diff --git a/years/2014/logbook.html b/years/2014/logbook.html index 1936c3820..0448b9d95 100644 --- a/years/2014/logbook.html +++ b/years/2014/logbook.html @@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-23
-
Jess, Anthony,
+
Anthony, Jess,
Rebolt/Rig Tunnocks Entrance Pitch


Headed off to Tunnocks with 200m of 11mm, a substantial pile of hangers, slings, krabs, Hiltis, drill, drill battery... so it took a while. I headed down with the intention of fettling the rig so that we could have more than one person on the pitch at a time without kicking rubble on each others heads.

Jess sat on the surface and sunbathed for a bit (apart from when it was hailing). I put in a new rebelay that neatly avoided the passing hailstones, then spent ages trying to work out where I was going to put bolts in for the next bit since it was clearly going to be scary and hard. Eventually found a way to put in a particularly airy rebelay (that Jess later enjoyed). Managed to wrap myself round the rope multiple times in the process, so spent 40 minutes untangling myself, then descended landing on the lower end of the first boulder slope as intended. @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-23
-
Aled, Wookey, Joe,
+
Joe, Aled, Wookey,
Find 107, Start rigging in


Joe on his 3rd day of looking for 107. This time armed with a text message from Wookey at the computer, sent @ 3am, saying to find Wookey's caving gear stash and thus 148, then 107 was 120m away on 220(degrees). Unfortunately this was copied from an aven drag from 107, not to 107, so was backwards. Thus Joe & Aled spent about 3 hrs looking in the wrong place until Wookey arrived from base camp with a map. Armed with correct info 83 was quickly found (has a spit but no tag) and thus 107.

TA-DAA! @@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-24
-
Joe, Wookey,
+
Wookey, Joe,
More rigging in 107


Came down hill after last trip as Joe needed to fettle phones. Wook kept getting asked nerding questions so didn't leave till 11ish. So underground by 2pm.

Lovely trip, partly as I had thick fleece furry instead of thin one so much warmer, but also done almost as 2 independent trips, with Joe rigging ahead & Wook following, sorting the 'economical' rigging to add backups to one-bolt-wonders & swap 51m rope on ropeless traverse for 39m one. @@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-25
-
Jess, Anthony,
+
Anthony, Jess,
Continue Rebolt/Rig Tunnocks Entrance


Two days after our previous effort, the same team returned to continue the attempted re-rig of the Tunnocks entrance pitch. I swung around in the shaft putting in an airy-fairy rig to avoid the loose choss while Jess sat on a rubble slope providing moral support. One deviation and two y-hangs later, team 2 arrived with the intention of putting in a quick `n' dirty rig to the bottom so they could start rigging the rest of the cave. After a few hours sitting with six of us strung out along the pitch with much shuffling of gear, it became clear that this plan was not going to work, so team 1 exited.
T/U: 7.0 hours
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-25
-
Neil, Rob A, Michael S, Becka,
+
Becka, Neil, Rob A, Michael S,
Team 2 into Tunnocks


Turned up hoping that Team 1 would have finished rigging the entrance series, found to be far from the truth. After a bit of umming and ah-ing on the surface, decided to rig past Team 1 to get to the bottom. Ice plug at the bottom was found to be significantly lower than previous years so existing bolts could not be used exclusively in quick & dirty rig. Inherited drill & bolting kit from Team 1 to rig the bottom, a traverse across the ice slope. From here split in two: @@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-25
-
Joe, AndrewA, Aled, Wookey,
+
Wookey, Joe, AndrewA, Aled,
3rd Rigging in Trip (107)


Underground by 11 this time, with 3 batts & plenty of keenness. Joes headed for point again, whilst Wookey & AndyA came along as rigging faeries to fix up the dodgy Olly-rigging, particularly his propensity for kneee-high pitch head bolts. Fixed up entrance stuff that we had left for Aled the day before, as he'd gone down the hill. Then on to add back-up bolts, and often new pitch head bolts too. Caught up with Joe at 'Too Bold For This Spit', where he had managed to scare himself rigging due to having to fish out sling halfway across with a big leg-trembler. He was pleased to see some company. Wook went over & rigged back about 2m higher to turn a horror into a nice traverse. (Fine bit of traversing by Ol/J).

Aled turned up at this point having come up from base & solo-caved to find us. @@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-26
-
Joe, Andrew A, Jess, Wookey,
+
Wookey, Joe, Andrew A, Jess,
3rd Rigging in Trip (107)


Back again looking for ways on. Conncetion to R looks unlikely - everything goes L. @@ -126,7 +126,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-26
-
Becka, Anthony,
+
Anthony, Becka,
258 - Tunnocks - Rig String Theory + to Beast area


Used rope previously deposited to rig String Theory which was a breeze due to reflector bolts placed on last year's derig - top gear! Continued on + I rigged Pidgeons in Flight but it needed further tweaking. Anthony + I then went for a tourist checking the in situ nasty red rope on the short climb up + traverse + to look at the Beast pitch + pitch below Bob On.
T/U: 10.0 hours
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-27
-
Aled, Matt,
+
Matt, Aled,
Matt & Aled jolly in 107


Did a carry up to top camp with the newly arrived curries, then had a quick pootle round 107 so Matt could learn the way. Got as far as Too Bold for This Spit where met Sam David Jess and Andy. Dropped off bag of rigging gear for Aled's pushing project. Nice trip some of the rigging is a bit "rock and roll".
T/U: 4.0 hours
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-27
-
Andrew A, Sam, David, Jess,
+
Jess, Andrew A, Sam, David,
107: Alcove pop + Nipped down


Returned to the "Too bold for this spit" traverse. Andrew climbed up above the traverse to the lead spotted the previous day and put some bolts in so Jess could climb up and survey the small passage found - "Alcove pop", which split after a few meters with both ways ending in mud. Small roof tube ran back into the main rift split into many tiny holes. Meanwhile Sam + David retrieved the rope from Korea.

David replaced the bolt which popped out the previous day, and all returned to the passage and pitch found the previous day @@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-27
-
Neil, Rob A, Becka,
+
Becka, Neil, Rob A,
258 - Tunnocks - Pidgeons in Flight -> Pidgeon Droppings


Looked at the pitch below Bob On but decided to rig the one below the traverse just beyond Pidgeons in Flight. Neil rigged whilst Rob + I surveyed down. Neil's pitch ("Pidgeon Droppings") is nicely rigged in 3 short drops (bit loose at pitch head). This lands next to a wet, undescended pitch but we went for the blowing horizontal lead. It was crawly, past 2 fairly freshly dead bats to a bad step traverse. Neil put in a couple of bolts to drop below the traverse which was blind, + then to put a handline over the traverse, we wrapped up the survey here + headed out. En route I replaced the nasty, slippy red 9mm on the climb up to the Balcony (just beyond String Theory) with thicker rope + put the red 9mm as a handline up to that climb.
T/U: 12.0 hours
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-27
-
Aled, Matt,
+
Matt, Aled,
107: Aled wants to drop a pitch, take 1


Mucho faffos today! Helped not in the least by Aled needing to collect gear from Top Camp first. Underground by 4:30pm!!

