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573 lines
51 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
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<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
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<title>2012 Expo Logbook</title></head>
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<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../css/main2.css" />
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<body id="logbk">
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<h1>Expo 2012</h1>
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<img src="logbkimg1.png" alt="frontispiece flower and sun drawing">
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<!--fragment for each trip --
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-07-">2012-07</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u></u></div>
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<div class="triptitle"></div>
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<p></p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: </div>
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--end of fragment-->
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-07-29a">2012-07-29</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Julia Bradshaw, Anthony Day, Martin Green,
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Jessica Stirrups, Emma Wilson</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">Holy Bondage</div>
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<img align="right" src="logbkimg2.png" alt="document seal">
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<p>
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On this date, with the exchange of geartape Julia "the bloke" Bradshaw
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and Dour "the beardy one" Day were in the sanctity of the tattiehut
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joined in Holy Bondage until the day that one or the other fall apart.
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</p>
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<p>Registrar: Martin Green<br>
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Witnessed: Jessica Stirrups<br>
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Emma Wilson<br>
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</p>
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<hr>
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<div>
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<pre>
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Rope for rigging down to pushing in 204
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A => 48 (up), 30, +70 (up) [Last item annnoted 'wrong' in pencil]
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King Carbide => 50/60
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Brians phat shaft => 82+30
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Painted Lady => ~30m
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Puss in bolts + on the prowl traverse => 30+27, rope protector,
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deviation
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Fat Cat => 80, (or 25,45,12) may need more for swing off -> log book
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states "QMA would require swing & prob more rigging to assist swing"
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Actual ropes => A: 41m, 11mm, chop from 92m
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King Carbide: chop from 92m 10mm
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Brians : 92 + 38 11mm
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Painted Lady => 140m 10mm
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Puss in bolts => 34 9mm
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On the prowl => 29 9mm
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Fat Cat => 140 10mm
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</pre></div>
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<hr>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07a">2012-08-07</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u> Serena</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Wook comes out in the Wookmobile</div>
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<p>
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Wook & Serena filled the van with lots of food & gear & set off for
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expo. Remarkably traffic-free trip in the UK & across europe. Realised
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at dover that we'd failed to bring a map of europe in physical or
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digital form, so did a quick download + make plan on cheap UK data.
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Worked very well offline so failed to get lost at all. Had 4hrs kip
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en-route.
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</p><p>
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Very hot all the way here until thunderstorms from Reid in Imkreis
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onwards. _Very_ wet. Got to Bad Aussee having heard that there was a
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big concert on but traffic had cleared. Main Rd to Grundlesee was
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closed & we were sent the back way, only to find it was totally packed
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with drenched pedestrians & vehicles coming the other way. Eventually
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got to the main rd to find totally stationary traffic. Went nowhere
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for about half an hour before finally inching down to camp site which
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was utterly heaving.
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</p><p>
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Left 5:30pm, arrived 9:30pm.
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</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-03a">2012-08-03</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Martin</u> Frank</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Rigged Tunnockschacht entrance pitches</div>
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<p>[No text]</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-04a">2012-08-04</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Martin</u> Jess, Dour, Frank</div>
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<div class="triptitle"></div>
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<p>Martin rigged Fat Cat and explored the wrong way to solution pocket 8m
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long & 10m high
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</p><p>
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Dour sat at the top for 3hrs and got quite cold.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 8hrs</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-01">2012-08-01</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">Rigging 204</div>
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<p>
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Rigged the entrance pitch to 204. Found that the snow was quite low.
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My spanner made a descent of the 2nd pitch, at which point I went out
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 1hrs</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-04b">2012-08-04</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Frank</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle"></div>
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<p>
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Popped down the hole to top of Fat Cat. Jess pointed me towards Emmas
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alternative hole, using backup of Fat Cat started on a quick pootle
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downhill. Realised quite quckly I'd been sandbagged into a hard
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bolting nightmare. No slings so cut end off rope to make one and head
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down in tight rift.</p>
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<p>
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Ended in rift that opened, placed bolt and headed down. Some minor
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rubs that probably didn't damage the rope... Found a nice looking
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natural and destroyed it one hit. Didn't make the mistake a second
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time and cut end off rope to make a sling, arrived at sharp eyehole
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looking for deviation - Jess called down from Emma's 'actual' hole
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'which was nice'. Lost confidence in rock after dinner-plate fell off,
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taking note of natural above. Made 'Y' hang but [unreadable] with hand
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bolts. Wish I had not lost drill bit at bivvy.</p>
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<p>PS pitch heads back under and appears to connect to Fat Cat pitch.
