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<title>2017 Expo Logbook</title></head>
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<h1>CUCC Expo Logbook 2017</h1>
<p>
<h2>See also: <a href="ukcaving/index.html">UK CAVING ILLUSTRATED BLOG</a> </h3>
<p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-18a">2017-07-18 - 2017-07-20</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Chris Densham</u>, Elliott Smith, Katey Bender</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - 1<sup>st</sup> camping trip</div>
<p>The team out in
the first week had done a tremendous job, rigging Tunnocks down to
Kraken in 3 days. After arriving we washed, dried and stuffed 1km of
rope into tacklesacks and carried half of it up the hill. On Tuesday
morning we packed the camp kit, drill, rigging gear and Elliott
managed to cart a 200m bag of rope down to camp. I fettled the
rigging as required on the way in eg a deviation on Magic Glue and
eliminating a catchy rub at the bottom of Inferno, which now lands on
a rock bridge, saving ~10m further descent and re-ascent. I added a
traverse line and descending Kraken was rewarded by the green glow
from the Camp Kraken tent. Katey and Elliott had had to drain it and
scrape the mould off the floor to make it habitable - even having
to scrape calcite off the zip to get in. It was a comfortable night.
</p>
<p><i>NB - <u>Elliott</u> from here:</i></p>
<p>Day 2 saw us
heading down to the pushing front at Paw Paw passage. All was left
rigged, bar the Song of the Earth ramp. ~120m of rope disappeared on that
one. We carried on to the mud sump (-902m) and took some photos. We
retraced a small continuation when a more modern stream (read
trickle) had carved out a bit of the mud. Katey went for it and found
it too tight… she did notice a draft however, albeit a small one.
</p>
<p>Onto Paw Paw,
katey climbed the C6 left last year and bolted it. The passage up a
rifty (but still phreatic) section, approx. 3 - 6m wide, 6m high,
still drafting. At this point, Elliott climbed an aven to the left
(West) whilst Chris and Katey surveyed. Two rift passages soon
crapped out. Elliott’s aven (‘Aye, there’s the rub’) rises
for ~25m before leading to a ~20m pitch. Katey found a rising tube to
the North about halfway up the climb, 2 pitches here, again ~20m. Out
of rope, battery and willpower, we headed back to camp.
</p>
<p>Next day
(Thursday) we headed out. Left camp at 10am, out between 13:00 -
16:00.</p>
<div class="timeug">T/U: 52 hours</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-11a">2017-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob</u>, Luke</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Rigging trip #1: Entrance Series</div>
<p>After a slow
start at base camp, Luke, Brendan, Nathan and myself went up the hill
so Brendan could have lunch. This done, we had to go caving, myself
and Luke tasked with rigging Tunnocks, using Anthony’s 2015 rigging
topo as a guide for the entrance series. The rig was very faffy and
not much grease had been used on the derig last year which didn’t
help. After much faff, we reached the snow slope which was sporting
some very large icicles at the bottom. Out and back for 9pm.
</p>
<div class="timeug">6 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-12a">2017-07-12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob</u>, Luke</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Rigging trip #2: bottom of String Theory</div>
<p>After failing to
locate any ropes longer than 61m, myself, and Luke headed back to
Tunnocks, underground at the more respectable time of 11am rather
than 3pm. I fettled the entrance rig a bit on the way in, replacing
some ropes and some of Luke’s krabs whilst he rigged Caramel
Catharsis. This done, we went to rig the traverse across Usual
Susspects, which wasn’t very nice. I missed quite a few of the
naturals the first time around, which Luke then found and added in
with some red mammut tat - recommend that this is left in on the
derig - while I rigged String Theory. This made a relaxing change
from the Entrance Series and Usual Susspects traverse. Then on the
way out we fettled the Entrance Series a bit more. Still not ideal,
but when has it ever been perfect? Icicles still there. Bit
dangerous, should probably destroy them in a controlled manner before
they chop us or the ropes to bits.
</p>
<div class="timeug">7 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-13a">2017-07-13</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob</u>, Luke</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Rigging trip #3: 1<sup>st</sup> rebelay, Number of the Beast</div>
<p>With me having a
plane to catch and having had all evening the night before to pack
gear, a very efficient start was had, underground by 9am! Luke went
ahead to rig Procrastination whilst I again fettled the Entrance
Series (icicles still there) and Caramel Catharsis, where a rope
protector cannot prevent rub from the single bolt hang at the top,
where there was a shit Y hang using a thread last year. Then I went
to assist Luke, who had run out of hangers and had also missed some
bolts. After a bit of faffing, the rig was almost perfect and we were
on to rig the shit little traverse and pitch before Bring on the
Clowns. It was barely gone 1pm at this point, so we decided to see
how far a 39m rope can get you down Number of the Beast. It turns out
you can get to the first rebelay (though this length + my rigging
style rendered it a little tight later). Then out and down the hill
to print boarding passes and rigging topos.
</p>
<p>Note: the y-hang
at the top of NOTB should be a bunny ears style knot for ease of safe
rigging.
</p>
<div class="timeug">7 hrs</div>
<p><img src="logbkimg1.jpeg" alt="Rigging Topo: Caramel Catharsis"></p>
<p><img src="logbkimg2.jpeg" alt="Rigging Topos: Usual Suspects Traverse and Procrastination"></p>
<p><img src="logbkimg3.jpeg" alt="Rigging Topo: String Theory"></p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-11b">2017-07-11</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan Walker</u>, Brendan Hall</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - rigging trip</div>
<p>Rigged Balcony
entrance series with 100m + 20m rope following <i>[Ed Nathanael’s]</i> 2016
rigging topo.</p>
<div class="timeug">2 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-12b">2017-07-12</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan Walker</u>, Nadia, Mark D</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - rigging Hilti-a-plenty</div>
<p>Rigged
Hilti-a-Plenty pitches with 80m rope using Martin’s rigging guide.
</p>
<div class="timeug">3 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-16a">2017-07-16</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan Walker</u>, George B, Luke S</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - rigging to bottom of Kraken</div>
<p>Rigged Tunnocks from Number Of The Beast to Kraken. Missed a
rebelay on Inferno and decided it required a longer rope. Rigging done
by: Luke (Knicker <i>[Ed. Widow Twankey's Knicker Elastic]</i> and Kraken);
George (Magic Glue and Inferno).</p>
<div class="timeug">10 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-17a">2017-07-17</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan Walker</u>, George</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Sloppy Seconds</div>
<p>Went down Balcony
to Bat Country and dropped b lead near Galactica. Pitch rigged
using sam rigging guide earlier in book.
Turned back at next pitch due to lack of rope.</p>
<div class="timeug">8 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-18b">2017-07-18</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan W</u>, George B, Becka L</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Sloppy Seconds again</div>
<p>Rigged
pitch/traverse to ~100m good horizontal passage. Ended in multiple
pitches with horizontal continuations over them. Surveyed.</p>
<p><img src="logbkimg4.jpeg" title="Rigging guide Sloppy Seconds 1, First pitch (in HiltaPlenty, Balkonhoehle)" alt="Rigging guide Sloppy Seconds 1 in HiltaPlenty, Balkonhoehle"></p>
<p><img src="logbkimg5.jpeg" title="Rigging guide Sloppy Seconds 1, Second Pitch (in HiltaPlenty, Balkonhoehle)" alt="Rigging guide Sloppy Seconds 1 in HiltaPlenty, Balkonhoehle"></p>
<p><img src="ss1+2.jpg" title="Rigging guide Sloppy Seconds pitches 1 and 2 (in HiltaPlenty, Balkonhoehle)" alt="Rigging guide Sloppy Seconds pitches 1 and 2 (in HiltaPlenty, Balkonhoehle)"></p>
<div class="timeug">9 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-20a">2017-07-20</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan W</u>, Adam A, Katey B</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Sloppy Seconds 2</div>
<p>Dropped 20m pitch
in SS <i>[Ed: Sloppy Seconds]</i> to immature meander: found small horizontal
passages that all crapped out in mud and immature meanders.</p>
<div class="timeug">9 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-25a">2017-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Lydia Leather</u>, Corin D, Ash G, Michael</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Cathedral Chasm</div>
<p>This was myself
and Corin’s first trip underground whilst on expo. Ash took us down
Balcony to Cathedral Chasm. He gave myself and Corin a lesson in surveying which
was great because he uses a PDA which - so I am told - is a very
efficient surveying technique. We surveyed a total of 79 metres!.. In about 2
hours&hellip; By the end of this we'd found 1 C lead and 2 B leads, one of which
resulted in a grim mendip crawl that only Ash ended up doing and surveying.
Michael thinks that the other B lead could connect to Tunnocks&hellip; We'll see.</p>
<p><i>NB: Ash’s alternative account</i></p>
<p>After the rain
prevented caving the day before, the four of us set off to Balcony at
long last. Got underground just before midday and soon we reached the
bottom of the entrance series. Lydia and Corin had not been into
Balcony before so this was a nice introduction to Austrian caving.
Successfully remembered the route to the Trident junction turn off.
