171, near old top camp - surveying
Jenny Black
Headed to 171 with oversuits and kneepads to finish the survey. On phoning basecamp
discovered that the camping team were overdue, but that things were in hand, and there was
nothing we could do in the short term. Took the phone with us to get updates.
Started at 171a and surveyed down to the final daylight entrance. Heard the rescue
helicopter, which worried us, but no message from basecamp, so we continued. Went down the wide
but low and breakdwon-y side passage. This continued to pop out 2/3 of the way down a day light
shaft. Headed out after surveying this, and failed to identify the daylight entrance from the
surface - it must be a narrow gryke by the surface.
Headed to 171b and surveyed north along a slightly drafty passage - there is a parallel rift
on the rift with a snow patch and another daylight aven. There is a small passage doubling back
here that we didn't thoroughly explore, because we assumed it would trivially reconnect. The
main passage finally ends at a low drafting (out) choke. Looking at the survey shows this is
very close to the end of [gap in logbook, probably meant 250]. Got a text message reporting
from basecamp the camping team were safe which was a relief. Olly cancelled our callout (by
phone) which unfortunately didn't make the call out book. So team rescue very efficiently came
down to our camp to check we were safe - thank you!
Callout book entry. Have rope + spare drill battery on surface if needed