Matt - "No time to rig, just gimme a tour" @@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, f
2014-07-28
-
Katey, Nathaniel, Becka,
+
Becka, Katey, Nathaniel,
258 - Tunnocks -> Pidgeon Droppings -> Flying Rat


Headed down to where we left off yesterday, Katey + Nat breezing down all the airy entrance rigging with all of 9 months caving experience a-piece (though they'd just come from the Picos expedition so are expo-seasoned). We set off surveying, following the draft, but quickly got to a pitch, Nat went back to fetch the gear whilst Katey + I surveyed side leads.

@@ -191,7 +191,7 @@ When we got back to Nat he shame-facedly confessed that one of the drill batteri
2014-07-29
-
Katey, Nat, Andrea, Mike Futrell, Becka,
+
Becka, Katey, Nat, Andrea, Mike Futrell,
Prospecting ~NE of Tunnocks


A pleasant day ambling in the sunshine trying to hit Mike's main goal areas. We found surprisingly little given the 5-person comb but we refound CUCC-2005-05 which seemed promising unless the air in it is just circulation from the fractured bowl beneath the entrance. Mike, Andrea + Katey surveyed it whilst Nat bolted the right hand pitch to a bridge before running out of rope (we only had 11m + 12m; the only other rope at Top Camp was 200m!) + good rock. This should be returned to + checked out properly.

We also refound 2006-05 which appeared to have spits to descent but Base Camp couldn't find a report of what happened there, it looks pretty good. @@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ When we got back to Nat he shame-facedly confessed that one of the drill batteri
2014-07-29
-
Jess, Michael S, Wookey,
+
Wookey, Jess, Michael S,
107 - Gemshohle - Finalising Nipped Down rigging + Pushing lead in Southern China - "The Last TSA"


Nipped Down had been rebolted the previous trip, but the ropes needed switching to ensure the rope reached the floor. Wookey sorted this while Jess and Michael passed 5m of slack rope along the popped across traverse back to the pitch at too bold for this spit: @@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ When we got back to Nat he shame-facedly confessed that one of the drill batteri
2014-07-29
-
Rob A, Rob W, Anthony,
+
Anthony, Rob A, Rob W,
Rig 161g


After a week of effort in 107, the general consensus was that it would be easier to find a connection from the 161 side, so Dr Day's Entrance Pitch Rigging Service was called into action. Trundled over with Rob and enough gear to rig to Strange Downfull, placing a minimal set of reflectors en route. Rigging in proceeded smoothly with few surprises (apart from one handline that had been removed near the start of Peurile Humour - reinstated) and flawless route finding as far as the top of knossos. Here I discovered that one of the bolts I wanted to use for the pitch head y-hang had been deliberately disabled, so the new rig looks like this: @@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ Route finding through Knossos/Star Wars/Tower Blocks proved to be a bit more tri
2014-07-29
-
Neil Pacey, Rob Adams,
+
Rob Adams, Neil Pacey,
Within The Above


Another trip into the areas surrounding the Beast in Tunnocks. We got slightly delayed on the way due to a slight accident with a slippery tacklesack. Luckily the bag was recovered without incident. Arrived at the top of String Theory just as team efficient 'Becka', Nat & Katey were replacing the handline on the Balcony climb. Straight forward descent of String Theory and up the climb to Pidgeon's In Flight. From here it is easy caving to the big chamber 'Above & Beyond'. This is one of the largest chambers in Tunnocks and is very complicated due to the number of deep shafts in this vicinity. Decided to drop the shaft directly below 'Bob On'. This was the original way we found the chamber back in 2011. we chose this shaft as it is opposite The Beast and is dry and has a solid wall.

Rob rigged the first pitch dropping 40m. huge boulders at the top and also a loose hole with a stone shoot made the descent interesting! Rob managed a free hanging rebelay before dropping to the floor landing on a steep bouldery slope. Rob rigged out on the right wall away from the boulders and a direct pitch down another 40 m shaft. Base of the shaft confusing as there are many windows and passages coming in at different levels. @@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ From the base Rob climbed up a 5 m climb directly above a huge drop. We also not
2014-07-30
-
Nat, Becka,
+
Becka, Nat,
258 - Tunnocks -> Pidgeon Droppings -> Flying Rat + de-rigging, "Trafalgar Square" Survey


Picked up the gear at the top of Pidgeon Droppings including Rob + Neil's 80m rope so we were fairly laden + headed down to Flying Rats pitch. Rigged the traverse off a couple of so-so naturals (trying to conserve hangers due to the hanger-draught at Top Camp) then Nat put a couple of spits in the far side (+another one which completely fractured the rock when he set it) + then another natural. We surveyed on from yesterday + then in loops under ourselves. Nat rigged on naturals down a short pitch.

@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ The passage looked big + phreatic + exciting but I went up the nasty loose climb
2014-07-30
-
Wookey, Jess,
+
Jess, Wookey,
107 - Gemshohle - The Last TSA, Climb N end of China


The return trip to The Last TSA, to finish the survey. Large mud and stone floored phreatic hading rift, heading S and down, with a chocolate mud river flowing down the floor. Large amount of wall peelage LHS - in one place a huge section has flaked off (20m? long) - "the battleship Potempkin". Wookey shinned up into the ceiling after the battleship, finding a window out into the end chamber with the rift continuing up with a slight draft at 30m above the floor - Wookey realised how high he was, got scared and came back - continuing climb up rift QMB. W rigged a handline down the washed out mud and boulder cliff into the final chamber whereon aven enters - QMX. Far wall is solid, W poked around in the boulders and found that the RHW is undercut and could be the continuation, but no way through the very precarious boulder choke filling the chamber floor and bottom part of 2 walls (RHS, nearside). @@ -291,7 +291,7 @@ The passage looked big + phreatic + exciting but I went up the nasty loose climb
2014-07-30
-
Andrea Futrell, Mike Futrell, Michael S, Katey,
+
Katey, Andrea Futrell, Mike Futrell, Michael S,
258 - Tunnocks - Sightseeing and C lead at the top of String Theory (09-44C)


