+
Plan Homecoming via stonebridge; returning to base ..... Dickon @@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ Top camp; staying up ... Pete (Driver) Nat Sarah (Driver) - +At 08:45 10/07/19 ... 75m rope taken up to plateau; Nat, Sarah, Harry taken ~15 tortellini, ~1 gnochi, bin bags (120 titre) up to top camp
Balkon ok and reflectored @@ -133,7 +134,7 @@ Setting off bright and early from the stone bridge (11:00), we took tagging and
2019-07-10-Dickon, Crossley, Dan+Dickon, Tom Crossley, Danplateau - tagging and surface bashing to FishgesichtCave was rigged to the horizontal level a few points as follows @@ -200,7 +201,7 @@ Tom Crossley (11/07/2019)
2019-07-12-Nat, Sarah P, Ruaraidh, Aileen+Nat, Sarah P, Ruairidh MacLeod, AileenLook at Myopia Traverse #2@@ -232,7 +233,7 @@ Acclimatisation trip for Pete and Fleur to the base of Honeycomb pitch in Balco
2019-07-12-Michael W. B., Michael S., Paul+Michael B, Michael S, PaulAcclimatisation around top levels of Balcony@@ -295,7 +296,7 @@ Peregrina, SUSS
2019-07-13-?+Harry, Reuben, Nat, Dan, Becka, Dickon, Michael S, Michael H, Michael B, Corin, PhilFinding Dickon@@ -332,7 +333,7 @@ Peregrina, SUSS
2019-07-14-Daniel Heins+Daniel Heins, Dickon, Tom CrossleyHomecoming - Blog Post, More Details on HomecomingBlog Post - Reply #5 on: JJuly 14, 2019, 01:16:07 pm @@ -379,7 +380,7 @@ They may return to basecamp. Callout 22:00.
2019-07-15-Reuben Harding, Corin Donne, Michael Holiday+Reuben Harding, Corin Donne, Michael HollidayRigging Happy ButterflyWe went to rig Happy Butterfly in search of a route into FG. The rigging was @@ -421,7 +422,7 @@ Dickon and I went down Homecoming to the start of the Second Coming (after the a
2019-07-15-Corrin, Reuben, Michael H+Corin, Reuben, Michael HHappy ButterflyAs Fish Face was under several meters of snow our plans for the week were in @@ -656,23 +657,31 @@ Dickon went down Homecoming with Reuben and Aileen to push Propane Nightmares. T
plateau - Blog PostBlog Post bit - ProspectingSat Jul 20
-As I had not done any prospecting this expo and Jon wanted to feel warmth again, we decided to head west to prospect on the plateau beyond Homecoming. Much bunder bashing and karst scrambling was done, and many chocked holes and snow plugs were clambered down into. Amongst all of this though, we found two quite promising prospects in need of dropping. Jon has photos and a more clear understanding of location (as he logged them on the GPS), but as he is still up the plateau I will describe them in brief. +As I had not done any prospecting this expo and Jon wanted to feel warmth again, we decided to head west to prospect on the plateau beyond Homecoming. Much +bunder bashing and karst scrambling was done, and many chocked holes and snow plugs were clambered down into. Amongst all of this though, we found two quite +promising prospects in need of dropping. Jon has photos and a more clear understanding of location (as he logged them on the GPS), but as he is still up the +plateau I will describe them in brief.
-The Banana Hole is a deep pit in a large expanse of sloping limestone pavement up a hill. The bottom is beyond what can be seen with a caving light in day time, but dropping rocks gives roughly 4 seconds of free fall, before ricocheting further down and unknown amount. +The Banana Hole is a deep pit in a large expanse of sloping limestone pavement up a hill. The bottom is beyond what can be seen with a caving light in day +time, but dropping rocks gives roughly 4 seconds of free fall, before ricocheting further down and unknown amount.
