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@ -14,8 +14,7 @@ maintain half a dozen parser functions.
Sorry about all the crap that surrounds the image tags which has been imported along with the content
when UK Caving blogs have been parsed.
Exported on 2024-09-25 23:09 using either the control panel webpage or when editing a logbook entry online
Exported on 2024-12-10 12:12 using either the control panel webpage or when editing a logbook entry online
See troggle/code/views/other.py and core.models/logbooks.py writelogbook(year, filename)
-->
<body>
@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ Becka went to the dentist (temporary filling) and then up the hill.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-06a">2024-07-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>,Jacob C,philips,Charlotte,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>,Charlotte,philips,Jacob C,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Basecamp - Setup day 1</div>
Arrived in the afternoon and got keys from gasthof. Fridge full of other people's beer sadly. Picked up Philip S from the station and set up outside tarp and bier tent. Bier tent missing it's door ATM with a tarp rigged instead??????? Where has it gone ? Who knows?????? Gas hose fell off burner whilst cooking dinner, large plume of flame in bier tent but crisis averted
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
@ -51,7 +50,7 @@ I was walking into town from the station (from Vienna this morning) when I was i
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-07a">2024-07-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PhilipS</u>,Waite,Jacob,Charlotte,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PhilipS</u>,Charlotte,Jacob,Waite,</div>
<div class="triptitle">topcamp - First visit to top camp</div>
Charlotte, James W and Jacob C going for a first carry to top camp to look at amount of snow etc., departed Gasthof at 11:00 expected back about 20:00. They are not taking the new top camp tarp up this time - it weighs 21 kg.
<p>
@ -74,7 +73,7 @@ Tarp is partly up at <em>side</em> of hut as there was a caravan parked there ye
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-08a">2024-07-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PhilipS</u>,sieds,wassil,Julia,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PhilipS</u>,Julia,wassil,sieds,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Who went where</div>
Everyone went up to the plateau except for Julia and Philip S. Wassil and Sieds arrived during the day.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
@ -117,7 +116,7 @@ Isaac
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-09a">2024-07-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Sieds,Wookey,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Wookey,Sieds,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Basecamp - Nerd *</div>
Sieds has graduated (demoted?) to supernerd. Wookey spent a couple of hours last night failing to get
the scanner working with Debian, and Philip was tearing his hair trying it with Ubuntu and Windows
@ -130,7 +129,7 @@ Sieds calmly checked the online documentation, did the three-fingered salute to
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-09b">2024-07-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>,issac,charlotte,jacob,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>,jacob,charlotte,issac,</div>
<div class="triptitle">fishface - collecting rope</div>
no reflectors left on spits.
<br>
@ -188,7 +187,7 @@ Philip B should have been arriving today but has caught covid from NSS in USA, s
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-10a">2024-07-10</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>,philip s,jacob,charlotte,waite,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>,waite,charlotte,jacob,philip s,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Bread Making</div>
<p>
With an afternoon of festering well on the way after arriving back from our FF rope
@ -250,7 +249,7 @@ Isaac.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-10b">2024-07-10</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wassil</u>,Lara,Sieds,Marie,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wassil</u>,Marie,Sieds,Lara,</div>
<div class="triptitle">balcony - Rigging balcony entrance series</div>
<p>We were tasked by Antony to rig the entrance series of Balkonhöhle so that he could go and rig
Mongol Rally (presumably a more interesting rig).</p>
@ -287,7 +286,7 @@ Becka went to the dentist (temporary filling) and then up the hill.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-11a">2024-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wassil</u>,Becka,Marie,Jono,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wassil</u>,Jono,Marie,Becka,</div>
<div class="triptitle">garlic - Setting up Garlic Cave Camp</div>
<p>It turns out that Garlic Camp is a really good idea. 1h58 from the car park, under 20 minutes from
Homecoming, so I'll be spending more time there.</p>
@ -346,7 +345,7 @@ Walked back to Bad Aussee. Had coffee having missed last bus.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-11c">2024-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>,lara,charlotte,wook,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>,wook,charlotte,lara,</div>
<div class="triptitle">homecoming - more naughty rope</div>
We rigged the entrance to Homecoming and rigged ropes down to the up pitch. ropes after this were left insitu. wookey dissapeared behind us to play with his new toy (Sap6) he measured some pitches as far as the 4 bolt traverse at the bottom of radagast. We found the pile of rope at the bottom of the uprope to Propane Nightmares.
<p>
@ -369,7 +368,7 @@ charlotte was the bull and this was the red rag!
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-11d">2024-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u>,Sieds,Ruairidh,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u>,Ruairidh,Sieds,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balkon - Rigging</div>
Set off with the intention of rigging as far as Hangmans if time permitted. I felt a bit ropey, and this sensation did not subside once we started caving. Ruairidh attempted to fettle the entrance rig a bit, and we extended the existing handline on the approach to Natural Highs. At the pitch by Natural Highs I was still feeling nauseous, so elected to turn round. This was a good move as I was even slower than usual on the way out, finding myself sitting gazing into space for minutes on end at various points. Ruairidh and Sieds got as far as rigging the traverse to the head of Honeycomb before heading out.
<p>
@ -380,7 +379,7 @@ TU is a guess - two hours less for me
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-11e">2024-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>,Lara Bartleet,James Waite,Charlotte Payne,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>,Charlotte Payne,James Waite,Lara Bartleet,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming (359) - Rigging in</div>
<p>[Main write-up above - This is Wook's writeup of his somewhat separate trip]</p>
@ -424,7 +423,7 @@ to the Stone Bridge.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-12a">2024-07-12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>jw</u>,charlotte,lara,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>jw</u>,lara,charlotte,</div>
<div class="triptitle">garlic - thunderstruck</div>
we walked to garlic from top and fettled the tarps and kit. then thunder, lightning and lotsa of rain struck. we dealt with this by laying down and trying to sleep under the tarp. we ended up using a bivi bag as a duvet and had a book reading session until the rain had passed. was very warm and lovely.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
@ -433,7 +432,7 @@ we walked to garlic from top and fettled the tarps and kit. then thunder, light
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-12b">2024-07-12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>,Marie,RM,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>,RM,Marie,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balkonhoehle - Rigging Honeycomb</div>
Zero stoke for this trip and a crack of 11am start saw us heading down with the 2 bags of rope to rig
Mongol Rally plus associated hardware and some kit to keep us warm, safe and happy. The 2024 rig of
@ -478,7 +477,7 @@ walk back to an empty Top Camp.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-12c">2024-07-12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>,charlotte,lara,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>waite</u>,lara,charlotte,</div>
<div class="triptitle">homecoming - silly james gets grumpy</div>
i left my pantin on the surface and then got my feet wet going into the A lead at heifer.
cue some grumpy rigging by myself and an early turnaround partway down strained by gravity.
@ -489,7 +488,7 @@ on exit we had a a large traffic jam on wallace with people going down to second
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-13a">2024-07-13</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>pb</u>,Jono,Isaac,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>pb</u>,Isaac,Jono,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Garlic - Dropped gear at garlic and setup meshtastic</div>
I set out to drop my gear at Garlic and setup some fixed nodes to test the meshtastic radios. We
dropped the first radio at the Col, up the slope to the left as use enter the plateau. It was
@ -512,7 +511,7 @@ Jono and Isaac mode it back a little while later.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-13b">2024-07-13</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob C</u>,Marie,Wassil,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob C</u>,Wassil,Marie,</div>
<div class="triptitle">homecoming - Homechundering</div>
Wassil and I wandered over to top camp to meet Marie in the early hours of the Saturday morning. The weather was unassuming and I felt brimming with eagerness to get underground having spent one day too many days festering at base camp.
