Elbow hurting from typing - pausing with about nine pages of log to catch up (though people do keep coming in and writing more:-)

Andy w

years/2015/logbook.html

@@ -245,6 +245,108 @@
 <p>The aim was to rig rift 59b with the hope of entering the large sandy "massive hole". The rift initially started out in the right direction and after some handy points from Anthony I started on the process of dropping multiple Y hangs (rigging guide with survey). Well Anthony and Dan set off to retrieve more rope from further in the cave and take many photos. They conveniently returned when the drill battery ran out after "6 holes" so returned to collect the rope and extra battery after explaining to Dan and Anthony I was close to the bottom and would only be 30 mins. I dropped the last pitch which was longer than expected. Upon reaching the bottom, the rift decided to change direction away from the massive hole I was aiming to enter. It unfortunately continued in the other direction so a return trip would be needed to survey and derig. I returned an hour later to find a cold Dan and Anthony and headed out.</p>
 <div class="timeug">T/U: 7</div>
 <hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-19d">2015-07-19</div>
+<div class="trippeople"><u>Luke</u> + Rob</div>
+<div class="triptitle">Balconyhöhle</div>
+<p>A return trip was needed to survey and derig the disastour of the previous day. I managed to persuade (cous-cous) Rob into helping me, believing it would crap out and thus be an easy job and being able to move the rope to other areas of the cave. This was not to be. The rift continued so needed surveying. After a couple of sketchy freeclimbs we made it to another big hole. This was wet and it did not look like a suitable way to rig from (could shorten the wetness of the rigging from the top). Tis was likely to be a thing which was going to be done when all the excellent A leads had been killed off. Rob derigged. By the time we set off, Rachel and Frank were already exitting the area to more warmer leads. We continued so as to give Julian's team the rope. We found them in a massive surveying fuck up but were directed along the passage to where there was a dead bat. By the time Julian caught up the bat was flat and no longer well preserved. Since 5 people were planning to exit the cave, me and Rob head off into the extremeties of the Turtle Head to access the leads. This proved quite interesting and managed to kill off an A lead (92a) by just sticking my head into it (confirmed the following day).</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 8</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-21b">2015-07-21</div>
+<div class="trippeople"><u>Luke</u> + multiple teams</div>
+<div class="triptitle">Balconyhöhle</div>
+<p>Showed a new team into Balcony, showing them the leads and rope. Left them to survey, returning from the end of Turtle Head to the entrance pitch in 25 mins to meet up with a team which was exitting early for a trip down the hill.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: [not mentioned]</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-20b">2015-07-20</div>
+<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u>, Rachel</div>
+<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks, complete rig to pushing front below Number of the Beast</div>
+<p>Headed down with very little gear since it had all been taken in previously. Dumped some flapjack. Sorted out the Procrastination rig. Also dumped some flapjack at the top and established an emergency dump at the bottom (in the sandy bit between the poxy pitch below Procrastination and Bring on the Clowns) in case of flooding.</p>
+<p>Descended Number of the Beast, which needed some work since the rebelay loops were ridiculously tight. After the Tunnocks entrance pitch I am not used to pitches where you can't see the previous rebelay bolt, so had failed to leave enough slack. Rachel sorted out the rig whilst I carried on down. Such was her diligence that she ended up abseiling the pitch three times to make sure everything was tickety-boo - which served the purose of keeping her warm but entailed lots of extra prussiking.</p>
+<p>Meanwhile I continued rigging the scrappy pitches towards the pushing front. The second of these was particularly dire and clearly in need of remedial work - what SRT illiterate put this rig in ? (*) Arriving at the 2015 pushing front, I was pleasantly surprised to find a rigged rope heading down the next two drops and along the (rather airy) traverse to the head of the final pitch - all I had to do was install a couple of deviations. By the time I had done this, Rachel had joined me so I rigged the final pitch and we both descended.</p>
+<p>At the bottom, there are two main ways on. There is a phreatic passage wth a floor trench (traverse line required) which doesn't take much of a draught (QM-A). The star lead was a pitch in the other direction with a howling gale blowing up it (QM-A).</p>
+<p>At that point we began the long slog out. At Bring on the Clowns, a large chunk of wall that Rachel was hanging onto fell off onto her and the rope, causing a certain degree of disquiet. By the time we emerged, Rachel determined that she didn't want to seeanother rebelay for a while and was even contemplating caving in the Mendips.</p>
+<p>(*) It was me.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 12½ hrs</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-24a">2015-07-24</div>
+<div class="trippeople"><u>Mark</u>, Dan</div>
+<div class="triptitle">Balcony</div>