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</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-04c">2012-08-04</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Emma</u>, Holly</div>
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<div class="triptitle">204 -> Fat Cat</div>
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<p>Went down to fat cat to attempt to rig pitch so we could swing off
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into "window". Holly placed 3 Hiltis to put us in a nice place for
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hang to near window. Had Hilti setting issues -> wasn't sure about
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setting of last one.</p>
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<p>When I went down I forgot the hammer so decided it was time to
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leave. Exited the cave in v. exciting wet conditions as there was a monster storm on the surface - Holly bravely went first, We got soaked but it was passable.</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 9.5hrs</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-05a">2012-08-05</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Emma</u>, Holly</div>
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<div class="triptitle">204 -> Fat Cat</div>
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<p>Back to fat cat to set the last hilti & drop down. Dropped pitch to near survey stn 14 of fat cat survey. Saw window on way down that Holly managed to rig rope to -> Just a pocket at horizontal level but climb up with QMA above.</p>
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<p>Also dropped pitch below window -> led to scrotty passage which opened upa bit QMB at end & QMA with V. good draft & possible pitch on left. Nice and dry on way out today :-) </p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 12hrs</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-05b">2012-08-05</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Julia</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle"></div>
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<p>7th of August 2012 on which day we learn that leaving one's spare van key inside the van is not a smart idea ...</p>
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<p>Dour could not be swayed by the temptation of a piss-up in town, he was tempted by the dark side, and by Emma-the-keen. So the alarm went off at 6.30am. He jumped out of his pit and stuck his head back into the tent shortly later to say goodbye. Fair enough I suppose, going caving on a caving expedition...</p>
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<p>I meanwhile slept off two consecutive seshes and crawled out of my pit at 10:50. To find Dunks, Noel and Frank standing around the cars having a giggle. The giggling increased significantly when I tried the van door. Dour-the-organised, having borrowed my van key first thing, and meaning to give it back when he came over to say goodbye. Instead got a lift up the road and walked all the way to top camp before realising he still had the key in his pocket. DOH.</p>
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<p>Not being able to drive the van for a day or so probably wouldn't be the end of the world (after all, this is only the second expo I've been on with my own driving licence), but I gradually worked out that the ever-lengthening list of things left in the van included pills, wallet, walkingboots, maps, day rucksack, walking pole etc. Crap. Dour found the van key <u>after</u> Holly and Stuart had set off walking so couldn't send it down the hill with them. Several phone calls later, as I sat trying to plan my day (baring in mind the street party tonight and subsequently written-off tomorrow), remembering more and more useful shit that was locked in our van, a solution was found. But there was much grumbling in certain quarters.</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-02">2012-08-02</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Duncan</u>, Dour, Emma, Jess, Frank</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Rigging King Carbide</div>
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<p>Grand plans for rigging all the way to Fat Cat were scuppered by dint of us spending a while convincing ourselves that we were actually at K Carbide, then adding second bolt to make the rig more suitable for a trade route.</p>
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<img src="logbkimg3.png" alt="Rigging diagram for King Carbide"> <p>Finally we got started on Brian's Phat Shaft, but the deviation bolt couldn't be found and we decided to come back tomorrow.</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-03b">2012-08-03</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Duncan</u>, Dour, Emma, Jess, OllyM</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Rigging King Carbide</div>
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<img src="logbkimg4.png" alt="Rigging diagram for Brian's Phat Shaft">
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07b">2012-08-07</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Anthony</u>, Wookey</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Pushing near Fat Cat</div>
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<p>A 06.30 start from Base Camp saw Emma and I yomping up to the bivi to go caving (thereby cunningly avoiding the thunderstorm of the previous evening). I paired up with Wookey and we went underground in early afternoon.</p>
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<p>The first job was to redo the centreline survey on Brian's Phat Shaft, since the original vintage[?] had rather too many suspicious plumbs for the terrain. The DistoX proved to be a bit tedious, regularly resetting itself into various modes that did not give us the answer we wanted, but it was sorted eventually.</p>
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<p>The next job was to look at a traverse at the top of a climb reached the previous day by Holly and Wookey after swinging off part way down Fat Cat. I put in a couple of bolts and got to the other side, which smelt disgustingly of piss. Shortly afterwards Ollie's light was seen shining down the aven at the far end, confirming that we were below one of the holes near the end of the On The Prowl traverse. Later, Ollie shone his light down a different hole and we saw it coming form above the start of the traverse - so it looks like there is not much to be found here.</p>