-The Boop-Boo-Da-Boop-Da-Boop [exact spelling pending confirmation] complex is an area of multiple very large holes surrounding a small flat expanse of karst, half surrounded by cliffs. Two of the entrances are extremely appealing, with one a few meters wide and unknown depth (again, the rocks take long to go down, a disto would've been helpful), and another similarly wide and quite deep and clearly going diagonally into the hillside, reducing likelihood of being choked. +The Boop-Boo-Da-Boop-Da-Boop [exact spelling pending confirmation] complex is an area of multiple very large holes surrounding a small flat expanse of karst, +half surrounded by cliffs. Two of the entrances are extremely appealing, with one a few meters wide and unknown depth (again, the rocks take long to go down, a +disto would've been helpful), and another similarly wide and quite deep and clearly going diagonally into the hillside, reducing likelihood of being choked.
-Both of these leads really require photos to better explain (and someone with more awareness to convey their geography) but represent very exciting prospects in a fairly untouched region of the plateau. +Both of these leads really require photos to better explain (and someone with more awareness to convey their geography) but represent very exciting prospects +in a fairly untouched region of the plateau.
[Not on Blog - where does htis text fragment come from?]
-A brief foray into Happy Butterfly found a Y-hang with a dangling hangar, and we could not locate the hilti to screw it back into, and so we turned back around to avoid descenting a one-bolt-wonder. +A brief foray into Happy Butterfly found a Y-hang with a dangling hangar, and we could not locate the hilti to screw it back into, and so we turned back around +to avoid descenting a one-bolt-wonder.T/U: 0 hour
2019-07-20-Pete Tallins, Michael Holliday, Fleur Loveridge+Pete, Michael Holliday, Fleur LoveridgeA* lead heading west from Safe and Comfortable etcThe team headed down to Pitstop, on Pete’s only pushing trip of his 3 week expo @@ -685,7 +694,9 @@ A brief foray into Happy Butterfly found a Y-hang with a dangling hangar, and we Rightwards is a short climb upwards that needs a few ( less than 5) bolts but no draft.
2. Drunk drivers: This is an upward phreatic ramp that starts just before - Lipstick Dipstick’s first rope. A steep upward ramp leads to a climb over some dodgy perched boulders, and into a chamber with cross rifts. Left is a 10-12m bolt climb up a wall to a 3m phreatic tube (QMC). Right is a traverse into a large rift that ascends. The traverse will need at least 4-5 bolts, but interesting (QMC) + Lipstick Dipstick’s first rope. A steep upward ramp leads to a climb over some dodgy perched boulders, and into a chamber with cross rifts. Left is a 10-12m +bolt climb up a wall to a 3m phreatic tube (QMC). Right is a traverse into a large rift that ascends. The traverse will need at least 4-5 bolts, but +interesting (QMC)
3. Custard Cavalry (Michael’s Climb): This is the A* lead that is open, climb rigged and heading west. Very drafty.
The start is an ascending and then descending phreatic tube, located in Safe and @@ -722,7 +733,8 @@ worse than I'd remembered, likely as we now had big bags.
Back at Little Boy camp we tried our damndest to eat everything there - 2x curries, 2x noodles, 2x soups, then derigged to the bottom -of Mongo Rally, by then we had 4 heavy [incomplete scan - taken from /expofiles/writeups/2019/stuff-left-at-topcamp.pdf] +of Mongo Rally, by then we had 4 heavy +[incomplete scan - taken from /expofiles/writeups/2019/stuff-left-at-topcamp.pdf]
T/U: 13 hours
@@ -770,9 +782,14 @@ of Mongo Rally, by then we had 4 heavy [incomplete scan - taken from 2019-07-22 -Wave 1: Dickon, Ruairidh, Becka (in 09:30!);+Wave 2: Fleur, Pete, Corin, Jon;
Wave 3: Mike, Alice, Radost, Michael B;
Custard Wave: Nat and Sarah
Dickon, Ruairidh, Fleur, Pete, Corin, Jon, Michael S, Alice, Radost, Michael B, Nat, SarahGreat Balcony Derig+Wave 1: Dickon, Ruairidh, Becka (in 09:30!); +Wave 2: Fleur, Pete, Corin, Jon; +Wave 3: Mike (Michael S ?), Alice, Radost, Michael B; +Custard Wave: Nat and Sarah +
Wave 1 went into paella up Mongol Rally. Wave 2 arrived just in time to pule a paella from top Mongol Rally to start of crawl. Then third pull through the crawl and across the big wet hole to the top of Hangmans. Very impressive to watch! A @@ -859,29 +876,49 @@ The second half of Expo picked up a lot: the sun came out and most of us venture
I spent a deal of my time practicing my rigging skills in Homecoming but my last two trips were into Balkon with Radost.
