Online Logbook 2010

[chriscastle46]

Wed 16th June 2010

Westbury Brook Iron Mine

Well, I was there and so was Nicky. Greg Jones of the Royal Forest of Dean CC was the leader, but there were 15 of us so you'd all better put your own names in as I will only forget someone and cause offence.

The entrance was an impressive piece of engineering, with two large pipes and much steelwork, put in by a mining company for the landowners not for cavers but for bats!
After that there was a lot of mud. We did a figure of eight trip around the large Echo Churn - churn apparently being a Forest word for a mined load, although Greg said that much of it was open when found.

I have no idea of the route, perhaps Greg will add a few details.

Our thanks to Greg and his mate for their time and leading.

 

[mrodoc]

Wed 16th June 2010

Westbury Brook Iron Mine

I have no idea of the route, perhaps Greg will add a few details.

Know the feeling as have been in there about 35 years ago with Rollo Gillespie a RFDCC caver. I remember thinking the mine looked a cave until we suddenly emerged in the big stuff. Quite bizarre really, as one has crawled through all these phreatic looking tunnels only to emerge in a vast hall complete with railway line and, if I recall, trucks. If Rollo had keeled over I would still be in there (ditto Old Ham Mine). I recall the entrance as being a sort of crater in the woods and looking a bit unstable.

 

[chriscastle46]

Greg told us that the crater entrance had become dangerous; the RFDCC informed the landowners with the inevitable result that they initially denied further access. However, bats saved the day, resulting in the major pipework at the present entrance.

 

[chriscastle46]

Sunday 20th June 2010
Dan-yr Ogof
Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Lynette, Brendan M. (SWCC, leader).
A wade through the Lakes brought us to the large Wigmore Hall and Boulder Chamber followed by a crawl into the finely decorated Corbel?s Chamber where we posed for Brendan?s photographs. Back at the main drag he left his camera and we entered the Long Crawl. When I first came here with the BEC in the early 80s I thought it was bloody awful ? then I went to Daren Cilau and it now seems quite tame. It only takes about 10 minutes and we came to a handline and fixed ladder into Gerard Platten Hall. From here we took the Upper Series to a crystal pool and a careful move into Flabbergasm Oxbow with its magnificent long straws, then returned to the Grand Canyon, a splendid large keyhole passage. This led to Monk Hall and Cloud Chamber, the clouds being clusters of straws, one of the many remarkable sights in this cave. The Green Canal started next, but first we had a look at the enormous Hanger Passage. We went as far as a boulder choke, but more huge passages lie beyond which after many years have not yielded any major extensions.
When I first visited Dan-yr-Ogof you were provided with plastic containers at the Green Canal as flotation aids, a terrifying experience, but nowadays there are life jackets. Brendan made an extra traverse of the Canal to bring back a number of inflated inner tubes and we used them, although Lynette managed to select one that was too small to go under arms so could not stay upright, which added to the hilarity. I won?t say it was cold, but when I got in my testicles retracted with an audible twang! The Green Canal is about 45 metres long and quite deep, perhaps 3 metres, but with the tubes quite fun.
The next section was quite different, wide, dry and easy, the first section being Trench Way to a junction where we turned right into Go-Faster Passage, followed by Go-Slower Passage with easy traverses to the high Rottenstone Aven, a boulder section and finally The Rising, the sump which was our turning point.
I?ve been beyond once ? not through the sump but over into The Great North Road and the end of the cave, but it?s a long way and not for a sightseeing trip.
Back to Trench Way and a right turn to the Lower Series which involved a handline and a splendid stainless steel ladder down to The Abyss. To our right a working group were climbing up to a passage called Tubeways where I dug many years ago with the BEC, and I?m glad to hear that progress is finally being made. Our way on was a climb up The Camel, which Brendan and I took,  although it could be passed through a low level slot ? the arse, which was the way the girls went below me, but unfortunately I missed them with the water from my boots. Now came a series of splendid phreatic passages ? Thixotropic Passage, not particularly muddy; Bakerloo Straight, past an inlet known as the Washing Machine (on delicate cycle today) and Virgin Passage, neither as tight nor messy as its name suggests. We were now back in Gerard Platten Hall and the ladder up to The Long Crawl. Brendan heroically pushed a heavy bag of old cable along the crawl and out of the cave. We helped but not much.
The Showcave was closed so we had to exit via the cat flap arrangement provided, to a knotted rope down to the Resurgence to be greeted by some sort of dinosaur alligator which fortunately was both extinct and not real.
Our thanks are due to Brendan for his time and leadership in this magnificent cave, a cave with some of the best scenery in Britain. A fourth person could have come, a great pity no one did.
About 5 hours.
Chris

