Balcony - Bipedal Passage
Fleur
After 12 hrs underground the day before, I fancied a shorter trip and targeted a south pointing lead after Natural Highs.
Directions: After Natural Highs traverse, instead of going right up the climbs into Leeds Bypass, turn left, follow the main passage, a walking sized rift. It ends in a big hole.
The hole was, in fact, somewhat longer + deeper than I had remembered. Looking good though!
We had a 39m rope + 1½ drill batteries. Starting with the new drill battery, I started to bolt round the ledges on the right hand wall. 1½ holes later the battery died - grrr!! The remaining ½ battery got us ~1/3 way along the right wall.
Still hard to see how far the straight ahead lead would go - potentially a top level + a mid level need to be checked.
After the drill batteries went, I belayed Pete across a small (!!) rock bridge to check out a side passage, but it ended in a blind pot.
On the way back, Pete threw rocks down - 2 second free fall and a further 8 second rattle!
We then did two token survey legs before retreading.