Lydia rigged the intermediate 10m pitch. The bolts had been left in
by Luke who had removed a slightly too short rope. I showed the
others the bat skeletons just before we got to the rift B lead we had
planned to explore. I taught Corin and Lydia how to survey in
paperless style so progress was slow but successful. The rift
interconnected in a couple of places before heading off in the
direction of Tunnocks. Passed an aven - possibly freclimbable QMB -
before getting to a 4-way junction with 2 QMBs and a QMC. Pushed one
of the QMBs which got smaller and turned into a crawl. Michael called
for a ‘Mendip caver’ up front so I pushed a squeeze leading to a
more sideways thrutchy crawl. This continued for 30m through a couple
of other squeezes before crapping out. I then did a 1-man disto
mission to survey it.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Corin
and Lydia took some photos. Michael and I caught them up and we then
exited the cave. Entrance pitch was a bit drippy and quite cold.</p>
<div class="timeug">7 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-18c">2017-07-18</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Brendan</u>, Luke, Phil W</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - photos, tourists</div>
<p>Went down Balcony
for a quick refresher trip in order to familiarise myself with the
cave. Luke helped guide where I went wrong and also did some
rigging. Most of the way from the entrance to Ice Cock had been left
rigged from the previous year. I took a photograph of Ice Cock
aven ice waterfall.</p>
<div class="timeug">5 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-21a">2017-07-21</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip W</u>, Rachel, Nadia, Elliott</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - destroying Galactica</div>
<p>Elliot, Nadia,
Rachel and I went down to Galactica to survey it and drop a rift
pitch at its northern end. Rachel and I drew triangles all over the
floor surveying it whilst Elliott and Nadia dropped the pitch in
cheesy rock. It crapped out wetly. This leaves a wet QMC below the
entrance pitch to Galactica and no other leads. Galactica is dead.</p>
<div class="timeug">10 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-19a">2017-07-19</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Adam, George and Rachel</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Natural Highs</div>
<p>Aim was to drop
the famed QMA (9A) lead on the right at the handline up at the end of
the Natural Highs traverse. Rachel started bolting and then
recognised she had been on the shelf on the opposite side in 2015.
Then Adam and I found a way halfway down the pitch form the rabbit
warren at the far end of Natural Highs down to an easy free climb.
Her ewe could see the others’ lights and there were bolts already
in to drop the rest of the pitch. Rachel had nearly finished rigging
but we decided to give up given that it had already been dropped.
</p>
<div class="timeug"></div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-20b">2017-07-20</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, George</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Prospecting and refind of 1623/110</div>
<p>No GPS so we were
relying on phones for location. We headed off beyond the cross
country ski-pole line after refinding 2010-07 and 2010-01. Right next
to 2010-01 is a drafting shaft blocked by very loose boulders which
could perhaps be dug out in a couple of hours.
</p>
<p>Found an open
10m+ shaft, ~3x2m opening. 33W 550789E 7885325N, 524067Y 3117175X
according to Martin’s phone - may not be correct!</p>
<p>Second open
shaft, ~20m deep, 2x0.7m opening, tagged CUCC-2017-03, same location
as above 10m+ shaft.
</p>
<p>Only find
definitely worth returning to was a refind of 1623/110, had very
faded red paint and fitted the description (I crawled in quite a way
in a T-shirt, painful and low but an excellent draft). Tagged
CUCC-2017-04 but no bolt for tag so just got balanced. On my phone’s
GPS cords were 47.693408, 13.812227 or 47°41’36.3”N,
13°48’44.0”E. The cave is on the Top Camp side of the ski pole
line by 100 - 150m, maybe 1.1km from Top Camp..
<img src="logbkimg6.jpeg" alt="Sketch">
</p>
<div class="timeug">1.5hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-22a">2017-07-22</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Phil W</u>, Nadia</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Prospecting</div>
<p>A bad weather
forecast saw most of Top Camp head out prospecting instead of caving.
Nadia found and tagged 2 caves, one of which crapped out quickly
(2017-NR-01). The other was a 20m pitch which crapped out in 2 tight
directions at the bottom (2017-NR-02). Good bolting practice though.
Both tagged, notes and photos taken.
</p>
<div class="timeug">0.5hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-21b">2017-07-21 to 2017-07-23</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, George, Luke</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Camp Kraken</div>
<p><i>21</i><sup><i>st</i></sup><i>:
</i>underground at 10am, camp at 12:30 including Luke adding a couple
of spits on Kraken pitch. Then took 90 minutes to get to top of pitch
Elliott climbed beyond the mud sump in Song of the Earth. George
rigged a traverse then an airy pitch to whoops - it was a huge
chamber! We surveyed around the outside and then had a second wander
around it but despit some dodgy free-climbing by George (aided by
Luke providing a memorable foothold) and plenty of scary furtling
amongst really loose boulders we couldn’t find a way on. We
derigged the pitch; then George spent 2 more hours trying to find a
higher level way on to no avail despite the strong draft. Eventually
we set off back to camp at 8pm with Luke pulling through to retrieve
Elliott’s rope and derigging the long set of pitches/traverses in
Song of the Earth. Back at camp at 10:30 after a long day out.
</p>
<p><i>22</i><sup><i>nd</i></sup><i>:
</i>Luke started rigging the pitch to the left of Indian Rope Trick
whilst George climbed the boulder ramp below Indian Rope Trick with
me belaying. This lead to a large, low phreatic passage which we
surveyed and eventually looped to the pitch Luke had rigged and to a
pitch down to a significant streamway and a large pool. Sadly we
couldn’t get down to it as the 2<sup>nd</sup> and last drill
battery died as soon as George tried to rig it. We finished the
survey and then ran all around Slackers to check out other potential
leads; we also surveyed 2 QMs, finishing one and leaving another as a
good ongoing lead [<i>this later turned into Grike of the Earth]</i>.
</p>
<p><i>23</i><sup><i>rd</i></sup><i>:
</i>headed out taking up to 3.5 hrs to prussik out followed by a
swift trot down the hill as everyone else (nearly) seemed to be
having the weekend off.
</p>
<div class="timeug">14 hrs, 24hrs, 11 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-23a">2017-07-23</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Phil W</u>, Nadia</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Prospecting - Bad Forecast (2017-PW-01) found</div>
<p>Due to another
apocalyptic weather forecast, Phil and Nadia decided to do another
day of prospecting north of Balcony rather than potentially getting
marooned down a cave. We went back to a potential lead at a cave
tagged 2012-OK-01, for which the existing prospecting notes were
along the lines of ‘tagged, undropped, unsurveyed’. Not quite as
bad as some of the notes for prospects, which were along the lines of
‘lost’. We dropped 2012-OK-01 off 3 naturals, to find a pleasant
amount of nothingness with a peephole through to a depression in the
plateau. Another one crossed off the list.</p>
<p>We then went back
to a potential lead north of 2011-01. Shining a headtorch down it
showed a passage and a lot of dry dust. A handline was rigged (p8,
45° slope) gave us access to a cave. With a drafting phreatic
passage leading off at 45° down at the bottom. We followed this down
30m until the slope angle increased and a rope was needed (which we
didn’t have). Surveyed, photos and GPS coordinates taken. QMA!
Nadia christened the cave ‘Bad Forecast’ since it turned out
sunny all day.</p>
<div class="timeug">5 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-06a">2017-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Kristian</u>, George, Becka</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - 'The Beast' has fallen #gloriousendings #whataday #pokemon</div>
<p><i>Based on tunes
originally whistled by Kristian Brook</i></p>
<p>I woke at 10am to
find Becka screaming that she had not gone caving in 24 hours (it had
only been 13 hours). Whilst George was laughing he asked me if I was
keen for a trip; I responded by packing my caving gear. The
destination was ‘The Beast’ to explore a window George had seen
when he last went there. After the 50000000 rebelays of the Tunnocks
Entrance Series we made it to the top of the Beast. Becka and I
descended the Beast in order to survey whilst George took a drill and
2 dubious batteries in order to rig a separate shaft called ‘Not
the Beast’. We would link into the window at the bottom of The
Beast in order to look at virgin passage.
</p>
<p>George set off
down the passage first and crossed a low risk, high severity
traverse. This was rigged with the remaining rope that we had and
whatever naturals we could see. The dubious rigging inspired the
passage name ‘Rig-a-Mortis’. There were 3 streams passing through
the passage and sinking into person sized stream passage. These leads
would have been pushed enthusiastically in the UK but in this
situation they were too cold to push on. A trip back with a wetsuit
is recommended if they are to be further looked at. On the way out
Becka derigged The Beast and George derigged ‘Not the Beast’. I
was knackered going out of the cave so Becka and George took all the
rope and bolting kit out. Exited the cave at 2am, 13 hours
underground; a new personal best for myself.</p>
<div class="timeug">13 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-24a">2017-07-24</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Phil W</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">base camp - Pathetic festering</div>
<p>Everyone in Top
Camp festered because they were scared of the high water levels.
Nobody caved.</p>
<div class="timeug">sweet fuck all</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-06b">2017-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob</u>, Elaine</div>
<div class="triptitle">Guten Morgen H&ouml;hle - trip #1</div>
<p>After walking
across to the Organhohle bivvy in the rainm and then getting cooped
up by the weather, Elaine and I decided to push GMH, a lead very
close to the bivvy which had been followed to a T-shaped rift by
Haydon and Elaine a few days before. The cave starts with a choss
slope and then appears to end, but up to the right a short bolt climb
across the T-shaped rift leads to further passage. We followed it
past a junction approximately 25m through a fairly tight section to
an undropped pitch. <img src="logbkimg7.jpeg" alt="Sketch survey of Guten Morgen Hoehle"></p>
<div class="timeug">1 hr</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-07a">2017-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob</u>, Elaine</div>
<div class="triptitle">Guten Morgen H&ouml;hle - trip #2</div>
<p>Elaine and I
returned to GMH the following day to bolt the pitch and survey the
cave as nothing had been surveyed past the entrance pitch so far.