 

[chriscastle46]

Wednesday 30th June 2010.
Ogof Ffynnon Ddu.
Cwm  Dwr to Top Entrance.​

Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Andy and Rachel Sparrow.

The first thing that happened was that Rachel hurt her leg in the Cwm Dwr entrance tubes which somehow got transferred to her shoulder. It gave her a bit of trouble, but she?s a woman, she got on with it.
The long crawl of Dim Dwr is a bit tiresome but does not take long and soon opens up into the large Jama, which has some fine stal flows. Next came the Cwm Dwr Boulder Choke which is often difficult to navigate, but Andy remembered the way through and there are a couple of metal supporting bars to keep you on track. A rather complex area followed past some chambers called the Big Shacks to the Smithy, a large chamber which is the meeting place for several routes. Our direct route would have taken us over a large hole, but easy passage by-passes it. Andy did well to remember the way. After some climbs it was easy going in big sandy passages to Nether Rawl and Piccadilly, where the route to OFD 1 comes in. We took an easterly passage, the Flood By-Pass to the Confluence and we were in the streamway ? the Nant Newydd. This can be followed for about 3 kms; we did not go that far but most of the way. The first section was bouldery  but once past the Fault Aven Series (which we did not see) it became boulder-free, but with many deep water-filled holes. The best way to pass these is to jump in them which Nicky did enthusiastically; it is well worth  putting up with a hot Neofleece in the dry sections for this! After the almost dry Marble Showers, with marble banding, we had to leave the streamway for a short while to by-pass a sumped section via the Great Oxbow ? easy except for a slightly tricky climb back down to the water. A few hundred metres more brought us to the end of our streamway trip: the climb up to Maypole Inlet, much easier than I remembered. Up a fixed ladder and we were in the narrow, twisting passage on the lookout for the climb up, which we recognised OK. This climb is a bit polished; Andy went up first to rig a lifeline for the girls but I climbed up without and was very pleased with myself. We met a group from York CC here so we had a brief chat then headed out the usual way along Salubrious Passage, up the start of Gnome Passage and the way to The Brickyard and Top Entrance.
This is an absolutely splendid tourist trip. It?s not very difficult, although some people may be grateful for a rope on the Maypole Inlet Climbs; does not take too long and can be extended if you want. It can be dangerous in wet weather and careful route finding is needed in places, but it?s not too bad with the survey. There will be a club trip there sometime ? go along!
About 3? hours.
Chris

 

[Judi Durber]

Shatter Cave 12th May 2010
Lynette, Ross, Steve W, Dave M and Judi plus the erudite Martin Grass

My trip started a few hours before we where due to meet with a drive through the lovely Cotswold countryside to arrive in Stoke St Michael in what I thought was plenty of time.  I soon realised I was at the wrong cave & the search was on.  After doing several loops round the village & at the risk of getting severely ribbed later I resorted to calling the wonderful Andy & eventually arrived a tad late but cavers being cavers the rest of the party where catching up with the gossip from a group of diggers.
We trundled off through the new gate in the perimeter fence round the quarry & Martin pointed out the different cave entrances, gave a perspective & history of what had been. After seeing the result of several land slips that had happened I was rather please to see the entrance had been brought so far forward off the face.

