Puffball
Alistair Morris
Caving at last !! The first problem that was presented to us was how to get in. The winter snow fall had not fully melted and the entrance appeared snow plug. There was the possibility of gaining entrance down the side of the snow just to the left of the cave number. So we placed a Hilti and dropped down a ladder. This provided a way into the main hole. Some digging provided a route into the passageway into the cave.
Since last year it appears that the roof has fallen in and there is a new hole in the roof <-- Bollocks ! Look at the survey fellas... The boulder choke is very loose and should be descended with caution.
Once we arrived at Shell Pitch, Julian and Matt went ahead to start rigging Piezo. Mark and I began to re-rig Shell Pitch but due to a slight misjudgement we only had one hammer with us and were unable to dress the rock properly. This will be re-rigged next time we go down, hopefully.
On the traverse to Piezo there is a move over a deep hole which should be hand lined and possibly explored. Julian had rigged the first part of Piezo too a long free hang. We descended this but found that rigging the next pitch would be difficult avoid what could be a large waterfall and as our side of the cave was not vertical. The other side is overhanging and should make an excellent place to rig, but unfortunately it is virtually impossible to reach, let alone to drill a hole. After some looking we spotted a good ish rigging point, again it was somewhat difficult to reach as a traverse out was required and then the rope just pulled you straight back.
Matt at this point was feeling very cold and decided to leave the cave. We then started rigging a descending traverse from the top of the pitch to reach this point. After 3 bolts we were tired and decided to come out. We're not far from reaching the good rigging side - next trip we'll get there.
T.U. Matt - 6 hours
Mark, Julian, Ali - 9 hours
Previous trip (last year)