106 - overnight in 106
Wed 09 Aug 1978
Andy Waddington
It had already got dark by the time we went underground, and various amounts of rerigging delayed us somewhat. Eventually we got to the big pitch which Andy descended first - it was COLOSSAL ! At the bottom, a couple of ace natural belays got us down the next 10m pitch to the floor of Mega boulders.
At first it appeared to be a big choke, but descending down dip and then climbing up vast piles of boulders, a roomy gallery - almost an exhibition hall of all the varieties of unstable boulder bridges - was found.
The explorer started a descent of the far side of the boulders under a boulder estimated at 5000 tons, but waited for support from DHF. Eventually found the obvious free climb down, but found it overhanging - so went off for the bolting gear and rigged a short pitch down into the new chamber. From here a traverse and awkward climb down leads to a stream which goes off to the left (not pushed very far).
An additional tributary comes from a rift about 20' up and flows the same way. Between the two is an OFD type passage ending in a drop into a rift and a possible (but not without a lifeline) continuation beyond.
We rigged a natural belay for the start of the rift (in a side rift to the left) and placed a bolt rebelay, but did not descend further due to lack of time. Set off upward and soon got somewhat warmer (despite the heavy water at the bottom of the 180') on the way up. Eventually surfaced at a late hour (8.30 am !) after a 12 hour plus trip. Andy. Deeper than OFD now !
Previous trip/ Next trip
Andy Waddington
id1978-76-10 9th-10th August
It had already got dark by the time we went underground, and various amounts of rerigging delayed us somewhat. Eventually we got to the big pitch which Andy descended first - it was COLOSSAL ! At the bottom, a couple of ace natural belays got us down the next 10m pitch to the floor of Mega boulders.
At first it appeared to be a big choke, but descending down dip and then climbing up vast piles of boulders, a roomy gallery - almost an exhibition hall of all the varieties of unstable boulder bridges - was found.
The explorer started a descent of the far side of the boulders under a boulder estimated at 5000 tons, but waited for support from DHF. Eventually found the obvious free climb down, but found it overhanging - so went off for the bolting gear and rigged a short pitch down into the new chamber. From here a traverse and awkward climb down leads to a stream which goes off to the left (not pushed very far).
An additional tributary comes from a rift about 20' up and flows the same way. Between the two is an OFD type passage ending in a drop into a rift and a possible (but not without a lifeline) continuation beyond.
We rigged a natural belay for the start of the rift (in a side rift to the left) and placed a bolt rebelay, but did not descend further due to lack of time. Set off upward and soon got somewhat warmer (despite the heavy water at the bottom of the 180') on the way up. Eventually surfaced at a late hour (8.30 am !) after a 12 hour plus trip. Andy. Deeper than OFD now !
T/U 12 hour
Previous trip/ Next trip