<p>
@ -554,7 +553,7 @@ Jacob
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-14a">2024-07-14</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ps</u>,Jacob,Wookey,Marie,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ps</u>,Marie,Wookey,Jacob,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Heute ist Domstag</div>
Delayed Onset Muscle Stiffness my walk up to StoneBridge a couple of days ago.
<p>
@ -578,7 +577,7 @@ Let's see if he gets a parking ticket as he sprints back down the hill...
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-14c">2024-07-14</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PS</u>,Isaac,JC,PB,Sieds,JL,Marie,RM,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PS</u>,Sieds,PB,JC,Isaac,RM,Marie,JL,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Basecamp - Who came down, and went up</div>
Jacob, Marie came down (Phil B got them?) and Marie went to bed in the attic.
@ -589,7 +588,7 @@ Jacob, Marie came down (Phil B got them?) and Marie went to bed in the attic.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-15a">2024-07-15</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lara</u>,Issac,Charlotte,James W,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lara</u>,James W,Charlotte,Issac,</div>
<div class="triptitle">homecoming - Failed pushing but excellent sidequests</div>
We set off from Garlic Camp to homecoming vaguely early in the morning which was a very welcome change, 20 minutes downhill walking which was lovely as long as you didn't think about the walk back up. Isaac had joined our motley crew the night before and was <em>very</em> excited for a big trip (read: scared to be beasted by Charlotte and James).
<p>
@ -700,7 +699,7 @@ The photos of the same place from the Loser side in 2018 - description of trip i
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-15d">2024-07-15</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>,Sieds,Wassil,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>,Wassil,Sieds,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming (1626/359)- 2nd Coming rigging</div>
<p>Wassil was excited to finally make some progress on 2nd coming, so
we walked over to Homecoming from top camp with a nice new rope to
@ -788,7 +787,7 @@ Isaac
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-16b">2024-07-16</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PS</u>,JW,AD,Lara,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PS</u>,Lara,AD,JW,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - More chundering</div>
Anthony had a very bad night last night at Stone Bridge a couple of hours after eating, but got down today feeling a bit weak.
<p>
@ -814,7 +813,7 @@ The tofu curries were consumed when a prospecting trip returned. I was sad.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-16d">2024-07-16</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>,Jono,Marie,Charlotte,Ruairidh,Jacob,Waite,Lara,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>,Ruairidh,Charlotte,Marie,Jono,Lara,Waite,Jacob,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Lake - Marie Hates Swimming</div>
See title.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.01 hours</div>
@ -845,7 +844,7 @@ Tess arrived, and cooked the evening slop + rice (with Lara) for the canyoning [
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-17c">2024-07-17</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>,Isaac,Marie,Jono,Phil Balister,Charlotte,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>,Phil Balister,Jono,Marie,Isaac,Charlotte,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Canyonning - Strubklamm</div>
<p>A canyonning trip was suggested, and as I'd done it a couple of
times before and thus knew where it was, and what to look out for, it
@ -911,7 +910,7 @@ a solid 3 hours. We got back about 7pm.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-18a">2024-07-18</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lara</u>,James W,Jacob,Charlotte,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lara</u>,Charlotte,Jacob,James W,</div>
<div class="triptitle">homecoming - There and there and there and back again</div>
When I emerged from homecoming and realised the stars were only just still visible because it was dawn I seriously considered if I'd left some of my sanity down by the pushing front. We had finished faffing and started descending around midday the day before, a solid 16 and a half hours ago.
<p>
@ -1055,7 +1054,7 @@ feasible next time.</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-20a">2024-07-20</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PS</u>,Colin,Christian,Harry,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>PS</u>,Harry,Christian,Colin,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Bascamp - New arrivals</div>
Christian, Harry and Colin arrived.
<br>
@ -1089,7 +1088,7 @@ Signed: The people of the plateau.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-20c">2024-07-20</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Marie</u>,Anthony,Wookey,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Marie</u>,Wookey,Anthony,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Camp Set up and the Pushing Begins</div>
I love camping in unusual places and so I was excited, if not a little apprehensive, for an underground camp. This would be my first surveying trip and first trip after becoming quite ill in Homecoming and so the fear of everything that could go wrong so deep underground for so long was quite high but luckily the thrill of adventure triumphed in the end. I was in good hands with two very experienced expo goers who offered great advice whilst packing for the trip - a special shout out to the raisins and seeds that Anthony packed which made our morning porridge significantly more palatable and nutritious. I was worried we would be stuck at top camp in the pouring rain for the day but it turns out I never fully understood the meaning of caving faff until I helped pack for an underground camp. We were only just about ready when the rain lessened up around 4pm and so we took advantage of the weather window and scampered across the plateau under ominous clouds, hopes high that nothing too important had been forgotten. <p>
<p>
@ -1118,7 +1117,7 @@ We were greeted by a few rays of sunshine when we finally exited around 5pm befo
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-21a">2024-07-21</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Aidan,Rosa,Tom,Dickon,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Dickon,Tom,Rosa,Aidan,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - New arrivals today</div>
One car arrived:
<br />
@ -1130,7 +1129,7 @@ Aidan came by train and Dickon drove here.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-21b">2024-07-21</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,harry,lara,Charlotte,chi,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,chi,Charlotte,lara,harry,</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Surface walk from col to Geschwantalm</div>
<a href="/years/2024/images/col.jpg">
<img width=20% src="/years/2024/images/col.jpg"></a>
@ -1168,7 +1167,7 @@ ADDENDUM 26th July:
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-21c">2024-07-21</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lara</u>,Chi,Charlotte,Harry,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lara</u>,Harry,Charlotte,Chi,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - A satisfying but not very useful result</div>
Slavedriver Payne woke us up early and we got up the hill vaguely fast (despite Chi's moderate faff). Unfortunately further faff then occurred at the entrance to Homecoming. This included further effort towards the Gordian Knot from the first Homecoming trip, which concluded in Chi doing an Alexander the Great. We ended up with two ropes. Chi also spent <em> some </em> time reconstructing a pantin from two broken ones (it didn't work). Clearly one person was the issue here. *editorial note: it would transpire that Lara concluded faffing a good 20 mins after the futile pantin was birthed*
<p>
@ -1208,7 +1207,7 @@ We got out of the cave at midnight and Sieds walked to Garlic camp and I walked
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-22a">2024-07-22</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Colin</u>,waite,Becka,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Colin</u>,Becka,waite,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balkonhoehle - Rack Vs Rally</div>
This is my first logbook entry so may need fettling.
<p>
@ -1242,7 +1241,7 @@ Mark Shinwell arrived in an electric van (hired) and in the early evening Jono's
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-22c">2024-07-22</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob</u>,Isaac,Phil S,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob</u>,Phil S,Isaac,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Basecamp - Festering and computers at the end of time</div>
Isaac and I were tasked with writing up 2023's unfinished logbook writeups. After overwhelming Philip with website bugs and general stress we each decided to go on missions of self discovery to stave off a complete mental break.