The Futrells wanted a sightseeing trip where they could take photographs without being pressured to go fast, and us others wanted an easier trip. Also given to us was the choices of a C-lead at the top of String Theory (09-44C). Took the standard roure to ST (Entrance -> Caramel Catharsis -> Pleasure Series -> ST). C-lead was along a rift out the top of the scree slope at the top of ST heading West. Floor of boulder choke, after ~20m the floor falls out. There is a ga wide enough to fit a person, an 11m tope allowed descent to a second level of boulder choke floor. A third and final level of boulder choke floor was reached by another ~6m pitch. Both ends of the rift choked up at each level. The lowest level was at ~45° angle, any step sent a cascade of rocks down.
@@ -306,7 +306,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-07-30
-
Rob A, Rob W, Anthony,
+
Anthony, Rob A, Rob W,
161 - Reconnaisance trip to Runnel Stone


Following a quick and effective trip the previous day, the same team returned to rig the long way round to the leads near 107. We thought that the trip shouldn't take too long so were in no hurry to leave Top Camp. The flaw in this logic should have been obvious and our failure to get underground before 14:00 proved to be a mistake. Trundled along to Strange Downfull, Rob W prussiked up Strange Upfall to find that the traverse line at the top was (thankfully) still in place. Up Irony of Time and into Country for Old Men, we had a pleasant surprise that the Sudentenland pitch was still rigged - the 100m of rope we had with us was starting to look like overkill. All enjoyed the interesting rig on the Mordor pitch, then along the extreme horizontal stuff at the bottom. By now it was becoming clear that, despite minimal route-finding hassles, the trip was going to take quite a long time.

Arriving at Holey Cow, we finally found something that needed rigging. Rob W rigged down the little climb, then put in a hanger to protect the walk across the ridge to the little traverse on the other side. It turns out that this bolt is pretty good since when Rob made it to the location of the y-hang bolts, the ledge he was standing on disappeared and he took a swing and smacked into the ridge. @@ -324,7 +324,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-07-31
-
Aled, Andrew A,
+
Andrew A, Aled,
107: Aled wants to drop a pitch, take 2


Heavy rain in the morning meant Andrew's proposed walk up the hill at 6:30am was postponed enough for Aled to wake up and decide he also wanted to go caving. An early start on the Plateau walk was hampered by shitty weather (lots of rain) and traffic in the form of cows and sheep. Upon reaching 107, Aled was happy to find his SRT kit had helpfully been brought down from the bunde-hill from the day before by Matt & co, so caving could commence!

Ominous sounds of water echo through the cave, but waterfalls confined to predicted places, most notably the "Easy Traverse", but Andrew's previous fettling of the rope to make it tighter kept us out of the worst of the water - phew! @@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-01
-
David, Elaine, Sophie D, Matt,
+
Matt, David, Elaine, Sophie D,
107 - Gemshohle - Attempt to push Wookey & Jess' lead at North end of China


Attempts to go caving from base camp are not a great idea if you want to be underground at a reasonable hour... Rather a lot of faffing and a diversion to the mobile phone shop later, we were en route to 107 and underground at ~1:30pm. It was Elaine & Sophie's first expo caving trip. Progress was somewhat slow, and since it took 4 hours to reach a point just before TOO BOLD FOR THIS SPIT, the decision was taken to turn round at 5:30 pm.

Elaine and David decided to retrieve the hand bolting kits which were left just before Pop Across. David grabbed the kits then D&E caught up with M&S who were making their way out. Once M&S had gone past the squeeze, E derigged the pitch which bypasses the squeeze while D. rebolted & rerigged the traverse at the bottom of said pitch to make it safer. All reached the surface at ~9:45pm. D&E decided to go ahead to top camp to cancel the callout and outrun the thunderstorm which was snapping at our heels. S&M arrived, rather damp, 1.5h later. @@ -347,7 +347,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-01
-
Aled, Andrew, Neil,
+
Neil, Aled, Andrew,
Tunnocks - Rigging Coldfinger by Champagne on Ice


Slightly later start than anticipated as Aled had to first fetch his gear from 107. It didn't help that the Plateau Monster bit him on the way back to Top Camp.

Entrance series was a great selection of rebelays, which - as far as the writer is aware - is different from previous years, but as it was the first time down Tunnocks for Aled, everything was brand new. Neil provided helpful hints throughout the descent. @@ -368,7 +368,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-01
-
Michael S, Becka, Rob W,
+
Rob W, Michael S, Becka,
prospecting - Surface prospecting, NW of Tunnocks


From Tunnocks entrance walked for ~15 min NW down the large gully before prospecting started, following the cairned route. Took a large loop by heading up the lower slopes of the Greißkogel, then following the bedding plane NE and upward. After a few hours found only one good lead (2014-777) and decided to turn for home, travelled S back to the end of the cairned route but found a more promising hole (2014-888) which was partly blocked by choss but had a very strong draft coming out.

777 was tagged & GPS logged, but 888 was only GPS logged for lack of time. @@ -378,7 +378,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-01
-
Nathaniel, Katey,
+
Katey, Nathaniel,
2005-05


After prospecting with Becka, Mike + Andrea a couple of days before, Nat and I decided to revisit 2005-05 to carry on dropping the pitches there. Rob bailed, leading to a rather late start, but we set off with a ~40m and 2 x 11m ropes, plus the bosch drill older than either one of us. We re-rigged the first pitch that Nat had dropped earlier and landed on a stone bridge between two pitches.

Nat decided to drop the western pitch since it seemed to look more promising, so bolted a rebelay and carried on downwards. After dropping through a slightly narrow gap we landed on a loose, rocky slope with a ledge to one side. Nat bolted another rebelay and started on one of the 11m ropes but rapidly came back since there was a pitch that was too big for us to drop with the kit we had - exciting times! I went down to take a look then we went off to the ledge to commiserate. We reckoned the pitch had about a 2-second drop, making it somewhere between 20 and 30 metres. As we were cold and out of gear, we decided to return the next day with more rope (and our oversuits!).
T/U: 3.0 hours
@@ -387,7 +387,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-01
-
RobA, Becka,
+
Becka, RobA,
Tunnocks - Ducks on Ice / Tacklesack retrieval


