Expo - Elliott and Katey's first week on Expo
Sat 22 Jul 2017
Katey Bender
Blog Author: kbender
Katey Bender
Elliott and Katey's first week on Expo
Elliott started the journey to Austria in London on Thursday, July 13th. He then travelled to Braintree to Cambridge to Richmond to Ingleton then to Leeds for the night at mine. Meanwhile I was panic-packing my entire life, moving out of my house and packing for expo all at once. The next morning we left for expo via Cambridge to pick up some survey instruments and Braintree to pick up all the remaining expo food ? a more challenging prospect than it sounds given that the van was already very full when we set off from Leeds, owing to nearly 1.5km of rope between sponsorship rope, rope we?d bought, and kit from the tackle store.
Lots and lots of rope. Photo Elliott Smith.
We finally made it to Dover in time to catch the ferry after the one we?d booked, and after an uneventful overnight drive we arrived at base camp around 4pm on Saturday, July 15th.
All the rope magically disappeared from the van and everything that wasn't new rapidly disappeared up the hill with the contingent of keen carriers; all the new rope (1km!) rapidly disappeared into the river to soak overnight. Chris Densham turned up about an hour after us so we celebrated the end of the drive with some schnapps and called it a night.
The next day, after nursing a hangover (or four) we pulled the rope out of the river and started processing it ? stretched it, dried it off, and packed it into tackle sacks to carry up the hill.
Chris Densham removing rope from the river. Photo Elliott Smith.
300m of rope packed into two tacklesacks (Katey Bender and Chris Densham). Photo Elliott Smith.
1km of rope disappeared into tacklesacks. Chris Densham and Katey Bender labelling bags. Photo Elliott Smith.
Sunday evening we made the first of a couple of carries up the hill. As it turns out, 200m of rope is quite heavy; it was an ambitious first carry for me, but a good kickstart to the expo fitness regime. After the best intentions for a quick bounce carry on Monday morning followed by a shallow pushing trip in Balkonh?hle, Chris, Elliott and I ended up carrying in the morning then sitting in the sun all afternoon. This, however, was not a total loss as we managed to get all the kit sorted out for underground camp, meaning we were ready for the first camp the next day.
Despite our best intentions Elliott and I were allocated to the first underground camp to Kraken, planned for 2 nights ? entering Tunnocks on Tuesday and exiting Thursday afternoon, as there were thunderstorms expected Thursday late afternoon/evening. After last year?s experience being flooded in on the way up from a camping trip, Chris and I weren't too keen on spending another chilly night at the bottom of a flooded pitch. A 600m descent saw Elliott and I at camp for about 4pm. On the final 40m free hang the rope had, in fact, hit the bottom ? we had been slightly concerned after some not-so-confident noises from the team that had rigged down to camp. After leaving the ten in situ at the end of last year we weren't expecting an easy set-up; the zips to the tent corroded shut, the puddle in the bottom of the tent and a good layer of mold were somewhat worse than expected. However, we soon drained the puddle, found use for a Therion protractor as an excellent mold-scraping tool, and sacrificed our spare buffs to mop up the remains and the bivi was soon back to a state fit for human habitation. Chris joined us a few hours later having fettled the rigging on the way down; we lit a few tea lights, had some dinner and settled in for a good night?s sleep.
Day 2 of underground camp saw us continue to the deepest passage in Tunnocksschacht ? Song of the Earth, pushed last year to -902m. Minimal rigging after most of the ropes were left in last year made for a quick descent and we soon reached the bottom of the cave. The deepest point of the cave is a mud sump with no way on, though we stopped off there to show Chris as he?d not been before and to take some photos.
Elliott Smith and Katey Bender, from teams 1 and 2 to visit the mud sump. Photo Chris Densham.
While there, after a brief ?oh bugger?, Elliott pointed out that there was a small airspace on the far side of the mud sump. Naturally, as the smallest person on the trip, I got posted down the hole. As I was headfirst down this rather tight hole, helmet off, Chris decided to take some photos.