Below the 12m pitch at the end of the T-shaped rift (‘Waterfall
Rift’) there were several horizontal leads. Down a short climb put
us in a chamber with several routes leading off from it. On the right
a short rift a short rift leads into a small chamber with drips
coming from a small hole in the ceiling. Also on the right is a low
crawl which reached a sandy junction and immediately crapped out
beyond.
</p>
<p>On the left from
the chamber a fairly large section of walking passage continues past
a hole in the floor to a junction, the left hand route leading to a
drippy aven and a small stream which we did not follow (it was quite
committing and damp) and the right hand route led to a promising
little pitch. Because we had left the surveying gear at the top of
the pitch, we turned back at this point and surveyed from the pitch
head to the cave entrance. Just as we reached the choss slope, Haydon
and Elliott arrived, having got fed up with the Organ Grinder.
Elliott helped us survey the pitch while Haydon went to have a look
at what we had found. <img src="logbkimg8.jpeg" alt="Sketch Survey"></p>
<div class="timeug">5 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-25b">2017-07-25</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nathan</u>, Phil W</div>
<div class="triptitle">Bad Forecast - (2017-PW-01)</div>
<p>Found ~40m
horizontal passage heading due east at 45°, passage ended in ~35m
pitch dropping into large phreatic passage. Way on is undropped 20m
pitch to the north that lands in a large continuation. <img src="logbkimg9.jpeg" alt="Rigging topo for Gardener's Delight"></p>
<p><i>Phil
continuing:</i></p>
<p>The continuation
chamber has several avens in the roof, as does the choked phreatic
chamber. Hopefully it doesn’t crap out with breakdown debris from
the roof, since it looks as if it lies on a fault. Progress down the
passage prior to the 40m pitch was slow due to bulldozering several
cubic metres of cobbles dow the passage continuously. We got to know
some of these cobbles quite well.</p>
<div class="timeug">7 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-27a">2017-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Ash</u>, Elliott, Elaine</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Cathedral Chasm</div>
<p>Went back to
Cathedral Chasm to finish off what was done the day before.
Started by going left at the junction, this was after rigging the
traverse to Cathedral Chasm (17m) and letting Elliott loose at the
top of the really loose pitch.
</p>
<p>Elaine and I
surveyed along, eventually reaching an aven and pitch. Both crapped
out, with the small stream we found en route disappearing into a
pebbly floor. There was a bat skeleton at the top of the aven.
</p>
<p>Elliott then met
up with us to inform that the pitch had crapped out. I joined him to
survey it, apparently it got very wet and loose near the bottom of
the first drop. A definite QMC, but around 80m surveyed.
</p>
<p>Elaine had become
rather cold at this point so we got her bolting a B lead traverse
with [ASH COME ON WHAT THE FUCK DOES THIS SAY] I went digging. 5
trowel fulls of earth made it through. The lead then crapped out
after 10m. I then put some conservation tape around the 3 bat
skeletons in the main passage. By this time Elaine had finished the
traverse, so we headed out leaving the lead to be completed later.</p>
<div class="timeug">9 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-28a">2017-07-28</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Ash</u>, Luke, Adam, Kristian</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Nothing to See</div>
<p>After hearing
about Luke’s many QMAs I decided to join him on a trip down
Hilti-a-Plenty to ‘Nothing to See’ just below Bat Country.
Kristian and I crapped out 2 QMAs whilst Adam bolted a pitch, being
supervised by Luke. One of our leads went for ~20m before ending in a
little chamber. The other went to a large which could link into
Galactica.</p>
<p>We then took some
pictures of ‘Dinosaur Bones’ found by Kristian which looked and
felt a lot like rocks. Then we went down to the pitch that Adam and
Luke had rigged and surveyed it. This ends in a rift that also looked
like it connected into Galactica.
</p>
<p>Deciding that we
hadn’t yet done enough caving we then went to another pitch lead,
starting with a dodgy free climb which we then put a handline on.
Kristian began rigging the pitch. Two of us went down a tight C-lead
which popped out halfway down the pitch. [ UNTRANSLATABLE SENTENCE,
PROBABLY NOT EVEN IMPORTANT]. Then in a very tight bedding heading
toward Galactica which I decided was too tight after a dogleg. We
then reconvened before the batteries died on the drill. Left the rope
and [OTHER HORRIBLE WORD] to cave back to find the pitch Kristian
started. The prussik out was long but efficient, with Kristian taking
a bit longer due to the ‘bones’ he decided to take out. Still a
fair bit to do down here.
</p>
<div class="timeug">8 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-25c">2017-07-25 to 2017-07-27</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nadia</u>, Chris, Haydon</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Camp Kraken: Densham Master Cave, Grike of the Earth, Bullshit in a China Shop</div>
<p>After the rain on
the 24<sup>th</sup> delaying our startwe were all packed up for the
morning of the 25<sup>th</sup>. We arrived at camp at 2 and had a
quick lunch before setting off for the Tunnocks Master Cave [to be
later renamed ‘Denshams Master Cave’ after disagreement about its
Master Cave status from other expo members]. We got to the Master Cave
at around 4pm where Chris insisted that we rig a traverse from the
start of the rift. Around every corner Chris would claim to have not
gone past it the year before only to be proven wrong by footsteps and
survey points.
</p>
<p>Upon deciding
where we would start rigging the traverse line our one and only drill
battery only had power for half a bolt. After considerable swearing
it was decided that Chris would go back to camp for another drill
battery while Haydon and I went to check out other leads in the area.
Haydon and I were given clear instructions as to where to go so
naturally we did not find what we were looking for; however, we did
find a small waterfall lead that we decided was too grim to do
ourselves.
</p>
<p>Chris returned
with hopefully charged drill batteries and we began rigging the
traverse and surveying the passage. The stream at the end of the
passage dropped down about 10m into a rift while a phreatic tube
continued above the rift with considerably muddy and slopey walls we
decided to end the day there and make a decision on our plans over
tea.
</p>
<p>Considering our
lack of faith in our remaining drill batteries we decided not to
continue with the battery eating rift and went to pursue another
lead. (Sidenote: we thought we would like to go for something a
little less muddy). We set off for a pit in the north of Slackers.
Down a 3m climb we were dropped into a muddy pit and the more we
moved the more the mud stuck to our clothes, wellies and gear,
doubling us in weight.
</p>
<p>Haydon dropped
the rift pitch, which had phreatic properties. Chris and I sat
getting very cold in very drafty passage, occasionally going on a run
around to warm up and check out the area. Chris went to the waterfall
lead Haydon and I had been in the day before to find a massive
waterfall where a small one had been. Proving that conditions
underground must be much more pleasant than those at Top Camp.
</p>
<p>Once the pitch
was rigged Chris and I surveyed down and became very excited by the
sloping phreatic tube with hard mud plates coating the floor. We
began to feel guilty for ruining the plates like bulls in a china
shop. Then suddenly the way on was entirely mud choked. Bullshit! On
our way out we considered the cross sectioned phreatic tube about 5m
from the floor. We determined that the draft was coming from there
but did not have time to inspect the tubes.
</p>
<p>The next day we
slept until 12pm waiting for the water levels to recede enough that
we felt motivated to head up to Procrastination. En route out I had a
slightly embarrassing route finding incident near Caramel Catharsis,
ask Haydon for further details.</p>
<div class="timeug">60 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-28b">2017-07-28</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob</u>, Becka, Nadia, Rachel</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Prospecting, 110 area</div>
<p>After beginning
to cairn a route the evening before, myself and Becka decided that
despite the sure-to-come rain we wanted to check out the howling
draft at No helicopter hole aka 110 again. Due to a shortage of drill
batteries that contained charge, we brought a hand bolting kit and a
short length of rope. The route taken was convoluted to say the
least, and visibility was not optimal, but after an hour or so the
cave was found.</p>
<p>I quickly changed
into my caving kit and crawled inside the low and chilly entrance.
After ~10m, I came to a small constriction which was passed without
much trouble. After some ~20m further passage sloping at ~30° and a
further small crawl the 8m climb described by the original explorers
was reached. I began to down-climb this but then realised that most
of the rock was very loose and one wall was entirely made of loose
boulders. A retreat was made to get a rope and Rachel. Once attached
to the rope, tied round a big boulder, extensive gardening occurred
to the point at which the pitch would need to be bolted on the far
wall for a safe descent. We then exited the cave and had a very
welcome lunch. I was finally able to warm my freezing hands up. This
cave is pretty miserable all round, being sharp, cold, drippy and
small. This was to be a prevailing theme of caves in the area.</p>
<p>After lunch, we
decided to prospect further in the surrounding area to see if other
easier entrances to the same system could be found. In total, six
prospects within a 100m radius to the east of 110 were explored, none
of which had any potential or anything like the draft felt at 110.
Myself and Becka then surveyed 110 until the pitch was reached. After
this. We began to prospect further west of 110 before the mists came
in and a tactical retreat to Top Camp was made.</p>
<div class="timeug">~ 3hrs total</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-29a">2017-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob</u>, Becka, Luke</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Prospecting, 110 area, day 2</div>
<p>Tempted back by
that sweet, sweet draft, this time with a drill no less as the only
good rock at the pitch in 110 was in the ceiling and placing hand
bolts in a ceiling was beyond my stoke remit. Bolts were placed and a
descent was made. After a look around at the bottom, I frustratedly
concluded that the ‘dig’ in the chamber which had been described
would be a major operation and unfeasible without a lot of time and
materials.