After a walk up + a prospecting trip I polished off the day with an evening saunter down Tunnocks to try to fetch the tacklesack that Rob had dropped down the ice slope whilst trying to rig the entrance. Rob hefted the mighty Bosch drill whilst I did a solo survey down the ice slope to a small pit + an ice slot (where, presumably, the tacklesack has gone, though we did manage to retrieve a sling), a good-looking horizontal lead past a short traverse around the small pit (which turned out to be part of stone monkey on the next trip on 4/8/14) + a possible lead in a chamber beyond the ice slot. Called time around midnight to be fresh for the next day.
T/U: 4.0 hours
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-02
-
Elaine, Aled, RobW, David,
+
David, Elaine, Aled, RobW,
107 - Gemshohle - Attempt #2 to push Wookey & Jess' lead at North end of China


After a later start than was intended (due to my extensive faffing abilities), we were underground by 11:45. By 1:30pm we had reached "Too bold". This being Elaines 2nd trip of expo, and only her 6th SRT trip, she was not quite so confident on the larger pitches, so we reached the bottom of China by around 3pm. The climb which Wookey had rigged was somewhat precarious to say the least, so we sat on the other side of the choss pile at the bottom in a group shelter until each of us had ascended the climb. Aled & David got to the top and I decided to come up. About halfway up (~2m above the deviation) I felt a massive draught kicking out of a slanting rift in the wall: the lead! The others had gone too high. David dropped down with the drill after I had had a look down the hole, a slanting rift for ~5m which opens out over the top of a reasonable freehang (~20m). The pitch was subsequently dropped by David, who shouted enthusiastically up for someone to follow. I had the survey kit in my bag so I followed on.

After some rigging adjustments, I dropped into a rather large passage with a humongous draught at the end. Very excited! We went round the corner to where Dave had looked to and began surveying. However after 3 legs Dave discovered a survey station which wasn't ours. Strange! This lead us to believe that it was not new passage. We went through a squeeze after a sandy crawl after following a phreatic passage with a gravelly floor, this reached a massive rift with a dodgy looking climb or a dodgy looking traverse (tried doing the traverse but it was a silly idea with us being 2 rather inexperienced cavers on the wrong side of a possibly new bit of passage. We therefore turned round and backsurveyed 8 legs from previous station 18 to the top of the pitch David dropped. By this time, it was getting on for 8pm & with a 12 (midnight) callout we decided it was time to turn round, Aled & Elaine having already headed out. Carrying the drill, bolting kit etc progress was more taxing than expected and we reached the surface around 10:30. @@ -407,7 +407,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-02
-
Matt, Sophie D, Michael S, Sam,
+
Sam, Matt, Sophie D, Michael S,
2013-03 - Checking Ants in Your Pants for snow level


AIYP (2013-03) is a possible back entrance to Tunnocks, explored in 2013 but found to be blocked by snow. Corresponding but of cave underneath found snow & leaves, so almost certainly connected.

From the surface, looked like a straight hang to the floor, kicking all the snow & ice of 2013, particularly ice bridges across the shaft. Found to be not the full 60m shaft but only 30m down to what was marked a ledge on 2013 survey, so rest of shaft blocked by snow. Could not see bolts for traverse shown on 2013 rigging guide. @@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-02
-
Nathaniel, Katey,
+
Katey, Nathaniel,
2005-05


We returned with a 100m rope and the same drill (well, the same battery). Unfortunately, the drill was shit (read: the battery was very low) and we only managed to put in 1 ¼ bolts. This was especially frustrating as Nat had converted a dingle bolt rebelay to a Y-hang, so the 1/4 hole was right above the big pitch! Even more frustrating, we'd neglected to bring a spit driver due to inexperience and general incompetence. We headed back to camp promising that the next day we'd finally drop that pitch!
T/U: 2.0 hours
@@ -428,7 +428,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-02
-
Andrew A, Neil, Becka,
+
Becka, Andrew A, Neil,
Tunnocks - Champagne on Ice


Down to continue from Neil, Andrew + Aled's trip yesterday. Andrew continued from Neil's bolts + rigged ~ 3 more pitches, two of which looked like they could get wet. We surveyed on the way out, we'd dropped 55m vertically + left it still open + looking bang on course for Neil + Andrew's Gösser-fuelled inspiration of trying to get to the Straight Choice/Arctic Angle area by dropping in from the north end of Tunnocks.
T/U: 8.0 hours
@@ -437,7 +437,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-03
-
Mike Futrell, Neil, Michael S, Andrea,
+
Andrea, Mike Futrell, Neil, Michael S,
2014-888 and MF - unmarked pit


Follow up on 2014-888, a drafting hole blocked mostly by choss. Took crowbar & bolting kit to prise all the precarious large rocks away from the entrance and rig the pitch that could be seen just beyond them.



Spend ~ 1 hour trying to clear the entrance, removed most of the small to medium rocks but there was 1 large boulder which wobbled but wouldn't move down the hole. In the end it was wedged to one side so it was passable. @@ -458,7 +458,7 @@ Craps out in all directions, not worth returning to. On the way out, the Futrell
2014-08-03
-
Andrew A, RobA, RobW, Becka,
+
Becka, Andrew A, RobA, RobW,
107 - KH connection made / KH derig


I was awoken early by Becka who was very excited about the previous days trip. Survey data was examined & quizzing began. However, being not properly awake I did not provide any useful information at all, so we arranged to go back into 107 with lots of tackle sacks to examine the lead: if it was, as could have been the case, a connection into Korea, we would derig 107. If not, then who knew what was going to happen! After some inevitable faff (I dropped my wellies on the walk over) we got underground around half 11.

We were in China by 1pm, and after some flapkjack split into two twos: Rob & I went through the rift & down the pitch, & Andrew & Becka went into Korea & we would shout at each other to see if it connected. On dropping down the pitch, I showed Rob what we had done the day before and we headed up the sandy ramp to the slit. @@ -473,8 +473,8 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-03
-
Katey, Nathaniel,
-
2005-05 - return
+
Nathaniel, Katey,
+
2005-05 - return: now called Balcony Höhle


We returned to the cave with a lighter drill and brighter spirits, and with surprisingly minimal faffing dropped the pitch. A nice long abseil down a clean-washed shaft landed on a rocky ledge with one more short drop before the cave opened into a chamber. I bolted the small pitch, which turned out to be more challenging than anticipated, and we were in the chamber! Finally a use for the compass/clino we'd brought! Unfortunately, in our trying not to be overly optimistic and scare the cave off we were very low on extra layers, meaning we couldn't survey for very long. On the plus side, the cave was nice and drafty! Despite cold and surveying inexperience we got about 60m surveyed with plenty more to go. We also finally settled on a name for the cave - Balcony Höhle - based on the truly excellent entrance.
T/U: 3.5 hours

