trundled a few really sketchy pieces but there's a big supply....).
Anyhow, cheers JB for sorting the bolts - it's needed doing for a long time and gives a really entertaining day out under Derbyshire!
The chokes and the Sewer were distinctly soggy, with water running down the 2 squeezes in the 2nd choke and a definite stream running into the Sewer.
Up the up pitches and through to an impressively noisy stream series and the downstream pitches that had been on my to-do list since I tried to screw a hanger into the first spit and went home a few years back!
2 bolt traverse to a one-bolt hang. about 5m down is a p-bolt with a "do not use" label on it. We used it for a deviation 'cos we can't breathe water and it looked OK - may work better as a rebelay if the label's incorrect. Down another 10m to a decidedly damp ledge - even with a very tight deviation the bottom 5m is in the full spray. Down the ledge above and away from the water to a 1-spit rebelay on the right wall at the end of the ledge, 2m to a y-hang to the floor.
Used the tail of the (35m - just enough with tight rigging as described) rope as backup for the 2nd pitch (28m rope - about right), y-hang followed immediately by a deviation (again, maybe better as a rebelay?). The water shoots out parallel to (but away from) the angle of dangle which makes the top half of the pitch quite fun; the rope then runs very close to the rock as you drop down the rifty 2nd half of the pitch (JB - did we miss something? or when you went in summer did you stay out of the rift and go down with the water?).
Run under the waterfall to a short stretch of streamway; backup to the previous pitch, traverse bolts to a y-hang, 1-bolt rebelay (deviation in the dry?) about 2-3m down. Lands on a bouldery ledge where we couldn't find any bolts for the continuation. The options seemed to be with the water (soggy) or a dry rift; plenty of natural threads got us to the floor and down the climb to the sump - 30m rope ran out about 3m above the sump but well into the freeclimbable bit.Turn around and clear off out!
The pitches are quite impressive - I can't think of a comparable streamway pitch series in Derbyshire - Moosetrap is perhaps the nearest. I'd like to have a proper look around in the dry to see if there are any ways off - the passage is a decent size but we weren't hanging around to look about! TU 5 1/2 hrs, probably could save 1hr on the rigging if you were quick about it.
As JB has said, the bolting is not ideal for high water - but stay-dry bolting would take a pretty big effort for limited reward. I'd be interested to know what water levels in Giant's/P8 were like yesterday as I would be surprised if they were very high. It's also worth being aware that these pitches are not much visited - there's a fair bit of loose rock at the top of most of them (we trundled a few really sketchy pieces but there's a big supply....).
Anyhow, cheers JB for sorting the bolts - it's needed doing for a long time and gives a really entertaining day out under Derbyshire!