One of the easiest entrances in caving and you where immediately confronted by the white calcite deposits.

There are bits of broken stall everywhere but this is the result of the quarry blasting not vandalism or is that vandalism but on a grand scale.

Going by the bible of Mendip caving as I can?t remember the name of the passages we went through Canopy Chamber then Diesel chamber to see the gour pools. At this point I am already holding up the trip with the number of photo?s I am taking.  Everywhere is just dripping with formation; it is as though someone has dribbled icing over everything. We are then onto Helictite Rift & a lovely curtain. 

I have to hand the camera over to someone else as I am missing so much but borrow it back to get close ups of the Helictites.  We descend into Pisa Passage the only place I could remember the name of.
We go through a bit of a squeeze & even this is though some lovely formation. Eventually we are in Pillar Chamber, amazing crystals in the gour pools that I just can?t get a decent photo off. 

The calcite forms so fast the tape & rope have become part of the formations.

We eventually retrace our steps as Martin reminds us that the digging crew will probably be waiting for us to let them out of the car park.  The pub awaits.  I snatch a few more photos & we crawl out into the darkness. The diggers have been very patient but where just about to come in & get us. Martin was fantastic with all his history, background stories & detailed information.  Thank you for a great trip.

 

[Roger W]

Some excellent pictures.   

 

[Cookie]

Charterhouse Cave, Fri 16th July
Jude VP (Leader), Lynette, Frank (WCC), Cookie. 3 1/2 Hours.

I'd organised this trip but there was still a spare space. Burt replied first to my email but then realised it was a Friday an not a Wednesday trip so couldn't make it. Lynette was second and was able to get away from work promptly to meet at Charterhouse Farm at 17:30.

The cave has it's natural access restrictions. Very soon you are in a network of tight rifts, much flat-out thrutching and a certain amount of levitation to avoid the puddles - I didn't want to get wet this early in the trip.

You then pop out into sensible sized passage, a quick look at the well decorated Midsummer Chamber but we didn't tarry because we were on a mission to see the 2008 extensions. Soon after is the Citadel a chamber of vast proportions which by all rights doesn't belong on Mendip, the land of tight and tortuous passage. 

Far away at the base of the Citadel as short crawl gains another finely decorated chamber, The Grotto of the Singing Stal although today the she was mute. Thoughtfully, a bucket to collect water and a cup had been left here. We rested for a moment and took a sip.

The old cave ends here and the 2008 extensions start with a wholly impressive dig that drops vertically through the bolder choke at the back of the chamber. It seems to drop forever. On your way down take your time to admire the way the boulders are made safe with judiciously applied concrete. The end result is aesthetically pleasing and permanent, there are no ugly scaffold bars here to rot and rust away. 

At the base of the boulder choke you are in good sized passage for a bit but then the passage narrows to a rift reminiscent of the entrance crawls, imaginatively called The Narrows.  Just as the entrance it also contained a puddle, however this time my powers of levitation failed and I had to resign my membership of the Dry Feet Caving Club. Soon after there is an 8m pitch for which we had carried a ladder and line. On the right the GB inlet enters, surprisingly small considering the size of GB. Then a really treat, walking stream passage with various drapes and curtains including the one known as the Blades.

Soon we came to The Frozen Cascade. The way on is up The Cascade and on to Portal Pool etc. We inspected the dig that is intended to by-pass The Cascade to save it from a death by a thousand muddy cavers boots. A little more thrutching at steam level and we emerge into the final chamber containing the downstream sump. We take a few moments to eat our snacks and return the way we came.

A more complete description, by a better author than I, with photos is here

 

[graham]

Nice write up, Cookie. Might I make a few points:

The chamber of vast proportions which by all rights doesn't belong on Mendip is almost as big as the one in G.B. a few tens of metres to the West. The one that Les has been known to mention on this forum.