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<p>While this had been going on, we heard excited shouts from Emma and Jen requesting our presence with the drill. We headed down to their lead, via a most entertaining deviation. The passage they had followed was impressively grotty but draughting, eventually opening out into a small bouldery chamber. Wookey's cave radara detected the hole with the draught coming out of it and one bolt later we were into a continuation. This was initially a sandy crawl, but quickly opened out into something of more impressive dimensions, all draughting strongly. Wookey and I surveyed into this while Emma and Jess finished off the survey of the way in, then leapfrogged us and started surveying the new stuff. By the time we had finished our bit they had surveyed around a fairly substantial chamber, full of boulders with black spaces between them. At the north end is a substantial pitch with water coming down that the survey data indicates is probably the final pitch in Kiwi Suit. There is also a pitch lead at the southern end of the chamber, nearest to KH and at a similar altitude. There is a very strong draught in this area, blowing from north to south. There is evidence that the chamber is in part developed along a hading rift with a similar orientation to Razor Dance which is directly below, so I suspect that they may be related to the same feature. Overall, a most promising find.</p>
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<p>At this point Emma and Jess headed out whilst Wookey and I tidied up by surveying a side passage to a pitch lead. During this exercise we saw Emma and Jess's lights and realised that we were standing in a window ~8m from the bottom of Fat Cat. This would avoid the need to go through the scrofulous initial access route.</p>
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<p>Our final act was to derig the ropes on the climb and traverse from earlier on in the day to complete a most satisfying and effective day's caving. An excellent trip.</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 14hrs</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07c">2012-08-07</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Pushing Fat Cat -> Pussy Riot -> Cirque du Soleil</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Jess</u>, Emma</div>
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<p>Went to investigate a scrothole that Holly had squidged into and pronounced an "A" lead. So, having already been passed by Rob and Olaf we thought we'd have a look...</p>
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<p>Sadly some of the rather spectacular popcorn protrubences died a death as we wriggled through the hole, having just scrotted down the previous bit of passage, after christening the perched boulder "Boris". Don't ask why...</p>
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<p>Well, a short section of small, popcorn encrusted phreatic pocketing led to a larger phreatic passage ~1.5x2m, with a hole in the floor (<u>QMA</u>), a window and climb down to the right which ended in a mud choke (<u>QMD</u>) and a ceiling inlet with a small stream which dropped down the pitch. A higher cavity could be seen ~3m up this ... <u>QMB</u>.</p>
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<p>We carried on along the phreatic passage, which developed a floor trench and ceiling pockets, before dropping down a 2m climb. Howling draft and V.cold.</p>
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<p>Mud choked chamber at foot of climb, pitch on R <u>(QMA)</u>. Climbed up 3m opposite original passage, above the pitch, into a BIG phreatic chamber (<u>Pussy Riot</u>) with boulders, pitches (<u>(QMA)</u>,<u>QMB</u>,<u>QMB</u>,<u>QMB</u>,<u>QMB</u>) some further phreas entering ~8m up the wall (QMA).</p>
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<p>At this point we decided we needed the wisdom of greater experience to choose our next move, so I ran back to the bottom of Fat Cat, clambering over Boris, and hollered for those well known cave sniffers, Dour and Wookey.</p>
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<p>20 mins later, after a pause durig which they finished bolting a traverse and me and Emma sang and cackled and chatted, we headed back to the chamber.</p>
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<p>Wookey immediately walked over the boulders (ignoring the black spaces beneath which we'd found so offputting) straight into a horizontal continuation on hte left of the chamber. A 2m climb down, requiring one bolt and a natural was reached. Me and Emma surveyed while this was bolted, and Wookey had a quick scsoop ahead (tut tut!).</p>
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<p>Small, mud floored, mostly hands and knees or stoping phreatic passage was reached, which after a couple of minutes opened out into a large chamber - <u>Cirque du Soleil</u>.</p>
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<p>Me and Emma leapfrogged Dour and Wookey (who were now surveying) and started surveyng the chamber. Its V.V. big... amd a big draft... Large pillar in centre, a big drippy pitch to the south (<u>(QMA)</u>), some holes upslope between the pitch and entrance which we thought we could see the others' lights throughh (<u>(QMA)</u>,<u>QMA</u>), and four more pitches, 2 on each side of the chamber (4x<u>QMB</u>).</p>
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Carried on to far side of chamber past pillar to a steep chossy slope with perched death down into big stomping trunk passage which, as Dour put in, was "Blowing a hooley". This went ~10m to another massive drippy pitch.</p>
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<p>Having reached a natural break, we decided to head out, nattering and chattering. Out at 1 am.</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 13hrs</div>
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<div>
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<pre>
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Cat Gut: QMB - Inlet in ceiling. ~3m climb to cavity
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QMA - Pitch in floor under 2 boulders, takes a stream
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QMD - Mud choked downclimb - small stream sinks
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Pussy Riot: QMA - Down pitch on R of climb up into chamber ~15m? ~20m? hard to tell...
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QMB - Hole on left under boulders at top of climb into chamber ~2m to a floor
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QMB - Pitch on R of chamber, ~20m ?