-We went to explore a lead that Rad had assured me was going to be spectacular. The lead was an aven reaching up from a cavern just off the side of the trade-route away and out of sight above us. Water dripped down one wall and down through an impassible hole in the floor. +We went to explore a lead that Rad had assured me was going to be spectacular. The lead was an aven reaching up from a cavern just off the side of the +trade-route away and out of sight above us. Water dripped down one wall and down through an impassible hole in the floor.
-We adopted the tactic of Rad climbing up a short distance, attached to one end of a rope. Then we would pass the bags up one by one on the rope before Rad made an anchor for me to prussick up too. We repeated this twice before Rad decided that he would like a bolt in for the next bit of the climb. +We adopted the tactic of Rad climbing up a short distance, attached to one end of a rope. Then we would pass the bags up one by one on the rope before Rad made +an anchor for me to prussick up too. We repeated this twice before Rad decided that he would like a bolt in for the next bit of the climb.
-So up went the rigging equipment, bit by bit. Only when Rad shouted down "Crossley, do we usually have to hammer the Hiltis in?" did I suspect we might have made a mistake... As it turned out, we were now 15m off the ground with an 8mm drill bit and 10mm HKDs. Oops. +So up went the rigging equipment, bit by bit. Only when Rad shouted down "Crossley, do we usually have to hammer the Hiltis in?" did I suspect we might have +made a mistake... As it turned out, we were now 15m off the ground with an 8mm drill bit and 10mm HKDs. Oops.
-We decided to call it a day from there - but on our return to the ground thought it might be entertaining to try to fit through a constriction in the right hand wall. I went first, pendulumming around to the squeeze and wriggling through. It went! We had emerged into another aven, larger than the last. On the left hand side was a sloping wall with lots of holds that must surely lead up to above the drippy pitch we had previously been ascending. We brought the rope through the squeeze, leaving one end tied to the anchor that we had just been abseiling off, and Rad began to climb again. +We decided to call it a day from there - but on our return to the ground thought it might be entertaining to try to fit through a constriction in the right +hand wall. I went first, pendulumming around to the squeeze and wriggling through. It went! We had emerged into another aven, larger than the last. On the left +hand side was a sloping wall with lots of holds that must surely lead up to above the drippy pitch we had previously been ascending. We brought the rope +through the squeeze, leaving one end tied to the anchor that we had just been abseiling off, and Rad began to climb again.
-This time, we had no bags with us so the going was easier. We regrouped on a shelf just above yet another big hole in the floor and from there, Rad traversed along and up until he came to a boulder choke. Through the boulder choke, he set up an anchor and belayed me up the climb (my climbing ability and confidence being much less than his). The chamber we were in showed no signs of crapping out - indeed it only got bigger as you went up. +This time, we had no bags with us so the going was easier. We regrouped on a shelf just above yet another big hole in the floor and from there, Rad traversed +along and up until he came to a boulder choke. Through the boulder choke, he set up an anchor and belayed me up the climb (my climbing ability and confidence +being much less than his). The chamber we were in showed no signs of crapping out - indeed it only got bigger as you went up.