+<p>An attempt to descend the "sandy chamber" as described by Rachel on 16/7. Rigged as follows</p>
+<p>[largerigging sketch to scan and insert]</p>
+<p>At this point the walls of the rift have a lot of sharp flakes. So difficult to get a good hang without it going into the water. -> try from the "Far Side ???</p>
+<p>When detackling, Mark managed to fall down a hole injuring his hand. First aid kit came out and we bandaged it up. Slow strugglew out. Prussiking with one hand is harder than you might think.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 5 hours</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-21c">2015-07-21</div>
+<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>, Matt, Sarah (+ Luke)</div>
+<div class="triptitle">Balconhöhle - Einundzwanzig leads (Ice cock)</div>
+<p>1st expo trip for Sarah, 1st trip to BH for Wook.</p>
+<p>Carried gear over after sorting survey sstuff so only just underground before midday. Luke showed us the route to the far end + gear dump & the various leads.</p>
+<p>Friendly cave, but a fair way to the end. Had a look at the near (wet) side of the pitch to consider rigging. Could be done from this side but prob better from the other.</p>
+<>Decided to start beyond 94a lead. Surveyed rift off to left: short passage to dead end with scroffing below. Sarah got to drive DistoX2.</p>
+<>Next looked at climb at the end. Dubious-looking pile of boulders with hole at top. Wook shinned up & found it was in fact quite solid. Largish rift at top with ice formations ! Big draught through small hole.</p>
+<p>Surveyed up & others followed then explored. Matt shinned up to R on ledge - looks like a lead. Sarah went round corner to find [illegible] aven-base with more ice. Very impressive. Called 'Ice cock'.</p>
+<p>Surveyed it all till it was 5:30 & time to go home.</p>
+<p>W+S got a bit lost on way out, & Matt overtook, so confusion for a few mins. Soon back together, then in familar territory, so Matt could get us home. 80m of entrance felt quite long. 500m tomorrow is going to be super-long.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 8 hrs</div>
+<p>Passage Desc: Passage on L wiggles to 5m traverse reaching sandy dead-end. Sandy dig & small choked inlet slot back joins into bottom of traverse & accesses bottom of scree below climb to Icecock. On main way, c5 reaches small hole above top chockstone. Climbing throughreaches high (25m) hading rift with Icefall on far wall. Ledge ascends NE to climb (QM-B). To L (W) c1 then leads to R with roof lowering. Passage off on R (QM-A). Almost immediately break out into large round space which is bottom of ~40m aven. 8m up on west wall is a space, could be bolted to (QM-B). On R is small pitch in wall QM-C (p7). Ahead, part fallen ice & another ice fall coming from smaller aven on L (QM-X). Beyond is short climb down (QM-B). Draught has been lost here - no doubt it is coming down the pitch.</p>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-22a">2015-07-22</div>
+<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u> & Wookey</div>
+<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - pushing below Number of the Beast</div>
+<p>The objective of this trip was to clear the surveying backlog and continue the pitch from where David left off the day before. Wookey had misplaced his [Parkin - I'm sure this is a misreado], and was thinking this was a particularly bad day to be without this device- so he was delighted to unearth it from the depths of his dangly bag at the watering hole near Caramel Catharsis.</p>
+<p>Uneventful trip to the traverse at the last pitch from 2014 (Magic Glue) where we started the survey - Wookey on book, your narrator wielding the distoX and taking some low quality photos with my point-and-press camera. Tried to shoot a leg from the bottom of Magic Glue to the deviation krab which repeatedly failed. Attempts on the exit met a similar lack of success. So a tape measure will be taken on the next trip. The advice from Jenny is that shooting such a leg in the downward direction often meets with more success.</p>
+<p>From the bottom we continued surveying the two drops rigged by David. The pitch heads were absolutely howling, and I didn't feel much like hanging around for ages taking multiple disto readings. Pitches are to be called "Inferno".</p>
+<p>Arriving at the Y-hang installed by David, Wookey continued the rig by placing a bolt for an immediate deviation, a further bolt for a rebelay and a rebelay from a natural that looks more convincing from below. Pitch is ~30m and lands in a large chamber full of huge boulders covered in black mud - to be christened "Kraken". There is a large ridge of boulders in the middle that we climbed up. A rope will be needed to descend the other side, and a way on can be seen under a large arch in the far corner (QM-A). It is unclear whether there are any further pitches. Even though the passage is 30x15m is cross section, there is a discernible draught.</p>
+<p>Completed the survey then headed out at no great pace but without incident.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 15½ hrs</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-22b">2015-07-22</div>
+<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
+<div class="triptitle">85 (and 82) Blind as a Bat</div>
+<p>Olly had an unhappy tummy, so something near the surface seemed wise. Decided to look at the lead in 85 that we'd spotted in 2007 and noted in 1977. Got to the entrance to find Ol only had his prescription sunglasses, so he had to cave blind. Due to not wanting to carry too much stuff, I was only wearing thermals and my oversuit which was cold.</p>