</p>
<p>I summoned Luke
and Becka in, with Luke complaining substantially about the misery
and shitness. Survey done, we headed out and again had lunch. Further
prospecting then again failed to reveal any alternative ways into the
cave, after looking south-west by around 200m from 110. Two shafts
were dropped, CUCC-2017-21 (tagged, GPS’d, surveyed) and
CUCC-2017-22 (tagged, GPS’d). 21 was a pitch of around 15m leading
to a breakdown area at the bottom with no way on. 22 was of good
novelty value as it was filled with ice and snow at the bottom of a
7m climb, where a small gap behind the back of the snow plug could be
slid down. Nothing at the bottom though.
</p>
<p>Slightly
dejected, we started on the walk home. En route we found some
excellently drafting holes after deciding to divert from the cairned
route. We did a quick dig in one to find a large passage which led to
a smaller diggable passage. I then explored the other entrance for
~20m in shorts and t-shirt to a very loose climb down to large
walking passage. In light of these excellent prospects, we decided
that the area merited another visit the next day.</p>
<div class="timeug">~4 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-30a">2017-07-30</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob</u>, Luke, Becka</div>
<div class="triptitle">GSH - Gl&uuml;cklich Schmetterlingeh&ouml;hle (GSH) and Kein Wassermelonh&ouml;hle (KWH) - initial exploration</div>
<p>We returned with
more rope and drill batteries to rig the loose climb in CUCC-2017-24
(GSH or Happy Butterfly Hole) and to continue digging CUCC-2017-23
(KWH or Not Watermelon Hole). Whilst Luke entertained himself by
digging in a shit muddy shakehole I got on with bolting the climb,
which was trickier than anticipated due to the sheer abundance of
shit rock. Soon I was down and the draft was confirmed to be a gale
force wind. I headed out to find Luke, who informed me that Becka had
also broken through digging in KWH. Great success!</p>
<p>We decided that
we would survey GSH first, with Luke and Becka surveying whilst I
bolted a second small hole which was to the right of the initial
climb at the T junction. I then followed them to act as varnish
bitch. We soon reached a T junction and first took the right branch,
which headed down a large (~3m diameter) steeply ramping phreatic
passage which had quite a few holes in the floor. When skirting round
one of these, Fat Bastard Luke Stangroom managed to exacerbate its
collapse greatly by slipping at the outer edge whilst investigating
it and half blocking the hole with a large boulder.
</p>
<p>Just after this
we got extremely excited, however, because the wind turned into a
Baltic storm, positively whistling through a small sandy hole towards
us. We surveyed to just beyond this and then went back to the other
branch of the T junction for a couple of legs before returning to
survey the climb I had just rigged.
</p>
<p>Myself and Becka
had only just reached the floor when we heard Silverback Stangroom
beating his chest in triumph, for he had found a bypass to the pitch
via a nice boulder choke. We surveyed this passage until we came upon
another potential dig QMB).
</p>
<p>We then went to
survey KWH, which Becka thought was a great cave, and which me and
Luke kept downplaying, though the passage was pretty big (‘It’s
6m wide!’). Then we headed out and home. En route home, we found a
series of exciting holes, one ~50m north-east of GSH and blowing
extremely strongly, and one tagged 2012-SW-02 which looked promising.</p>
<div class="timeug">6 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-31a">2017-07-31</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob</u>, Luke</div>
<div class="triptitle">GSH - pitches, crapping out KWH, scooping</div>
<p>After the
excitement of yesterday, having left all our personal kit and a set
of bolting kit at the cave, we returned optimistic that we would find
something big today. We were under strict instructions from Becka not
to crap out KWH, which she considered her cave. We headed off into
GSH to continue surveying from where we had got to the day before. We
first went up the right-hand fork at the second T junction. After one
further survey leg we realised that we had reached a pitch of about
12m, which had not been noticed before due to the strict scooping
restrictions imposed by Becka. These restrictions were to prove a
great inhibition all round throughout the day.
</p>
<p>We decided to
survey as far as possible in the other direction before returning to
bolt it, having left the drill etc on the surface. A reasonable
distance (~60m) was surveyed, but as it was drafting inwards we
suspected that the passages were leading to the surface. We found
four ways on, three of which became choked with boulders after only a
few further legs. The fourth was a ~5m climb up a drippy aven which
had horizontal passage leading off at the top, but we didn’t climb
this as we thought it was heading to the surface and the climb
probably needed a rope for the way down. This done, we went back to
the surface for a melon break.</p>
<p>We then returned
to the pitch to bolt it. The rock again was extremely poor and there
had clearly been some major ceiling collapse. Huge boulders were
loose at the pitch head. After the drill battery ran out having done
3.5 holes (with the second battery - taped, #1 - doing zero
holes) a scrappy descent was made using the tacklebag as a rope
protector at the top. At the bottom, a rift led off for ~20m before
arriving at another pitch head. This one was huge - at least a 3s
drop. Exciting! We would return with more batteries and rope tomorrow
to drop it. We exited again for a second lunch of snowmelt, noodles
and soup.
</p>
<p>Then we went back
to KWH, where both of the going leads crapped out after only one more
survey leg each. Another example of where further scooping would have
given us extremely useful further information and saved us a lot of
time. The final example of this was when we stuck our heads into the
other drafty hole found the day before, which Becka claimed to have
ventured ~20m into. After ~50m, we found a very drafty pitch which
looked much easier to drop than the pitches in GSH.
</p>
<p>So, with two
excellent prospects (along with two excellent digs for Ash to
investigate), we returned to Top Camp quite early but in high
spirits.</p>
<div class="timeug">6 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-01a">2017-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rob</u>, Luke</div>
<div class="triptitle">GSH - Dropping the big pitch in GSH, Nadia leg break</div>
<p>After having
worked out the optimum route the day before, we headed back to the
cave with Nathan and Nadia in tow. They we to drop the other hole
while we went deep into GSH and then surveyed back. The rigging was
again made difficult by a proliferance of shit rock until the lower
depths of the pitch were reached, where the rock was excellent. Prior
to this, we had spent a good hour crow-barring big table sized
boulders at the top of the pitch rigged yesterday.</p>
<p>At the bottom of
the pitch, a rift was followed for ~60m under and over some boulder
obstacles until another pitch was reached. This was where we stopped
for the day, placing two bolts with the last of the drill battery
before surveying out, which due to the enormous dimensions of the
passage (a huge fault-controlled rift with multiple avens coming off
it) was a twat to visualise on paper.</p>
<p>Soon out and en
route back after receiving a message from Nathan on a soup packet:
‘Nadia injured leg. We need your help. Time now 16:00.’ Three
hours behind, we packed up Nadia’s caving gear and set off back,
picking up her rucksack as well en route at the sight of the
accident. Apparently she had pulled a big boulder onto herself. There
was an obvious section of disturbed mud but we didn’t see the
proclaimed blood splatters.
</p>
<div class="timeug">7 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-02a">2017-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Brendan</u>, George, Adam</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - The Beast, trip #3</div>
</p>
<p><i>(Katey and George failed to write trip reports of the first 2
trips, maybe they were both a bit distracted)</i></p>
<p>*What George
said*</p>
<p>‘Who wants to
go caving with me?’
</p>
<p>*What George
meant*</p>
<p>‘Who would like
to come and sit at a pitch head while I bolt for over <strike>3 hours</strike>
<strike>1.5 hours</strike> 2.5 hours?’</p>
<p>Having lost all
enthusiasm for caving yet needing an excuse to stay at the Stone
Bridge, I saw a golden opportunity to utilise the Brendan Cave Cinema
System<sup>TM</sup>.</p>
<p>This device had
previously been tested with great success in Balkonh&ouml;hle with Corin.
We were able to watch the whole of Skyfall before ASH had finished
rigging his pitch.
</p>
<p><img src="skyfall.jpg" alt="Diagram of Brendan Cave Cinema System in action at The Beast"></p>
<p>Adam and I found
a comfortable spot next to a window through which we could see/hear
George rigging. I told George he would have to scream at least three
times before I could be persuaded to leave the warmth and comfort of
my cave cinema.
</p>
<p>Adam and I
watched the whole of Limitless and half of Focus before leaving to
check on George (at around 5pm we heard flood pulses around the
corner). George and I met at the pitch head to catch up. He had
rigged to the bottom… it crapped out. But the good news was it
ended next to another pitch [later termed ‘Not the Beast’] which
had been rigged previously…</p>
<p><img src="beast2017-08-02.jpg" alt="Diagram of The Beast and Not The Beast"></p>
<div class="timeug">10 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-28c">2017-07-28</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Michael</u>, Corin</div>
<div class="triptitle">Bad Forecast - chossy slope</div>
<p>On a wet, claggy
day we decided that we should at least try to go caving, so we set
out to try and find Bad Forecast, based only on a GPS pin and the
instructions: ‘you go to Balkonh&ouml;hle, then continue up a bit.’
Given the visibility was ~50m and dropping, it took a long time to
get to the right area, and then even longer to find the cave.</p>
<p>Once we had got
to the vicinity of the GPS point, we spread out a bit because we were
unsure of the accuracy of the fix and the reader we were using, or
even if they were using the same datum. We found 2011-01, which we
had been told was less than 30m away from Bad Forecast, then
proceeded to go in every direction except the right one. We
eventually found the cave, right where the GPS told us it was.
</p>
<p>Having not found
any surveying equipment at the Stone Bridge, we had two objectives:
to garden a dangerous slope above the large pitch, and to better
cairn the route there. Low visibility prohibited any cairning, so we
set off down the steep chossy slope to the pitch head. We had a look
down below the pitch to see the large chamber and where the rocks
could fall.