Edit this entry
@@ -482,7 +482,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-03
-
Sophie D, Sam, Aled, David, Elaine, Matt,
+
Matt, Sophie D, Sam, Aled, David, Elaine,
2014-NEO-01


Mass surface-prospecting trip. More write-up from others to follow? Matt pointed out a horizontal-leading hole that a previous (less keen) UBSS caver had deemed "too tight". Elaine, being an avid Mendip fan, decided that it was actually fine & wriggled through to find that it pinched out after ~11m. Still, it was long enough to kataster, so E+D surveyed/photo-ed/GPSed/tagged it, while A+S dropped a small surface hole E+D had deemed too wet & horrible. Afterwards E+D did some cross-valley directing to not much avail. E+D then discovered that caving CAN be a spectator sport, watching Michael bolt a pitch though a nice large window slightly further north. :)
T/U: 0.0 hours
@@ -491,7 +491,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-03
-
David, Aled, Matt, Elaine, Sophie D, Sam,
+
Sam, David, Aled, Matt, Elaine, Sophie D,
Prospecting opposite Clownhöhle (Elaine's write-up of 2014-NEO-01 continued)


While Aled was watching Sam bolt his pitch and David was helping Elaine survey her horizontal hole in the overhang, Sophie and Matt headed to the end of the cliff and up the gully behind. The area they wandered round above was dotted with lots of big holes. One could be walked into and was found to crap out, with a ceiling that came away if you touched it. Some gear would be required to investigate the others, so Sophie and Matt headed back to fetch stuff and anyone they could interest.

As they picked their way down the chossy gully they noticed Elaine on the bunde covered hillside excitedly "discovering" what Matt recognised as Clownhöhle. Sam and Elaine were left to bash their way round the hill, while Aled and David were successfully enticed to Sophie and Matt's area. Matt, Sophie then David free-climbed into a pit @@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-04
-
Nathaniel, Noel, Katey,
+
Katey, Nathaniel, Noel,
2005-05 Balcony Höhle


Since the cave was now going beyond the pitch series, we thought it would be a good idea to ask someone with more surveying experience for help, so along came Noel. With his help (and the use of a Disto) we got a lot more surveyed - nearly 200m in 3 hours - with several ?As and a very solid ?B. We also put up cairns and reflectors on the route to the cave.

*Worth noting: the long (34m) pitch gets drippy after rainstorms, even after the rain has passed. It was only a bit unpleasant, not dangerous, but trips should take a bothy on rainy days incase the pitch gets more than unpleasant!

@@ -513,7 +513,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-04
-
Neil, RobA, Becka,
+
Becka, Neil, RobA,
Tunnocks - Ducks on Ice rigging + connecting


Off to finish the Ducks on Ice survey. As soon as I stopped into the horizontal tube I cold see people had been here before so we romped off to see where we were - + soon arrived right above the top bolt of Caramel Catharsis, bingo! Decided this would make a far superior entrance, avoiding two tacklesack mauling crawls, a poxy short pitch, a traverse + some caving... but it needed a little work. Neil rigged a handline down Caramel Catharsis then helped me with some gardening then headed off to help Rob trying to improve the rig down lower Tunnocks entrance (Ducks on Ice) whilst I spend a merry 3 hours trundling boulders to garden the route. I did a single leg (99cm) survey to do the connection + headed out whilst Neil valiantly stood by until Rob finished the rigging (tricky given the ice/crap rock/danger of rockfall/sharp corners several hours later.
T/U: 0.0 hours
@@ -522,7 +522,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-04
-
Anthony, Chris,
+
Chris, Anthony,
Tunnocks - Champagne on Ice


Intersected above team during their short-cut creation then checked out Champagne on Ice.

Anthony attempted to continue rigging between 2 separate cascades while Chris returned to make some of the rigging more humane. @@ -532,7 +532,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-04
-
Noel, Holly,
+
Holly, Noel,
Tunnocks THE BEAST


unfortunately we have been defeated by the Beast. :( Noel & I decided to try & have a go at dropping the Beast. So down String Theory, down Pigeon's in Flight and off to the top of Pigeon Droppings. Here there was a gear stash & Pigeon Droppings was rigged - awaiting a derig. So whilst I repacked the gear, Noel derigged Pigeon Droppings. Once all the gear was out, sorted & repacked - we headed to the Beast. We had decided to try the window Becka & I had found (back on the connection trip in 2012). So Noel rigged Eh Bah Gum, which unfortunately was rigged on thru-bolts and also needed a new rebelay due to a trashed bolt. Once done, we head to the ledge and the story continues...

Cartoon of 3 attempts to find a rigging point for The Beast
2014-08-05
-
Andrea, Mike Futrell, Noel, Holly, Katey,
+
Katey, Andrea, Mike Futrell, Noel, Holly,
2005-05 Balcony Höhle


Noel, Mike and Andrea had set off nice and early to go look at some of our leads from the day before, including a traverse that wanted bolting. Using a drill tends to go more easily when the drill has a bit, though, so when Noel came back to get one Holly and I came along to the cave. Noel added a backup bolt to the top Y-hang then I descended first to fettle the rigging. After lots of waiting for people to descend to avoid bouldery death we set off to rig the traverse. While Noel was discovering a chasm too wide to traverse across Holly and I were looking at the parallel shaft we'd found, and we made a sound connection between the two (unsurprising, as Noel described around the corner of the pitch as a rift).

We decided to leave that traverse alone for the time being and as Noel derigged I took everyone else to Liar's bakery, the ?B, for Mike and Andrea to poke around in. Holly, Noel, and I then went to traverse the parallel shaft Holly and I had visited instead. Traversing over one pitch led to a second hole in the floor, giving the area the name Pit Pot. Traversing over the second pit landed on a rubble-covered ledge with a small window leading to a nice big pitch! Rocks fell for ~3 sec, so we estimated the depth of the shaft at 60m. We surveyed to the window -a whopping 13m - and headed out. Mike and Andrea had had rather more success, surveying 109.13m ending in a (dry) ~40m pitch. There are still plenty of leads to go back to, not too bad!
T/U: 6 hrs
@@ -557,7 +557,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-05
-
Chris, Neil, Becka, Anthony,
+
Anthony, Chris, Neil, Becka,
plateau - Prospecting N of Tunnocks


