SURVEYING 161C - FRANCE & RIGGING ROLL OF THE DICE
Paul Smith
Mark F, Julian and I surveyed down to France uneventfully whilst Mark D rigged Roll of the Dice and below. On the way down, Mark D & I entered the large phreatic tube just below the last rebelay. Surprisingly it was virgin - sloping down the bedding steeply to intersect the boulder-floored rift at the base of French Connection II. After a trip back to the surface for some rope, Mark D traversed across the rift into a continuation on the opposite side - this section was not virgin, with a single footprint visible, but the route up and the person responsible were not obvious. Virgin section is Robinson Crusoe passage, continuation is Man Friday Passage. The [??] chokes quickly but draughts strongly - probably underneath the Rabbit Warren.
Whilst we surveyed, Mark D had rigged Roll of the Dice (a 35m pitch with 3 rebelays) to a 20m pitch to a hading rift (undescended).