<p>
@ -1257,7 +1256,7 @@ I need to go caving.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-22d">2024-07-22</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rosa B</u>,Jono L,Jacob C,Aidan K,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rosa B</u>,Aidan K,Jacob C,Jono L,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Menstrual Tunnel - My first underground trip abroad</div>
I asked Jono for him to teach me to survey and which he enthusiastically agreed. The next morning he came up with a grin telling me to grab my helmet and my swimming costume????? and get in the landy. We arrived in a car park with Jono keeping the plan quiet and walked us alo0ng the river opposite a chinese. Across the river under the chinese was a small tunnel. It was a battle to get into the tunnel with the strong torrent of water trying to push us down. I mistakenly volunteered to go in to mark the survey point with my finger and was instantly hit by slime underfoot and a grotesque smell. I concealed my disgust and headed in. The others took their time learning about the survey device and choosing their spot. Then they entered with much dramatica, Jono gagging and threatening to throw up, Aidan doing his best to avoid the slime and Jacob quietly disgusted. At this point we noticed the used menstrual products next to me and the strong scent of fecal matter. We sped up the process with Aidan valiantly fighting the cobwebs. Much surveying was learnt and ready to try in an actual trip. We made a quick escape all taking time to wash thoroughly in the river.
<p>
@ -1268,7 +1267,7 @@ Lesson learnt: Be wary of Jono's ideas. Ask more questions.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-22e">2024-07-22</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,Tom P,Rosa B,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,Rosa B,Tom P,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Plateau - First Plateau Crossing</div>
It's Rosa and I's first expo and it was Tom's first time up to Garlic camp. We had lots of fun navigating our way across, mostly playing join the dots orienteering style. We bumped into Rosa, Lara, Chi, and Harry who had finished prospecting just before the Homecoming junction. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to HC where I left my caving kit and Rosa and Tom left their camping kit. On the return journey we found the autobahn and followed it, but lost the trail around the traverse climb. The route needs more reflectors but we had a good day and I saw a tiny snake that Rosa did not like at all!
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
@ -1277,7 +1276,7 @@ It's Rosa and I's first expo and it was Tom's first time up to Garlic camp. We h
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-23a">2024-07-23</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Jacob,Isaac,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Isaac,Jacob,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Troggle: Seem to have fixed logbook overwriting problem</div>
Yesterday Jacob and Isaac got round a duplication problem with logbook entry by overwriting an existing entry - which meant that a dozen entries from 2023 were typed up, but all overwriting the same entry. (So these now need to be recovered from the git records).
<p>
@ -1295,7 +1294,7 @@ Nope: the duplication problem is still happening on the server (but not on the d
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-23b">2024-07-23</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Jono,Jacob,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Jacob,Jono,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Basecamp - They typed up the survey training exercise</div>
Jacob created a wallet and survex file which have since been removed from the system entirely. The survey notes are here:
<img src="/years/2024/images/notes1-menstrualcave.jpg" width=30%>
@ -1313,7 +1312,7 @@ So as for training in survey technique, for recording the data this counts as a
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-23c">2024-07-23</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,Lara B,Tom Phillips,Rosa B,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,Rosa B,Tom Phillips,Lara B,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Swinging into the Tube</div>
Following the walk across the plateau with everyone and Isaac (who watched us go in before heading off to Garlic), and a lot of faff, we went down the entrance series. Lara lead the way, followed by Rosa, Tom, and then I. Tom had a battle with the entrance pitch - unaided by the 5om of rope I had given him to take down - which required teamwork and feeding him chocolate role like it's an apple to free him.
<p>
@ -1349,7 +1348,7 @@ Aidan's Note: Unfortunately there was a loop closure error of 13%. :( A week and
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-24b">2024-07-24</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>,Lara,Chi,Harry,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>,Harry,Chi,Lara,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - The Aborted Camping Trip</div>
Before this entry begins I'd like to make it clear that I feel truly ashamed of my performance (or lack of one) on this trip. I failed to meet the standard expected of one signing onto a trip of this nature, and by this failure I caused a lot of negative attention to be bought onto the trip and my companions.
<br>
@ -1418,7 +1417,7 @@ text-align: center;
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-25b">2024-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ZW</u>,Sarah,Nat,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ZW</u>,Nat,Sarah,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Arrival #2</div>
Nat and Sarah also arrived
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
@ -1438,7 +1437,7 @@ Zac did break the log book, while waiting around. But Phil got very grumpy about
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-25d">2024-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Sarah,Zac,PB,Becka,Nat,, *Sandy</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>,Becka,PB,Zac,Sarah,Nat,, *Sandy</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Entrance spotting</div>
Lift up with Nat, Sarah and Zac, they went off to topcamp and from the col I wandered down and around the near plateau photographing whatever entrances and tags I could find.<br>
<img src="/years/2024/images/2024-07-26-philipwalk.jpg" width=60% >
@ -1492,7 +1491,7 @@ Jono
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-25f">2024-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ZW</u>,James w,Nat,Colin,Sarah,Philip S,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ZW</u>,Sarah,Colin,Nat,James w,Philip S,</div>
<div class="triptitle">topcamp - Top camp bounce</div>
Sarah, Nat, Zac and Phil drove up the loser. We then hiked up to the Col. It being Sarah, Nat and Zac's first time up since the installation of the new cable car, we were quite taken unawares by the new path from the car park. From there it was plain hiking up to the col. Once at the Col, Phil s parted ways and headed off on his own adventures. Sarah, Nat and Zac, meanwhile hiked on to top camp. Once there we caught Becka as she was leaving and James W and Colin as they were thinking about leaving. After a little faffing and some noodles, we rang down to base camp to ask what kit we should carry down. We were told only some some roll mats and camp beds for Garlic. Packing these, alongside some tackle sacks from a recent Balkon trip (See report), we began to head down. Zac Lagged behind a lot of the way as his new shoes were wearing on his feet. But eventually we reached the loser car park where we all packed, tightly, into Sarah's car and drove down the hill.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
@ -1501,7 +1500,7 @@ Sarah, Nat, Zac and Phil drove up the loser. We then hiked up to the Col. It bei
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-25g">2024-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wassil</u>,Chi,Dickon,Marie,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wassil</u>,Marie,Dickon,Chi,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Grabenbach Canyon</div>
<p>On the day of expo dinner a rag-tag group of cavers gathered under the tatty hut tarp. These cavers were all here for all the wrong reasons. Firstly, supreme leader and trip planner Marie had bailed on caving in preference of washing her undersuit. Next we have Wassil who was both procrastinating his masters thesis and feeling sorry for himself about killing his own lead. Finally we have Dickon who decied to go on a caving expedition despite hating caving, and as a result elected do go canyoning. Proceeding the formation of this glorious trio, Chi decided to show his face following a disasterous camping trip which did not result in a camp occurring and was at a lost end. Apparently Marie, Wassil, and Dickon looked like a suitable group to go canyoning with and somehow they decided Chi would be a suitable accomplice.</p>
<p>