After we'd all done an early morning walk down to fetch food from the carpark (as Top Camp had pretty much run out of everything) there wasn't time for a decent trip + the weather was a bit 50-50. We headed off past the Tunnocks col + Ants in the Pants + then along the German cairned route to the hillock/ridge the farside of Ants in the Pants then split into two pairs, each with a GPS. Anthony + Chris weren't impressed + didn't really find anything whereas Neil + I got excited by the general area +, especially, by a lovely section of limestone pavement full of shafts (one 2012-ft12 I think), some of which looked really good. We then headed back around + Neil stumbled on the best lead (+the only one that we tagged) which was a slot in an open hole in bunde with a fair drop beyond + a good draft. Quite narrow to enter but not an issue, provisionally called Disappointment Pot. On both mine + Anthony's GPS.
T/U: 0.0 hours
@@ -566,7 +566,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-05
-
Elaine, Michael S,
+
Michael S, Elaine,
Tunnocks - SRT practice


Having visited the fête in Bad Aussee the night before, M&E were up bright and early for a day's caving, having stayed off the gösser. We couldn't convince Sam to accompany us up the hill but he gave us a lift to the parkplatz as there was only 1 pass left, claiming he'd come up later in the day (this turned out to be a lie). We reached the Stone Bridge to the sounds of manic laughter - Nat & RobW were attempting to steal Katey's toilet paper as she was on the grike, using a pair of salad tongs attached to a pole. Everyone who was going caving had left so we decided to do our own, not-too-strenuous trip (E. had thrown up that morning in the parkplazt - Sam's driving? Ario-disease from the ULSA crew? who knows). E needed some SRT practice so we decided that the Tunnocks entrance series adventure playground was the ideal candidate. We made good if a bit slow progress then once down proceeded as far as Y [something] Beach before deciding to turn around. The exit was actually faster than the descent, and we were out in time to walk back to camp in daylight.
T/U: 7.0 hours
@@ -575,7 +575,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-05
-
Callum, Joe, Holly,
+
Holly, Callum, Joe,
107 - Land of Confusion


The weather was rubbish - rain, rain, rain. It was understood that the large pitch into China would be too wet to descend, so we went in to try & find a new way in, in the Land of Confusion. We headed over the big pitch & into LoC. Here one drops a short pitch (~6m or so), then climbs up the same height to on-going passage on the other side.

Note: at the bottom of this pitch is another pitch - dry (13-LC-16A). Perfect for someone who wants bolting practice. On the main passage, Joe ran ahead to scope out the leads (pitches) that are understood to also lead to China. Joe found lead 13-LC-2C to be dry, so we attempted to rig here. Unfortunately all the rock was cheese. Eventually, after a lot of trying, we decided that it would be a project that needed more work & wouldn't be worth it. So we headed out, but rigged a traverse on the rift somewhere between 'Coldest Place on Earth' and 'Restless' as follows: @@ -587,7 +587,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-05
-
Pete, Joe, Fleur,
+
Fleur, Pete, Joe,
go down Champagne on Ice / Coldfinger in Tunnocks


Arrived in Austria delighted to see our lead from last year being pushed & going so well. Arrived at the rigging front in slightly drippy shaft series. Joe went down from Anthony & CJD's last rebelay, but this left a wet final hang to the floor. So I persuaded Joe to come back up fro a re-rig. He dismantled Anthony's rebelay, but instead of heading for a window as I had hoped, he continued to the floor. Still the cave went on, Joe kept rigging, Pete & I following surveying. It was all looking great, but after two more pitches it died. The stream went into a tiny rift and sumped. I said I would de rig as I wanted a look in the window 2 pitches up. I swung in and it looked like a different floor. So Joe went for a quick bolt to see it it went. It did! And also interrupted a horizontal passage which turned out the next day to connect to Arctic Angle. Satisfied we were leaving a good leave, we could now exit without derigging.

Not exactly a gentle introductory. @@ -597,7 +597,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-06
-
Neil, Mike Futrell, Becka,
+
Becka, Neil, Mike Futrell,
258 Tunnocks - Champagne on Ice - connection trip to Arctic Angle


Back on down to continue our previous survey down the pitches that Joe, Fleur + Pete had rigged yesterday. The horizontal passage looked an excellent lead with a good draft (+ a single pair of footsteps in + out - bad boy, Joe!). We soon surveyed to a traverse which Neil rigged over a big drop + ... footsteps the other side ... so we only got ~4m of unsurveyed passage to get the connection! We tied in the survey then ran off to work out where we were (luckily I'd packed Julian's mini-survey of the Straight Choice area). Mike took a few shots of pretties + then we checked out the leads, admiring the scary traverse + climb that Andrew had done on the only trip that had been there before, when we'd done a long rig - survey - derig trip at the end of Expo. There were no horizontal leads to do + we were nearly out of rigging gear so we decided to go for the QMA at the S end of Arctic Angle with a p6. Neil soon rigged this + excitedly reported that it looked good... + we'd already noticed the strong draft so we whooped our way down to discover a maze of attractive walking passage - lots of phreatic, some formations, really lovely - looking passage, whoo hoo!

Neil + I tried to break Mike with speed surveying with a DistoX. We romped around, surveying to a large pitch from two different directions + several other pitches. We also left a couple of easy, strongly drafting 'digs' (needing 30 seconds to scoop away the sand to enter) + some slightly harder to enter horizontal leads as well as all the vertical leads for others to enjoy. Headed out after wrapping up a 69 leg, ~450m survey. I deriged the pitch + traverse + entrance rigging above Caramel Catharsis as Ducks on Ice is now the standard route whilst Neil added two more bolts on Ducks on ice to try to alleviate the rubs. Fine trip! @@ -611,7 +611,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-06
-
RobA, Chris,
+
Chris, RobA,
The Number of the Beast


Picked up pile of gear at bottom of String Theory, augmented by a few more pieces of rope, & rigged down to pushing front at bottom of The Number of the Beast. Out in 4 hrs.
T/U: 12.0 hours
@@ -620,7 +620,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-06
-
Aled, David, Fleur,
+
Fleur, Aled, David,
Balcony Höhle: Room with a View


Apparently the entrance pitch needed a little tweaking, and a lot of gardening.

