Saturday 31st December 2005
Manor Farm Swallet
Steve, Bryn, Andy, Dani, Brendan and Chris.
We arrived at the Charterhouse Centre at 1:45pm in foul weather - heavy rain showers and flurries of hail and it had been raining heavily the previous day, overnight and during the morning.... this was perhaps not going to be a long (distance) trip if the water levels were high. This was a celebratory "What a good year the club has had" trip. And indeed it has been a very good year.
Also, following reports in Descent of problems with the water we wished to see whether these were substantiated by our own experience. Manor Farm Swallet has long been known to have poor water quality and air during specific conditions such as flood and drought.
As the club's new Training Officer it was also thought that this trip would be useful for those wishing to improve on their ladder and line technique - during the pre-trip brief about plan A, plan B and what to expect we quickly established that Brendan hadn't used a caving ladder before (hmm, perhaps this would be somewhat of a challenge for him) - so, kitted up in harnesses with some SRT gear and ladders we trudged off towards the cave in gloomy weather, looking forward to the respite offered by the subterranean shelter. Finding the farmer to pay and rigging the entrance was soon completed and each caver took their turn to descend the entrance, being lifelined as they went down the relatively long ladder pitch (long for Mendip!). Once everyone was down we regrouped at the head of September Rift and could easily hear the water in the streamway below - so water levels were going to be quite high. Using the spits to rig a Y-hang belay for a nice chunky 11mm rope took a couple of mins and then we all regrouped again at the base of the pitch, amid some (not TOO bad) white water which could have smelt fresher than it did. We were aware that the water could be a problem with skin irritation etc. so wore rubber gloves. Quickly down to Broken Curtain Chamber without any ado although many loose rocks in the streamway made for slightly more cautious progress than is usually the case and could easily see that the third pitch was going to be a very wet affair so opted for the bypass; although some water was running through from an upstream inlet progress was not hampered and it was indeed a good wet weather alternative to the "free climbable" 3rd pitch - however, at the bottom, we emerged directly underneath a torrent/waterfall which meant we all took a bit of a battering as we entered the walking size continuation passage. On downstream to the two nice fluted pots where some good footholds aid descent and we arrive at Albert's Eye.
During the trip prebrief it was mentioned that Albert's Eye could end up being our wet weather destination since it can represent a bit of a problem in high water for the more chunky caver on the return (we act as bungs, and the water level quickly rises to sump the obstacle); today it was clear that the water was flowing sufficiently quickly for this to be a likelihood, especially if further rain was falling "up top". A quick look at the watch confirmed that we would not have time to go much further before we would need to head out (keeping our contingency time for any pitch difficulties) as we had a 6:00pm callout. So, up and out.... easily said. Not easily done.
Returning to September Rift was all straightforward although obviously everyone received a second soaking while negotiating the 3rd pitch bypass route - to have rigged it and climbed it would have been considerably worse (in terms of getting a large dose of foul water). No-one reported any concerns about the water although everyone was doing their best to avoid it where possible (you certainly wouldn't want to drink it, FFS!). September Rift was ascended first by Andy C and then by myself; the others were briefed that an assisted line loop would be lowered for them to clip in and use - this proved a very workable and useful system which came in handy; the Y-hang was the initial belay with a loop lowered and the end passed over the scaffold bar as a "pulley" with the end of the rope either being pulled manually or available to clip in a chest jammer and use as a counter-balance haul (not required in the end); the struggle up September Rift was a new obstacle for some of the group and the line proved its worth.
The final obstacle (the entrance pitch) was all that remained between us and twilight and cold foul weather... we would get a couple of hefty people up first with the spare rope/kit in case hauling would help any others and keep Andy at the pitch base to clip and do the climbing calls. All went smoothly - Brendan climbed up the ladder in its entirety apart from needing a breather 8 feet from the surface (a commendable effort, far exceeding my first desperate flailings on this long(ish) free-hanging ladder pitch). Finally, Andy C ran up the ladder hardly needing a line at all (but then he is a member of the BEC).
Bag up kit, trudge back through squelchy mud; use the works showers to clean up and warm up. 5:20pm by this time so continuing beyond Albert's Eye could well have meant we would have exceeded our callout time!
L-R: Bryn, Steve, Brendan, Dani, Andy