Yes, it's good when someone does a boulder choke properly, Mr hann was well-taught by Big Willie.

And yes, it's even better when explorers such as this team will spend their "off duty" hours digging a bypass to save a delicate and rather wonderful formation from destruction. Don't forget that they did the same thing (albeit a shorter dig) back in the 1980s to conserve the Grotto of the Singing Stal.

 

[chriscastle46]

Friday 6th August 2010 St Cuthberts Swallet

Chris Castle, Trish and Sam K-D, Dave C, Judi D.

This was a trip to Long Chamber Series.
From Boulder Chamber we traversed up the rocks on the right to climb up to Long Chamber, then to The Slabs, over these and climbed through the boulders to emerge in Long Chamber Extension, a chamber with many ways off where I always get confused. However, I located Ruckle Passage for future reference, and  then we carefully climbed up the boulders, where there is much loose stuff, for a look at the well decorated Straw Chamber. Great care is needed in this vulnerable area. Down again, and an easier route brought us to the bottom of the chamber where I intended to take the passage to Upper Long Chamber. It?s a bit obscure, I knew it went alongside Fracture Rift but for some reason I thought it started to the left, but after some flaffing about I remembered it went to the right and the correct way was found by Judi. This is a muddy thrutch up a bedding plane and emerges at the top of Upper Long Chamber. The way down to Long Chamber is a climb which some find a little awkward; Trish did but was helped by Sam, always ready to assist his mum. Once down we descended to the Boulder Chamber and made our way out. 
A fine short trip; many pretties, loose rocks, and only one route-finding problem.
Chris

 

[Dirty Lopez]

Wednesday 28th July 2010, Swildon's Hole

Sam D-K, Trish D-K, Ant C, Chris B, Bev, Mike (guest)

A novice trip to Sump 1 - not the first time in a cave for Mike, but his first Swildon's trip. A quick scoot down the Short Dry Way (and a slightly less quick scoot than I would have liked on my first time ever going down Jacob's Ladder where my legs suddenly and inexplicably become someone else's  - how can something so easy to climb wreak such havoc on me on the descent? I try not to sulk, but fail. Trish later reassures me that a few more goes down and I'll love it whilst I decide to reserve judgement until my thighs re-animate). We very quickly reach the twenty and it's the first time down it for all of us except Trish and Sam. Everybody descends the ladder in a manner that would make the Cirque du Soleil proud - even if I do say so myself. Even better, all of us avoid getting baptised in the double pots, in both directions. Swildon's so dry, that Sump 1 is more like a duck. Even so, none of us are tempted to go through, as all are starting to think longingly of the pub. Tragically, despite our best speedy efforts back out the Short Dry Way, we miss closing time, but it was an excellent trip so our bitter tears of disappointment are quite fleeting.

Bev

 

[chriscastle46]

Wednesday 11th August 2010. Long Hole and Great ?ones Hole.

Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Andy and Rachel Sparrow, Barry H., Andy and Zo? H., Lynette.

To Great ?ones Hole first. There?s not much to say about the trip; it?s a single phreatic passage ending in a stal choke. At the end I expounded my theory that beyond the choke the cave connects with Damocles in Gough?s Cave but I doubt that we?ll ever find out as digging here is prohibited and the Damocles dig is beyond our resources.
Then to Long Hole. A wander down to the end, looking at spiders and the interesting graffiti which includes possible witch marks and Mesolithic engravings. There is a slippery climb up to the last part of the cave which Andy S did first, followed by me and Nicky. I put a rope down for the others and we got most people up. I struggled through the low passage at the very end which is very draughty and rooty because it is probably on the other side of scree in the Gorge. This was an uncomfortable experience wearing just a boiler suit. Andy S. traversed over the climb up to look at Reynold?s Passage, an awkward scalloped small inlet. He went the wrong way but as I was there recently I can say he didn?t miss much.

That was that, a pleasant, short, easy and social pair of trips. It was good to have the Hebdens out with the Club again.

