Balcony - Sloppy Seconds to Second Wind
Fleur Loveridge
Had walked up on Sunday ready to hit Sloppy Seconds the next day when drier conditions prevailed. The absence of a good draft last time meant I was not too optimistic, but also committed to try and trace the draft on the way in. the draft going into Galactica came from Sloppy Seconds, but but mainly up from the base of the second set of pitches (see trip by Rachel, Adam and Nathan earlier in the expo). In fact, the draft on this trip came up here and into the horizontal passage.
We carried on to our previous limit, where Pete chose the right hand pitch lead. This route was initially muddy, then drippy as an aven with a small stream was passed. However drill battery failure (again) left Pete in a small clean rift looking down a narrow pitch with no more drill power. With two slings he got further and saw pitch continuing, but small and wet (QMB). Hence heading back up to try second (left hand) pitch as best we could on a couple of slings. Tied rope around huge rock and Corin made his first descent of an unexplored pitch. A sling made a rebelay and I followed adding two deviations.
At the base one way choked after two climbs down. But the other way led to a drafting tube - yay, we had refound the wind! More dodgy natural rigging saw us at the end of the rope staring down a two metre wide steep phreatic ramp. Game on! 