</p>
<p>Coming back up, I
theorised that the second hole near the start of the pitch traverse
would connect to the second half of the large chamber, so dropped a
rock down to let Corin hear where it would fall. It actually landed
in the first half of the chamber, about 2ft from Corin, so don’t do
that.</p>
<p>We pulled the
rope on the pitch up above the pitch head (undoing the rebelay) to
put the rope out of the path of falling rocks for gardening. 2 hours
later we had improved the pitch head from ‘loose gravel’ to
‘muddy gravel’, which we decided was as good as we could get, the
actual rock floor being several feet below. The walk back was no more
visible.</p>
<div class="timeug">4 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-29b">2017-07-29</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Michael</u></div>
<div class="triptitle">Bad Forecast - surface survey</div>
<p>Returning from
the previous day, to surface survey another entrance that I saw on
the way out the previous day. After failing to see the disto laser in
the bright sunlight, I returned to the Stone Bridge to pick up a
tape, compass and clino to do the surface legs. Overall, not an
entrance worth doing unless the handline is not present on the main
entrance.</p>
<div class="timeug">1 hr</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-30b">2017-07-30</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nadia</u>, Fleur, Pete, Brendan</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Sloppy Seconds</div>
<p>The four of us
set off with the intention of dropping some pitches in Sloppy Seconds
and photographing Galactica. When we got to the junction between the
two Brendan and Fleur went down Galactica and Pete and I headed on to
Sloppy Seconds. When we got to the pushing front we scouted out the
leads and decided to traverse around one of the pitches for a
horizontal lead.</p>
<p>Pete was almost
finished rigging the traverse when Fleur and Brendan arrived having
had a surprisingly efficient photography and derigging trip. The only
issue being that Brendan had derigged on his cave lunch.</p>
<p>It was decided
that I would drop the pitch we had traversed around while the others
surveyed past the traverse. I tied into the traverse bolts and
dropped down to do a rebelay. The others carried on and after a few
metres found another pitch. After three failed attempts at placing a
bolt the battery ran out and the others were done surveying. I
swapped over with Brendan and he dropped down to a platform. We
surveyed the platform level and found four more pitches to be dropped
of varying pleasantness. We also confirmed our suspicion that the
nearby holes on the level we had started were connected. We found
multiple mud slopes leading to avens.</p>
<p>We left a
horizontal lead at the higher level, traversing over the second drop
encountered after Pete’s traverse, which a traverse line could be
rigged for. There is also still a pitch at the turn slightly higher
than the rest on this level that potentially does not connect with
the rest of the holes. As well as the obvious lower level pitches
which we did not drop.</p>
<div class="timeug">11 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-01b">2017-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Nadia</u>, Nathan</div>
<div class="triptitle">CUCC-2017-28 - initial exploration</div>
<p>The two of us
were led to a surface prospect by Luke and Rob with a blowing draft
and pitch that needed to be dropped. Because drill batteries were in
short supply I sent the efficient Nathan to bolt the pitch while I
soaked up the sun at the entrance. After a while I mustered up the
enthusiasm to enter the cave and was immediately greeted by Nathan
complaining that the drill battery was dead. He sent me to check if
Luke and Rob were using theirs but not being able to find them or the
bolting equipment I assumed they were using it. Nathan had rigged a
traverse using 6 bolts to the pitch head but had run out of battery
before being able to drop it.</p>
<p>We then headed
back to camp early and tried to add extra cairns to the path. I
climbed up a bit of a ridge to add one, but failed to find any
suitable building materials and climbed down. On my way down I found
a microwave sized loose boulder and dropped it onto my leg. With it
being so early in the day we assumed no one would be at camp. We sat
around for about an hour and a half and then decided we might as well
try to head back. An hour later we had gained about 150m with some
bum shuffling progress. As we carried on I got better at using my leg
without hurting myself and three hours after setting off we arrived
at camp. Having learned to walk no one believed I was seriously
injured. The next day I set off down the hill with Rob and Kristian
and after 5 hours walking I too no longer thought I was seriously
injured. It turns out I am really hard and had a broken leg. It then
later turned out it was a pathetic fracture.</p>
<div class="timeug">&lt; 1 hr</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-03a">2017-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Radost</u>,George</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Cathedral Chasm</div>
<p>We went down
Balcony to investigate Cathedral Chasm following suggestion that
‘there will be 100m of rope waiting there’.</p>
<p>THERE WAS NONE <font face="Wingdings, serif"></font></p>
<p>Prussiked back
up.</p>
<div class="timeug">5 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-07-31b">2017-07-31 to 2017-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Michael</u>, Rachel, Becka</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Underground camp, Snake Pit, Snake Charmer 2 and 3</div>
<p>Set off from the
Stone Bridge at 8am, planning to spend 2 nights at Camp Kraken in
order to follow leads in Snake Charmer. Underground at 9am. Route
finding was simple enough, no major mistakes, and arrived at camp at
12:40. Dumped camping gear and picked up rope and drilling kit,
headed down Octopussy, took two of three drill batteries to the
pushing front.</p>
<p>On the way Rachel
put in another bolt to the lowest rebelay on Snake Charmer, and a
handline on the climb down shortly after. Arrived at the window
looking over the lead, Rachel and I sat in the bothy and put on extra
layers while Becka bolted the main pitch [named Snake Pit] down to
the water.
</p>
<p><img src="ugcamp-2017-07-31.jpg" alt="Rigging Topo"></p>
<p>The water came
from a large ~15m aven just upstream of the pitch. The majority of
the water went down a low passage, along ~50m of vadose rift with
frequent pools and free climbs with flaky sharp limestone. The main
route comes up and left of the water into a rift canyon with pools
and a short 2m climb. Eventually a pitch head (P6) comes up marking
the start of a series of three short pitches.</p>
<p><img src="p6-2017-07-31.jpg" alt="Rigging Topo"></p>
<p>Ended at the
second pitch, uneventful back to camp. Up early on the 1<sup>st</sup>,
headed back to the front with the remaining drill batteries. Third
pitch becomes tighter and leads to a fourth pitch.
</p>
<p><img src="4th-2017-07-31.jpg" alt="Rigging Topo"></p>
<p>Unfortunately,
here we ran out of drill battery so had to turn back, both to camp
and then out to the surface. A brief lunch of noodles fuelled Rachel
and I while Becka powered on out. Return journey also uneventful,
exited the cave at 10:30pm.</p>
<div class="timeug">34 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-02b">2017-08-02 to 2017-08-03</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Fleur</u>, Pete, Ash</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Camp Kraken: below Snake Pit</div>
<p>On 1/8/17 Becka
and co came out with instructions of pushing beyond Snake Pit pitch
which they had descended on the previous trip.</p>
<p>We were
underground by 9am on 2/8/17, in the back of our minds that it might
rain that morning. But we sailed past Procrastination with no
trouble. Onwards to Kraken arriving after ~5 hours. This was Ash’s
deepest trip by a very long way and due to be Pete’s most
substantial trip post hip op. so all was good. After quick noodles,
we set off again, marvelling at the beauty of Octopussy and Living
the Dream. First job was to derig Indian Rope Trick so that we had
more gear for rigging.
</p>
<p>NOTE: it was
impossible to unscrew the clown hanger at the pitch head so we had to
cut the rope out and leave the hanger in situ.
</p>
<p>Then followed
Becka’s detailed instructions down Snake Charmer and Snake Pit to
the impressive stream falling from two inlets. We took he flood
overflow ‘dry’ streamway, arriving at due course at the pushing
front. For expedience I started bolting - a short traverse then
partially down a small pitch. As the rift at the base was small, we
progressed at part height before descending the second part further
along.</p>
<p><img src="2017-08-02-20m-rope.jpg" alt="Rigging topo"></p>
<p>Then the rift
degenerated into small and catchy passage. After initially trying to
go for a ‘look-see’ in case of another pitch, I returned and
stripped off all the drilling paraphernalia. I thrutched at
mid-height then climbed down and squeezed through at low level.
Meanwhile Pete and Ash surveyed behind, and poked an alternative
route in the roof. We both independently popped out into the base or
side of a muddy boulder choke.
</p>
<p>Inching forward
we entered a larger passage. Sadly very soon it became clear this was
Song of the Earth. I found a survey station for us to tie back into.
Then we derigged back to the base of Snake Pit. Here we left ropes in
allowing for pushing of the streamway, but also untied the rope here
from the base so that it could be derigged from the top easily. Left
a gear dump at the base of Octopussy. Back to camp 14 hours after
entering Tunnocks.
</p>
<p>Nice enough night
at camp then out by ~6pm the next day. Just in time to miss the
impending thunderstorm.</p>
<div class="timeug">33 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-01c">2017-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>George</u>, Fleur, Pete</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Prospecting, 2016-01</div>
<p>Revisited 2016-01
(explored briefly the previous year). Coordinates: 33T UTM 0411651,
5283655. Elevation: 1888m. Also went to find the drafting hole,
untagged, identified by Pete 2(?) years ago. Coordinates: 33T UTM
0411202, 5283393. Elevation: 1782m.
</p>
<p><i>2016-01: </i>3m
climb down into 2x3m surface depression with muddy floor. Single bolt
in wall at head height, descending small hole (obvious) at far end of
depression. Optional deviation from chockstone adjacent to hole,
rebelay ~2m down shaft. I descended to the end of the rope (22m + 9m
- too short!) then downclimbed the rest of the shaft (~6m). Passage
continues underneath ledge turning back on itself (limit of 2016
exploration). Further 4m downclimb and the passage very soon gets too
tight/filled in. ascending passage on the left ends similarly. DEAD.</p>
<p><img src="p30-ish.jpg" alt="Rigging topo and survey sketch"></p>
<p><i>Pete’s hole:
</i>wriggle down a slot and climb down ~2m. Very short crawl
immediately ends in tiny chamber with draft emerging from under large
slab of rock. Spent some time digging out cobbles but slab requires
capping for further progress.</p>
<div class="timeug">~ 1hr</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-02c">2017-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Alice</u>, Rachel, Corin, Michael</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - not finding Sloppy Seconds, touristing, flooding</div>
<p>We headed to
Balcony with the intention of pushing Sloppy Seconds. We were
underground by midday and nominated Rachel as leader as she knew how
to get to Hilti-A-Plenty. However, none of us knew for sure how to
get to Sloppy Seconds (we were looking for Bat Country first off).
