So a planned early start turned into an 8pm entrance to Swildon's hole. Temperature dropping outside, but inside seemed fairly cosy. We had spent most of the car journey discussing how to make the best of our minimal equipment. (6m ladder, srt gear, and 2 bits of string.) we decided to pull through our safety rope for the 20 and use it as back-up to rig the exit from shatter pot, in case we couldn't figure the pendulum swing out of shatter pot's roof. This was the 2nd real attempt at doing the Swynne puke round trip, since last time one of our guys dropped the bag (with all the gear) down the hole after the 42ft climb up. (Spent over an hour figuring out how to rescue it!!)
Anyway, i managed up the 42ft climb with relative ease, after some deep breaths, chucked a safety down for Will to climb up to meet me. Most of the rigging to get down was straight forward, using the back-end of our pull-though rope to safety to the pitch heads. Checking carefully that we knew what we were doing before pulling through.
But.... what is deal with the P hangers in shatter pots roof? Quite a buzz, hanging over the dark abyss on a muddy rope that rubs heavily on the rock above. Did we miss a deviation?
Should we use a rope protector? (I think not, else we can't pull through??) Any light on this would be much appreciated!!!
Oh well, we managed it with nervous ease, hoping/praying there wasn't too much friction, i made an easy pendulum to the main shatter pot ledge, clipping my cows tails into our pre rigged rope on the exit. Happy days, Will decides on a different descent to the bottom and then srt's out the exit rope, whilst pulling the main rope through.
Both quite literally "shattered" decide straight out is much more friendly (on us and our call-out) than round the short round trip. A steady plod and were out by midnight. By heck those bags were heavy!!
Anyway, i managed up the 42ft climb with relative ease, after some deep breaths, chucked a safety down for Will to climb up to meet me. Most of the rigging to get down was straight forward, using the back-end of our pull-though rope to safety to the pitch heads. Checking carefully that we knew what we were doing before pulling through.
But.... what is deal with the P hangers in shatter pots roof? Quite a buzz, hanging over the dark abyss on a muddy rope that rubs heavily on the rock above. Did we miss a deviation?
Should we use a rope protector? (I think not, else we can't pull through??) Any light on this would be much appreciated!!!Oh well, we managed it with nervous ease, hoping/praying there wasn't too much friction, i made an easy pendulum to the main shatter pot ledge, clipping my cows tails into our pre rigged rope on the exit. Happy days, Will decides on a different descent to the bottom and then srt's out the exit rope, whilst pulling the main rope through.
Both quite literally "shattered" decide straight out is much more friendly (on us and our call-out) than round the short round trip. A steady plod and were out by midnight. By heck those bags were heavy!!