Curiously we did not see a single bat.

Chris 

 

[Andy Sparrow]

Our numbers grew during the weekend to end up with this impressive roll-call:
Andy and Rachel, Ken P, Steve White, Keith, Neil (new member), Chris C, Nicky, Dave M, Judi.  Also non caving were  Anna and Bonny with smiley babies and two huge ferocious dogs capable of terrorising an entire campsite (I jest of course - we had dog issues with the campsite we were going to use).  Two other much anticipated guests, Mr Faff and Mr Cock-Up, were unable to attend.

Friday 3rd - Alum Pot
Andy and Rachel, Ken P, Steve White, Keith, Neil, Chris C, Nicky
Your mission is... To get 8 cavers to the botton of Alum and back in time to get some grub in the pub.  You have 2.5 hours.  In order to achieve this I hung my 60 metre rope from the tree overhanging the main shaft of Alum, before we set off into Lower Long Churn.  There was great hilarity as various members of the party tested the depth of both Plank and Double-Shuffle pools.  From here itwas down the 15 metre Dolly Tubs pitch and out into daylight as we emerged on the ledge half-way down Alum.  There was an appropriate amount of oohing and aahing at the most photographed vista in British caving.  I kept the rigging simple as we carried on down, missing out the rebelays on the shiny smooth limestone to speed us up a bit.  We were soon gathered at the bottom and driven by hunger to make a quick turn-around.  Nicky, Steve, Neil and Keith took the option of the big 49 metre pitch and provided an entertaining spectacle for the rest of us as we ascended and de-rigged.  Both parties arrived back at the cars within a few minutes of each other and we were tucking into pie and chips in the Helwith Bridge by 9.00pm.  Mission accomplished!

Saturday 4th September - County Pot to Lancaster Hole.
Andy and Rachel, Ken P, Steve White, Keith, Neil, Chris C, Nicky
Breakfast at Bernies and then the scenic drive to Bullpot Farm.  It was a splendid day and the walk across the moor was very pleasant.  We went via Lancaster Hole where we be rigged two ropes down the 33 metre pitch to make our exit more efficient.  Another half hour saw us gathered by the entrance to County Pot and we were soon on our way.  A winding rift leads to a short pitch which we abseiled and pulled-through.  From here it's on down more winding canyon in 'rich tea biscuit' coloured limestone.  We arrived at Poetic Justice where it's necessary to struggle up a sort of Cuthberts rift except that it's much shorter, and much more slippery.  I was about to lead up it to fix a rope when it occured to me that this was a job ideally suited to our younger keener membership. 

Keith and Neil were shooting round the cave like ferrets on speed and earned themselves a nick-name - henceforth they were The Whippets.

Whippet Keith shot up Poetic Justice and rigged a rope for the old crustys to follow.  We were all soon through the bedding plane crawl and abseiling down Poetic Justice pitch (6 metres).  With the rope pulled through we carried on downstream, observing the flood debris and foam, to emerge at Eureka Junction.  I took the opportunity to tell everyone the story of Jake Bayne's near-death experience - a sobering tale of what happens when you don't read the indicators of flooding written on the cave walls around you.

We were soon up the Stop Pot fixed ladder and rambling on through the caverns of the high-level route.  We attempted to slow down the Whippets by giving them two tackle bags each to carry but they still yomped off into the distance.  We had a lunch break at the Minarets and then climbed down to the streamway where we had a brief encounter with Mr Faff as most of us avoided a traverse by bodging up a short abseil.  The Whippets, of course, ran across the traverse in a blur of cordura.

From here it was down the wonderful streamway to the final sump, and then up the equally wonderful Wilf Taylors Passage.  A final slog on hands and knees (Montagu West Passage with some very nice formations on either side) took us to the exposed climb down into Fall Pot. 

