CUCC Expeditions to Austria: 1976 - 2023

Down to tick off some leads & start the derig. Nial rigged his "worst ever pitch" - for his sake, I hope it is true - rope slung round a boulder at the pitch head, past a wriggle through loose choss and a few rub points and down to a spit he put in with a 20cm long vertical crack above it. This dropped us down to where the Engaged pitch landed and from there Martin attempted to outdo Nial by rigging the next pitch on even more choss. Got very cold waiting and I was mighty relieved to find, after the first spit had gone in, that we'd run out of hangers (we accidentally only had brought two in total!) & could go out. Andrew took a few photos through the trip and he and I surveyed two shortish QM's whilst Nial and Martin headed out. We then derigged the rope in Convenience and Chalk & Cheese and then I took a tacklesack out leaving just a 55m pushing rope to fish out at the bottom of Gaffered. Overtook Martin and Nial before Gaffered and slowly we all trundled out. Super-muddy Gaffered rope plus a heavy tacklesack is a crap combination.