258 Pushing Determination
Anthony
Lured by tales of an ongoing spacious pitch series, I found myself heading off to Holly’s
favourite lead at the far north of Tunnocks. After the usual tedium of the entrance series,
a long sweaty uphill stromp through Flying High etc, we found ourselves staring at the start
of ‘The Flap’ after ~2½ hours. Having been this far last year I had a rough
idea what to expect. I was informed that there was a double bend that Mike had not
appreciated due to long legs but was assured that it would be alright. The double bend did
indeed prove to be quite entertaining: it took me three attempts with much wibbling and
encouragement from Chris and Holly to coax my ample frame through. I’m not used to proper
caving at the best of times – especially within Austria!
However the pitch at the far end is most fine – a nice rift pitch that would not look out
of place in Yorkshire. Chris bolted the next pitch which is ~35m split by a small
ledge about halfway down. The continuing rift at the bottom (thankfully much larger than the
rift at the top) continues down, quickly reaching a further pitch with a drop of ~3
seconds. We had no more rope, so Chris put some bolts in in readiness for a future descent
whilst Holly and I surveyed out. By the time we got to the bottom of the first pitch (pushed
by Holly and Mike) the clock was ticking so the survey was left hanging. With a bit of
guesswork concerning the length of this pitch and the undescended pitch it appears that the
Determination Series is getting close to the level of the horizontal development at the
bottom of String Theory.
With that, it was time to do battle with ‘The Flap/ again. This time, Holly had to
perform an overtaking manoeuvre in the rift in order to show me how it should be done. With
that obstacle overcame we slogged back to the entrance and staggered back to Top Camp
running on empty.
Overall a most satisfying and productive day. Thanks to Holly and Chris for coaxing me
through the small bits.