'Just hold still Katey, this is a good photo!? [Note Boots at top right pf photo] Grumble grumble.' Photo Chris Densham.
We noticed a small draft in the mud sump (very odd) but decided not to be Mendip cavers and rather to carry on with the phreatic passage that we knew was 10 minutes away. Through the very drafty, sandy dig to the pushing front!
The pushing front was a 6m climb, which I?d free climbed at the end of last year but which really needed a rope on to be safe. So, the first task was climbing up it and bolting it.
Katey Bender free-climbing to the pushing front. Photo Chris Densham.
That done, Elliott and Chris followed me up and we carried on to the exciting part. Elliott did a slightly dodgy semi free-climb, semi bolt climb up the most promising lead while Chris and I surveyed a couple unpromising leads.
Elliott Smith approximately bolt climbing. Photo Chris Densham.
We followed Elliott up around 30m until we ran out of rope, and hangers, and drill batteries all at once. However, we left 3 pitches ~20m to be dropped, which the next camp should be looking at right now?
That day?s work done we headed back to camp and, 2.5 hours later, we were all back and our dinner was cooking. We decided that, having not managed to kill off our lead, we?d earned a celebratory tot of rum in our evening hot chocolate! The next day the long prussic began; Chris was the last one out and made it back to top camp for 5:30pm, about a half hour after the thunderstorm started.
The next day Chris headed down the hill to draw up our survey while Elliott and I headed into Balcony for another dose of Vitamin D deficiency. Elliott, Rachel, Nadia and Phil went to survey and explore Galactica ? a really quite large chamber discovered at the very end of last year?s expo. Having surveyed it they found it was over 100m long, 40m wide and up to 90m high. Unfortunately the only lead went nowhere. Meanwhile Nathan, Adam and I went to Sloppy Seconds to drop one of the pitches in the area. We had a similar success rate to Galactica, though we taught Adam how to survey so it was a useful training trip for him.
This morning Elliott and I decided we?d had enough of caving and probably ought to draw up our surveys, so we headed down the hill for a day of ice cream and quality festering.
Elliott started the journey to Austria in London on Thursday, July 13th. He then travelled to Braintree to Cambridge to Richmond to Ingleton then to Leeds for the night at mine. Meanwhile I was panic-packing my entire life, moving out of my house and packing for expo all at once. The next morning we left for expo via Cambridge to pick up some survey instruments and Braintree to pick up all the remaining expo food ? a more challenging prospect than it sounds given that the van was already very full when we set off from Leeds, owing to nearly 1.5km of rope between sponsorship rope, rope we?d bought, and kit from the tackle store.
Lots and lots of rope. Photo Elliott Smith.
We finally made it to Dover in time to catch the ferry after the one we?d booked, and after an uneventful overnight drive we arrived at base camp around 4pm on Saturday, July 15th.
All the rope magically disappeared from the van and everything that wasn't new rapidly disappeared up the hill with the contingent of keen carriers; all the new rope (1km!) rapidly disappeared into the river to soak overnight. Chris Densham turned up about an hour after us so we celebrated the end of the drive with some schnapps and called it a night.
The next day, after nursing a hangover (or four) we pulled the rope out of the river and started processing it ? stretched it, dried it off, and packed it into tackle sacks to carry up the hill.
Chris Densham removing rope from the river. Photo Elliott Smith.
300m of rope packed into two tacklesacks (Katey Bender and Chris Densham). Photo Elliott Smith.
1km of rope disappeared into tacklesacks. Chris Densham and Katey Bender labelling bags. Photo Elliott Smith.
Sunday evening we made the first of a couple of carries up the hill. As it turns out, 200m of rope is quite heavy; it was an ambitious first carry for me, but a good kickstart to the expo fitness regime. After the best intentions for a quick bounce carry on Monday morning followed by a shallow pushing trip in Balkonh?hle, Chris, Elliott and I ended up carrying in the morning then sitting in the sun all afternoon. This, however, was not a total loss as we managed to get all the kit sorted out for underground camp, meaning we were ready for the first camp the next day.
