[Olly (while calculating coordinates so we can figure out where the hell we're going); "Yay, we're 3mm further North"]
Following the rift upstream leads to a climb which I've temporary-rigged (needs rigging as a pitch really). At the top you can go left, right or up ... TBC ...
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-18
Earl Merson, Becka Lawson,
204 - 204B Back to Swings + Roundabouts
I think this was the 10am underground day. Back to Swings + Roundabouts. Finished surveying the LHS, QM which we started yesterday. Climbed into pit in floor. No big ways on. Up over the top, continued to loose boulder choked area. Thought I could dig through in the floor. Moved enough stuff to wriggle myself down + got into **BIG** passage with what looked like 3 ways on. Jabbered to Earl + started pulling boulders out of another small hole (so two ways out, both bit loose) + we surveyed through whilst I tried to work out which way we wanted to head for KH. Then Earl wandered out into the massive phreatic... and found a survey point - Earl sniggered like a manic mouse for a couple of minutes - Bum. Another QM A ticked off. Had a slow wander up S+R + couldn't see any more obvious ways on so I decided to have another look at the loose boulder slope at the end. Noticed a largish solution tube at the top, above the boulders. Climbed into it + whoa, it went up steeply + popped out near the top of the pile of boulders in a chamber with a ramp off to the right + a passage ahead. The passage had a 3m drop into what looked like the continuation of the Swings + Roundabouts main passage. Looked good! Slithered back down the boulders to Earl, Happy. Out
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-18
Mike Cox, Mike Richardson,
204 - 204B
Went down to look @ that passage opposite the thread pitch rebelay. Decided to be optimistic & took 50m rope 'cos we were sure to get to KH :-) But it fills with soil after about 70m, so surveyed anyway & buggered orf aht.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-19
Earl Merson, Becka Lawson,
204 - 204B to 204D!
Back to where had finished off yesterday. Continued the survey from the boulder pile up the solution tube ("Suspended Solutions") + rigged a ladder off a natural down into the passage below. Noticed a moth in the chamber - hmm. It turned out to be a 11m x 11m massive chamber, very alternative, huge q.low angled roof slab and boulder floor with a river bed of dry mud running through it. Earl + I squabbled over who got to go first. One main way out - and a pile of snow + ice. Hmm. Then Earl ducked under another low roof ridge - and saw daylight... slightly disappointed the passage had ended but a new entrance was the next best thing. Chimneyed up about 6m + there were several places with light chinking through boulders but nowhere big eough to get out . Earl put a bolt in from a ledge then hung off it as he hammered away at the boulders. After some considerable gardening (hard to stop Mr. Merson when he gets going so I just cowered) he could squeeze out + then had a better angle of attack to kick down yet more choss. Put a rope on to protect the freeclimb + surveyed out. The snow plug was rotten + q.hard to climb out of + the rock above chossy. Got out to a fine + novel view of the plateau + tried to decide which way was home. I persuaded Earl to surface survey back to 204D. Fortunately not too hot but it took some time + by about halfway I'd regretted pushing Earl to survey but by then he wasn't letting me duck out of it so we slogged on with me getting increasingly terse and grumpy. Eventually Mick heard us + found us another survey station (2001/03?) to survey to. Then Earl was a hero + went back down the 3 pitches of 204D to fish out my SRT gear.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-19
Duncan Collis, Mark Shinwell, Mike Richardson, Phil Underwood, Mike Cox,
Loser Plateau - Preparation for 161 tourist jolly
Mark & I wandered up to 204 to pick up our kits, & met up with Mike C, Mike TA, Dunks.
Stomped over the Hinter & went down to 161d, pausing to place a lovely blue polyprop handline off a _very_ iffy bolt. The plan now was to stomp down to the Stogerweg & go back to the Bergrestaurant. However, we instead found a nice grassy traverse level, at ~1600m altitude. Met some random Austrian walkers & tried to follow them, hoping they knew a nice way off the hill. Unfortunately, it turned out they were hoping we knew a nice way off the hill. 3 hours bunde bashing later, we had found a _nasty_ way off the hill. Part of this was on a _heavily_ engineered route. Thilo claims responsibility for this.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-19
Julia Day, Anthony Day,
Loser Plateau - Surface stuff + looking at horizontal hole nr. 204C
Went off to 204C to place a tag. While Julia bashed in a bolt, I went for a wander down the adjacent gully, which is littered with shafts and also a 1m square horizontal entrance. This was interesting, so we investigated further. Entrance passage slopes downhill for ~ 5m and meets a cross passage which is choked left and a body-sized grovel right. This leads to a 3m deep pit with the roof-tube carrying on beyond. This didn't look massively promising, and was definitely oversuit country, but the cave was definitely worth a tag and and underground survey. The tube was trending uphill parallel to the gully, so the thought occurred that maybe it popped out of the hill higher up. Found a pile of boulders a little higher up which appeared to conceal a black space. Shifted a couple of rocks out of the way and an entrance appeared, so while I put a tag bolt in at the first entrance, Julia investigated. She found a descending tube heading towards the first entrance, via a couple of bouldery squeezes, with a black space apparent beyond. Rocks dislodged in the general direction of this black space went rumble, boom, bang, etc. etc., so she ran away quickly.