Job 1. Rig climb down cliff to entrance ✔ @@ -638,7 +638,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-07
-
Noel, Holly, Elaine, Michael S,
+
Michael S, Noel, Holly, Elaine,
Balcony - 2005-05 Balcony Höhle


E, M, H & N descended the entrance series together (well, in 2 waves to save waiting around) then H&N went off to drop a pitch (I assume they'll elaborate later) while M&E went to check out the passage beyond a climb which N&M had rigged while H&E descended. The nice rifty passage went and went (northwards) - slightly scary loose boulder floor which we gardened a bit, but some lovely mud formations. E achieved the impressive feat of becoming cold while wearing 3 layers of thermals in addition to over & undersuit. We surveyed around 130m in total, leaving 2 A-leads, one B-lead and two C-leads for future cavers. We called the area 'Lemonsnout' and the data is in folder # '2014#19'
T/U: 7.0 hours
@@ -647,7 +647,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-07
-
Pete, Chris, Fleur,
+
Fleur, Pete, Chris,
Balcon Höhle - A Room With a View


Fleur polished up the entrance pitches after the previous day of gardening. We followed the howling gale to reach the 40m pitch reached by Mike & Andrea on 05/08. Pete rigged over the top, "Natural Highs",with his rigging butler providing an ever-increasing rope length (10m replaced by 20m replaced by 40m). After traversing over 3 pitches we were on terra firma, in substantial passage with leads all around & the sound of drilling above. I shinned up the RH wall into large phreas going up & downstream, which I ambled along upstream until I was able to wave cheerily at Noel & Holly who were dangling on the far side, wondering how to reach the balcony I was beaming out from. We settled for a DistoX "handshake" across the gulf.

Fleur & Pete surveyed the 'Leeds Bypass' while I put some "Unnatural Highs" bolts in (Pete's battery had died hence excessive use of natural protection). Then we surveyed on down-sip along the windy phreas. It just got bigger and bigger - while Pete & Fleur followed the biggest windiest passage I took the frill to a draft phreatic pitch off to the left, left 15m down with a 'Y' hang waiting for someone to come along with another 30m or so of rope to descend it - 'Gardeners Question Time' due to the usual issue of just how much gardening to do. Fleur & Pete returned having reached a traverse that needed rigging. So we took the drill along to the end, passing a dried up stream trench in the floor. The remaining 10m rope took us 2/3 along the traverse in 3 bolts + 1 natural, so a splendid lead for someone to continue into the phreas beyond. 230m in book. @@ -658,7 +658,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-07
-
Noel, Holly,
+
Holly, Noel,
Balcony Höhle: Traversing + dropping Pit Pot


I had my eye on an exciting traverse/bridge over a rift with large passage continuing beyond. We set up & just as I abseiled over the edge, and got ready to make the great leap across I could hear Chris's voice from the passage ahead. Shouting made contact & he came round the corner on the far side of the traverse. Doh! hence the Leeds by-pass name.

After crossing Pit Pot traverse earlier (see Katey's entry) we headed back to drop the first of the pits which looked promising & reasonably simple. Holly started from some bolts she had previously placed in the traverse, descending around 20m to a boulder slope. With a bit of gardening, the slope was followed down to the edge of another pit, with solid walls for bolting in. @@ -672,7 +672,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-07
-
ChrisD, Pete, Fleur,
+
Fleur, ChrisD, Pete,
Balcony Höhle


See Chris' main write up. but first Fleur continued jobs:



Job 7. Finish bolted deviation ✔ @@ -694,7 +694,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-08
-
Fleur, Noel, Holly, Chris,
+
Chris, Fleur, Noel, Holly,
107 - derig


None of us had been in the cave before but a dearth of gear at TC meant that a tactical derig was required. On the way in we eyed up the gear we passed, and were disappointed by the sparse rigging. Noel & I popped down to see what we could find at the bottom of China. I found an up-rope at the top end of this impressive fault chamber but we decided it would be antisocial to derig so left in situ. It turned out that, some way beyond was ~80m rope + rigging gear in a bag, somewhere near the connection to 161, opps. Still, between the 4 of us we retrieved 7 tacklesacks of booty to the surface in time to get down to the expo dinner :-)
T/U: 5.0 hours
@@ -703,7 +703,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-10
-
Holly, Nathaniel,
+
Nathaniel, Holly,
Balcony Höhle


Back to Pit Pot. We derigged the deviation & pulled up the rope from the previous trip and swung on to the boulder bridge. I was drilling -> put in a couple of bolts on the rock bridge & abseiled down a very short pitch ~3m. Landed on a boulder + mud slope. This was rather treacherous, particularly near the edge of the slope where there was a vertical section. I put in a couple more bolts on the left hand side of the passage to attempt to keep us away from these boulders. Was OK but not great. Landed on a boulder floor, then called Nat down. We had been surveying at each stage of the rigging, so Nat had been sat on a boulder on the boulder slope whilst I rigged (and generally made unhappy sounds at the boulders). In this time, Nat had managed to sit on his nail varnish - breaking the neck & pour nail varnish all over himself & the boulder. :(

Anyway Nat joined me on the boulder floor. I had thought that this pitch was blind, but turned out there was a rift heading off. This was a short pitch, which Nat rigged. It wasn't easy as there was limited choice due to crap rock. But rig it he did & down he went - making unhappy noises at the boulders. I joined Nat at the bottom (~7m) and we were in the rift, surrounded by boulders wedged in the rift. It wasn't my favourite place in the world. The rift continued, which would mean climbing down, under the boulders. It is drafting. @@ -715,7 +715,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-10
-
Fleur Loveridge, Andy Chapman, Pete Talling,
+
Pete Talling, Fleur Loveridge, Andy Chapman,
Room with a View Cave ~300m surveyed


An unholy trinity of a team was carefully assembled for this daring mission, fuelled by tea, oatso and currys (phaart). We bumbled down the (now safer) entrance pitches to the junction at the base of climb up to Leeds Bypass / end of Pete's traverse rope.



A We started with the sandy phreatic tube on the left that was a strongly drafting A lead. This carried on for a short but very drafty phreatic stomping to a big pitch with 8-10 second rattle. VERY GOOD A LEAD - WITH A LEAD ACROSS TRAVERSE AT THE SAME HEIGHT. CONSOLIDATION PITCH @@ -737,7 +737,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-11
-
Holly Bradley, Pete Talling, Fleur Loveridge,
+
Fleur Loveridge, Holly Bradley, Pete Talling,
Room with a View Cave - Leeds Bypass + Dark Arts


Sketch plan @@ -754,7 +754,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-11
-
Julian, RobW, David W, Noel,
+
Noel, Julian, RobW, David W,
Tunnocks - Arctic Angle - "The wrong choice"


Julian had made a rare appearance & wanted to go to the leads at the bottom of Tunnocks - we got a sketch of Neil, Becka & Mike's survey from Fleur to find their A++ lead beyond the traverse at the end. A nice trip to the end & we soon found said traverse. Whilst I set up and started the traverse, the others set off exploring & surveying some small passages nearby (to ensure there was no easy way around the traverse this time).

