[svn r6587] *** empty log message ***

2025-12-08 14:54:28 +00:00 · 2004-10-10 22:00:12 +02:00
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@@ -825,4 +825,152 @@ cave and tackle bag, and trying to turn round in the passage at the same time, i
 <g>T/U 7.5hrs</g>
 <hr />
 <d>27/7/04</d>	<t>Plateau walk + Hauchh&ouml;hle</t>	<w><u>Peter</u>, Olly M</w>
 <p>Finally set off up the hill to fetch the remainder of my caving gear at 3.50pm, intending to make a quick return in daylight with the
 gear. Olly M kindly came along for the walk and to help me carry. (Perhaps also the best way to ensure that I didn't get lost on the
 plateau forever more.)</p>
 <p>The walk proceeded quickly and with minimum moaning on my part (due mostly to my empty rucksack). Olly and I deviated from the path to
 invesitage a few cave entrances - turning out to be in the 80s. We were rejoined by Julian and Becka shortly afterwards, near the
 beginning of the slabs.</p>
 <p>Towards the end of the slabs, I did the often done thing of slipping with one of my walking poles. I then managed to kick said pole,
 and due to the wrist straps not being used (for safety in case the pole got stuck), the pole was projected forward. The pole slipped,
 bounced, then fell. Fell onto the snow plug covering a ~20m deep hole. Rattle, slip, rattle and it was gone. Climbing round the hole
 revealed a 10m drop / abseil / climb down at one end, but the rock was far too loose to attempt the climb, so we continued less one
 walking pole to the stone bridge.</p>
 <p>Eventually we got packed, fed and watered at the bridge, and after pausing to try and firebomb the fly infested facilities <i>[and
 using up a substantial proportion of the stone bridge petrol supply in the process&mdash;DL]</i>, we must have left some time around
 7.20pm. With us, Olly and I took some hangers (in case we found my old spits), a sling, karabiner and a ?m long 9mm rope probably
 de-rigged from Razor Dance. We intended to get that pesky pole back.</p>
 <p>En route, we stopped off at Hauchh&ouml;hle to retrieve my caving gear and whilst there, I decided to go caving and retrieve my slings
 and krabs from the pitch/climb rigging. This was done quickly, replacing the sling + krab with a club pair, and the other Y-hang arm was
 rethreaded through the bomber natural instead of via the sling.</p>
 <p>Once out of Hauchh&ouml;hle, I found Olly hunting around on the edge of the hole for a second thread / natural belay. Tony appeared on
 his way to the bridge, and recommended rigging a scramble down the back end of the hole, where the drop was more, around 10m. We did this,
 rigged from the single bit of usefully fixed rock in the vicinity - a bomber thread.</p>
 <p><i>[Diagram, with captions including "fuckwit caver who throws his gear down holes"]</i></p>
 <p>Pole was retrieved very easily by gently abseiling down and going around the snow plug. Very gently prusiking and self-lining completed
 the ascent (not wanting to damage the 9mm rope over the ledge. Pole was handed up on the end of the rope to safety.</p>
 <p>Rest of walk on the plateau was uneventful, although both my wellies escaped my rucksack bindings and fell down different (but both
 shallow) grikes. Thankfully the weather remained dry in spite of ominous-looking clouds. The light was poor by this time, and I slipped
 and stumbled more than usual, hurting both of my ankles.</p>
 <p>Walking back from the huts, we encountered several bovine obstructions blocking our path. In the first instance, a calf lying down in
 the path. Damn. This was not good. We were shortly surrounded by the cattle, who had all stood up and shown an interest. (Including some
 with excessively large horns which looked quite pointy.) Thankfully, walking slowly (very) and calmly defused the situation, and a similar
 one later on was similarly dealt with.</p>
 <p>Got back to car park tired, sore and bruised at about 10:40pm. I suspect I'll sleep soundly tonight!</p>
 <g>T/U 1hr (Peter)</g>
 <hr />
 <d>30/7/04</d>	<t>Hauchh&ouml;hle: How to knacker yourself in the least interesting way possible</t>	<w><u>Dave</u>, Stuat</w>
 <p>Plan was to do a quick Hauch trip then a surface wander. Proceeded to bottom of pitch rigged by Earl on a previous trip, where there
 was a half-drilled Hilti hole. Drilled this fully, + placed a Y-hang (plus one duff spit that sank too deep).</p>
 <p>At the bottom of the pitch is a small (~5m x ~8m) kidney-shaped area of floor. At one end is a rift pitch-head blocked by a large
 boulder. I spent a while loosening it, but although it settled slightly it wouldn't shift.</p>
 <p>Drill battery unfortunately ran out halfway through the Y-hang. Stuart freeclimbed down it (lunatic) and couldn't get back out again. I
 put in a very dodgy deviation + he prusiked out on the previous pitch rope. Apparently it is a ~4m climb initially and beyond this is a
 stream rift.</p>
 <p>While prusiking out I spotted a window in the side of the shaft. Swinging into this revealed an upwards-sloping tube about 80cm dia; I
 wandered up this for 5m or so to a leftwards bend, at which point I decided to come back another day with survey gear.</p>
 <p>HOWEVER while carrying out one of the tacklesacks through Doesn't Go Rift I did something rather odd to my back, so I haven't caved
 since. Buggeration.</p>
 <p><i>[Sketch elevation of Pie Series, which was later properly surveyed]</i></p>
 <g>T/U 4hrs</g>
 <hr />
 <d>29/7/04</d>	<t>76 + surface shaft</t>	<w><u>Jenny</u> + Olly</w>
 <p>Olly wasn't feeling too well, so he did some surface stuff whilst I went into Brave New World to retrieve the hangers, skyhook, slings
 etc, and to carry a bag of rope down to The Ledge ready for the next day.</p>
 <g>T/U Jenny 1.5hrs</g>
 <hr />
 <d>30/7/2004</d>	<t>76 - Keg Series</t>	<w><u>Jenny</u> + Olly</w>
 <p>Went down to the top of Keg Series with lots of rigging gear + drill. Olly did some more gardening (but there is still lots of loose
 stuff around) and went down; rather than heading straight down the pitch like last time, he swung across into the passage ~ 1/3 of the way
 down. The horizontal passage only went a few metres before becoming choked to the right, and rejoining the pitch on the left. Anyway Olly
 rigged down a different shaft leaving on the left that rejoined the direct pitch at the bottom + nicely avoided water + loose rocks. At
 the next pitch head I foolishly remarked that it would be nice if it sumped round the corner, so we could look somewhere nice (+ less
 loose).</p>
 <p>The next pitch was actually nice, less loose + BIG, it was rigged with a deviation + a knot pass, but needs more/better deviation(s).