@ -1522,7 +1521,7 @@ Sarah, Nat, Zac and Phil drove up the loser. We then hiked up to the Col. It bei
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-25h">2024-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>R Brew</u>,Thomas P,Aidan K,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>R Brew</u>,Aidan K,Thomas P,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Plateau - Crossing for expo dinner</div>
After our first stay up on the plateau we made a crossing back across the plateau after some breakfast. Got a bit disorientated and lost trying to follow the markers and Gaia on the way back but eventually got back en route. Our bodies were in pain from the vast change of physical exercise they had endured. We met an adder which started heading towards Aidan. Aidan hopped onto a rock and tried to keep track of it for me. I was not a fan at all and took a very roundabout way around. It started raining towards the end and we made a dash to the car. My Achilles heel is playing up which is quite hard on the plateau! We got back in time for a swim and a wash before a lovely dinner.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 4.0 hours</div>
@ -1531,7 +1530,7 @@ After our first stay up on the plateau we made a crossing back across the platea
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-25i">2024-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>,Anthony Day,Jacob Chuck,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>,Jacob Chuck,Anthony Day,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Surface - Fixing Guten Morgen Höhle</div>
<p>My adopt-a-cave for this year was GMH (Guten Morgon Höhle), having
failed to sort it out last time I was here in 2022. And this was the
@ -1619,7 +1618,7 @@ good time for Tess to rescue us and take us to a fine dinner</p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-25j">2024-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Dickon Morris</u>,Wassil,Chi,Marie,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Dickon Morris</u>,Marie,Chi,Wassil,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Grabenbach Canyon #2</div>
<p>Ar ddiwrnod cinio'r expo ymgasglodd grŵp tag rag o ogofa o dan darp y cwt tatty. Roedd yr ogofwyr hyn i gyd yma am y rhesymau anghywir i gyd. Yn gyntaf, roedd y goruchaf arweinydd a'r cynllunydd teithiau Marie wedi mechnïo ar ogofa yn hytrach na golchi ei danwisg. Nesaf mae gennym Wassil a oedd yn gohirio ei draethawd meistr ac yn teimlo trueni drosto'i hun am ladd ei dennyn ei hun. Yn olaf mae gennym Dickon a benderfynodd fynd ar alldaith ogofa er ei fod yn casáu ogofa, ac o ganlyniad yn cael ei ethol yn mynd canyoning. Wrth fwrw ymlaen â ffurfio'r triawd gogoneddus hwn, penderfynodd Chi ddangos ei wyneb yn dilyn taith wersylla anghysbell na arweiniodd at wersyll yn digwydd ac a oedd ar ben colled. Mae'n debyg bod Marie, Wassil, a Dickon yn edrych fel grŵp addas i fynd â'r ceunant gyda nhw a rhywsut fe benderfynon nhw y byddai Chi yn gyd-chwaraewr addas.</p>
<p>
@ -1652,7 +1651,7 @@ Everyone came down the hill for the expedition dinner. Jono was thrown in the ri
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-26a">2024-07-26</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>,Jono,Marie,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Isaac</u>,Marie,Jono,</div>
<div class="triptitle">basecamp - Bread making part 2</div>
After a great deal of consideration (7 beers) I decided to give bread making a second crack. This time I followed the "Numpty Dumpty bakes a loaf of expo bread 2016 version" by Antony Day, and I will confidently say they are by far the best version of the instructions present at the hut!
<p>
@ -1665,7 +1664,7 @@ How well do you trust the expedition leader?
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-26b">2024-07-26</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>R Brew</u>,James M,Aidan K,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>R Brew</u>,Aidan K,James M,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Plateau - Return to Garlic Camp</div>
We waited until the evening due to the hot weather to go up to Garlic camp. This was James' first crossing of the plateau and he got very sweaty but had a really good pace. Mine and Aidan's bags were heavy carrying across ropes and bolts. Having got very drunk the evening previous our bodies were feeling a bit sluggish. The weather was hot but lovely weather and clear views. I enjoyed introducing James to the camp and plateau life. We prepared for our trip the following morning.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
@ -1674,7 +1673,7 @@ We waited until the evening due to the hot weather to go up to Garlic camp. This
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-26c">2024-07-26</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Todd Rye</u>,Aila Taylor,Harry Kettle,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Todd Rye</u>,Harry Kettle,Aila Taylor,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Eishoehle - Cooling off on a hot day</div>
We weren't going to have time to go properly caving, and we had heard good things about the ice cave. So, armed with Shinwell and Wookeys expert guidance, we set off to find what we were hoping was going to be an impressive chamber.
<p>
@ -1744,7 +1743,7 @@ bier tent out! o7
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-27a">2024-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rosa B</u>,James M,Aidan K,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rosa B</u>,Aidan K,James M,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Bolting and descending pitch</div>
Myself and Aidan wanted to return to homecoming to explore our leads above Radagast further.Our main aim was to descend a pitch we have named 'tiered gherkin' into the stream way we could see below. The pitch was drippy with a few re-belays required. Unsure of how passable pitch will be in wet weather. Some 'fuck no's from Aidan when bolting as the wall made some dull noises when hit with a hammer. Whilst Aidan was bolting myself and James M tried out our opera singing skills with a range of languages. We initially descended down the left side of the pitch as it was drier but there was not an obvious way down to the streamway so Aidan went to bolt in the other direction. Whilst he was doing this I tried to climb down via a few routes however overcommitted and got myself jammed in a rift for a good while. Lengths of pitches were recorded and a couple of extra bits of survey data was collected to solidly connect our surveying from a few days ago to the main data. Aidan is to explore Banana Boat Stream way with James M and Colin on Monday.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 6.0 hours</div>
@ -1753,7 +1752,7 @@ Myself and Aidan wanted to return to homecoming to explore our leads above Radag
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-27b">2024-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Todd Rye</u>,Harry Kettle,Aila Taylor,Christian,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Todd Rye</u>,Christian,Aila Taylor,Harry Kettle,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Watershed Murder Camp</div>
I was so excited to go back into Homecoming after six years, and Harry promised caverns measureless down Watershed. A camp was needed to make it more pleasant, so off we went with sleeping bags and mats. Faff ensued, with Aila breaking her toe at Garlic, and us having picked the wrong sleeping bag up, We got underground at middayish in the end.
<p>
@ -1774,7 +1773,7 @@ The next morning, we slowly got ready, dismantling camp. It was going to be a lo
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-27c">2024-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,James M,Rosa B,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,Rosa B,James M,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Sauruman Pot</div>
With James having replaces his mentor in our trio of pushing in the upper area of Homecoming, Rosa and I returned to our pushing in the big drippy Aven in the 4th Pitch Tube area which we believed would lead to what we were looking down to from Banana Slip.
<p>
@ -1802,7 +1801,7 @@ After walking up from base camp Jono and I made the most of a beautiful afternoo
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-27e">2024-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>,Sam,Ellie,Chris,Nat,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>,Nat,Chris,Ellie,Sam,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Plateau - Prospecting north of deep Balkon</div>
We waited until the rain mostly cleared then headed off in low visibility. The day gradually cleared. See Becka's GPS for locations. Our only significant find was a 15m deep rift that Ellie bolted and said there was no way on ... only for Christopher to find a nearby horizontal entrance that connected in to it ... and then a further horizontal entrance. Our 3 entrance cave was, though, only ~45m long. This was 33T 411543 5284219 Elev ~1888m. Finished and can be katastered, photos on Becka's phone.