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QMB - Pitch on R of exit of chamber
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QMX - Possible phreatic passage ~8m up wall opposite climb up into chamber
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Cirque du Soleil: QMB - Pitch on L as enter chamber
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QMA - Hole in wall up slope on R as enter chamber
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QMA: hole in wall up slope on R as enter chamber
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QMA: Big drippy pitch in south side of chamber, drafts strngly in (down pitch)
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QMB: Pitch on R by wall just before slope down into trunk passage
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QMB: Pitch on L by slope down into trunk passage
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QMA: Big drippy pitch at end of trunk passage <u>POSSIBLY FINAL PITCH OF KIWI SUIT</u></pre>
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<p>Have we found the legendary phreas at the top of Razordance ????</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07d">2012-08-07</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Martin</u>, Cat, Teresa</div>
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<div class="triptitle">204A</div>
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<p>After Cat and Teresa anaged to sponge a set of caving gear each, we set off to rig a bypass to the top of "King Carbide" and take Teresa on her first underground SRT trip. 204A was descended and thread pitch was rigged. Reflective markers were placed on route to 'No Pain No Gain' and on to half way down 'King Carbide' (although the last couple of markers are cairns) such that it could be followed in reverse by flooded-in cavers. On the way out, Cat demonstrated that 204B was free-climbable by the fool-hardy.</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-06a">2012-08-06</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Wookey, Holly</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 9.5 hrs</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Scrotting around at bottom of Fat Cat, now called <u>Cat Flea</u></div>
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<p>Holly was so kind to take us down this year's route via 204a, King Carbide, Brians Phat Shaft and Pussy Prance to Fat Cat. I was a bit slow and had to get used to all this SRT business again, but eventeually we were all sat at the top of the Fat Cat pitch and made up a plan. Wookey and Holly wanted to look at a climb up from a ledge most of the way down, and Rob and myself were sent off to some scrotty B-lead at hte bottom of the pitch. Or rather at hte bottom of a little side-pitch right underneath the ledge, but still quite a way above the real bottom of Fat Cat. The last bit from the ledge to our lead was fairly clean washed white limestone, and after a little deviation, Rob and I climbed up over hte boulder named Boris, then through a little squeeze to a small "chamber", where we could almost stand upright. Emma and Holly had left a survey station 7 there, we didn't spot their number 8, though. Also, a small passage that I considered "too tight" went on to an aledged A-lead, but I was only told about this on the way out (I hadn't really paid much attention earlier). Anyway, from the small chamber, a small passage with a little water-filled trench at the bottom was heading back up sharply to the right, and behind some boulders a light-connection to the bottom of the pitch could be made. We ignored that (too tight) and rather went down a bit, then up a slope on the other side to crawl underneath a big boulder. Several holes are going up to the left, but an easier way to their top was found from around the corner at the mud choked end of the passage. We now started climbing up, leaving two holes in the floor behind us. They appeared to join up in a lower level horizontal passage leading further on as a <u>QMB</u>. At our survey station 5, we climbed up through a small window and now made steady vertical progress up a pitch full of rock flakes. After about 5 more metres, we reached a ledge with another mud-choked passage leading off and another window going on further up in a similar climbing manner to another <u>QMB</u>. We put our last survey station 8 on the wall and broke off some more popcorn on the way out. Rob and Wookey decided to put in another bolt at the ledge in Fat Cat, while Holly and I started heading out. When I reached the bottom of Painted Lady, someone suddenly turned on a waterfall coming in from a hole in the ceiling. Rather scary ! Brians Phat Shaft was rather drippy to begin with, quite wet further up, but still nothing but a little tease, compared to the showerbath of King Carbide, the horrors of the upper part of King Carbide, and the floods coming down the entrance pitch. I hate wet caves !</p>
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<hr/>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07e">2012-08-07</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Ian, Hannah</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 7 h</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Tunnocks, looking for the Penguins</div>
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<p>After the rather damp trip the day before, I rather wanted a slack, short one, and decided to visit Tunnocks for a change. Ian and Hannah set off ahead of us and took along some rope for Caramel Catharsis. We followed a while later. We met again after the traverse line down the sloped entrance passages, where we interchanged bags and Ian and Hannah went out again. I rigged the first little traverse before Caramel Catharsis, Rob did the rest of the rigging. Then the route-finding problems started. We got to the cobbly slope and 9-key-kay[?] Beach, after a quick detour decided to go left, then took the next passage steeply up to what Rob believed to remember being called Starfish junction. By elimination, we eventually concluded that the passage with the triangular bit of tape was not the one we were looking for, but rather turned rightish. After a while of traversing, we found a little hole, where we unnecessarily built a cairn to remind us of the way out, but as none of the lower level passages seemed to be present in Rob's recollection of a fairly hung-over trip a year ago, we finally decided we were a bit lost again. It took some more trial and error to traverse above the top of the hole, do a stupid climb after a big boulder bypassed by a no less stupid squeeze. Next was a sharp Z-shaped meander, a traverse over some big holes, and finally one more squeeze through a boulder choke. The big passage beyond finally looked like it could go somewhere more interesting, so we now started looking for the p18, that Emma had told us about. We finally found one, but were not quite sure (and it's probably another one). As it was getting late anyway, we decided to leave the 60m rope, hand-bolting and rigging gear behind and went back out of the cave.</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-08a">2012-08-08</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Olaf</u>, Rob, Becka, Andrew</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 10½</div>
