Logbook edited 2024-07-18b

years/2024/logbook.html

@@ -674,6 +674,31 @@ After this entertainment was over we sat pretty cosily in a bothy bag, had a cud
 
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+<div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-18b">2024-07-18</div>
+<div class="trippeople">James W, <u>Lara</u>, Charlotte, Jacob, </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>
+I had cleverly left my undersuit and thermals down the hill (where i had tried and failed to wash them) so before we left I had an emergency call with Issac, who was on Plateau Porter duties. For the actual trip I borrowed Marie's oversuit, conveniently left outside and Charlotte's leggings. Thanks everyone. The undersuit was very thick which although I was boiling all the way to Radagast was very welcome later in the day. 
+
+After a pretty slow descent (fixing lights, faffing with ropes e.t.c) we got to the split off to watershed where James and I continued ahead while Charlotte waited for Jacob. We headed all the way to the end of the sandy traverses and the beginning of flowstone canyon, noting on the way at the water-filling-drip that the water levels must be very low. I also reflected on how much bigger Strained by Gravity was than I remembered, 70 metres back up didn't sound so fun. 
+
+The mood was a little down at this point because both James and I had realised that the late start and faff meant we were in for a very long trip if we wanted to reach the pushing front which slightly scrapped the plan of two days in a row down homecoming. Still, we poked around the top of Flowstone canyon to pass the time; into the rift we'd surveyed a few days before (still not traversable without bolts) and up to the higher level passage. Jacob and Charlotte showed up around 4 so we offered to survey this higher level passage in the rift to see where it went while they rigged Sound of Water. 
+
+We had a pretty fun time doing this, and got some nice 10 metre legs. It felt entertainingly sketchy because the floor had a changing rift in it with piles of sand, gravel and dust on top of it so wherever you stepped seemed to send avalanches of floor onto the passage below. James declared it was like murder holes in castles so it was promptly named 'portcullis passage'. After passing some nice helictites, James, who was ahead with the disto shouted back that it ended in a wet chamber with a tackle sack in it. Very strange. We realised pretty much simultaneously that we were actually looking down onto the chamber we had sat in (and pissed in) the last trip while waiting for the pitch to be rebolted and Charlotte had left the bag in it this time as well. I dashed round the long way into the chamber and James shot a leg down from the window he had emerged in 5 metres above me, closing the loop. 
+<p>
+After this entertainment was over we sat pretty cosily in a bothy bag, had a cuddle, listened to James' music and waited for the all clear. This also gave us plenty of time to come up with another half Hard Caver verse, this time:
+<p align=center> <em/>When caving with Charlotte it's prussic galore 
+<p align=center>You won't leave the cave till it's gone half past four
+<p><em/> the second  half would be written later during noodles:
+<p align=center> <em/>We dropped a few pitches and surveyed the lot
+<p> By the time we get out we will wish we'd be shot
+<p><em/>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 0.0 hours</div>
+<div class="editentry"><br /><a href="/logbookedit/2024-07-18b">Edit this entry</a><br /></div>
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+<hr />
+
 <div class="tripdate" id="2024-07-19a">2024-07-19</div>
 <div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>, Sieds, </div>
 <div class="triptitle">basecamp - Laser printer</div>