<p>
@ -1872,7 +1871,7 @@ Got permission to descend to base camp that evening due to a large number of bli
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-28f">2024-07-28</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>lucy h</u>,nat,lara,zac,jacob,sarah p,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>lucy h</u>,jacob,zac,lara,nat,sarah p,</div>
<div class="triptitle">balcony - 26th-28th bloody balcony</div>
26th - 28th
<p>
@ -1936,7 +1935,7 @@ We slept out under the shooting stars and milky way. Every time I woke, relieved
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-28g">2024-07-28</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ZW</u>,Lucy h,Nat,Sarah,Lara,Jacob,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ZW</u>,Lara,Sarah,Nat,Lucy h,Jacob,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balkonhoehle - Who needs ascenders anyway?</div>
<p><i>Lucy having already covered much of the trip in <a href="logbookentry/2024-07-28/2024-07-28e#"></a> I will only fill in the gaps alluded to</i></p>
<p>
@ -1960,7 +1959,7 @@ I was so happy to find that we had made it out in time to catch the sun and spen
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-28h">2024-07-28</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,Rosa B,James M,Colin Foord,Dickon,James W,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,Dickon,Colin Foord,James M,Rosa B,James W,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Garlic - Landscaping and Festering</div>
We woke up to some pretty miserable clag that around 10am developed into rain - Colin had fortunately arrived about 40 minutes prior from SB so stayed dry, Dickon and James on the other hand weren't so lucky! They both got fairly wet on their walk over.
<p>
@ -1973,7 +1972,7 @@ In the evening, when it finally brightened up a bit, James, Dickon and I summitt
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-29a">2024-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Sam Tittensor</u>,Becka,Ellie D,Jono,Chris H,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Sam Tittensor</u>,Chris H,Jono,Ellie D,Becka,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balkonhoehle - Happy Campers (eventually!)</div>
After 2 hot trips ferrying kit up the plateau, a late start, and a great deal of faff, motivation to get underground was low.
This resulted in a (very necessary!) talking-to from the drill sergeant (Becka), before we bucked our ideas up, and kit was assembled for inspection on the rocks at top camp and packed into bags.
@ -2046,7 +2045,7 @@ I am a very sad man with too much time on his hands...
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-29c">2024-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Colin</u>,Aidan,JamesM,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Colin</u>,JamesM,Aidan,</div>
<div class="triptitle">homecoming - Welsh Engineering</div>
I was sold a nice easy surveying trip with a short pootle down a stream way. little did I know how wrong we were. we packed a single drill battery some short ropes and a few hangers just in case a few short drops were encountered. Once underground I was given the guided tour of what was known as the below Radagast series.
<p>
@ -2069,7 +2068,7 @@ This bottom bit was bolted badly due to my frustration although it is still safe
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-29d">2024-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,Colin F,James M,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan K</u>,James M,Colin F,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - The Eye of Sauron</div>
I was starting to lose psyche for my lead after the day of festering in Garlic and realising I might spend the entirety of my first expo in a small pointless, upper level of the system. The believed order of the day was mostly a surveying trip so we didn't bring many bolts or much rope.
<p>
@ -2098,7 +2097,7 @@ What. A. Day.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-30a">2024-07-30</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Adam</u>,Fiona,Colin,Aidan,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Adam</u>,Aidan,Colin,Fiona,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Homecoming Round Trip</div>
Colin and Aidan arrived in Garlic camp at around midnight, exhausted from their own day of caving prior. Upon all of us waking Fiona and I solidified our plans for the day, deciding to help the pair survey the rest of their new entrance series down into Homecoming. It'd get us into the swing of surveying again after a long break and it would also be a good introduction to the Homecoming cave, which I hadn't been in for a year and Fiona hadn't been in before.
<p>
@ -2125,7 +2124,7 @@ We headed back up, eventually getting to a rebelay named Rivendell. This had a g
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-30b">2024-07-30</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Colin</u>,Adam,Fiona,Aidan,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Colin</u>,Aidan,Fiona,Adam,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - what a way to spend a Tuesday</div>
Having scoped our lead the day before having failed to survey it, sorry Becka we dragged Adam and Fiona down with us to help. the SAP however couldn't do long enough legs so was a mainly pointless exercise. I blasted down to the bottom to re-rig Dickon's traverse so we could exit out of the entrance series for a bit of variety and compare routes. We pointed Adam and Fiona in the directions of the good leads I'd seen while waiting for them to join me at the bottom.
<p>
@ -2149,9 +2148,9 @@ We began heading back to Stone Bridge, via the Tunnock's col, feeling hot and gr
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-31b">2024-07-31</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Adam</u>,Fiona,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Bolting the Brandywine</div>
We left Garlic camp at around 9-10am-ish. Time can blur on these expeditions. I messaged Signal to give our plans for the day. These were to check Homecoming for any drill bits. If we couldn’t find any, we would prospect. If we could, we would go down Homecoming to bolt and rig the rift we’d taken a small look at the day before. After putting these plans into the signal chat, I received a very welcome message from Harry saying that he had drill bits outside of Homecoming that we could use. After the short walk to the cave entrance from Garlic, Fiona and I gathered our supplies and I set a callout at Basecamp for 10pm with Colin. Upon packing the rope into my tackle sack, Fiona made some concerns regarding how long it was and how much we'd be able to properly explore with it. I too was a bit worried, but given what we had available, it was the best option for the time. We entered the cave at approximately 11:30, going down the Welsh Engineering route, as Colin and Aidan had shown us.
<p>We left Garlic camp at around 9-10am-ish. Time can blur on these expeditions. I messaged Signal to give our plans for the day. These were to check Homecoming for any drill bits. If we couldn’t find any, we would prospect. If we could, we would go down Homecoming to bolt and rig the rift we’d taken a small look at the day before. After putting these plans into the signal chat, I received a very welcome message from Harry saying that he had drill bits outside of Homecoming that we could use. After the short walk to the cave entrance from Garlic, Fiona and I gathered our supplies and I set a callout at Basecamp for 10pm with Colin. Upon packing the rope into my tackle sack, Fiona made some concerns regarding how long it was and how much we'd be able to properly explore with it. I too was a bit worried, but given what we had available, it was the best option for the time. We entered the cave at approximately 11:30, going down the Welsh Engineering route, as Colin and Aidan had shown us.</p>
<p>
On going down the Eye of Sauron, I told Fiona to wait and shine her headtorch down the great pitch after a minute of descent, at which point I leaned over the hole, attached to the traverse line of course, and took a picture with my own light off. All the while very worried I'd drop my phone. Fortunately this did not happen and we got a really good picture out of it, though I'm disappointed at the actual camera quality, but what can you do?
<p>On going down the Eye of Sauron, I told Fiona to wait and shine her headtorch down the great pitch after a minute of descent, at which point I leaned over the hole, attached to the traverse line of course, and took a picture with my own light off. All the while very worried I'd drop my phone. Fortunately this did not happen and we got a really good picture out of it, though I'm disappointed at the actual camera quality, but what can you do?
<p>
We arrived at Urinal Rock at around 1:30pm and we looked into the rift that we had seen the day before. I remembered on the journey down that the rebelay onto the rock had some coiled up rope at the end and so instead of starting our rigging at the rock, we simply extended the pitch down to the rift. We used the hammer on various sections of rock on our way down, but neither of us liked the sound of them. Eventually, I got to a small platform in the rift. I walked to the edge of the platform and tried the hammer on two opposing rock walls. Success! The rock sounded good! I got to work drilling the bolts and setting up a Y-hang. I made some small mistakes during this, such as not flattening the rock properly for the anchor and bolting at a slight angle. Simple and really annoying stuff. It ate much of our time as I used the sharper end of the hammer to correct my mistakes. After I rigged these, I descended from them to a further platform down below, wanting to be the very first to know if my Y-hang was insufficient. Fiona then followed me down and took the bolting gear to set up the traverse along the rift. At the first traverse bolt, the rope had ran out and we set to work using the short rope we'd brought down with us. As Fiona bolted, I ascended to Urinal Rock to grab some more gear. As I did so, I noticed a glaring problem: the rope rubbed. The thought of someone being on this rope I'd rigged and it snapping would haunt my dreams, so I knew a deviation was needed. We didn't have the gear for a deviation at this time, but I still tried to find a suitable natural. There was a sizeable flake that I liked the look of, but I wasn't sure. I tried climbing up to it to get a closer look and pulled on it.