+<p>Followed the obvious way in 85 ignoring the passage to 82. Followed down a couple of lovely little climbs, then doubled back to appear 2/3 of the way down an ice slope. I noticed an enticing looking passage opposite us on the other side of the ice slope. Decided that the best way to access that and the drop below was to enter from above, so I waited while Olly headed out to confirm that the slope did come from the 82-85 passage. It did, so we got SRT + bolting gear and I rigged (badly) down to get into the passage. This passage headed off very straight, sometimes crawling, sometimes walking, with various solution pockets/avens on the left. Eventually ended at a muddy/gravelly dig. Surveyed out to the bottom of the rope where Olly went down to the bottom before heading out. Saw an unhappy bat frozen on the ice which I photographed. I hoped it was having a little sleep, but Olly assured me it was dead and frozen in place.</p>
+<p>Finished surveying this route and the [illegible] route down.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 5 hrs</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-23a">2015-07-23</div>
+<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
+<div class="triptitle">107 - Old route</div>
+<p>Tried again for an early start to beat any nighttime thuderstorms later on - didn't do so well this time getting underground at ~10 am. Got to the p67, Olly set off down adding two (bolt) deviations on the way which made the hang dry in dry weather (I expect it would be damp and miserable in wet weather, but not impassable).</p>
+<p>Followed the rift down (as Team Youth had in 1978). Used the tail of the rope on the p67 to rig the following p5. Having successfully abseiled down the p67 without incident, about 1m above the floor of the p5 I turned to talk to Olly and stupidly got my hair caught in my rack. Idiot! At least it is easier to free from a rack than a stop. A bit further along the rift and we reached another short pitch (p ). This was followed by a climb - not very steep but in the water (we didn't rig). A little more rift and we got to another short pitch. The rift widened here and was very drippy from inlets. Turns out this is where the 1978 p100 enters, though we didn't realise we were this far along. Another short drop on the same rope and the rift got narrower and nastier. Olly climbed up a few metres to where it got wider and traversed along at this level. Shortly it got wider and deeper and he started to rig down beforerealising we hadn't much rope left. Failing to realise where we were, we began to survey out. It was a very tedious rift to survey and I was shit at picking stations. Nearly gave up surveying, but decided to have a break while Olly carried the drill up the next pitch. I went back and derigged the deeper ones. Finished the survey and headed out without incident. The p67 did a good job at spreading us out for the ascent, so I didn't have to wait at all and was actually quite warm by the time I got out. With my slow prussiking (and carrying the drill) it took 1 hr 20 from the bottom of the p67 out.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 10½</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-24b">2015-07-24</div>
+<div class="trippeople">Olly + <u>Jenny</u></div>
+<div class="triptitle">Surface</div>
+<p>A rest day for Olly's knees. Headed to 13-SW-01 and rigged it, placing what must have been my first hand bolt. I can see why drills are so popular ! Followed the old red paint marks, up at first to an old CUCC cave marked "+ CUCC" and "1987" - think this must be 2006-03 and next door 2006-02, except we didn't see any tags. Having looked at the 2006 photos, I am certain that we were at the correct place. So either we failed to see the tag or the website is wrong in thinking that it is tagged.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 0</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-27a">2015-07-27</div>
+<div class="trippeople">Wookey + <u>Jenny</u></div>
+<div class="triptitle">107 - Leads near coldest place on earth - Double Beep</div>
+<p>After a quiet night on my own at the 76 bivi the plan was to meet Wookey at the 107 entrance at 9am. Unfortunately, I didn't get the SMS teling me that he was going to wait until the rain eased off, so I spent nearly 2 hours sitting under the tarp - having the tarp and the rock shelf near thr entrance is an excellent idea.</p>
+<p>Headed towards China wondering how far we'd get given the high water levels. The end of the easy traverse looked wet but passable. We suspectd tghe Too Bold would be too wet, so it seemed silly to get soaked now unnecessarily. Decided to look at something else. The first interesting lead we got to was 13-SL-6A in coldest. Borrowed the rope from Coldest Place in Earth and Wookey went down with a natural and one bolt. The rope wasn't long anough to get all the way down but did land on a floor with a rifty passage heading off. After a couple of climbs down we lost the draught to a small floor trench on the left. Passage continued uphill and narrow until we could stand up again. We then reached a T-junction wth a howling gale (from L->R). Followed right in high rifty passage, traversing over a series of drops until a window over a pitch. Surveyed out, until we got too cold - went back to Coldest for food + more clothes for Wookey efore finishing the survey. This is called <u>Double Beep</u> due to the exciting DistoX2 that beeps twice if you get the right answer (or at least a consistently wrong answer).