 This took us down to another ledge 25m below, from here Olly rigged a 3rd pitch (with a deviation in) that after 25m reached a really big
 ledge with (for the first time in a while) a solid rock floor. Olly went down a short, 5m pitch, whilst I commented on how big and
 therefore significant this passage/pitch series was. At the bottom Olly found a sump and I felt guilty for wanting one earlier...</p>
 <p><i>[Editor's note: Blanks were left in the above description to be filled in later, but it seems noone did so. The above numbers are
 extracted from the survey data but it's not clear to me exactly where one pitch stops and the next starts - these are my best guesses.
 &mdash;DL]</i></p>
 <p>I climbed down to check it really was a sump (it was, and not a very impressive one at that) whilst Olly looked at a small passage
 going off the other way till it got small; I came out and looked there - after a short crawl (~5m) it met a small stream passage which I
 followed for a short way till it felt small + committing - the passage does however continue. Meanwhile Olly had found a more promising
 lead by climbing above the sump and following a tortuous vadose canyon downhill until it got bigger and became another pitch series; we
 decided to leave this for next year and surveyed out to the top of Keg Series.</p>
 <p>On the middle big pitch I had a bad feeling about the rope rubbing so was prusiking fairly gently. Once I was ~1/2 way up I noticed the
 rope was caught round a flake above the deviation and was rubbing lots + lots over a fairly sharp edge. This made me scared, lots. I
 wished we weren't using 9mm rope too. I shouted up to Olly what had happened + that I was going to prusik very carefully, unless he had
 any bright ideas for what to do. Olly suggested I prusik very very carefully. I carried on up, past the knot pass, cursing Olly's rigging
 (sorry) till I got to the deviation which I clipped into (keeping my jammers on as well). Despite the deviation being on a dodgy small
 spike with a retired sling I felt a whole lot safer and pondered what to do next. The only option me or Olly could think of was to pass
 the deviation so I could up-flick the rope, then prusik gently past the rub point. I was careful not to look at the rope until past the
 rub, because that was how Olly said cartoons work! Anyway the rope was only a bit furry, I didn't die and we exited the rest of the cave
 uneventfully.</p>
 <g>T/U 12hrs</g>
 <hr />
 <d>31/7/04</d>	<t>Surface stuff</t>	<w><u>Jenny</u> + Olly</w>
 <p>Walked towards the high point approximately west of 76 and the bivvy. Just below (on the east side) of the high point we found a series
 of 3 entrances along a fault/joint; we called this 2004-05. They were 10m to a ledge, then seemed to go deeper, but we didn't have tackle
 and I couldn't get the top to drop there. <i>[I think that's what this says&mdash;DL]</i></p>
 <p><b>2004-05:</b> <i>[sketch]</i></p>
 <p>Continued further, going back to the bivvy, but further north than the outward route. Found a rift below a line of small cliffs -
 2004-06.</p>
 <p><b>2004-06:</b> <i>[sketch]</i></p>
 <p>Shortly later we found another entrance which was going to be 2004-07, until I found paint (90/5) and a tag (175), so we continued on
 until we say a walk/scramble-in entrance on the right. This has a drawn up survey and is <b>2004-07</b>. <i>[Arrow pointing into a blank
 space marked "GPS".]</i></p>
 <p>Further still back, we came across a large chamber with collapsed roof and two entrances. We forgot to survey it at all put it was
 photoed by Olly and GPSed. <i>[Another arrow into the blank space.]</i></p>
 <p>We then walked back to where Tantalus Schacht should be and didn't find it, but did allocate <b>2004-09</b>, which is a shaft with "a
 good drop and rattle" - sorry no photos or survey, but it was GPSed.</p>
 <p>P.S. Olly's GPS seems to have lost these coords, so we'll have to refind them next year.</p>
 <hr />