204 - Rigging down to Fat worm blows a Sparky
Edvin Deadman
The plan was to rig down then push an A-grade lead for a bit on the
Flat Worm level. So obviously things were never quite going to pan out
that way. We got down to the Underworld without incident (although
tacklesacks are an absolute bastard to carry). Nial started rigging
Gardener's World and Universally Challenged [sic - University Challenge]
(who thinks of these names, seriously!) before realising we didn't have
enough rope of the right length. After a bit of cheeky rebolting and
jiggling of ropes we managed to get down. A few minutes scrambling
around through some pretty passage brought us to the next pitch. It
probably has a stupid name [Chalk and Cheese]. Nial rigged this on some
11mm rope so slow you could abseil down it without a stop, and you still
wouldn't need a braking crab. The rope was kind of just about long
enough. We got to Thin Rift and as far as the previous pushing front
where a [lack of] handline had prevented the previous explorers getting
any further. Unfortunately, 5m later we realised we needed either a
traverse line over the top of the rift along a ledge or another handline
down to the bottom. So we only rigged to do an extra 2 survey legs, but
the rift was still going so we were keen to go back. Nial will now put
the new Gardener's World rigging guide below ....
(mwah ... hah ... ha ... I nicked your space [different handwriting]
damn you Mundy [Edvin's handwriting; note no rigging guide!]