Loser Plateau - Rigging horizontal entrance
Julia Day
Having been a bit slack the previous day and jacked a bit early, I volunteered to put the back-up bolt in for the pitch we'd found Anthony had told me that this would be shit, but I can't have been listening too closely. *NOTE TO SELF - _DON'T_ volunteer to bolt something you haven't seen before*...
Didn't get off to a very good start. My options for getting to the pitch head were to attempt a tricky looking climb out of the pit, or crawling through a tube over the pit. I chose the latter, but didn't fancy the short section of free space (over a 3m drop) between one crawl and the next. Unfortunately, to get down to the climb I needed to reverse out of the tube and traverse backwards over the pit. I didn't fancy this without someone telling me where to put my feet, not being able to turn round (or see through the back of my head). So I called back to Anthony, who grumbled a fair bit 'cos he was getting changed in a leisurely fashion and didn't want to rush. Sat all cosy in my little tube for 20 mins, then Dour turned up and assisted me in traversing backwards. Climbed up inot the crawl to the pitch, and took a while before being able to find a position that was bearable to be in whilst placing a bolt. It was shit, in no uncertain terms, and placing the backup bolt took a long time, due to the cramped position I was in.
After that I sat and watched Anthony bolt. It was possible to turn round at the pitch head, but being a bit of a fuckwit, I opted to remain with my feet heading back into the crawl. I was consequently extremely uncomfortable as well as cold, so we jacked after Anthony had placed a hang bolt and a rebelay bolt ~6 metres down. Not the most productive of days.
_TU_ 6 hours