<p>
@ -2188,7 +2187,7 @@ A good trip, we'd made progress though not nearly as much as I wanted to make, m
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-01b">2024-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lara</u>,Colin,Liam,Chi,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lara</u>,Chi,Liam,Colin,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - The First Rule of Alpine Caving</div>
I'm not sure exactly why I decided to end my expo with a trip that was specifically designed to be a derigging sufferfest but it seemed like a good idea a few Gossers deep at basecamp. It did indeed turn out to be an epic but very much not in the way we expected.
<p>
@ -2236,7 +2235,7 @@ It sounds crazy but it was a brilliant trip, fun in adversity becomes more fun a
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-01c">2024-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Todd Rye</u>,Aila Taylor,Isaac Neale,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Todd Rye</u>,Isaac Neale,Aila Taylor,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Simple Pleasures</div>
After a bit of festering at base camp, it was decided that a rescue mission was needed to recover Isaac’s simple. Luckily, the A lead he had dropped it down was above Strained by Gravity, which meant we could get there and out relatively quickly. So off we went!
<p>
@ -2278,7 +2277,7 @@ But in any case, I got out in 2 hours at 5:30pm, popping out of the cave entranc
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-01e">2024-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob</u>,Tom P,Zac,Lucy,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob</u>,Lucy,Zac,Tom P,</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Digging and Thunderstorms</div>
What had planned to be a cool, early walk up to the plateau invetably became a more middle and hottest part of the day sort of deal. Drenched in sweat we made our way to base camp where we stopped for a quick lunch then headed off in the Tunnocks direction.
<P>
@ -2297,7 +2296,7 @@ Cue a rather exciting plateau walk with sound of thunder encouraging quite a bri
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-01f">2024-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>colin</u>,liam,chi,Lara,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>colin</u>,Lara,chi,liam,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Alpine Torrent</div>
Originally I was meant to be doing a shallow lead to rescue Isaac's descender. Hence I walked up in the morning from base with Todd Aila and Isaac. At the entrance the watershed de-rigging team were down a harry who was feeling very sorry for himself due to not being very well. So I asked to come with the de-rigging team wanting to be beasted at least once and see what all the fuss of a homecoming bounce trip was like.
<p>
@ -2363,7 +2362,7 @@ After a bit more wandering and contemplating how long I'd last in any of the icy
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-03a">2024-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Dickon</u>,Harry,Becka,Colin,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Dickon</u>,Colin,Becka,Harry,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Second Coming Derig</div>
While the second coming of Christ will probably be quite exciting and very much not inevitable as far as your average atheist is concerned, the same cannot be said for the derigging of the Second Coming.
<p>
@ -2376,7 +2375,7 @@ The positive outcome of the trip was the realisation that the traverses may well
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-03b">2024-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lucy</u>,Tom P,Zac,James M,James W,Rosa B,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lucy</u>,James W,James M,Zac,Tom P,Rosa B,</div>
<div class="triptitle">below promised land - Promises undelivered</div>
It appears that James' logbook entry for our prospect day has gone walkabouts, so I am writing again.
<p>
@ -2417,7 +2416,7 @@ Nothing happened, apparently. Odd.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-05a">2024-08-05</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ZW</u>,Dickon,Rosa,James W,Tom P,Harry K,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>ZW</u>,Tom P,James W,Rosa,Dickon,Harry K,</div>
<div class="triptitle">saltmine - We go to the gulag</div>
<h3>The Plan</h3>
<p>
@ -2456,7 +2455,7 @@ Overall a good afternoon out.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-05b">2024-08-05</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Adam</u>,Liam,Fiona,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Adam</u>,Fiona,Liam,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - 'Twas a simple pleasure</div>
Today we were finally going to survey Brandywine Overpass!... right?
<p>
@ -2482,8 +2481,31 @@ We got out of the cave at half past midnight, getting back to camp at 1:30am. A
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-05c">2024-08-05</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>wob rotsonw</u>,Sarah Parker,Colin Foord,</div>
<div class="triptitle">264 Balkon - Final Balkon Camp of 2024</div>
I was not expecting to be here, however climbing plans fell through and I was shoehorned into a 3 night camp by Becka with a bunch of expo youngers. Good opportunity to see some new cave and get some fitness ahead of the VHO trip, so I was easily convinced.
<p>
Headed up to top camp on Sunday evening with Nat and Sarah after a very nice swim. Nat was subjected to wearing a corset after falling onto his spanner in a very ungraceful manner. Sarah had sprained both ankles, however she was convinced to dose up on drugs and join me at underground camp, which I especially appreciated on the morning that we were due to head underground after two of my prospective team decided they weren't keen.
<p>
Arrived at camp around 4pm, after a quick dehydrated meal and Classical Bangers we headed off to examine the pushing options left for us by Becka, Sam and Ellie in Enthusiasm Chamber. After the tedious commute through Northern Powerhouse and the very slippery ascent through alphanuepsilonupsilon...etc we arrived at the up pitch rigged by Sam into the chamber, which is very impressive. After a quick scope around we decided that we would push a pitch in the western end of Enthusiasm chamber. No one else seemed that keen to bolt, so it fell to me and I put a Y-hang in and set off. Dropped down a couple of steps to a ledge above two different holes, both seemed to carry some draught so I picked the lefthand one after realising that both had a significant degree of hanging unsupported death boulders lying around. However the second one seemed if anything the more dangerous (boulders funnelling into hole which is the pitch continuation) so we left it at that, turning one A lead into two B leads. Back to camp for noodles and bed by half midnight.
<p>
Next day was the big pushing day down Tartarus. Set off from camp around 11 with the aim of pushing Nat and Becka's A lead at the end of Charon. Tartarus was very nicely bolted by Hannah and we arrived at an unappetising looking muddy traverse shortly after Colin decided to try and prematurely end the trip by throwing himself down the final drop, fortunately the jape is still at the age where you bounce instead of break. Sarah then wallowed in the squalour for a while trying to find a rebelay bolt, she failed and I took over, managing to avoid getting quite as clarted as she had after watching how this particular flavour of mud behaved. Down at the bottom, the streamway we had traversed above headed off in the opposite direction to the lead to which we were headed, so I used the other two as a firemans belay and dropped down to have a quick look. Not promising, so we headed out along the continuing muddy traverse to the head of an annoying little pitch, following which the mud continued to the head of a rift which apparently was bolted with a rock...
<p>
Again no one else seemed especially keen to rig so I quested out along the terribly muddy rift above a huge drop. Began to drop down the rift past some initial cheese rock and into nice clean rock in the rift out towards the sound of water and into a vast black space. I was at the bottom a few rebelays later after getting over a bit of fear of my descender falling apart (I had to change the lower bobbin on my descender at camp the day before after a faster than hoped descent was had in Mongol Rally). An impressive place, around 60 - 70 m lower than where I had started and following a streamway to the north with a huge draught rushing out at us, very enticing. Drew a rigging topo in the paper logbook. My advice for continuing this lead would be to climb up a couple of metres to a wider section of rift above the next drop and then traverse along above the streamway, a confident rigger shouldn't need to place too many bolts at least for the part i could see.