</p>
<p>I enjoyed the
entrance series and the completely dry big pitch (this is apparently
abnormal) and the following pitches down Hilti-A-Plenty. We took a
left at the bottom in the hope of finding the right way, but sadly
this was not the case. After much fun exploring, we decided to head
back to the bottom of Hilty and take the other (correct) passage. It
soon became clear that we were not going to find Sloppy Seconds, so,
as it was my first trip, we replanned for a tourist trip to Ice Cock
Aven.
</p>
<p>After ascending
the pitch leading to Cathedral Chasm, Corin decided to head out with
Ash’s pushing rope as he had been to Ice Cock Aven only the day
before. The journey for the three remaining was very enjoyable as I
like a good climb and there were some good sandy crawls. The ice
formations were as good as promised and Michael gave a great tour of
the area. We then set off out.
</p>
<p>I was first onto
the ‘15m pitch’ when we heard a rumbling noise. We gave each
other a worried look before quickly deciding to retreat away from the
pitch to see where the water would appear. It was 5:40pm at this
point and we found out that although the far side of the chamber gets
wet we were alright to go up.
</p>
<p>Our next concern
was how far Corin had got as the entrance series big pitch is too wet
to pass in flood. Thankfully we found him in the bottom of the
entrance series in a bothy bag singing contentedly. He had had a
similar close call, having retreated after just putting his croll on
the rope.
</p>
<p>It then became a
military operation to put on out extra warm layers and prepare for a
long wait in the bothy bag. We sat on rope and put tacklesacks below
our feet to keep warm. The efficiency was excellent and we soon had
water, food and a seating plan ready for our party. We pulled the bag
over and made sure to leave a small hole for oxygen. Six games of
‘what time is it?’ and lots of chats later, Rachel went to check
if the much less noisy pitch was now only drippy. After shouting down
that it was good we all gradually left the bothy and headed out
safely, almost missing callout at 11pm. What a first trip.
</p>
<div class="timeug">11 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-02d">2017-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Luke</u>, Becka</div>
<div class="triptitle">GSH - bottom of big pitch</div>
<p>With Rob
escorting Nadia down the hill Becka was keen to see the continuation
of GSH. Successful distribution of drill batteries. Set off to cave,
route needs cairning but only takes 30 minutes. Mike and Nathan in
CUCC-2017-28 (now named Fisch Gesicht H&ouml;hle). Inspected some
horizontal leads at head of big pitch but crapped out immediately.
Still had drill battery so descended to the pushing front from last
trip. Battery wouldn’t die so had to keep on going, multiple
options but ran out of rope.
</p>
<p>On exit flood
pulse happened at the top of the big pitch so not sure how it
responds to water. CouldaWouldaShoulda was rigged perfectly out of
the water. Exited cave, tagged CUCC-2017-28 noting that Mike and
Nathan had probably not had any drill battery. Back to Top Camp in 40
minutes, confirmed that Nathan and Mike got no holes. Almost acted as
callout for Balcony crew who got rained in despite the rain happening
for 30 minutes 5 hours previously.
</p>
<div class="timeug">6 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-01d">2017-08-01</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Mike Butcher</u>, Kristian, Adam</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Nothing To See</div>
<p>My first trip on
the hill having arrived and walked up the day before. Good
introduction to Balcony pushing in the Nothing To See area. Kristian
tried bolting the pitch at the end, only to find his two drill
batteries were flat. So he went back out to get fresh ones from Top
Camp.
</p>
<p>Meanwhile Adam
and I rigged the pitch from the naturals available, first dropping a
tube to the right of the traverse which was choked with boulders
partway down. After unsuccessfully trying to clear the boulders by
kicking them into the void below (too stable to be safely moved), we
then dropped the main lead to find it also choked by boulders below
the second pitch. I was able to squeeze past into a 8x3m chamber
below, but Adam declined to continue. From the chamber, a tight
meander could be slithered along for seven body lengths before
becoming too tight. To the right a phreatic passage 3m above the
floor was choked by mud. In the roof two shafts came in, both
appeared choked with boulders part way up, the right-most shaft being
the one I had dropped earlier, and the leftmost joined the bae of the
first pitch. We surveyed from above the boulder squeeze, but having
forgotten a pencil Adam had to engrave onto the page.</p>
<p>We had finished
by the time Kristian returned with the ‘fresh’ battery. So we
went to investigate the climbing lead Adam, Luke and Rachel had
previously tried but thought it needed bolting. It was an inclined
phreatic tube ~30m high, easily free climbable but exposed. From the
top, another parallel shaft was to the left which continued up but
also needed bolting.
</p>
<p>To the right a
narrow passage soon joins another shaft similar to the other two,
which we suspect drops down to the choked pitches we had rigged
earlier, but also continues up, requiring bolting. At this point
Kristian’s fresh battery was also flat, so rigged off a natural and
then made our way out. The shafts need a return trip to survey and
possibly bolt.
</p>
<div class="timeug">10 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-06c">2017-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip Sargent</u>, Becka, George</div>
<div class="triptitle">204 - warm-up trip</div>
<p>Tourist trip to
test out Philip’s gear (and Philip) in 204, doing the first two
pitches. The snow plugs were the smallest ever seen, according to
Becka.
</p>
<div class="timeug">2 hrs</div>
<p><img src="gsh-rg.jpg" alt="Rigging topos for GSH"></p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-02e">2017-08-02</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Mike Butcher</u>, Nathan</div>
<div class="triptitle">CUCC-2017-28 - aka Fisch Gesicht H&ouml;hle (FGH)</div>
<p>Went to drop the
pitch reached by Nathan the day before, having rigged a traverse
before his batteries died. However, our drill battery was flat. No
surprise. Nathan very angry. We surveyed up to the top of the pitch.
On the way out, instead of dropping the pitch and surveying, I
dropped the survey down the pitch. Nathan very sad.
</p>
<p>Note to self 1:
do not stuff notebooks down jumper when only wearing shorts and
jumper and over a pitch.</p>
<p>Note to self 2:
cave very cold and windy. Do not wear shorts and jumper.</p>
<div class="timeug">1.5 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-09a">2017-08-09 to 2017-08-10</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob</u>, Becka, Rob</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Camp Kraken: below Snake Pit, Northern Slackers</div>
<p>Underground just
after 9am. I had not been to the deep stuff in Tunnocks before, so I
waited at the bottom of Caramel Catharsis for Becka (Rob had gone
ahead) and route finding instructions. Apart from the bottom of
String Theory, I did not have too much trouble finding my around, and
we were at camp just after 12:30.</p>
<p>From here, we
went to try and push a lead below Snake Pit, which is very
Yorkshire-ish stream passage. We followed it to a pitch which had not
been dropped. Once Rob had bolted it, we surveyed to another deeper
pitch which took he stream and (we assumed) dropped into Song of the
Earth. We then derigged our way up to the bottom of Octopussy. From
here we went into the far north of Slackers to investigate a lead
that George had been talking about that morning. For a while this
tested Becka’s route finding ability (she was the only one who had
been there before), but eventually we found ourselves above Grike of
the Earth. The lead was above this, up a short handline climb (which
gained a not-so-helpful rebelay at the request of Becka). The pitch
we dropped led down to a large drippy passage which carried a small
stream. After 20m the stream disappears down a crack in the floor
while the way on continues above this, with one hole below that
presumably leads back down to the stream which we left as a question
mark. The passage became smaller and draftier and, below another
short pitch, became steeply sloping with a dry muddy floor. By this
point it was 9pm and in order to sleep at any way a reasonable hour
we had to leave, which took some careful diplomacy by Becka and I. it
was still a promising lead and would need to be visited again one
day. We named it Beckoning Silence.</p>
<p>On our way back
we derigged everything below Camp, and then ate everything we
possibly could at camp before bed. Despite missing/failing to set our
alarms we were up and ready quite early and we were all on ropes
carrying other ropes (and drills and poo etc) by 9:30am. Rain was
forecast for the afternoon so we wanted to make sure we were all
above Procrastination with plenty of time to spare. All went very
smoothly until the entrance pitch, where we had to pass Ruairidh,
Aidan, Fleur and Pete on their way down. Got to the surface just in
time to get rained on on the walk back to Top Camp.</p>
<p><img src="snakebite.jpg" alt="Rigging Topo Lower Snakebite and Beckoning Silence"></p>
<div class="timeug">29 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-07b">2017-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Philip S</u>, Adam, Aidan</div>
<div class="triptitle">plateau - Prospecting beyond FGH and GSH</div>
<ul>
<li>GPS track recorded for whole walk (used Brendan’s GPS)</li>
<li>Altitudes done (GPS) for FGH and GSH</li>
<li>3 reasonable holes found</li>
</ul>
<p><i>#1 ‘Delicate
Bridge Hole’: </i>near skipole, rigged from natural and steelpole
section to snowslope, 40m. Tagged. [Adam and Corin returned to this
the next day and crapped it out).</p>
<p>#2 and 3: three
big holes and pit, see survey notes. [WALLET?]</p>
<p>[Editors note: Adam managed to mislay all the notes of this trip,
including the numbers of the tags made and left in the caves;
and the notes were not found on the 2018 or 2019 expos despite looking for them.
