SWILDONS SUMP1 ROPE

[Stupot]

The sheath on the Swildon's sump 1 rope is extremely close to parting on the down stream side of the sump.

I have no rope to replace it with but I am going to remove the old one tomorow morning (29th) as the conseqences of someone going through and being met with a ball of frayed sheath is'nt really worth thinking about.

Has anyone got any objections to this being removed until a new one can be installed ?

I will put a notice on the block house.

Stu.

07977440346

 

[cap n chris]

Well done, Stu.

 

[darkplaces]

Make sure its replaced with the right type of rope  :tease:

 

[Dep]

The sheath on the Swildon's sump 1 rope is extremely close to parting on the down stream side of the sump.

I have no rope to replace it with but I am going to remove the old one tomorow morning (29th) as the conseqences of someone going through and being met with a ball of frayed sheath is'nt really worth thinking about.

Has anyone got any objections to this being removed until a new one can be installed ?

I will put a notice on the block house.

Stu.

07977440346

Hi - are you the chap we met this morning just below Tratman's Temple as you were coming out and we were going in on a round trip?

 

[Stupot]

No that was probably Simon Richardson from the Wessex, he told me about the rope when he got back.

Did you have a good trip ?

 

[Dep]

Yes it was fantastic. Not been further than sump 1 before and a simple streamway route only.
We were worried the place might be heaving with people but it was practically deserted.
We met one party at TT who told us about the rope and then we headed off. As they had already been through all the ducks were already bailed, some were low enough to only get one ear wet.
Our leader, PaulF has a big chest and had real fun getting through Bang Squeeze and had to strip off whilst I reached through from behind him and pulled his wetsuit off - I almost had his pants too! 

He made it in the end but with some serious discomfort - he will have bruises tomorrow.
I came through afterwards - dead skinny - can't see what all the fuss was about! 

Then we got to sump 1 on the way out - I've never done a proper sump before - PaulF said going back was not an option with the squeeze - I had always professed to do my bottling out at the surface - ie I'd already made up my mind to do it so could not back out without looking like a dick. Can't say I enjoyed the sump or the ducks (don't like water) - but didn't have any problems either so quite pleased with myself.

Apart from the Wessex group we met no one else at all.

Bloody excellent trip all told.

 

[Stupot]

I reached through from behind him and pulled his wetsuit off - I almost had his pants too!   

Excellent, after all what are friends for 

Was it bang squeeze or Birthday he stipped off in.

Sounds like you had a good trip then.

Stu.

 

[Dep]

I reached through from behind him and pulled his wetsuit off - I almost had his pants too! 

Excellent, after all what are friends for 
Was it bang squeeze or Birthday he stipped off in.

I was told 'Bang Squeeze' - by far the tightest part of the trip.
Fully calcited very slippery, slopes slightly to the right, highest on left.
Hard to get through without sliding downwards and jamming.

Some serious determination from PaulF though - very impressed.

 

[Stupot]

That's Birthday Squeeze, Bang Squeeze is the one just before the long duct after the Troubles (not really a squeeze).

 

[cap n chris]

The tightest of the squeezes on the Round Trip has no name IIRC.

 

[Stupot]

The tightest of the squeezes on the Round Trip has no name IIRC.

Wheres that then ?

Top of the landing  :-\

 

[cap n chris]

No, I was referring to the paragraph in the Mendip Bible (MU) which, when describing the Round Trip, alludes to squeezes with the names Bang Squeeze and Birthday Squeeze, neither of which fits the description of the tight squeeze which Dep has described very accurately. In MU the duck through the narrow archway seems to be described as Birthday Squeeze.

Here's the relevant sentence from MU. See what you make of it:

"Muddy passage beyond (the first trouble) leads quickly to the second trouble, another short duck, which may need bailing. Thirty metres on is Bang Squeeze, followed by a crawl into the decorated doomed grotto. The way on is... a 2m step up on the left... leads, through a squeeze*, into the downsloping and well-decorated Glistening Gallery. From the lower end of the gallery, Birthday Squeeze continues as a wet, flat out 3m crawl. This is almost a duck and can be bailed back into a mud dam"...

* Nameless squeeze. This is the tight bugger!

My recollection of the Round Trip has the tight squeeze (which is often referred to as Birthday Squeeze) fitting the description of the nameless squeeze above i.e. "through a squeeze, into the downsloping and well-decorated GG"; the low wet crawl is Birthday Squeeze (and it's not even a squeeze!). All this is according to MU - it may be wrong in the book, I suppose. So, that's my "authentication" for the Birthday Squeeze which everyone describes as really being the nameless squeeze.

 

[Dep]

Thanks CnC - an interesting observation.
It's also the absolute minimum tight-spot on the trip, the only one PaulF didn't go through really quickly.

 

[Stupot]

I see, but the the 3m wet flat out crawl isn't really 3m and is nowhere near a "squeeze", although I will agree it is wet.

Jrat and Wig need a  :spank:

Stu.

 

[cap n chris]

Did PaulF go through lying on his back? - if not, he would find it MUCH easier next time if he did this.

 

[Dep]

Just trying to think which way round his feet were - I think so, pretty sure it was his chest against the roof.

 

[paulf]

I went through on my back with just a t-shirt & pants on Wish I kept my elbow pads on seriously sour !!
I will be losing weight before I go Back !!

 

[Stupot]

seriously sour !!!!

That's you problem, you had Chewitts on your elbows.

 

[cap n chris]

I went through on my back with just a t-shirt & pants on Wish I kept my elbow pads on seriously sour !!
I will be losing weight before I go Back !!

Jeez, if you found it hard lying on your back then you did well to force yourself into it!

Fnaaar.

Meh.

 

[Les W]

Chris, you are right, Birthday squeeze is the low crawl below Glistening Gallery. This used to be tight when first dug through but as the floor is gravel and mud it has eroded with the passage of cavers over time. now it is huge.

The really tight squeeze up passage from there is unnamed.