<p>
Sarah and Colin surveyed on behind me and after the inevitable faff that comes with surveying a very vertical passage we reached the limit of exploration for the day and set off back out, derigging as we went. This was very tiring in the dense, clingey mud that surrounds this area, however future explorers should persevere as we left the pushing front at a much more sociable level of mud than that which is above. Left rope coiled at the top of Tartarus with knots still in.
<p>
Very long day later and we were back at camp around 2 - 3. Very hangry and my undersuit zip had broken. No matter, the next day we again awoke to 90 hours of Classical Bangers and decided to have a more chill day. Went to look at Enthusiasm chamber again, this time heading down Dental Floss to look at another pitch. However, Becka had neglected to mention that she had yet to finish surveying the really nice FishFace-esque horizontal passage beyond the turnoff to the pitch. So we did that; after leaving this at three C leads (boulder choke, pitch of loose death into immature meander and another boulder choke) we finished up and headed back to camp. Once there, we witnessed a biblical amount of water at the collection point and I decided not to head out until the following day.
<p>
Next day we derigged the camp and Mongol Rally (I'll let someone else tell about that) and that was my expo done, aside from a bit of top camp derigging. A very good trip, thanks Sarah and Colin!
<div class="timeug">T/U: 80.0 hours</div>
<div class="editentry"><br /><a href="/logbookedit/2024-08-05c">Edit this entry</a><br /></div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-06a">2024-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>,Liam,Nat,Chris,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>,Chris,Nat,Liam,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Plateau - Circumnavigating the Greisskogel</div>
On our second day of prospecting we returned to yesterday's area (see Becka's GPS track). Liam hunted us down later in the day from Garlic (we were based at Top Camp), chasing us down using the Meshtastic device.
<p>
@ -2530,31 +2552,8 @@ We reached the top at 8:45, finally having surveyed Brandywine Overpass! I emerg
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-06c">2024-08-05</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>wob rotsonw</u>,Colin Foord,Sarah Parker,</div>
<div class="triptitle">264 Balkon - Final Balkon Camp of 2024</div>
I was not expecting to be here, however climbing plans fell through and I was shoehorned into a 3 night camp by Becka with a bunch of expo youngers. Good opportunity to see some new cave and get some fitness ahead of the VHO trip, so I was easily convinced.
<p>
Headed up to top camp on Sunday evening with Nat and Sarah after a very nice swim. Nat was subjected to wearing a corset after falling onto his spanner in a very ungraceful manner. Sarah had sprained both ankles, however she was convinced to dose up on drugs and join me at underground camp, which I especially appreciated on the morning that we were due to head underground after two of my prospective team decided they weren't keen.
<p>
Arrived at camp around 4pm, after a quick dehydrated meal and Classical Bangers we headed off to examine the pushing options left for us by Becka, Sam and Ellie in Enthusiasm Chamber. After the tedious commute through Northern Powerhouse and the very slippery ascent through alphanuepsilonupsilon...etc we arrived at the up pitch rigged by Sam into the chamber, which is very impressive. After a quick scope around we decided that we would push a pitch in the western end of Enthusiasm chamber. No one else seemed that keen to bolt, so it fell to me and I put a Y-hang in and set off. Dropped down a couple of steps to a ledge above two different holes, both seemed to carry some draught so I picked the lefthand one after realising that both had a significant degree of hanging unsupported death boulders lying around. However the second one seemed if anything the more dangerous (boulders funnelling into hole which is the pitch continuation) so we left it at that, turning one A lead into two B leads. Back to camp for noodles and bed by half midnight.
<p>
Next day was the big pushing day down Tartarus. Set off from camp around 11 with the aim of pushing Nat and Becka's A lead at the end of Charon. Tartarus was very nicely bolted by Hannah and we arrived at an unappetising looking muddy traverse shortly after Colin decided to try and prematurely end the trip by throwing himself down the final drop, fortunately the jape is still at the age where you bounce instead of break. Sarah then wallowed in the squalour for a while trying to find a rebelay bolt, she failed and I took over, managing to avoid getting quite as clarted as she had after watching how this particular flavour of mud behaved. Down at the bottom, the streamway we had traversed above headed off in the opposite direction to the lead to which we were headed, so I used the other two as a firemans belay and dropped down to have a quick look. Not promising, so we headed out along the continuing muddy traverse to the head of an annoying little pitch, following which the mud continued to the head of a rift which apparently was bolted with a rock...
<p>
Again no one else seemed especially keen to rig so I quested out along the terribly muddy rift above a huge drop. Began to drop down the rift past some initial cheese rock and into nice clean rock in the rift out towards the sound of water and into a vast black space. I was at the bottom a few rebelays later after getting over a bit of fear of my descender falling apart (I had to change the lower bobbin on my descender at camp the day before after a faster than hoped descent was had in Mongol Rally). An impressive place, around 60 - 70 m lower than where I had started and following a streamway to the north with a huge draught rushing out at us, very enticing. Drew a rigging topo in the paper logbook. My advice for continuing this lead would be to climb up a couple of metres to a wider section of rift above the next drop and then traverse along above the streamway, a confident rigger shouldn't need to place too many bolts at least for the part i could see.
<p>
Sarah and Colin surveyed on behind me and after the inevitable faff that comes with surveying a very vertical passage we reached the limit of exploration for the day and set off back out, derigging as we went. This was very tiring in the dense, clingey mud that surrounds this area, however future explorers should persevere as we left the pushing front at a much more sociable level of mud than that which is above. Left rope coiled at the top of Tartarus with knots still in.
<p>
Very long day later and we were back at camp around 2 - 3. Very hangry and my undersuit zip had broken. No matter, the next day we again awoke to 90 hours of Classical Bangers and decided to have a more chill day. Went to look at Enthusiasm chamber again, this time heading down Dental Floss to look at another pitch. However, Becka had neglected to mention that she had yet to finish surveying the really nice FishFace-esque horizontal passage beyond the turnoff to the pitch. So we did that; after leaving this at three C leads (boulder choke, pitch of loose death into immature meander and another boulder choke) we finished up and headed back to camp. Once there, we witnessed a biblical amount of water at the collection point and I decided not to head out until the following day.
<p>
Next day we derigged the camp and Mongol Rally (I'll let someone else tell about that) and that was my expo done, aside from a bit of top camp derigging. A very good trip, thanks Sarah and Colin!
<div class="timeug">T/U: 80.0 hours</div>
<div class="editentry"><br /><a href="/logbookedit/2024-08-06c">Edit this entry</a><br /></div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-07a">2024-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>james m</u>,Zac,Lucy,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>james m</u>,Lucy,Zac,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Welsh Engineering - not much deriging or surveying</div>
The trip began a bit unorganised at around 11 am. We had the task of re-surveying welsh engineering however we didn't really know where it began or ended or where the survey quality diminished hence we came to the conclusion that we would link our survey back to the top of Radaghast when we exited.
<p>
@ -2610,7 +2609,7 @@ We had managed to de-rig 4 pitches, had created an unlinked survey and spent 10
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-07b">2024-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Harry</u>,Christopher,James W,Becka,Liam,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Harry</u>,Liam,Becka,James W,Christopher,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Derigging Watershed</div>
Myself and Becka went in first and derigged from My Favourite things to the top of Flowstone canyon. This timed well with meeting James, Liam and Christopher to help carry bags along the traverses. Becka and I headed out with bags, while the others continued derigging to the start of Propane Nightmares, replacing old ropes on the handline climb and up pitch.