Did surface survey from first entrance to 204c, then adjourned to the Stone Bridge for a protracted brew. Returned armed with an oversuit and survey gear. Sure enough, the continuation of the body sized hole beyond the 3m deep pit ends in a pitch thus ensuring a return...
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-20
Olly Betts, Hilary Greaves,
40 - Eishöhle - Mission Impossible
Mon 20th am (ED: "FIRST BIT" not a caving trip, just an admin sesh)
The currently closest explored EH point to KH is 37m away. Our bolt traverse over Over The Top started 102m away. The first day we got 32m closer. The second day we got 16m closer again. From this we conclude that our approach to KH is an exponential decay to a asymptote at 38m separation. FFS. Shall we just go to the pub?
Oh yeah, and we've rejigged the "bolt traverse" round Over The Top as a pendule - new rigging topo:
[pic]
Guess what. Looking for a connection again.
Now we've also rejigged the upper half of Devil's Chute: new rigging topo :
[pic]
We also climbed a few metres higher in yesterday's rift [ rerigged the pitch - new rigging topo:
[pic]
then decided to check out the downstream direction of the high-level rift, to see if it went anywhere different from downstream rift at low level (i.e. where we'd come from). It doesn't [appear to], so we surveyed + derigged it.
The remaining lead is to continue climbing + traversing in the upstream direction. Following upstream at floor level reaches (yet another) drippy aven but (yet again), a few metres before the aven, it's possible to climb the rift (which we've now done), and traverse across. (The rift isn't confusing any more - linear, but hading and winding.)
Top cave. Top 4 days. Don't know if I'm going back there, but somone else should :-} And here's my most important Top Tip: wear crampons that stay on your feet. Otherwise you end up doing a frighteningly friendly dance with Olly in order to claw your way out of Schneevulcanhalle. Euugghh.
Hilary
P.S. derigged the bolt traverse (Too Across)* and the going-the-wrong-direction pitch from Fri 17th.
* (but left the pendule in place, obviously)
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-20
Mick Thompson, Becka Lawson, Earl Merson,
Cave 2001-05 - GNDN (Goes Nowhere Does Nothing) Cave
Walked to 204D, showing Anthony where it was. Put in a tag bolt for it + surveyed to it. Then we all wandered around the area looking for likely entrances. The skylight in the 204D shake-hole looks into a cave with a large entrance (with a smashed glass bottle in) which quickly closes down with the only QM being at the base of an icy ramp which looked like it was filled with boulders but its worth someone going down to check out as its an interesting position. Lots of entrances in the area but we only found one really promising one which was drafting out strongly from a small horizontal entrance. Only about 50m from 204D, down the hill + N. Earl happily dragged out rocks until I could squeeze in. It went in ~5m horizontally then into hading rift. I climbed down ~5m to the head of a pitch + various possibilities. Back out. Earl in to rig pitch whilst Mick + I surface surveyed from 204D tag bolt to new cave + put in a tag bolt above its entrance. Mick + I then continued the survey down to Earl. Pitch went down, still hading, to large snow + ice plug ... with no ways on + we seemed to have lost the draft. Surveyed to far side of chamber then back out. Earl derigged + Mick + I went into passage at top of pitch which had two LHS small leads off, both of which drop into steeply descedning rift (the second one being too tight to go through). Mick dropped well down into the rift, which kept going, though without much draft, to a small way on which he reckoned would drop into the pitch. Its possible we did miss the way on in the cave as we seemed to have lost the draft down the pitch. Worth another look around probably.
