107 - Old route
Jenny
Tried again for an early start to beat any nighttime thuderstorms later on - didn't do so well this time getting underground at ~10 am. Got to the p67, Olly set off down adding two (bolt) deviations on the way which made the hang dry in dry weather (I expect it would be damp and miserable in wet weather, but not impassable).
Followed the rift down (as Team Youth had in 1978). Used the tail of the rope on the p67 to rig the following p5. Having successfully abseiled down the p67 without incident, about 1m above the floor of the p5 I turned to talk to Olly and stupidly got my hair caught in my rack. Idiot! At least it is easier to free from a rack than a stop. A bit further along the rift and we reached another short pitch (p ). This was followed by a climb - not very steep but in the water (we didn't rig). A little more rift and we got to another short pitch. The rift widened here and was very drippy from inlets. Turns out this is where the 1978 p100 enters, though we didn't realise we were this far along. Another short drop on the same rope and the rift got narrower and nastier. Olly climbed up a few metres to where it got wider and traversed along at this level. Shortly it got wider and deeper and he started to rig down before realising we hadn't much rope left. Failing to realise where we were, we began to survey out. It was a very tedious rift to survey and I was shit at picking stations. Nearly gave up surveying, but decided to have a break while Olly carried the drill up the next pitch. I went back and derigged the deeper ones. Finished the survey and headed out without incident. The p67 did a good job at spreading us out for the ascent, so I didn't have to wait at all and was actually quite warm by the time I got out. With my slow prussiking (and carrying the drill) it took 1 hr 20 from the bottom of the p67 out.