They never went near a wallet apparently.]
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-06d">2017-08-06</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan</u>, Rob, Adam</div>
<div class="triptitle">FGH - below first pitch</div>
<p>We descended the
entrance series at around midday to investigate some leads found
previously by Mike and Alice. Adam and I surveyed the main chamber
and some side passages whilst Rob dropped a small pitch to the left
hand side of the main chamber below the pitch.</p>
<p><i>Quick note
from Rob: </i>the passage is along the ‘windy tunnel’ as termed
by Mike and Alice, and the pitch was rigged on naturals (I added a
bolt on the next trip) as the drill battery died immediately when I
was trying to drop a rift slightly further along the passage.</p>
<p><i>Aidan
continued:</i> Once we had finished surveying, Adam and I met Rob at
the head of this small pitch, where he had identified several
promising leads which we then surveyed. One lead arrived at a choked
crawl, down a small climb; another lead produced a pitch with a
promising potential traverse, which we left for another day due to
the dearth of drill battery.</p>
<p>The final lead
produced a long rift after a slightly dubious downclimb (which I
nearly fell off), eventually leading to a stream flowing underneath
the rift. We then headed out as Adam’s fingers were starting to
become painful after his mishap at the lake, and reached the bivi
before sunset.</p>
<div class="timeug">5 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-08a">2017-08-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan</u>, Radost</div>
<div class="triptitle">FGH - pushing the big pitch</div>
<p>Radost and I
dropped a pitch bolted the day before by Rob after he ran out of
rope. The pitch was some 50m down a small icy pitch series to the
right of the entrance. The pitch we dropped passed through the icy
layer of the cave to one somewhat warmer. Whilst the top of the pitch
was promising, the bottom was less so - one crawl, which choked
after 10m; one tight, inaccessible rift and on the opposite side of
the base of the chamber there was a rift that could be squeezed
through for 15m or so until it became too tight to navigate. We both
tried again without SRT kits, as the rift was drafty, but little more
progress was made. Eventually, we sacked it off and derigged the
pitch hang; Radost thought he saw some leads halfway up the pitch on
the way out, which may be worth another look.
</p>
<div class="timeug">7 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-07c">2017-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Radost</u>, Rob, Alice, Becka</div>
<div class="triptitle">FGH - dropping pitches, ice</div>
<p>Firstly we went
down to the left of the entrance pitch with the help of a handline
towards a tight rift [explored the day before by Adam, Rob and
Aidan]. Ended with too tight passage. Went back to the entrance
chamber to survey it. Across the ramp bolted and rigged a pitch to
the right. Successfully descended pitch onto a massive block of ice.
Horizontal rift passage leads to junction: forwards in an icy tube
leads to an aven and right to a chossy passage that needed rigging.
This stopped us from progressing further [though the pitch was mainly
dropped]. Surveying backwards we exited the cave safely.</p>
<div class="timeug">9 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-07d">2017-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Sarah</u>, Kristian</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Nothing to See - surveying and photography</div>
<p>We descended the
Balcony entrance pitch, myself taking it embarrassingly slowly and
cautiously due to my lack of caving for several months. On reaching
the bottom Kristian led me to and down Hilti-A-Plenty, and then on a
sporting romp to Nothing to See (featuring a traverse, a sandy crawl
and a bold step that was ‘a bit dodgy’ - K Brook, 2017).
</p>
<p>Once there we
completed surveying as far as possible and took some distances up two
potential leads that required bolt climbing to reach. Once this was
done we bumbled back towards Hilti-A-Plenty and took some amusing
sponsorship photos, featuring myself jealously guarding my Tunnocks
bars and Kristian enjoying a refreshing drink of pesto. Nothing to
See was then derigged and we made our way out slowly due to my
tendency to prussik at a snails pace. We arrived back at camp in time
to watch a lovely sunset and moonrise.</p>
<div class="timeug">7 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-08b">2017-08-08</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Jacob</u>, Elaine, Haydon</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Caramel Catharsis photo trip</div>
<p>Haydon and I went
from the Stone Bridge and met Elaine at Tunnocks (with Elliott) at
just after 10:30am. Haydon went in first and zoomed ahead while
Elaine and I were a bit slower. The original plan was to head to camp
at Kraken to take some sponsorship photos with Tunnocks bars.
However, issues with Haydon and Elaine’s SRT kits forced us to
change the plan. We decided to take some photos at Caramel Catharsis
and head out. Pester Haydon for the pictures.</p>
<div class="timeug">6 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-07e">2017-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Fleur</u>, Pete, Corin</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Sloppy Seconds to Second Wind</div>
<p>Had walked up on
Sunday ready to hit Sloppy Seconds the next day when drier conditions
prevailed. The absence of a good draft last time meant I was not too
optimistic, but also committed to try and trace the draft on the way
in. the draft going into Galactica came from Sloppy Seconds, but but
mainly up from the base of the second set of pitches (see trip by
Rachel, Adam and Nathan earlier in the expo). In fact, the draft on
this trip came up here and into the horizontal passage.
</p>
<p>We carried on to
our previous limit, where Pete chose the right hand pitch lead. This
route was initially muddy, then drippy as an aven with a small stream
was passed. However drill battery failure (again) left Pete in a
small clean rift looking down a narrow pitch with no more drill
power. With two slings he got further and saw pitch continuing, but
small and wet (QMB). Hence heading back up to try second (left hand)
pitch as best we could on a couple of slings. Tied rope around huge
rock and Corin made his first descent of an unexplored pitch. A sling
made a rebelay and I followed adding two deviations.
</p>
<p>At the base one
way choked after two climbs down. But the other way led to a drafting
tube - yay, we had refound the wind! More dodgy natural rigging saw
us at the end of the rope staring down a two metre wide steep
phreatic ramp. Game on!</p>
<p><img src="two-hole-horror.jpg" alt="Rigging topos for Second Wind"></p>
<div class="timeug">14 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-09b">2017-08-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Fleur</u>, Pete</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Sloppy Seconds, Second Hand</div>
<p>Having escaped
the deep Tunnocks derig, I sneaked in another trip to our Second Wind
lead in Sloppy Seconds with Pete. With an absence of functioning
drill batteries we decided to go old school and hand bolt.</p>
<p>Relatively good
progress to the limit where we spent three hours placing five bolts
to get down the shaft that followed the ramp. Rob and Becka had left
us a starting bolt, Pete added a Y before two more rebelays to the
end of the 28m rope. We then swapped so Pete got a chance to shiver
whilst I tied in the next rope and added another belay to reach the
floor 20 - 25m below. Here I landed on a boulder pile. A small hole
led into a rift. Not looking promising. A final spit allowed me to
abseil into the hole, but there was no way on. The draft we were
chasing was coming out of the boulders and there was no option but to
derig and go home.
</p>
<p>Took out as much
rope and gear as we could manage, making it out at 11pm. Had some
final excitement as thunderstorm broke while I was on the entrance
shaft and got a soaking. But out to amazing lightning show and lots
of thunder.</p>
<p><img src="second-hand.jpg" alt="Rigging topo for Second Hand"></p>
<div class="timeug">13 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-07f">2017-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Rob</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Sloppy Seconds: Second Wind and Dog End Series</div>
<p>Batteries were in
very short supply (three total at Top Camp, <font face="Wingdings, serif"></font>
) so we headed off with our allocation (one) plus three ropes and
lots of metalware down some seriously slippy rope to the ‘ramp’
at the pushing front from yesterday’s Second Wind trip.
</p>
<p>We arrived, Rob
kitted up and set to on the first bolt. Drzzzzzzzzzz… went the
drill. Grrrrrrrr went Rob. He managed to wheedle a single bolt out of
the battery, put in a deathly dodgy deviation from a perched boulder
and abseiled down a bit. The ‘ramp’ rapidly switched from steep
to vertical with not a hope of naturals so sense prevailed and we
gave up there, leaving the rope for a better equipped party.
</p>
<p>We returned to
the top of the Second Wind pitches and dropped the pitch opposite the
horizontal passage at the bottom of Sloppy Seconds (straight on
rather than through the mud tube to the left leading to the start of
Second Wind). My ‘pitch head’ natural was a monster but the next
one immediately cracked off when I weighted it. However, some mud
excavation gave a convincing thread for a rebelay down to confusing
bridge area. Rob came down and we spent some time digging mud out to
give a second decent thread anchor to descend to one way to a dead
end and then a second way which continued as a pitch/climb down. We
had nothing to rig this but Rob clambered down on shitty rock (later
regretting his boldness) and it continued (QMA, pretty drafty and
cold but shit cave). We finished the survey, getting very muddy, then
headed out.
</p>
<div class="timeug">8 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-09c">2017-08-09</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Corin</u>, Aidan, Sarah, Radost, Ruairidh, Alice</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Cathedral Chasm, attempted derig</div>
<p>All of the more
experienced expedition cavers seemed to be busy, so a fairly
straightforward trip was needed which we (Aidan, Alice, Radost and I)
could take the new arrivals on (Sarah, Ruairidh). The aim was to
derig the pitch in Cathedral Chasm which Ash had rigged (over many
hours, entirely on naturals) and use the rope to drop a drippy hole
nearby. We eventually passed the Balcony entrance series and got to
Cathedral Chasm. The number of people on this trip was clearly a few
too many.
