I made a very stupid mistake today. What should've been a clean and straightforward trip down Simpson Pot very nearly turned into a rescue callout.
The trip started very enjoyably, and we made good progress until Carol Pot (the first pitch after the Blasted Hole). We had passed the tackle bags between us to climb up to the pitch head and my friend rigged the pitch and descended. I followed and pulled the rope down, just before realising I'd left the second tackle bag at the top.
In the tackle bag we'd left were the survival gear in a Daren drum and a 65m rope for the Slit Pot pull through. We realised we had to improvise and decided to hard rig Slit Pot with our remaining rope (35m) and hope there was an in situ rope on the final pitch.
We left the hard rigged 35m rope in Slit Pot with it's tackle bag at the bottom (so anyone retrieving it can carry it). We then found the last pitch not to be rigged, and managed to free climb it (though the waterfall made this rather unpleasant).
If anyone would be willing to retrieve the gear (detailed below) and get it somewhere I can pick it up (Brackenbottom, Inglesport?), I will offer a £30 reward for your trouble on collection.
It's at a confirmation of the rule of taking a spare rope for a pull through, and as another suggestion - check you have everything you need to finish the trip immediately before pulling a rope down. Every time.
The gear:
- Yellow Lyon tackle bag containing 65m yellow Spelenium Gold rope and a Daren drum. Located just before the Carol Pot pitch head.
- 36m White (and orange) Petzl Club rope. Labelled at the end "10mm, Static, 36m, Dec 2021" (possibly not.in that order). Hard rigged down Slit Pot.
- Blue Warmbac tackle bag at bottom of Slit Pot.
Please let me know if you're willing to help, this fool will certainly appreciate it. Alternatively I'll try and drag together a team to do another trip this weekend.
The trip started very enjoyably, and we made good progress until Carol Pot (the first pitch after the Blasted Hole). We had passed the tackle bags between us to climb up to the pitch head and my friend rigged the pitch and descended. I followed and pulled the rope down, just before realising I'd left the second tackle bag at the top.
In the tackle bag we'd left were the survival gear in a Daren drum and a 65m rope for the Slit Pot pull through. We realised we had to improvise and decided to hard rig Slit Pot with our remaining rope (35m) and hope there was an in situ rope on the final pitch.
We left the hard rigged 35m rope in Slit Pot with it's tackle bag at the bottom (so anyone retrieving it can carry it). We then found the last pitch not to be rigged, and managed to free climb it (though the waterfall made this rather unpleasant).
If anyone would be willing to retrieve the gear (detailed below) and get it somewhere I can pick it up (Brackenbottom, Inglesport?), I will offer a £30 reward for your trouble on collection.
It's at a confirmation of the rule of taking a spare rope for a pull through, and as another suggestion - check you have everything you need to finish the trip immediately before pulling a rope down. Every time.
The gear:
- Yellow Lyon tackle bag containing 65m yellow Spelenium Gold rope and a Daren drum. Located just before the Carol Pot pitch head.
- 36m White (and orange) Petzl Club rope. Labelled at the end "10mm, Static, 36m, Dec 2021" (possibly not.in that order). Hard rigged down Slit Pot.
- Blue Warmbac tackle bag at bottom of Slit Pot.
Please let me know if you're willing to help, this fool will certainly appreciate it. Alternatively I'll try and drag together a team to do another trip this weekend.