[graphic to scan] GNDN Cave
(Goes Nowhere Does Nothing Cave)
Currently temporarily tagged as 2001/05
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-20
Duncan Collis, Mark Shinwell, Mike Richardson, Phil Underwood, Mike Cox,
161 - 161D jolly + 9 Austrian cavers
Decided to go via Top Camp after all, as we thought our guests wouldn't be too impressed with us taking them on a 3-hour bunde-bashing tour of the VSK. One bloke (Swiss, 70, half-naked) decided to drop out, as he thought it would be crap climbing back again in the rain. And he hadn't even seen the bunde traverse.
Got to the cave with a minimal amount of wibbling.
Nice trip to Zombie Slime, and then up to Trifurcation & Minoan Surprise. Exitted with a short detour down Alternative Universe. Walked back to the Bergrestaurant, and it only rained for the last 15 minutes.
T U 3 hours
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-20
Anthony Day, Julia Day,
Loser Plateau - Rigging horizontal entrance
Having been a bit slack the previous day and jacked a bit early, I volunteered to put the back-up bolt in for the pitch we'd found Anthony had told me that this would be shit, but I can't have been listening too closely. *NOTE TO SELF - _DON'T_ volunteer to bolt something you haven't seen before*... Didn't get off to a very good start. My options for getting to the pitch head were to attempt a tricky looking climb out of the pit, or crawling through a tube over the pit. I chose the latter, but didn't fancy the short section of free space (over a 3m drop) between one crawl and the next. Unfortunately, to get down to the climb I needed to reverse out of the tube and traverse backwards over the pit. I didn't fancy this without someone telling me where to put my feet, not being able to turn round (or see through the back of my head). So I called back to Anthony, who grumbled a fair bit 'cos he was getting changed in a leisurely fashion and didn't want to rush. Sat all cosy in my little tube for 20 mins, then Dour turned up and assisted me in traversing backwards. Climbed up inot the crawl to the pitch, and took a while before being able to find a position that was bearable to be in whilst placing a bolt. It was shit, in no uncertain terms, and placing the backup bolt took a long time, due to the cramped position I was in.
After that I sat and watched Anthony bolt. It was possible to turn round at the pitch head, but being a bit of a fuckwit, I opted to remain with my feet heading back into the crawl. I was consequently extremely uncomfortable as well as cold, so we jacked after Anthony had placed a hang bolt and a rebelay bolt ~6 metres down. Not the most productive of days.
_TU_ 6 hours
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-21
Earl Merson, Becka Lawson, Mick Thompson,
204 - 204D
Fettled the entrance to 204D (as well as cairning the route there from 204B). Put in 204D tag. [sketch to scan]
Down 204D, up ladder + looked at QMs at the top of ladder. The hading rift on LHS went up q.a way as a freeclimb, drippy, some not too exciting ways on. To the right just looked boulder choked. The solution tube on the LHS above Suspended Solutions was boulder filled after ~5m. Down past Suspended Solutions + Earl put in a bolt on LHS wall above first section of boulder slope (~4m above the floor of Swings + Roundabouts main passage) + I belayed him as he traversed around the rock (after hammering off the worst choss, of which there was a lot). He ducked through under a boulder to get to a smallish aven, with a QM up a 3-4m climb + short slope on RHS leading to a solution tube leading steeply down, not drafting, would need rigging. Tube also went up but got small. Derigged the traverse + back to the entrance rope. Earl + Mick climbed up in the small chamber between the entrance rope chamber + the big main chamber with the ladder. Freeclimb led to large aven above + hole down into the big main chamber. Two dodgy climbs possible off this. I Squeezed past a boulder at floor level in [arrow points back to above-mentioned small chamber]. This same chamber which led to a crawl + then a body-sized tube off to the left which opened out into a small drippy aven. Obviously tempting fate to say so, but I think Earl + I have now looked at all the promising leads of the 12B series (Playground, Swings + Roundabouts, Suspended Solutions to the 204D entrance) except a bunch of pitches. The pitch off to the left of the chamber after Playground is _very_ large, not especially deep + would be nice to rig, probably the best of the lot, with the next best being up the walking passage/phreatic off first right as you enter Swings + Roundabouts (by the small boulder slope). Out, then Mick + I hacked down the hill to have a look at some of the series of huge, collapsed shake-holes at the bottom of the plateau. Not v. much that looked too good - not surprising given everything is so shattered? Area around 204D seems more promising. On our way back up we found another cave, only about ~50m from yesterday's GNDN cave, continuing in ~same direction from 204D. In horizontal crawling entrance which drafted, down q. steeply sloping walking passage. Daylight from left + tube up on right filled with rocks. Dropped into chamber with loose boulder floor. Possible way on, squeezing over rocks. Definitely worth another look and, as at GNDN cave, we seem to have lost the draft somewhere.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-21
Anthony Day, Julia Day,
204 - Rigging down 204E Entrance - Germknödel's Revenge
All too soon we were back in that scrotty hole. As it turned out, we didn't need any more bolts. Got down, via a rebelay and two deviations, down a pleasant 25m shaft and pretty soon discovered we were in 204, due to a PM on the wall. Misread the compass and stomped off down dip, then back and had a quick poke around looking for Treeumphant Passage. Turns out we'd dropped into Crowning Glory. Surveyed the pitch on the way up (except for the plumb to the bottom of the pitch, which we did on the way down, ahem). It was a little crap doing a couple of bloody steep legs followed by muddy scrotty surveying thru the crawl at the top. 204 Entrance is to be called "Germknödel's Revenge". Finished the survey, went back to the Stone Bridge to cancel our first call out, then went back again, Anthony to derig, and me to establish a verbal connection with 204f and the pitch. Sure enough, Anthony shone a light thru to me. We'd found another entrance. So I put a tag on it. 204f is unrigged, it would be a shorter way to the pitch, but not very pleasant, and pretty hard to rig.