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<div class="triptitle">Rerigging Fat Cat</div>
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<p>Being a bit shattered after my first two expo trips, I wanted to do a short one today. No idea why I came down to Fat Cat again with someone like Becka. Anyway, we showed them the way to the pushing front with Becka racing ahead and waiting impatiently. Andrew followed promptly and attempted to retrieve a bag of rope that Martin had decided to hang off one bolt in the ceiling way out from the usual route down Fat Cat. Waiting at the bottom I suddenly heard a loud "NOOOO!" and something big falling down the pitch. Apparently Andrew had not only retrieved a bag of rope, but also a good chunk of the wall, but all else was fine. Rob now started rebolting and rerigging Fat Cat on the nice white rope instead of the horrible red stuff. In the meantime, Andrew, Becka and I went back through the scrotty squeezes, past survey station 7 and into Cirque du Soleil. We were looking around for a while but didn't find the window back to Fat Cat, that we were told to find so I eventually went back the way we came, told Rob of our plan and blew my whistle. After a few more blows, we finally found Becka emerging from a window a lot further down. Rob was now bolting a traverse down there, while I started retrieving some rope from Wookey's climb up from the ledge. Finally Rob and I went to Cirque du Soleil, watched Andrew bolting a long traverse towards KH connection, then derigged Cat Gut and the old route down Fat Cat and were joined by Becka and Andrew on the way out. While I was given a bit of a head start, Andrew continuously reduced the gap by racing me up the pitches, but finally refused to overtake me at the very last belay up the entrance pitch where he definitely more than caught up with me.</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-09a">2012-08-09</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Serena</u> + Frank</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 6 hrs</div>
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<div class="triptitle">258</div>
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<p>We faffed an unspeakably long time until we finally reached 258 entrance some time after 2 pm. The rigging was deemed not to be up to the exacting CUCC standards (and my lack of height). So Frank spent about 2 hours with the aim of making it idiot proof. SUCCESS! Frank showed me around until we reached Stirfish junction. We turned back and then it was my time to navigate out. SUCCESS. All in all a lovely day =)</p>
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<hr />
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<img src="logbkimg5.png" alt="New Rigging Topo for Fat Cat (2012-08-08)" />
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<hr />
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<div class="triptitle">204 - Cirque de Soleil<br/>CONNECTION! 161-204</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-09a">9/8/12</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Rob, Andrew + Ollie</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 10½</div>
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<p>Original plan was me, Andrew + Ollie finishing yesterday's traverse while Rob + Holly pushed leads in Cirque de Soleil but Holly discovered a hole in the bottom bobbin of her Stop at the top of Brian's Phat Shaft so she gave up and went out + Rob joined us. Ollie + I started my first ever PDA + DistoX survey - not a great location to practise on, a teetery traverse with Andrew bolting the next traverse, only just in earshot as I bawled out endless questions "How do I calibrate the screen?", "Why are some splays in dotted lines?" etc. There was only one point where I got a "Not now" which was shortly before a huge lump of rock fell off the traverse leaving a brown smear down the rock face. The survey caught up to Andrew just as he got finished and ..... da-narrr..... found the final survey stastion from last year's KH trip - whoo-hoo, made the connection. Rob then caught up with us + Andrew & I were going to look up the passage but he'd forgotten about the up pitch so I did the bad step traverse withut protection for no reason + then was stuck there until Rob got some gear to give me a sling to get back. Then Rob + Andrew rigged a traverse to avoid the up pitch whilst Ollie + I went to the top of Fat Cat + surveyed the traverse - Dog Days - he'd done with Serena + then up the climb that Andrew had shinned up on the way down + left a skanky rope on it. This led to horizontal drafting passage, yippee + a chamber with several A-leads off ... having already had a very fine trip making the connection we decided to leave them for another day. Met Andrew + Rob on return. On Brian's Phat Shaft, Andrew went up first then as Ollie got about halfway a rock came whistling past me. "What was that from?" "Don't think it was me" says Ollie ... then another came down "Shit, the rebelays breaking up". Rob + I cowered as best we could + Ollie said there was only an inch of rock left on the nose the rebelay was on so we decided it was best if he took it out (the one at the bottom of the first long hang). Rob + I then teetered up past some razor sharp edges + the knot pass + the crab got wedged on Rob so the rope got incredibly tight but, hey, we survived.</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-10a">10/8/12</div>
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<div class="trippeople">Andrew + <u>Becka</u></div><div class="timeug">T/U: 12 hours</div>
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<div class="triptitle">204 - Dog Days</div>
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<p>Returned to the chamber Ollie + I surveyed yesterday + surveyed the horizontal A-leads which all ended up looping round to each other or at big pitch heads. There was also a fine-looking high level phreatic passage which Andrew tried to climb into from two different directions but the rock was cream cheese. Though he made it up to the right level he couldn't find any decent rock to rig off so he decided it was too dodgy so we rigged the pitch nearest to the chamber instead. This led to a <u>huge</u> breakdown chamber thing with a monster boulder in it, piles of steep loose rock + crazed angle boulders all over so I struggled to survey it + we left it with two QMA's which were sort of passages but unclear if there's much in the way of a proper floor there. Oh yes, waited for 90 min or so on the way down with Rob whilst Wookey rerigged the rebelay on Brian's Phat Shaft, struggling with the super tight rope + then Andrew fettled lots of the rigging in the lower sections.</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-12a">12/8/12</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Becka</u>, Rob + Andrew</div><div class="timeug">T/U: 14 hours</div>
