87 - Hole 87 Reexploration
Keith Millar
The day before, while walking to 113, we felt a howling draught coming from 87. The survey showed this as fully explored but we felt that they may have overlooked something when they dismissed a couple of passages.
We went underground at 8.45 pm. After a wonderful sledge/abseil down the first pitch, an icy draught met us at the bottom and we put 2 new bolts in while Chris retrieved the rope which he had left at the top.
The second pitch proved to 25m (not 15) due to the snow at the bottom. The draught seemed to disappear somewhere down this pitch, but this may have been due to the cave widening.
The third pitch was about 20m. There may have been a possible way off to one side, landing on a loose slope.
We got to the top of the next pitch, but due to the state of the rope and the hang on the bolts we decided to abort the trip.
We did a little bit of exploring on the way out. Chris thought a passage at the bottom of the first pitch ought to be explored more thoroughly.
We came out at about 2.00 am.
Time underground 5¼ hours. Jenny.