Soon enough we were at the head of Honeycomb. Ruaridh and Marie immediately settled into their +bothy and I was left to start rigging. Two minutes later, at 13.22 I heard the taps turn on. "It's a +flood pulse, Ruaridh". This meant there'd be no point trying to get out in the next few hours. I +headed down, past the 2nd Y-hang to the first single bolt Hilti spit rebelay. Such things are usually +hidden by a nice, big hanger. Seen naked, it's smashed-in, cratered surround looked disconcertingly +bad. And the air rushing from the roaring waterfall immediately below had me shivering. I turned tail +and prussiked back up to add a thermal in the toasty bothy bag and collected the drill. This was +Anthony's brand new drill, and a thing of beauty. Hammer and drill tethers with delightful, dinky +screwgates plus baby snaplinks to clip them up. Drill bits carefully taped up to the right length. A +blowing tube and even a spare spanner in case you were numpty enough to drop your first. The drill +itself was nestled in foam padding then a dry bag that had, get this, no holes. It felt mean to him +to be christening it. +
+Having added a bolt to the first single bolt rebelay it seemed sensible to add another to the next +single bolt rebelay then I headed on down. Marie followed me with the Hangman's rope bag but said +that Ruaridh was sick with stomach pains and was staying at the top. She had been keen to rig but the +next pitch and hand-line turned out to be still in situ. Instead, she put in a new through bolt for a +traverse line to the initial short pitch leading to Hangman's. +
Having rigged down to the start of Hangman's we ferried our bags down then, unexpectedly, Ruaridh +arrived. Despite a hacking cough and some strange smells he had managed to bring down one of the +Mongol Rally bags which was impressive. I was, though, a bit less impressed that neither he or Marie +had brought down any food, water, the stove, bothy or first aid kit so it seemed sensible to call the +trip and head on out. +
Ruaridh was suffering on the exit but we plodded out a reasonable pace, Marie and I had noodles at +the base of the entrance to give the water more time to recede then I offered to head up first, being +the only one who'd brought a kagoule. +
The bottom third of the long drop (2nd one up) was the wettest where spray filled the shaft but +it wasn't too bad so I whistled for the others then rigged the single bolt rebelay above the long +drop Y-hang to remove the rub. We were all out by 10 so T/U 11 hours. Beautiful, moonlit and clear +walk back to an empty Top Camp. +
Soon enough we were at the head of Honeycomb. Ruaridh and Marie immediately settled into their bothy and I was left to start rigging. Two minutes later, at 13.22 I heard the taps turn on. "It's a flood pulse, Ruaridh". This meant there'd be no point trying to get out in the next few hours. I headed down, past the 2nd Y-hang to the first single bolt Hilti spit rebelay. Such things are usually hidden by a nice, big hanger. Seen naked, it's smashed-in, cratered surround looked disconcertingly bad. And the air rushing from the roaring waterfall immediately below had me shivering. I turned tail and prussiked back up to add a thermal in the toasty bothy bag and collected the drill. This was Anthony's brand new drill, and a thing of beauty. Hammer and drill tethers with delightful, dinky screwgates plus baby snaplinks to clip them up. Drill bits carefully taped up to the right length. A blowing tube and even a spare spanner in case you were numpty enough to drop your first. The drill itself was nestled in foam padding then a dry bag that had, get this, no holes. It felt mean to him to be christening it.
-Having added a bolt to the first single bolt rebelay it seemed sensible to add another to the next single bolt rebelay then I headed on down. Marie followed me with the Hangman's rope bag but said that Ruaridh was sick with stomach pains and was staying at the top. She had been keen to rig but the next pitch and hand-line turned out to be still in situ. Instead, she put in a new through bolt for a traverse line to the initial short pitch leading to Hangman's. -
Having rigged down to the start of Hangman's we ferried our bags down then, unexpectedly, Ruaridh arrived. Despite a hacking cough and some strange smells he had managed to bring down one of the Mongol Rally bags which was impressive. I was, though, a bit less impressed that neither he or Marie had brought down any food, water, the stove, bothy or first aid kit so it seemed sensible to call the trip and head on out. -
Ruaridh was suffering on the exit but we plodded out a reasonable pace, Marie and I had noodles at the base of the entrance to give the water more time to recede then I offered to head up first, being the only one who'd brought a kagoule. -
The bottom third of the long drop (2nd one up) was the wettest where spray filled the shaft but it wasn't too bad so I whistled for the others then rigged the single bolt rebelay above the long drop Y-hang to remove the rub. We were all out by 10 so T/U 11 hours. Beautiful, moonlit and clear walk back to an empty Top Camp. -
As we walked along, Jono and I chatted back and forth confirming the radios worked +on the plateau and had the range to be useful. Finally, I arrived at Garlic Cave and dropped a fixed +node above the cave and descended to look over the solar system. Meanwhile Jono setup a surface node +at Stone Bridge. From inside each location, we were able to chat back and forth. No more need to +leave the comfort of a sleeping bag to plan the day!
The Garlic solar system seems OK, pressing +the green button enable the voltmeter and it showed about 14.5 volts.The USB A chargers are odd, the +1A ones seem to charge my phone, the 2.5A ones didn't. My cigarette adapter USB A charger worked OK, +but it felt a bit fiddly in the socket. At this point I headed for the Col, hoping to find the radio +we thought James lost, since we saw it reporting a position on the Col-Garlic path. After a while +James emerged from Homecoming and started chatting. We learned the radio was at homecoming and was +reporting its location wrong. A mystery for another day. I was at the Car park by around 2130 and +Jono and Isaac mode it back a little while later.
In the evening Phil B and Jono went up to play with radios and to find Isaac (who apparently had been taking more than 5 hours to get to Garlic), Anthony & Ruairidh went up to stay at top camp. All in PB's car. +