204 - Razor Dance
Dave Loeffler
Our hopes of an early start were sabotaged by the realisation that
the drill battery was (a) flat and (b) broken. Several hours of charging
and some gaffer later, we got underground around noon.
At the pushing front, James + I cowered damply while Andreas rigged
the pitch with a Y-hang + rebelay 2m further down. This landed in an
elongated rift chamber, with a fairly narrow but ruler-straight slot
leading off. Andreas went ahead with the bolting gear while we started
surveying.
The slot widened out somewhat + a scramble up onto a ledge led to a
keyhole-type phreatic tunnel + slot in the floor. Andreas rigged a
traverse where the slot began to widen + reached a stance overlooking a
deep, dark pool of water.
Andreas attempted to answer the question 'is this a sump?' by
traversing out along the ledge to see round a corner, but ran out of
battery. So we headed out, leaving the depth certainly over 600m.