[sketch] TU Julia 5 Anthony 6
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-22
Hilary Greaves, Duncan Collis,
204 - 204
Went to look at a qm recommended by Earl, to the left of the passage from Bonsai Crawl to 204d entrance. Just beyond the roped climb down, shin down some well dodgy BIG boulders and along about 10m to head of pitch. We were under the impression that the pitch was very wide, but the bottom was a great distance away, so we had only brought along a selection of fairly short bits of string. In fact the pitch is rather deep, possibly more than 40m. We tied the bits of string together, looped one end round a flake, and Hilary started bolting (we had planned on using my drill, but it had been 'borrowed'). Two abortive spits later, a total rout occurred, and we buggered off out via 204D entrance.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-22
Julia Day, Anthony Day,
Loser Plateau - Surface survey to "Olly's sucking hole
Surface surveyed from 204a to what is thought to be the "sucking hole" found by Olly & Thilo in 2000. There appear to be two entrances, a very large (6mx3m) loose entrance, and a much friendlier looking ~5m drop which would be much easier to rig. The larger entrance is tagged 2001/04.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-23
Hilary Greaves, Duncan Collis,
204 - 204
QM that doesn't exist just before ?99-19c (2nd hole in floor marked after passage to Millennium Dome) ~4m climb down, followed by another similar climb immediately. Descending tube choked with rocks (two of which I had inadvertantly booted down there earlier) which had to be excavated with feet and stacked in limited space at foot of 2nd climb. Way on was blocked by large flake, which succumbed to a few wellie-blows. Squeezed past the fallen flake feet first, and passage continued round r-hand bend. Sudden acetylene leak, plus concerns about reversing squeeze past mobile rock, caused a rout. Hilary had a go next, and was able to turn around just before the squeeze. Crawling in the conventional head-first direction, she progressed to a small aven, and called for me to follow with survey gear.
After this point, the passage continued, and enlarged slightly, passing over a hole in the floor and enlarging to stooping height. Caught up with Hilary on a ledge overlooking a large chamber. The passage appears to continue on the other side, and doesn't look too hard to reach. There is a big ledge ~6m down, and then blackness, perhaps 40m deep. The chamber is called '7-11 chamber', as those were the rope lengths we had available, and the crawl is called "Merry Fucking Christmas". Surveyed out, which was not as grim as I expected.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-24
Hilary Greaves,
Base Camp - 6 am
Is it against the rules to write friendly little notes in the logbook? Oh well. Thanx for letting me gatecrash - it's been a top week! Top caves, top beer, let me see what else, oh yeah, the people were alright too. Hope the rest of expo goes stormingly!
I realise I owe you lots of money. Send me the bill (won't be able to pay it till October, in China :-))
Hope to see most of ya @ BCRA!
Hilaryarse
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-25
Olly Betts, Martin Green,
40 - Eishöhle - More quality, but even less quantity
Back to Eishöhle with a new recruit for the uphill caving club. Today's plan is to try to get to the top of the rift and see if there's a phreatic tube there. First time on crampons for Martin, but he copes well. His carbide causes more problems though (later he discovers a hole where the tube attaches to the generator).