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<div class="triptitle">204 into 161 via traverses -> Blown Away</div>
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<p>Early morning negotiation with Julian who was driving to expo meant I was given the all clear for a last day of caving + I really wanted to see the new connection stuff. We took Emma's camera to get some shots of the traverses for Anthony's conference talk on Sat + took other shots later on. Headed off down the huge drafting passage to the climb that Wookey + Rob had stopped at on their trip 2 days ago. Rob shinned up this then rigged it + then he rigged the short pitch down to Holey Low whilst Andrew + I shivered in the howling gale. Finally we got to our lead, Blown Away, marked as 300m to Eislufthoehle on Julian's mini-survey. The last survey station was at the start of a strightforward traverse that Andrew waltzed across whilst Rob + I started the survey then Andrew took over the DistoX as Rob had shaky hands + we rattled down 150m or so of lovely phreatic passage with a strong draft until, BUM, all the air disappeared up a poxy aven. This left a pitch drafting <u>out</u> which Rob freeclimbed to the head of but we called it a day + derigged the traverse. Andrew put bolts in for the up-climb on Holey Low on the return + also bolts for the tiny traverse on the far side of Mordor. Then plodded on out, a good end to 5 days caving!</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="timeug">Trip length: 9 hrs</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-10b">10/08/2012</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>HOLLY</u>, EMMA & JESS</div>
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<div class="triptitle">258 - March of the Penguins</div>
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<p>Having got a little bored of the 204 trip into 161 we decided on a trip to the P18? in MotP. Following a couple of failed trips, Rob & Olaf had kindly left 60m of rope at the pushing front - which made this trip even more appealing</p>
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<p>Off down Tunnocks entrance, Caramel Catharsis, Starfish Junction & Flying high. Once you reach the traverse in Flying high, which is quite soon, keep on traversing. You may be tempted to drop down when you come across a large-ish hole. However this is wrong!! Carry on traversing over this for the correct way to MotP. If you drop down, you are sitting in a small chamber with 3 passages leading off.</p>
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<p>Carrying along the passage (traversing) you eventually reach the end of the traverse (passing a nice stal) which opens up & you slide down to the floor. Then comes the interesting climb up & over then through boulders. On the second part of the climb - the through the boulders part - watch out for one of the boulders which appears to be held up by small pebbles wedged between said boulder and the walls.</p>
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<p>Having reached the higher level, continue onwards to the very end of the passage (don't be tempted to crawl through the small hole through boulders on the right). At the end of the passage, there is a sneakily hidden RH elbow bend & the passage continues. Then is reached the evil bouldery climb of doom. Basically this is a climb down onto a ledge above a pitch. Climb is ~2.5m & the ledge has lots of loose boulders. After I stood on a large, sturdy looking boulder, which then began sliding on the gravel that it was perched on, towards the pitch - I demanded a traverse line - to the relief of Jess & Emma. Finding two hanady naturals we rigged a friendly traverse line with the "shitty red rope" and cut this off the 39m that we had carried in.</p>
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<p>From here, carry along the obvious passage - which becomes a slide through boulders. In this boulder choke, turn right up the obvious climb out. I would not recommend attempting to squeeze through the small hole on the left - it's a bit tight! This opens up into a small chamber with a junction, Taking right goes to 39 steps. However, we turned left (down slope) to MotP. The bottom of this slope becomes another short slide through boulders into a stooping passage with a muddy floor. A short climb up and down into another junction. To reach the p18? turn right up the slope & then climb down into the obvious rift. At the bottom head back under the rift, through the smallish hole to the top of the P18? Hooray!</p>
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<p>We reached the pushing front and & I was deemed 'bolting queen' whilst Emma & Jess took photos for Antony's looming conference presentation.</p>
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<p>The top of the P18? is very nice - hardly any loose boulders, walls close together. Unfortunately it was a bit uncomfortable for hand bolting - but you can't have everything. We used a lovely large pillar/natural for the start of the rigging (on the <u>R</u> heading into the cave) and I placed a bolt on each wall to create a Y-hang straight down the pitch. I headed down the pitch to land in a small-medium sized chamber with a bouldery floor. Unfortunately a rebelay was needed on the P18?, now called 'Hooray for Boobies' (as a result of the girlie team). This meant that gentle prussicking would be needed on the 'shitty red rope' (The 60m still sat in the bag at the top). So only Emma ventured on down to join me. With Jess getting cold at the top, Emma & I had a quick look around before heading back up & out of the cave. We made a pact, after squeezing into a connecting chamber, and through a short rift, that we would still return to survey, even if the lead didn't go anywhere. Thankfully, the rift opened out into a clean washed, Yorkshire-like passage way, with an ~3m pitch. Back out we went, excited for our trip the following day.</p>
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<p>(Short squeeze at base of pitch ~2m long known as the Outer Flap).</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-11a">11/08/2012</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>HOLLY</u>, EMMA & BECCA</div>
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<div class="timeug">Trip length: 10.5 hrs</div><br />
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<div class="triptitle">258 - MotP, Hooray for Boobies - pushing front</div>