<p>
@ -2620,7 +2619,7 @@ Myself and Becka went in first and derigged from My Favourite things to the top
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-08a">2024-08-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Harry</u>,Lucy,Liam,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Harry</u>,Liam,Lucy,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Homecoming - Derigging entrance series</div>
In good spirits after her flood pulse epic the previous evening in Welsh Engineering, we convinced Lucy to come along and help derig Homecoming. Welsh Engineering still looked too wet so we went down the entrance series. Everything went fairly smoothly and we derigged to the top of Radagast.
<div class="timeug">T/U: 5.0 hours</div>
@ -2660,7 +2659,7 @@ An interesting caving journey to end expo on.
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-08c">2024-08-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>,Colin,James W,Rob,Chris,Sarah,Nat,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>,Chris,Rob,James W,Colin,Nat,Sarah,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balkonhoehle - Derig from Pitstop camp</div>
The final camping party (Rob, Sarah and Colin) packed up and headed out in the morning whilst the Top Camp derig team (first Becka and Nat, heading in around 11, then Chris, James W, Adam and Fiona, heading in around 4) came in from the surface. Nat and I met Rob at the top of Hangmans with 2 drills in bags and a third lighter bag. We arm-twisted him to derig Mongol Rally with Colin as neither of us felt 100%. Nat then headed back up with Rob's bags whilst I went to the top of Mongol Rally to break the bad news to Colin (who stoically agreed to bounce back down Mongol Rally for more bags) and to meet Sarah who had 3 bags. Sarah and I shuttled her 3 bags and Colin's 2 bags up to the top of Hangmans with me feeling increasingly nauseous and spaced out. I decided I'd best not become a liability underground and set off out with just the one bag. I was relieved to make it back to Top Camp without flaking out and went straight to bed about 8pm. Nat and Sarah were the next out having dragged many bags out with Rob and Colin following later and the rope washing crew - James W, Chris, Adam and Fiona getting out last around 1am I believe.
<p>
@ -2735,7 +2734,7 @@ Large gas bottle (half full?) <br>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-09c">2024-08-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Colin</u>,James W,Sarah,Rob,Nat,Becka,Tom,Fiona,Adam,Lucy,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Colin</u>,Nat,Rob,Sarah,James W,Lucy,Adam,Fiona,Tom,Becka,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Top Camp - Derig Top Camp</div>
As much as I wanted to go down the hill after carrying lots of tackle bags up mongol rally twice the day before I realised I had to do my dues and helped de-rigg top camp. I was a shell of a person making everything very hard. everything was packed away that required lots of people so the tarp and sloar panels. then a car load of people went down the hill as they were leaving very soon. we continued to clean and move things into the storage cave. some people did a bounce to the car park to drop of a load so only needed to do a single carry the next day.
<p>
@ -2746,7 +2745,7 @@ the next day everything not already underground was moved underground into stora
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-09d">2024-08-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Sarah</u>,Adam,Nat,Fiona,Lucy,Colin,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Sarah</u>,Lucy,Fiona,Nat,Adam,Colin,</div>
<div class="triptitle">topcamp - Topcamp inventory 2024</div>
Topcamp was set down. The big tarp and solar panels were set down the day before when there were more people. <br>Inventory:<br>87 hangers + maillons<br>~70 maillons<br>~30 hangers<br>40 maillons and spit bolts<br>35 maillons + thru bolts + hangers<br>5 AS hangers<br>8 rings + thru bolts<br>15 slings<br>42 screwgates<br>28 snapgates<br>5 (UG camp) sleeping bags<br>4 (UG camp) rollmats<br>17 tackle bags<br>1 grab bag<br>rope:<br> 7m (2022)<br> ~15m (2021)<br> ~30m (2022)<br> 79m (2022)<br> 200m (2024)<br> ~10m (2022)<br> ~10m (2022)<br> ~10m (2022)<br> 13m (2022)<br>Green underground tent<br>10m deviation tat<br>Brew kit, noodles and group shelter (from base of Balkon E. series)<br>1 dry bag<br>3 hammers<br>1 whiteboard<br>24 thru bolts<br>1 pulley<br>9 group shelters<br>16 camp meals (incl. 6 meat ones)<br>4 UG camp mugs and 6 utensils<br>UG camp 1st aid kit<br>UG camp communal pan<br>1 UG camp gas canister<br>1 bag ground coffee<br>1.5 kg mornflake<br>~2.5 kg muesli<br>1 kg coffee whitener<br>~2.5 kg milk powder<br>sugar<br>bag of lighters and whiteboard pens<br>hot chocolate<br>analogue compass clinos<br>~33 noodles<br>milky porridge<br>poo drum<br>2 gas canisters<br>UG camp poo things <br>~30 curries (mostly saag aloos)<br>3 water butts<br>4/5 drum smash<br>1/4 drum custard<br>1 drum drill things<br>4/5 drum tea bags<br>4/5 drum soup<br>1 empty drum<br>1 1st aid kit drum<br>2 gas hobs<br>big 1st aid box<br>1 callout box<br>4 empty daren drums<br>1 bag liquid fuel<br>1 bag utensils<br>3 pans<br>1 bag bivvy tat<br>1 hob rack<br>1 drum tea lights<br>1/2 drum oatso<br>1 bag rope protectors<br>2 tupperwares<br>1/4 tin spits and cones<br>1/2 tin bolts<br>4 green drills<br>hoses and funnels<br>1 shovel<br>2 crow bars<br>2 lump hammers<br>2 drill dry bags<br>~3 assorted camp bed frames<br>2 bags of reflectors<br>2 first aid boxes<br>1 bag random containers<br>Jono's donated UG camp tent<br>1 white water drum<br>1 bin tin<br>1 kettle<br>1 hanger fettling kit<br>12 rollmats<br>2 sit mats<br>1 brush<br>10 camp beds<br>2 broken camp beds<br> <br>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
@ -2773,7 +2772,7 @@ Just as we were climbing off the plateau we heard whooping. So we stuck around t
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-12a">2024-08-12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lucy</u>,Colin,Zac,Harry,Christopher,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lucy</u>,Christopher,Harry,Zac,Colin,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Plateau - Homecoming rope haul & Pepper Pot</div>
The final hurdle to finishing expo was a large amount of rope to come in and out of homecoming. We’d planned last night but postponed to today (to my sadness- I hate the heat ). Woke at 7, James MacA was dropped at the train station. Harry giggled and pointed out the very very long rope to me, and I - being a fool - sighed and put it in my bag (big regrets).
<p>
@ -2807,7 +2806,7 @@ All is now complete on the Plateau -Auf Wiedersehen bis zum nächsten Jahr ;)
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="2024-08-14a">2024-08-14</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Harry</u>,Lucy,Colin,Christopher,</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Harry</u>,Christopher,Colin,Lucy,</div>
<div class="triptitle">Dachstein - A day out on the Dachstein</div>
For our last full day on expo we decided on a jolly to the Dachstein. We only had 3 via ferrata sets between the four of us so decided to leave that kit behind and do some glacier walking. We had a potentially optimistic plan to leave at 8am - Lucy was ready just after 8 with me and Colin not far behind, but standard Christopher faff ensued and we left just before 9. I checked the cable car bookings in the car and every slot was fully booked, not ideal but a quick look at a map suggested there were paths to the top so we settled on walking up instead.
<p>