We were soon at Lancaster entrance where we sent The Whippets up to rig rebelays, allowing us to have 4 cavers climbing the shaft.  Once again we were definitely not at home to Mr Faff and, after 6 hours underground, we were all out.

That night we we went to the Game Cock at Austwick which is now owned by a Frenchman and is to be recommended on the quality of the cuisine.    Very, very yummy.

Sunday 5th September - Swinsto to Valley Entrance
Andy and Rachel, Ken P, Steve White, Keith, Neil, Chris C, Nicky, Dave M, Judi.
With 10 of us on this trip it could have been somewhat protracted so I hatched a plan to keep Mr Faff at bay.  We sent The Whippets in with two short ropes to do simple conventional rigs on the first two pitches and with 4 long ropes for pull-through.  It all worked very well, and everyone had a jolly time abseiling down the various waterfalls.  I didn't see The Whippets again until the Roof Tunnel pitch and then only briefly.  They shot off and emerged back into daylight where Ken wound them up with tales of how long the walk was back to the cars (actually 10 metres away on the other side of the wall).  We had everybody out after about three hours - pretty good going for a group of this size.

A great weekend.  Fabulous caves, good weather, fine food, great company, and no visit from Mr Faff or his buddy Mr Cock-Up.

 

[Bana]

 

[chriscastle46]

An excellent weekend enjoyed by all.

As you may know, Nicky and I stayed an extra night (to visit Lyme Park aka Pemberly, Mr Darcy, wet britches - oh, ask Nicky, it was her thing).

We re-visited the Gamecock and I recommend it most highly. A gastropub at reasonable prices.

Well, that nothing to do with caving but it is about food, equally important.

Chris

 

[Judi Durber]

Here are a few more photos from Yorkshire, the Swinstow trip.

After the (hot) trot up the hill the rigging team disappeared quickly. I love the fact that you go in via such an un assuming small hole.

Due to the number of us we could be lounge lizards for a while & enjoy the sun.

The conditions inside where not conducive to good photograph. So this is someones bum somewhere in the photo.

In a couple of place we all met up

before whizzing off down the ropes again.

And eventually we all got out

Fabulous trip, thank you all.

And after we all said our farewells I checked & yes it was still there,

The ice-cream van across the valley, parks in the lane all day dispensing ice-cream to all the walkers. So Andy Illusion Pot next time please and ice-creams all round.

 

[chriscastle46]

Thursday 23rd September 2010
Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 1
Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Ian T. (SWCC).​

We?d spent the previous day getting soaked attempting the Brecon Beacons horseshoe walk but thick mist and heavy rain caused us to retreat. Our plan today was to go to LNRC but the weather put paid to that so we were going to use Plan B, a wander around OFD 2. However Ian T, a SWCC member staying at the cottages, very kindly offered us an OFD 1 trip.

It?s difficult to work out where we went, being led around a complex system where we?d never been before, but I?ll try to describe the main points we visited.

Obviously the streamway was out so we climbed up the fixed ladder to the Toast Rack and went on a bit to attempt the streamway to avoid a crawl, but it would have been highly dodgy, we were finding it difficult to stay on our feet, so we did the crawl. Somehow we got, I think, to Airy Fairy and a long bolted wire traverse to Bolt Passage and the large Pi chamber. This is named after calcite deposits which look like the Greek letter Pi (if you look hard enough) and nothing to do with steak and ale. Following this came a series of large chambers, the Rawl Series, with some good formations, through Roundabout Chamber and to Lowe?s Passage, a climb down to a streamway, and finally to Boulder Chamber where we turned back, but where a route somewhere here leads to the connection with OFD 2.

On the way back we visited part of  Waterfall Series, involving another wire traverse and a bridge to enter the unfortunately-named Much Binding with a soapflake pool at the end.
Our return trip was the same as the way in with a detour near the entrance to see the hole into Skeleton Chamber where a human skeleton was found; some unfortunate explorer centuries ago had fallen down the hole, broken a leg, and died alone in the dark.