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<p>Back to Hooray for Boobies, to fix the rigging, survey & push. This time with a drill - HOORAY! Becca & Emma headed down the pitch and began surveying while I swapped the red rope for a pre-cut 40m CUCC rope that isn't allowed to be cut. As the 60m is UBSS rope & also not for cutting, we decided it would be better to save the red stuff for smaller pitches. After getting in a tangle & then detangling myself (thankfuly the 40m was white), I headed on down the pitch, placing a rebelay ~8(?)m from the floor.</p>
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<p>At the top of the next mini-pitch (~3 or 4m), I attempted to quickly place a couple of bolts and some rigging down, so that Emma & Becca could head onwards to continue surveying & keep warm. I then placed another bolt at the start of the rigging. Once complete, I quickly headed through the cave to join Becca & Emma. The cave closes down to a tall narrow rift - The Inner Flap. I loved it, however, Emma & Becca weren't convinced & after 20 legs, were now bored. I was elected to carry on through the rift - for 1 minute only - just 1 minute, to see if the passage either died or opened up. Unfortunately it did neither! The rift became narrower, but clearly still easily passable, if caving on your side. Knowing that this wasn't going to convince the girls, we headed back out. Now I just need to convince one of the lads to join me on my next trip there. Noel probably . . . . . .</p>
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<p><u>Rigging Topo</u><br/><img align="left" src="logbkimg6.png" />Large natural pillar on R<br/>Two bolts at head of pitch on either side (on each wall) of pitch.<br/>Rebelay bolt on obvious 'bulge' on LH wall ~8m from floor.<br clear="all"/></p>
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<p><img src"logbkimg7.png" /></p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-03c">2012-08-03</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB + <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">101</div>
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<p>
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Decided to have a quick look in 101 to see what it did. Much as described in 1977, pitches all free climbable. Just after 101 and 101a join there is a tight pitch lead to the right into a canyon - we didn't descend. Followed to near the end in 1977 - gets quite small, but continues. Another small tube leads off to right - Olly went for a short way down this and it continues.</p>
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<p>
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Got out survey kit, discovered the disto battery was flat. Didn't survey... passage is roughly SSW and descending slightly.
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Walked back via looking for 99-OB-01 which we found. Easy to locate if you assume Schoenberg bearing is for 2 peaks further east, and Zinken is a different peak.</p>
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<p>
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Lesson learnt - check disto batteries.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 1hr 40</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-04d">2012-08-04</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">82 and 85</div>
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<p>
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I was still feeling full of cold so we went to have a poke at the dig at the end of 82's top level. Olly successfully dug and got more passage, but sadly it didn't go very far - I suspect it is too near the surface. While I sat on the surface and coughed, Olly had a look at 85, and concluded that there is still a lead.
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</p><p>
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Went back into 82 and surveyed the new bit.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U 3 hrs J, 3:30 Ol</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-05b">2012-08-05</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">157</div>
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<p>
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Olly rigged and bolted down 157. We went down the parallel rift and concluded the bolts of unknown origin spotted in 1987 are not in 107. Cave doesn't continue. We surveyed out, via a brief warm up on the surface. On redescending Olly realised his rack was still underground. Oops! Fortunately I could rescue it for him! We didn't descend the main shaft as it was quite full of snow. There is also another parallel rift we didn't visit.
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</p><p>
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Lesson learnt: don't prussic out leaving your rack behind.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U 4:15</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-07g">2012-08-07</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">2012-70 Doppel Gemse Hohle</div>
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<p>
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This cave is right by the path to 204 ~ opposite 157. one day this cave would have had a long section of big passage heading for 107, but is today missing much of it's roof. Off this main 'passage' are several short sections of cave heading off. Sadly they all either get too small, end, or are choked with rocks. Surveyed most of it - will go back and finish off later.
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</p><p>
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(The cave name is because we saw a pair of gemse twice on the way).
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<p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U 5:15</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-09c">2012-08-09</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">83 - original route</div>
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<p>
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Went into 83, put some new bolts in, but rigged as a pushing rig, assuming we'd only spend a day here. Got into the big rift but needed more rope than expected due to re-belays and an almost non-existent snow pile.
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</p><p>
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Walked down the big rift until we got near the bottom, took the phreatic passage on the left like in 1977. Pitch was lovely 32m of freehang to a big chamber, as expected the route didn't continue, but we could survey out to connect any new stuff too. Sadly the survey pencil was rubbish, and the 2 spares I was carefully carrying were broken. Olly managed to take notes up the pitch and I derigged it. We then headed home, planning to return with a pencil the next day.