9 bolts crossed on an ascending ledge with a couple of exposed airy stances. TAKE CARE stepping over the balanced boulder - I could not push it off the edge but you never know what falls off here (as per my "incident" a few years ago. Once on the other side the strong draft resumed & a junction was reached after a few meters. @@ -771,7 +771,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-12
-
Andy C, Chris,
+
Chris, Andy C,
Overflying 'Ducks on Ice'


Discovered that neither the 'new' rope - rigging Ducks on Ice - nor the old one rigging the trad way in was long enough for a new overpass, but we put one in anyway & used both ropes after going up & down several times. At least it kept us out of the rain & gets the rigging up to the required standard... Sketch added to [something] rigging topo.
T/U: 0.0 hours
@@ -780,7 +780,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-12
-
RobW, Martin,
+
Martin, RobW,
Balcony Höhle, Dead Bat pitch


After a reasonably long trip the day before, Balcony was an ideal place to head to for some easy pushing. Weather was shit, so the entrance pitch was not too pleasant. We didn't really know where we were going, but we soon learnt which ways definitely weren't the right way. At around 6 we found the pitch we were intending to drop, after 4 hours of exploring already explored bits. I bolted it, only to find that it went nowhere. We surveyed it, then headed out, Martin got a bti chilly. We cut midnight callout a bit fine, after reaching the surface at 10pm.
T/U: 8.0 hours
@@ -789,7 +789,7 @@ At this point, Rob proclaimed "I bet you £500 that we're in Blown Out." On
2014-08-13
-
Andy C, Chris,
+
Chris, Andy C,
Tunnocks - The number of the Beast pt II


Put a few extra bolts on way in as previous year's bolt scarcity was evident. At limit of exploration, at bottom of steeply sloping rift landing in large chocked floor, climbed up & descended 10m to another false floor, using an immense [something] boulder for a deviation. At N. end of false floor was young & drippy at S. end was unstable & aged, but offered the draft & depth. I started gardening enthusiastically sending increasingly large masonry down the shaft. Andy pointed at another hole which I started chucking stuff down but decided it was no safer so let it be. After I climbed back out a large piece spontaneously threw itself down the shaft. Crumbs.

@@ -801,7 +801,7 @@ Having cleared the main shaft lip I inspected a possible large thread "I wouldn'
2014-08-13
-
Noel, RobW, Holly,
+
Holly, Noel, RobW,
Balcony Höhle Pushing minor leads near entrance pitch


Noel and I walked up the hill, collected Rob & some surveying gear and headed to Balcony Höhle to clear up the leads near the entrance as below

Plan 'survey' - Hand drawn NTS
@@ -818,7 +818,7 @@ Having cleared the main shaft lip I inspected a possible large thread "I wouldn'
2014-08-14
-
RobW, Holly, Noel, Nat,
+
Nat, RobW, Holly, Noel,
Tunnocks - Number of the Beast


(Times are mainly estimates)

After waiting for the rain to dissipate most of the morning we seized a window of clear weather to walk to Tunnocks; minimal faff saw us underground by half twelve; reasonably fast caving saw us at String Theory by about 2 & Number of the Beast by about half five. Reaching this point Rob & Holly sat at the top of bottom of Number of the Beast in a toasty warm bothy whilst Noel & Bat went down the 2 10m pitches (very carefully as the walls weren't particularly solid). (N.B. in places the floor wasn't very solid either)! @@ -831,7 +831,7 @@ Following this Noel came back up & did a (rough?) survey. Nat derigged up to
2014-08-17
-
Holly, Andy C, Noel,
+
Noel, Holly, Andy C,
Balcony - The Far Side


Enthusiasm for caving was apparently waning as no-one had been underground for days. A respite in the weather meant we could head to Balcony with dry kit/clothes. We took 2 drills to attempt a "double pronged" attack on the 2 main leads at the end of Leeds bypass.

Holly set up at the pitch, aiming to descend this whilst Noel & Andy re-rigged Fleur & Pete's traverse over a huge blank walled shaft into a continuation of the main passage on the other side. This looked like a major undertaking so we headed back to Holly to see if her lead would "go" easily. @@ -848,7 +848,7 @@ Following this Noel came back up & did a (rough?) survey. Nat derigged up to

2014-08-18
-
RobW, Becka,
+
Becka, RobW,
Balcony - Tying up loose ends in Far Side


I was up bright and early at 7 to go up the hill with Becka. It was not to be an epic, with a start before midday not anticipated, so Becka was keen to push some leads in Balcony. We got up the hill around 11. After a tragic yet amusing incident involving me, the grike & the poo drum, we set off. The weather, for once, was pleasant, ensuring a dry descent at 12:15, the first for a while in Balcony!

@@ -867,7 +867,7 @@ Heading out was no bother at all, with Becka finding the way easily. We caught M
2014-08-18
-
Holly, AndyC, Noel,
+
Noel, Holly, AndyC,
Balcony Höhle, Turtlehead passage


After the amazing pushing the day before, we returned to the Far Side to continue exploring starting with an A lead a few meters up a climb in the roof of one passage. (This was Holly's favourite looking lead). Climbing up, Andy placed the first station on a knob of rock in exactly the right place to resemble a turtles head - hence the name (it's not a crude reference). Passage continued draughtily until we hit a total choke - draught was very strong & cold here. There was one possible good lead here - a draughting slot climb up next to the choke - with a black void visible above.

Returning to near the start of Turtlehead a side lead led off, & it was soon apparent that this was another major passage. Stomping up led to another excellent lead for next year - an ~8m climb up (free climbable with difficulty - needs bolting as a pitch probably). At the top are 2 x ongoing passages in similar proportions with big draught A++. Round the corner was a huge pitch - A grade lead - but maybe a bit drippy. Passage then ran back south, parallel to the one we'd just come up, & we ended this at a drippy free climb. Becka & RobW had come in to look at other leads & they took over this climb lead after other leads crapped out. @@ -878,7 +878,7 @@ Heading out was no bother at all, with Becka finding the way easily. We caught M
2014-08-19
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Rob W, Becka, Neil, Nat,
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Nat, Rob W, Becka, Neil,
Leads at the bottom of Champagne on Ice / Arctic Angle, Grike Expectation


An early start saw us underground by half ten! (far too early). Heading down Champagne on Ice where Nat discovered that having a bag on your back can severely impede ones mobility (ie string you up on what should be an only slightly awkward pitch head). Once at the bottom (of the pitch down from Arctic Angle) Becka & Neil investigated a passage that went north (turning left after getting off the rope, it's a continuation of the pitch rift). Neil & Becka established a voice & light connection between this passage & another one which seemed to (well positioned lead for 2015!) run parallel.