-Finally, we were both through the boulder choke and directly above our initial aven. We had a brief poke around at the leads: phreatic continuations in both directions, holes in the floor of the meander, and two intersecting streamways. We decided to call the chamber and general area "\" in an attempt to upset the sensibilities of our surveying software (it did, a little too much. We had to rename it "the_backslash" to avoid melting the system). +Finally, we were both through the boulder choke and directly above our initial aven. We had a brief poke around at the leads: phreatic continuations in both +directions, holes in the floor of the meander, and two intersecting streamways. We decided to call the chamber and general area "\" in an attempt to upset the +sensibilities of our surveying software (it did, a little too much. We had to rename it "the_backslash" to avoid melting the system).
-Now for the last challenge: to retrieve and sensibly rig the rope. Rad rigged the rope off some handy naturals and I abseiled down it until I was level with our original anchor. From there, I undid the anchor and swung over to the squeeze to pull the rope though that. Once the dead end of the rope was in the big chamber, Rad pulled it up through the boulder choke and to the top of the pitch, where he re-did his natural rigging and abseiled down to level with me, tied a rebelay, and went down to the ground. I grabbed the bags from where we had left them tied to a handy spike and abseiled down to join him. +Now for the last challenge: to retrieve and sensibly rig the rope. Rad rigged the rope off some handy naturals and I abseiled down it until I was level with +our original anchor. From there, I undid the anchor and swung over to the squeeze to pull the rope though that. Once the dead end of the rope was in the big +chamber, Rad pulled it up through the boulder choke and to the top of the pitch, where he re-did his natural rigging and abseiled down to level with me, tied a +rebelay, and went down to the ground. I grabbed the bags from where we had left them tied to a handy spike and abseiled down to join him.
-The next day, we returned to the lead (with a 10mm drill bit) and I set to work rerigging the pitch to avoid the worst of the rope rub and spare the rope being tied directly around any rocks (opting for slings instead). +The next day, we returned to the lead (with a 10mm drill bit) and I set to work rerigging the pitch to avoid the worst of the rope rub and spare the rope being +tied directly around any rocks (opting for slings instead).
-After warming Rad back up with some noodles, we started to survey our way up the pitch. We tandem-prussicked, with Rad on Book and Instruments and me as the Dog - handing precariously on my sky hooks to paint survey stations on handy rock points. +After warming Rad back up with some noodles, we started to survey our way up the pitch. We tandem-prussicked, with Rad on Book and Instruments and me as the +Dog - handing precariously on my sky hooks to paint survey stations on handy rock points.
-Once at the top, we took some splays of the chamber and decided to follow one of the streamways up. This involved yet more of Rad lead climbing and then anchoring me up. At last, we came to a section to steep and drippy for Radost to comfortably climb and we resorted to bolt climbing, discovering (as have many before us) that setting Hiltis one handed while standing in a sling through a sky hook is no mean feat. +Once at the top, we took some splays of the chamber and decided to follow one of the streamways up. This involved yet more of Rad lead climbing and then +anchoring me up. At last, we came to a section to steep and drippy for Radost to comfortably climb and we resorted to bolt climbing, discovering (as have many +before us) that setting Hiltis one handed while standing in a sling through a sky hook is no mean feat.
-After two bolts, we made it over the lip of the climb and into yet another aven. The streamway showed no signs of constricting as it went up but we were both ratther cold, damp, and tired. We decided there to head out and back to camp. +After two bolts, we made it over the lip of the climb and into yet another aven. The streamway showed no signs of constricting as it went up but we were both +ratther cold, damp, and tired. We decided there to head out and back to camp.
-And that was the end of my Expo this year, I hope to come back to this lead in 2020, and hopefully to push it to the top (and ideally to a new entrance to 1623/264-Balkonhoehle). I'm afraid I didn't have a camera with me on these pushing trips else I would have posted some pictures. Instead, here are some that Rad took on the surface: +And that was the end of my Expo this year, I hope to come back to this lead in 2020, and hopefully to push it to the top (and ideally to a new entrance to +1623/264-Balkonhoehle). I'm afraid I didn't have a camera with me on these pushing trips else I would have posted some pictures. Instead, here are some that +Rad took on the surface: [photo]
All the best,