At the top of the ramp we try climbing up, Martin bolting. We soon discover a phreatic tube ascending at the top of the rift. After 3 bolts from Martin and a couple from me we call it a day and exit. We seem to have reached the rift above the inlet chamber.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-26
Olly Betts, Martin Green,
Plateau - Surface exploration
This entry covers two (or three?) days - written as 2001-08-26/28 Found and GPSed 9 caves on a flattish bit of limestone uphill from the row of Eishöhle entrances. Coordinates and notes see Olly. Photos of entrances in Martin's and Olly's camera. 4 caves, 232, 233, 234, 235 were surveyed and have been drawn up.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-27
Olly Betts, Martin Green,
40 - Eishöhle - Reaching for the sky...
I head in first and tweak the rigging on the way. Get to the pushing front before Martin and get most of a bolt in before he arrives. A second bolt gets us across the chamber and another gives a traverse to a level which emerges in the side of what I think is the final aven chamber I reached with Hilary. We need to keep at the top of the rift, I think. We also need more rope, so retreat back down the rift, surveying as we go. I stick in 2 more spits to improve the rigging at the end of the traverse while Martin derigs the top of the rift. Then I travel along the bottom and stick in a spit to tie the end of the rope to while Martin rerigs the rope down the inlet chamber. A 26m rope just fits the bill nicely. I ascend and stick in 2 extra spits. One more would get us back to the top of the rift, but we decide to head out so we can get down the hill and recharge the drill battery. Stick in more spits on the way out - one for a rebelay on the junction chamber pitch, one on each side of the pendule, two on the Modern Way traverse to take a higher route and two on "Good Afternoon Mr. Phelps" - one to stop the traverse line freezing into the ice and a deviation to keep the hang rope clear of the ice. Also a spit to replace the ice screw - a higher belay should improve the riggin on both sides. The drill battery has now done 21 spits in 2 trips (including one for a tag on 40s) using a "cross-tipped" bit, and I'm getting good at judging the depth for the HKD spits. Still no nearer to KH though.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-27
Mark Shinwell, Phil Underwood,
Cave - Olly's Sucking Hole
Went to investigate this draughting orifice. Initial entrance climb is fine, if you chimney down on the R side. At the bottom, there are three ways on. The first one goes back under the entrance, down a boulder slope, to emerge in a large chamber "Cheesy dip". There are a number of small leads off, all choked. In the roof is lots of daylight, coming from 2001-046. Left from the entrance went down a loose slope (blowing). Right (Sucking) went along a bit. We decided to do some surveying. Which required red paint. Which was at the bivvi site. So we went and had a cup of tea for a bit. Came back with surveying gear and surveyed the LH route to a ~5m deep pit.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-28
Earl Merson, Duncan Collis,
204 - "Merry Fucking Christmas"
Early start from bivi at Stone Bridge but despite having packed gear the previous evening didn't get underground until 12:40. Spent some time shifting rocks from the previous trip's spoil heap to make more room, and then Earl set about the boulder squeeze with a lump hammer until it was possible for us to remove the somewhat diminished remains. Then tedium getting ourselves and tackle through the crawl. Once at 7-11 chamber, 3 spits and 11m rope got us down to the ledge, and a further 3 spits and 19m rope was more than enough to reach the other side and the foot of the climb. Climb was only about 3 or 4 m, and easy. Placed a bolt for protection towards the top, largely because I could. Disappointingly, there was no passage leading off on the far side, just a 6m pitch with a small stream entering from above. At the foot of the pitch, a very tight nasty streamway (Infidelic Pagan Scum) led off almost due S, so took off string gear and thrutched down it. It goes round a very awkward bend to the right after ~4m and then one has to thrutch in a widening ~1m above the stream. After about a body length, could see the passage turn right again, and it got echoey - lobbed a rock down to confirm presence of a big pitch, almost certainly that in the floor of 7-11 chamber. Retreated back to the end of MFC overlooking the chamber, where Earl set off rigging a lunatic traverse 'Dancing with Boulders', using skyhooks, virtual naturals and probably a fair amount of divine intervention to reach ~15m of small passage which again led to the same big pitch. After Earl had made a rather exciting return journey across his traverse, we decide to call it a day. So did my light, and getting everything back through the small stuff was crap. Borrowed a light off Earl, and we were both out by 11:20 pm
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-29
Olly Betts, Martin Green,
204 - Carry on up the rift
Cave 204? CHECK [Webeditor's note: the call out books seem not to have a trip for this date, but one for 3rd September which seems to fit
A bit more rerigging on the way in, then we continue from where we left off, me on the dynamic rope bolting and Martin rerigging static behind. Higher up, just as I ran out of rope, there's a choice of routes. We regain the stream canyon off to the right, or there's a tube to the left which can be free-climbed to, and leads to another streamway. Martin catching up and bolts up the streamway to the side. The canyon becomes too tight at the head, though a tube up to the left looks like it bypasses this. We survey out and get back to the bivvy at about 2:30 am.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-30
Duncan Collis,
Base Camp - Duncan's Tasty Dish Pot. Ht.