Despite our best intentions Elliott and I were allocated to the first underground camp to Kraken, planned for 2 nights ? entering Tunnocks on Tuesday and exiting Thursday afternoon, as there were thunderstorms expected Thursday late afternoon/evening. After last year?s experience being flooded in on the way up from a camping trip, Chris and I weren't too keen on spending another chilly night at the bottom of a flooded pitch. A 600m descent saw Elliott and I at camp for about 4pm. On the final 40m free hang the rope had, in fact, hit the bottom ? we had been slightly concerned after some not-so-confident noises from the team that had rigged down to camp. After leaving the ten in situ at the end of last year we weren't expecting an easy set-up; the zips to the tent corroded shut, the puddle in the bottom of the tent and a good layer of mold were somewhat worse than expected. However, we soon drained the puddle, found use for a Therion protractor as an excellent mold-scraping tool, and sacrificed our spare buffs to mop up the remains and the bivi was soon back to a state fit for human habitation. Chris joined us a few hours later having fettled the rigging on the way down; we lit a few tea lights, had some dinner and settled in for a good night?s sleep.
Day 2 of underground camp saw us continue to the deepest passage in Tunnocksschacht ? Song of the Earth, pushed last year to -902m. Minimal rigging after most of the ropes were left in last year made for a quick descent and we soon reached the bottom of the cave. The deepest point of the cave is a mud sump with no way on, though we stopped off there to show Chris as he?d not been before and to take some photos.
Elliott Smith and Katey Bender, from teams 1 and 2 to visit the mud sump. Photo Chris Densham.
While there, after a brief ?oh bugger?, Elliott pointed out that there was a small airspace on the far side of the mud sump. Naturally, as the smallest person on the trip, I got posted down the hole. As I was headfirst down this rather tight hole, helmet off, Chris decided to take some photos.
'Just hold still Katey, this is a good photo!? [Note Boots at top right pf photo] Grumble grumble.' Photo Chris Densham.
We noticed a small draft in the mud sump (very odd) but decided not to be Mendip cavers and rather to carry on with the phreatic passage that we knew was 10 minutes away. Through the very drafty, sandy dig to the pushing front!
The pushing front was a 6m climb, which I?d free climbed at the end of last year but which really needed a rope on to be safe. So, the first task was climbing up it and bolting it.
Katey Bender free-climbing to the pushing front. Photo Chris Densham.
That done, Elliott and Chris followed me up and we carried on to the exciting part. Elliott did a slightly dodgy semi free-climb, semi bolt climb up the most promising lead while Chris and I surveyed a couple unpromising leads.
Elliott Smith approximately bolt climbing. Photo Chris Densham.
We followed Elliott up around 30m until we ran out of rope, and hangers, and drill batteries all at once. However, we left 3 pitches ~20m to be dropped, which the next camp should be looking at right now?
That day?s work done we headed back to camp and, 2.5 hours later, we were all back and our dinner was cooking. We decided that, having not managed to kill off our lead, we?d earned a celebratory tot of rum in our evening hot chocolate! The next day the long prussic began; Chris was the last one out and made it back to top camp for 5:30pm, about a half hour after the thunderstorm started.
The next day Chris headed down the hill to draw up our survey while Elliott and I headed into Balcony for another dose of Vitamin D deficiency. Elliott, Rachel, Nadia and Phil went to survey and explore Galactica ? a really quite large chamber discovered at the very end of last year?s expo. Having surveyed it they found it was over 100m long, 40m wide and up to 90m high. Unfortunately the only lead went nowhere. Meanwhile Nathan, Adam and I went to Sloppy Seconds to drop one of the pitches in the area. We had a similar success rate to Galactica, though we taught Adam how to survey so it was a useful training trip for him.
This morning Elliott and I decided we?d had enough of caving and probably ought to draw up our surveys, so we headed down the hill for a day of ice cream and quality festering.