161 - Surveying Lost World Upstream
William Stead
Sam (notes) and _William_ (instruments)
My reintroduction to KH after 1990 expo - don't like climb to new entrance. Arrived just in time to hear a winging sound and see Becka disappearing underground. Passed grottyishly rigged surprise of Wheelchair Access - could do with extra bolt to remove need for rope protector. Down to Lost World via Kein Zimmer (Kein Raum/Platz?) rift which proved much easier than we'd been told. Sam and I started surveying while Dave and Mike took piccies. Got up to survey st'n 4 where Sam suggested we go up a side rift towards sound of running water. This we did and found huge area with small stream running down wall, disappearing under boulder blocking exit and simultaneously holding back a large pile of mud and gravel. Might just get down but probably not worth trying unless you fancy getting buried alive. Decided to survey it and ripped my suit. Continued surveying to station 10 in the chamber full of dead bats (Ptearamack Suit Chamber?) - well 2 or 3 anyway. Continued through the crawl to the black floored passage (Bournville Lakes) and connected up a few more legs here and there. By this time I was freezing so we started out. Mike and Dave went on up the rift while I put a bolt in the bottom pitch to improve the take off and still caught them up before the top of the rift pitch. Out ca 7.30pm, back to camp where we waited for Julian and Anthony to come out of 136 before going down to base camp in the dark.
Time Underground 7½ hrs, William
P.S. Pause for a rant. When joining ropes at a rebelay, join the rope _loops_ not just the maillon. That way you won't die if the maillon unscrews.
[drawing of correct method with large tick]
[drawing of wrong method with large cross]
PPS I like the rigging generally really!
[Insert: page torn from magazine - advertisement "Now there's a new way to avoid the wet patch.", captioned "Open, for a new exciting product - useful for Sump clearance, wild nights out and rising damp."]