Had a trip down JH yesterday. Found the top of Bitch Pitch to be more unstable than on any previous visit. Quite a bit of debris dislodged and fell down the pitch yesterday. It might be a good idea to stick another bolt in a couple of metres back to protect a big step move onto the wooden platform as the area beneath is falling away. Conditions were damp.
JH - Bitch Pitch
- Thread starter Imo
- Start date
J
JasonL
Guest
i think an extra hanger or 2 will really make bitch pitch less of a bitch!!!!! : )
JB
Member
Martyn Grayson and I visited J.H. last night to have a look at the deterioration at the top of Bitch Pitch. The angle iron and rock platform that you used to stand on to get to the Y-hang at the end has completely gone. Some of the rocks and the 6ft lengths of angle iron are sitting on the floor further back down the Cartgate. Reaching the first P-bolt of the traverse is more difficult than it used to be. Someone has installed a compression anchor (hanger currently in-situ) two or three metres back down the Cartgate to protect the move to the first P-bolt. This anchor has not been installed by DCA; use at your own risk. The wooden stemples that the angle iron and rocks sat on are still in place and can be used to make progress to the Y-hang at the end. Below these stemples is a fairly loose slope of wet mud and small rocks. Anything that falls down/off this slope will roll straight down the line of the ropes below. Care needed!
Work is being planned to return the pitch head to something like it was before and stop the slope below deteriorating.
Jules Barrett.
DCA
http://www.thedca.org.uk/
Work is being planned to return the pitch head to something like it was before and stop the slope below deteriorating.
Jules Barrett.
DCA
http://www.thedca.org.uk/
More on the J.H. problem.
Three cavers on Jules Barrett's "inspection trip" of the head of Bitch Pitch exited after Jules and have reported the following about other areas of the mine:
"We also noted two places where the cartgate itself has deteriorated - a false floor has 'sunk' soon after the entrance shaft, and a significant new hole has appeared further on in the floor exposing more of the flooded workings below. A reminder that the whole cartgate should be considered 'delicate', requiring careful caving! "
Jenny Potts
DCA Hon.Sec.
Three cavers on Jules Barrett's "inspection trip" of the head of Bitch Pitch exited after Jules and have reported the following about other areas of the mine:
"We also noted two places where the cartgate itself has deteriorated - a false floor has 'sunk' soon after the entrance shaft, and a significant new hole has appeared further on in the floor exposing more of the flooded workings below. A reminder that the whole cartgate should be considered 'delicate', requiring careful caving! "
Jenny Potts
DCA Hon.Sec.