Our planned couple of hours in OFD 2 turned into a splendid 4 hour trip into a part of OFD I?d never seen before, and Nicky and I are very grateful to Ian for leading us.

Chris and Nicky

 

[Judi Durber]

GB
Wednesday 22nd September 2010
Burt, Andy Pollard, Chris Henderson, Kirsty, Judi​

We all met promptly in the lay-by as instructed by Mr Sparrow who dashed in handed over the key & vital bits of equipment (ladder & rope) (glad someone had thought about it,) and dashed off again. We where soon crossing the field scaring the horses & entering the gate to the great GB.  Two bats danced in front of us and shot down the hole further into the cave.  I was a bit wary going in as I didn't want to meet them coming out at the narrow bit. I lead the first bit straight in the quick way.  There was a debate about doing Devil's Elbow but we wanted to get down to the end & not hang around. It was eerie stepping into the main chamber and not hearing any running water. The waterfall was bliss, well not exactly; I still find it a challenge going down even when it is dry as I know there is a bit of a drop below me. We reached the chain & while I showed Kirsty the sump Andy was wonderful & climbed the chain making it look very easy. This is as far as I had ever been before so ducking under & over the false floor & through the squeezes was not what I was expecting.  It wasn't too damp & we soon found our way to the boulder chamber where Andy did a heroic climb unaided so that he could rig it for the rest of us. We wriggled up into Great Chamber and were immediately confronted by the lovely stall that was not as white as it should have been.  Several of the formations had been touched, leaving them muddy & covered in finger marks. Such a shame.  I am glad to say it was not on everything. We all emerged and spread out admiring the many formations in this great cavern (widest unsupported roof in the UK according to some.) At least 2 pillars spectacularly split through were the rock has moved. After climbing almost to the roof we made our way back down swinging off the rope and then spent some time searching for the way into Bat Passage and more brilliant formations.  Having reached the end we turned back & headed out. Once down the ladder (thanks Andy for doing more rope dangling) we tromped straight up the main chamber, Burt doing sterling protection work on the waterfall. Now being tired & it getting late we didn't do the Devil's Elbow but left it for another trip. I didn't see the bats again & we emerged in darkness sending the horses wheeling round the field again.  An excellent trip. (sorry no photo's)

 

[chriscastle46]

Wednesday 17th November 2010
St Cuthberts Swallet​

Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Keith Milward, Trish D-K., Lynette, Ross

This was a trip via the New Route, which involves two pitches and is not done so often as the Wire Rift Route. It was Ross?s first Cuthberts trip; I usually take people on the standard tourist trip to Gour Hall for their first trip but today, well, I didn?t.

At the 18m Pulpit Pitch I kept it simple and we all abseiled with a sling and Italian Hitch, so I now have a nice twisted rope. Trish and Ross had not done much abseiling but with a bit of help and a bottom belay they were fine. However, this all took quite a time.

The next pitch is Gour Passage Pitch, 6m, which we all abseiled again on an Italian Hitch, and progressed along this fine phreatic section to the Waterchute, which had less water than I expected so everyone free-climbed it. After a short distance we came to Lower Traverse Chamber where we climbed the slope to the top and entered Rocky Boulder Series. I went here to see the interesting wrench fault, pointed out to me by Andy Farrant many years ago on a trip when he was researching for his PhD, a feature not many people seem to know about.  Recourse to the survey was needed here, but I soon recognised where I was to climb up into Lower Mud Hall and the usual way out.

Chris

 

[Burt]

Tuesday November 2nd 2010

Gough's Hairy Ring

Burt, Chris C, Lynette, Keith, Neil

A very hot picture session on the "ring" which, if you haven't done it, you've missed out. It's a great SRT playground with most of the problems you can encounter and get hooked up on! Lynette got her very shiny new SRT kit blooded for the first time, I played with cameras and lights, dangled for a bit and the others dangled, swung and climbed about. Spiffing!






Burt