</p>
<p>Aidan, Sarah,
Radost and Ruairidh went to have a look at Ice Cock aven while Alice
and I went to derig the pitch. The pitch had some unconventional
rigging, and was rigged very tightly on naturals with some awkward
sections. Neither of us had done much derigging before and we were
both somewhat intimidated so we promptly fucked off at speed. We
apologised to the others and then bailed on the trip. Six people was
too many for this trip so it was a bit of a clusterfuck, but
eventually gained the surface.</p>
<p><i>Note from
Alice: </i>the bottom of the pitch series led to a shelf that I was
unable to reach. The cross section below shows the rigging at the
time.
<p><img src="rebelay-shelf.jpg" alt=""></p>
<div class="timeug">7 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-10a">2017-08-10</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rachel</u>, George</div>
<div class="triptitle">Balcony - Cathedral Chasm and Dark Arts</div>
<p>The aim of the
trip was to derig Cathedral Chasm and poke around George’s lead in
the Dark Arts. We followed Ash’s exceptional rigging and were
thoroughly impressed with his resourcefulness and creativity. The man
deserves recognition and from now, the pitch will be known as the
Mashterpiece.</p>
<p>At the bottom of
the rigging, a ledge led to a short crawl and a 5m pitch. We
considered how much rope we could cut off the Mashterpiece given the
swing across necessary to ascend. We tied off the rope with a length
of cord we had brought.</p>
<p>The 5m pitch gave
way to a north-bound rift with a crawl, QMA, for 10m after a C4 down
and we left it at a 20m+ pitch, drafting inwards. The obvious way on
from the P5 is up a C4 to another chamber, then C14 (chimney) down to
a large, echoey chamber. This had a huge jammed boulder, heading a
30m+ pitch, also very worth dropping (QMA). We surveyed from the
bottom of the Mashterpiece to the C14 climb, but it needs tying into
the above survey (we were unsure where this ended, so didn’t bother
to risk duplicating work). We promptly ran away to the Dark Arts.</p>
<p>George had tried
to drop a P15 for the previous two years, and we finally dragged the
final four functional drill batteries through the crawling rift with
trench in the floor. I was somewhat behind with the rope bag when
swearing filled the passage. It transpired that George had done a bad
thing. He had let the drill bag slip down the rift whilst leaning
back through an awkward dog-leg at the pitch head.
</p>
<p>The next 20
minutes involved a whole hearted effort of ‘hook-a-duck’, where I
tried to manoeuvre the bag with a snapgate, tied open on the end of a
piece of cord. For reference, if possible, hauling from the
top/bottom of the bag may be more successful than the shoulder
straps. George gave his best in forcing his arm down the rift and the
bag was eventually retrieved.</p>
<p>George set about
bolting the awkward pitch head. Batteries 8, 13, and 15 successfully
gave us half a hole in the shit rock, before the mighty number 14
finished the job. The 25m pitch gave way to a ‘skanky’ (George,
2017) pool of water and parallel shaft that also went nowhere.
</p>
<p>Quite cold and
disheartened, we left to find the entrance series rather wet.
Deciding to give it half an hour, we set about investigating the
flood drum. Some items are of obvious importance, although the
absence of a pan is noteworthy in the presence of a stove, gas
cylinder and large selection of oatso’s and soups. Fairly
frustrated, we braved the not-very-wet entrance.
</p>
<div class="timeug">10hrs</div>
<p><img src="sump.jpg" alt="Sketvch survey of Loser Lido sump below Grike of the Earth"></p>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-07g">2017-08-07</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rachel</u>, George, Mike Butcher</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Camp Kraken: killing Grike of the Earth</div>
<p>From camp, we
headed north to a bolt climb lead (QMA). Mike free-climbed 5m to a
ledge and was unable to climb further, so he placed a bolt and pulled
through down.
</p>
<p><i>Note from
Mike: </i>rock was very flakey, holds were coming off in my hands,
would need thru bolting to progress. Also loose looking boulder
above.
</p>
<p><i>Back to
Rachel: </i>in Grike of the Earth, from the ledge we headed
northwest, following pleasant walking passage, turning into inactive
stream passage with higher false floor. This led to a 40m pitch to a
large rift chamber, clear sump pool and drippy aven. No obvious leads
could be found from here. From the ledge, southeast tunnel, dropped
20m on a ramp down to a mud sump. A previously noted ‘too tight
rift’ directly north was followed for ~20m where the draft
disappeared into the choked ceiling. At 3am, we headed back to camp,
to derig the next day.</p>
<div class="timeug">42 hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-10b">2017-08-10</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Aidan</u>, Fleur, Pete, Ruairidh</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Shallow Tunnocks leads - Double Barrel</div>
<p>
We decided to investigate leads in Tunnocks due to expected rain. I
went to the base of the entrance pitch whilst the others negotiated
their way down. Eventually we met the campers (Rob, Becka and Jacob)
who passed the others on the entrance series, and Ruairidh and Pete
headed back to the surface after some extensive SRT practice.
</p>
<p>
Fleur and I checked out a number of leads in Tunnocks (three QMA in
the Double Barrel area, all small pitches to be dropped) which fell
apart due to apparent dodgy historic surveying. The first QMA we
checked out was through Starfish Junction, again past Petticoat
Junction; however, we came across a 15m pitch in the way of this lead
which we had missed on the survey, and could not cross the pitch so
abandoned this lead after some viewing.
</p>
<p>
As an alternative we went the alternate way down Hedonism Highway to
2008-41-B(?) in Rocky Road. This lead was very promising, continuing
for 40m or so up some climbs until we found a 2009 era rope down a
pitch lead. As a result we abandoned these leads and decided to
investigate the survey further.
</p>
<p>
<i>Note from Fleur:</i> I could find no record of this lead being
pushed in the 2008 - 2016 logbooks, no data in Survex and nothing
in Tunnel. A mystery!</p>
<p>
<i>Back to Aidan: </i>an alternate route down Rocky Road led to a
series of P5 pitches which allegedly produced a QMB; however, after
dropping these with naturals and hand bolting (good practice for me)
we discovered this lead was in fact an aven.</p>
<p>
After this, we headed out. The trip was very good practice for me and
I hope for Ruairidh as well. Mainly, I hope Fleur enjoyed a run
around Tunnocks as much as I did.
</p>
<div class="timeug">9hrs</div>
<hr />
<div class="tripdate" id="t2017-08-14a">2017-08-14</div>
<div class="trippeople"><u>Rachel</u>, Rob, Alex</div>
<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks - Camp Kraken derig</div>
<p>
The paella had been unanimously sacked off. (Real reasons apply).
After arriving at camp, we learnt Rob had investigated Anthemusa and
was thoroughly unimpressed.</p>
<p>
<i>Note from Rob: </i>I wouldn’t say I was thoroughly unimpressed
after a look at the survey and consideration of the possibilities.
Big potential, could find another Kraken. To access, cross Turtle
traverse (slippy, bolted, can do without a rope but high stakes if
you slip) and ascend choss slope. Possible to kick rocks down so care
required. Good draft coming out of entrance to Anthemusa chamber
proper near top of slope. Enter drippy chamber where draft
dissipates. Chamber very large with a lot of loose muddy boulders.
Hard to work out way on. Pre-2017 survey and 2015 logbook have pitch
noted in northeast corner that I could not find (though didn’t
spend very long there). Needs another look by a team who enjoy
boulders and technical bolting. I didn’t do much poking as I was on
my own and having a boulder move under the circumstances would not
have done well.</p>
<p>
<i>Rachel continuing: </i>after we had stripped camp Alex set off
with three hefty tacklesacks, Rob following with two whilst I
derigged Kraken to remove it from the cave. The rope for Inferno was
pulled up and coiled in sets up to the rebelays to support the
riggers next year, left at the pitch head. Magic Glue was pulled up
and left at the pitch head, one of the deviations was removed (can’t
remember which). Widow Twankies rope was removed from the cave, with
Rob ferrying seven tacklesacks from pitch to pitch as far as the
bottom of Procrastination. The short rope below Number of the Beast
was derigged and coiled.
</p>
<p>
Tacklebags were removed including the camp pits and degradables (full
list available). Three tacklebags containing rope from below camp
were removed, in summary, and all but three rope bags which were left
at the following stations:</p>
<ul>
<li>Bottom of Number of the Beast</li>
<li>Top of Number of the Beast</li>
<li>Bottom of Procrastination</li>
</ul>
<p>
A very solid effort put in by all, as Rob and I exited the cave
shortly after Alex. Hiltis greased and reflected appropriately.
</p>
<p>
P.S. I did the ‘womens work’ of cleaning the tent floor with
disinfectant and then washing up and tidying up whilst Rob and Alex
did the ‘proper work’.</p>
<div class="timeug">15 hrs</div>
<hr />
<p>
STUFF LEFT AT CAMP 14/8/17:</p>
<ul>
<li>14 soups</li>
<li>1.5 bags smash</li>
<li>27 tea bags</li>
<li>2 sandwich bags custard</li>
<li>1 sandwich bag sugar</li>
<li>1 sandwich bag milk powder</li>
<li>4 sandwich bags flapjack</li>
<li>1 sandwich bag ready brek</li>
<li>15 tea lights</li>
<li>1 nail varnish</li>
<li>3 pencils</li>
<li>Small amount cleaning fluid (for tent cleaning)</li>
<li>5 green hi gear mugs</li>
<li>4 roll mats</li>
<li>1/3 460ml gas canister</li>
<li>Poo stool</li>
<li>3 daren drums (water)</li>
<li>2 billy pans</li>
<li>Lighter</li>
<li>2016 camp first aid kit</li>
<li>Small amount whisky</li>
</ul>
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