In-situ pendelum rope in rat-hole

[Speleotron]

I was just wondering about the part of rat-hole where you have to clip into a fixed rope and swing on it to get accross a gap, does anybody know what condition its in, what it's rigged off etc? Also are you clipped into anything else?

 

[langcliffe]

I was just wondering about the part of rat-hole where you have to clip into a fixed rope and swing on it to get accross a gap, does anybody know what condition its in, what it's rigged off etc? Also are you clipped into anything else?

It was a new rope when emplaced, and it is rigged from a P-bolt. It doesn't touch a wall during the pendulum. When swinging across, you will, of course, be attached to the rope on which you are making your ascent. There is a P-bolt at the entrance to the rift for the start of the traverse. The destination is easy to grab hold of, and also has P-bolts for the next part of the descent.

There is a comprehensive rigging guide here: http://braemoor.co.uk/caving/rathole1.shtml

 

[Cavematt]

It was in good nick a couple of years ago - although you never get the luxery of being able to inspect what it's anchored to in the roof.  It's great fun and quite scary to rig, as the ledge beyond it at the top of the Mouse Hole (Mouse Shaft?) is tiny!  You'll be clipped into your own ongoing traverse line, but the fall-factor if the pendulum rope broke would be nasty - make sure you leave the bare minimum of slack when swinging over.

 

[langcliffe]

although you never get the luxery of being able to inspect what it's anchored to in the roof.

If anybody is really paranoid they can always prussik up and take a look, and even replace the rope. But the bolt was VERY carefully positioned - it took a considerable length of time to get it right.

During the initial explorations a rope was hung down through a slot accessible from the small chamber on the left of the top of the first pitch.

 

[Cavematt]

Good stuff - that's encouraging to hear 

 

[langcliffe]

Mouse Hole (Mouse Shaft?)

Mousehole ( pronounced Mowzel) Shaft. It was named after the Cornish village with which Mike Wooding had some association.

 

[Speleotron]

Thanks for the info I'm looking foreward to giving it a go.