107 - near coldest
Jenny Black
Decided to go back to Double Beep and look at the drafting side passage and the pitch
13-CO-1A which seemed likely to be the same pitch that Double Beep has a window out on. Matt
appeared and we set off. Again derigged the Coldest rope to use on the way into Double Beep
(really another rope would be less tedious!). Matt + I headed in to survey while Wookey
looked at 13-CO-1A. I was very disappointed to discover that I had failed to bring my
balaclava, instead bringing a pair of pants that I was going to take down the hill to wash -
idiot ! Matt + I went to the junction, and followed the very drafting passage north. Small
at first (phreatic with a small floor trench with water which we were following uphill). It
got bigger and we clambered over some flaky boulders into an aven-chamber with water coming
in from the roof. Beyond this were some pretty mud/gravel formations that we managed to
carefully step over. Beyond this, the way on appeared to be to drop down in the rift, but
you'd need a rope. The dripping noise meant that I couldn't hear the beeping Disto. So its
called Beepless. Got back to hear Wookey rigging into our passage to give us an
easier way out. Unfortunately, although he was in a window into our passage, he was about 8m
too high. So he gave up on that and continued down the pitch. The real window was too hard
to get to to be worthwhile.
Wookey ran out of rope, so we attempted a DistoX leg down. After some 3m and some 138m
answers, the Disto settled on 30m, which sounded plausible. Matt and I each put in a bolt on
the Sleepless traverse, so there was a Y-hang on each side.
Got out to find it dry, but only for 15 minutes. We sat at the entrance for a while in
the rain. Were very happy to find Anthony's van there to shelter in for the 3 hrs we needed
to wait for our lift down the hill.