115
Phil Townsend
The first big trip - jeez were we knackered ! Full of beans, literally, Pete made a jet assisted walk in. Surprisingly efficient trip in with tackle bags. The Ramp is different but no easier. Some entertaining rigging on the Inlet Pitches. And then Purgatory, what can one say, it goes on and on and on. We rigged the Pre-sump Pitch, then the Post-sump Bypass Pitch. On into the stream, considering the quantity of rain there was pleasingly low water. We rigged the first three streamway pitches, 7m slopping + damp, 5m, new bolt to make the next 40m pitch drier. Carried on down a rather wet climb with grotty memories of last year, we decided it needed a rope and that we'd turn around before we got cold. Going back Purgatory was longer and destroyed a tackle bag and a boiler suit. Soup in the main chamber provided just enough body heat to combat the chill acquired waiting to brew it ! From then a sleepy exit was made, both of us nodding off at strategic points on the entrance pitches, and on the Stogerweg on the way back.
Time 14 hrs.