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 6½</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-28a">2015-07-28</div>
+<div class="trippeople">Wookey + <u>Jenny</u></div>
+<div class="triptitle">107 - 161, Runnelstone</div>
+<p>A more successful attempt to get to 161, got to China in 1hr45 having relocated the Double Beep rope back to coldest on the way in. Slowed down a bit owing to not really knowing the way and Jenny being slow especially on all the tedious little climbs, but got ourselves to the Runnelstone, and Holy Cow 56. Wookey started bolting down while I went round Welly Popper Passaged to (a) keep warm and (b) check that Wookey wasn't about to bolt into known passage. Got to a junction, headed left and got to a climb I was too wussy to descend (it tunrs out that this connects with station 56), then followed right before realising I was in previously unvisited passage, so headed back to 56. Wookey was some way down but had run out of rope, so we rigged with the longer rope. Wookey got to the bottom, said it ended and started to reascend. He thoroughly checked out the rift on the way up and found a window in to a few awkward oxbows which we followed down via a lovely hang, to the floor. A sort way on, the water flows down a short small drop with a bigger (wider) pitch likely beyond.</p>
+<p>This looked small + wet, so Wookey climbed up to some ledges to follow the rift at a higher level. Part way up he placed a very fast bolt, hence the passage name <u>Fastest Boltin the West</u>. Followed these rising ledges to a quality natural. We'd hoped to traverse to a widening above the pitch for a nice easy descent. Unfortunately this didn't happen - the traverse continues, drafty[?] bit small, but no easy way down. Surveyed out. Decided to leave it rigged, but to take the drill out.</p>
+<p>Surveyed the side passage from wellypopper.7 that I had scooped earlier. Named <u>Falling Spike</u> after a lovely spike handhold that Wookey removed from the wall near Wellypopper. Nice walking passage with draft to an aven with water (and a good place for a wee!) After this the passage split into two - small way on with the water on the right, and small dry way straight on. We think that the draft got lost on a window part way up on the right (needs gear to get in to). Headed out, took a bit over an hour to China (with some faffing), then 2 hours out from there. The pitch out of China is nicely long enough to mean you don't hold people up on the way out. The drill bag was much less bad than I expected on the Restless rifts. Happy to get out and find it not raining - had timeto walk home and have dinner before it rained.</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 14½</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="tripdate" id="t2015-07-27b">2015-07-27</div>
+<div class="trippeople"><u>Pete Talling</u>, Fleur Loveridge</div>
+<div class="triptitle">BALCONY HÖHLE<br/>Exploring North beyond Icecock Chamber into the Frozen North</div>
+<p>We watched the rain come down until boredom made us crack at about midday. Then we headed up to the "94a, 95b" lead area to the north of the cave. We ocated the loose climb up to the fallen ice cock chamber and then found the limit of exploration at station 13 in the next chamber. Here we climbed down to a short climb back up - where Pete placed two bolts to allow a mantleshelf and squeeze into the next chamber - which was veery preddi. Lots of fallen ice blocks on the floor. Fleur took photo. On the far side of the ice blocks a very high (30m) aven headed steeply upwards, and has a snow and ice tongue. (Ben later made more progress to climb a way up this ... but steep).</p>
+<p>[there's a sketch plan on the left of the above paragraph to scan and inseet here]</p>
+<p>We then climbed ~2m up to right of chamber to enter a walking/stooping tube with a nice riverof ice on floor. We thought it would soon crap out - but we were rewarded with a nice view into a chamber/rift. Huzzah!</p>
+<p>We first survey a tube that looped to NW, ending with a view into the chamber. Pete scrambled round wall, and may be a high lead here.</p>
+<p>With a 1h40min [?] book, we wombled back out to camp</p>
+<div class="timeug">T/U: 6.5 hrs</div>
+<hr>
 
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