Written down by popular request - Pan
- Add slart of oil
- Add " soy sauce
- Chop 1 onion into little bits + add to pan
- Chop 2 cloves garlic into slices + add to pan
- Sprinkle into pan stuff like garam masala powder, cardamom seeds, ginger powder, mixed herbs ... other yummy stuff
- Nearly forgot the important bit - chop heavy-as-lead bread into small cubes and add to pan
- Light stove + start frying, turning contents occasionally
- Crack 3 eggs into cup + whisk
- Sprinkle into eggs more yummy stuff
- Add slart of soy sauce into eggs
- When stuff in pan is going a bit crisp and slightly browner, tip egg mix in
- If possible, turn the omelette in one piece (ha ha!)
- Probably end up just scrunging it around the pan. make sure it cooked through + then eat.
_Rave Reviews!!_
Very yummy indeed. _Mark S_
XLENT Brian
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-08-30
Earl Merson,
204 - 99-01C
Brian and I had rigged the traverse at the top of Jim'll Fix it (on the right) back in 2000 off some quite dodgy naturals. Brian was stopped by a pool of icy water over ice, so I returned with some siphoning tube to drain it. Rigged the traverse with an 8m rope (only just long enough), 1 [???] hanger. 2 twists, 2 slings + 2 maillons. The pool of water had gone, replaced by 4" deep mud followed by a bank of earth/mud, which chokes the passage. The alternative way on, a small slot near near the traverse, was thought to be too committing, given that I was on my own.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-09-02
Mick Thompson, Duncan Collis,
Base Camp - Bierfest bei Altaussee
Right now its tomorrow. Trumper is busy outside the spud hut hurling his beans. Just now we have cycled from Altaussee full of fizzy pop. A good evening - persuasive argument for having expo this late. Apparently its the biggest bier festival in Austria. Lots of young women (NO MINGERS!!) Lots of bier.
A good evening. Bet you all wish you'd come along... Well - same again tomorrow night. We've been assured that tonight is the warm-up and that it gets even better.
A good evening.
T/U: 0.0 hours
2001-09-04
Duncan Collis,
204 - 204c Derig
After bierfest had streaming shits, probably due to dodgy roast chicken. Dr. Phil gave me a couple of immodium tablets, and that dried me up for the walk up on Monday evening. Apparently Immodium usually wears off within 24 hours or so, so I wanted to have a crap before even thinking of going underground, to see if my guts were still pumping out dishwater. Didn't especially fancy getting caught short midway up a loose pitch - it would just be too ironic.
Eventually it got to about 7 pm & I thought "Sod it" & got out of my pit & put my gear on, just in time for the first of the derig team to emerge.
Strolled through the clag to the entrance, where a strange thundering sound could be heard.
Clambered down to the pitch head, where I could see that the pitch below was quite well watered. Considered jacking quite seriously for a while, but decided to suck it and see.
Although a considerable stream was falling down the course of the rope, it was quite well concentrated and possible to avoid (mostly by judicious fending off the wall). The 10 ft above the final rebelay was a bit crap because the rope was sharing a gully with the water.
Took out the rebelay, changed over & prussiked out derigging as I went.
At the pitch head I was beginning to think 204c wasn't so bad after all, and was sussing out what needed gardening & where extra bolts should be put. By the time I'd stuffed the rope into a bag I quite liked the place. Then as I was ascending one of the clambers up to the surface a large block fell out, and ended up resting against one of my knees.
Took a while to work out how to let the boulder drop without it hitting my other foot or me falling down the climb, but sorted it out. Job done.
This entrance is still well dicey. However, careful, considered kicking down of loose crap, combined with a more defensive rig may make it OK for regular use.
P.S. eventually managed to move bowels some 82 hours after taking medicine. Immodium is good shit.
T/U: 0.0 hours