204 - 21 Bolt Salute
Earl Merson
More bolt traverse fun! Reached the corner of the shaft and
climbed into a small slot (hoping this to be a quick way to get to
the large QM) but although there is a view through boulders, it
didn't seem to be wise to try and get through. Back out of the slot
(hmm, kneeling on one's traverse line) and three more bolts bring
us to a short abseil onto the target QM's boulder slope. Julian
followed across and we explore where this stoking QM goes ... Main
way blocked by boulder slope, but a phreatic rift/joint area on the
left leads upwards with a strong breeze. Following this breeze we
climbed up for about 6m to where boulders blocked the passage, the
breeze whistling through a small gap. Julian had a good look and
declared that there was 'a lot of cave' around here, just we
couldn't get to it. We may return with a crow bar to proddle the
boulders a little. We surveyed out, measuring the top of the 70m
pitch as over 20m.
T/U ??