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</p><p>
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Lesson learnt: don't carry broken pencils.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">TU 3:30h J, 3:50h Ol</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-08b">2012-08-08</div>
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<div class="trippeople">Jenny, <u>OllyB</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">Looking on the surface between 1987-02 and 82</div>
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<p>
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Decided to see if we could drop back into the trunk passage seen in 1987-02 and the top level of 82 somewhere in between, taking the obvious approach of walking between them. This doesn't work well as the terrain is very broken, but we found what is likely to be the skylight entrance to 1987-02, a postcard on balloons from Italy, and a few scrotty tubes to crawl into.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">TU: OllyB 0:20</div>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-10c">2012-08-10</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">83 - Duncing in the dark</div>
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<p>
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Went back to 83 planning to look at the bolt traverse over the 32m pitch, as this was likely to be a short trip and the last in 83, we didn't re-rig the entrance pitch and we set an 8pm call out.
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</p><p>
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Olly did a great job bolting over the pitch and on. I took a few photos and eventually followed along. The bolt traverse was great fun. At the end was an ~8m pitch with a slope/climb up the back wall which sadly didn't go. At the top of this short pitch, Olly spotted an alcove on the left, so bolted into that, and climbed up into the roof tube. We realised there was nowhere near enough time to explore, survey and derig by 8pm. So we surveyed out as far as the main chamber and made our 8pm callout by ~15 minutes. Left the cave rigged for 1 final trip.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 7:15</div>
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<hr />
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<p>text missing</p>
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<hr />
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-11c">2012-08-11</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">83 - Thunder Road, Under a Rock</div>
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<p>
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Went back to 83 for our final trip to look at the roof tube beyond the bolt traverse and survey the entrance bit. I got part way along and realised I had left the grease syringes on the surface, Olly wasn't yet on the bolt traverse so kindly popped out to get them.
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</p><p>
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Got into the roof tube, which is called <u>Thunder Road</u> due to the thunder we heard there on the 10th. I took off my SRT kit and wiggled along the passage which rapidly became more rift like. Olly wasn't keen to follow, so sat with the notebook while I shouted back numbers. The passage went for ~30m trending uphill. Near the end was a short section of walking passage followed by a low crawl. Then a drippy aven on the R and a pitch on the left. I surveyed back from here. I suspect it is near the surface.
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</p><p>
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Derigged back to entrance chamber and began to survey out. Checked the bottom of the rift and it is, as you would expect chossy and connects with the p32. Then, about 1 survey leg up from the p32 passage Olly potted a low passage going off under a rock, names <u>Under a Rock</u>, passage gets to a pitch, which we could carefully traversed round. Next was a short section of lovely big phreas, heading up to a choke. There were a few bits of leaves and pine cones - presumably near another entrance. Right from the pitch went less far. Combined tactics got me up a short climb which led up to a choke, again with leaves. I thought i could smell outside.
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</p><p>
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Surveyed back to entrance chamber, and left the cave.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: Jenny 7hrs, Olly 6:50</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-11c">2012-08-10</div>
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<div class="trippeople"><u>Wookey</u>, Rob</div>
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<div class="triptitle">204/161 Connection traverse re-rigging + push
|
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in 161</div>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 17hrs</div>
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<p>Went down to the connection to turn the 'exploratory' rigging into
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something suitable for mere mortals. Took drill + 3batteries + hand
|
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bolting kit & leftover nasty red ropes. Spent some hours re-doing the
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1st traverse to go higher along line of shelf. Rob did all the
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bolting & seemed to enjoy himself. Added 3 or 4 there, another on
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up-bit to remove rub & Y-hang the end. Only possible by replacing
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27m white rope with red as we went. Then put rope on climb and 2 more
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bolts in 2nd traverse. Went to the bad step which was already bolted
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& put in climb line & traverse line over bridge + step. All
|
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this took quite some time so it was getting late & our enthusiasm
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somewhat dimmed, but we should at least take a look-see having got
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here. Headed on down March of the ents, noting that most of the wind
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came in from the 50m pitch QM - Interesting spot. Carried on to
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rivendell & the stables and rigged little climb round the corner
|
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on a couple of dodgy naturals. Didn't have enough rope to do it
|
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properly (or the enthusiasm).</p>
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<p>Wandered along a bit and took a look down QM [fill in] which had a
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fine breeze at the top. Very silly sloping 'pitch'. Our 27m rope got
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us down past one traverse level to overlook more rift, but still at
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least 6m tothe flor & not shinnable. So surveyed out, teaching Rob
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distoX usage. Seemed to be no draught at the bottom, so the wind
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presumably comes from across the top somewhere. We called it soilathon.</p>
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<p>Took a look further down l[blank-for-name] shinning round various
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things and poking one hole (goes to a pitch). Eventually got to a
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dead-end at Mad Dogs and marvelled at the very hard-looking C5 into
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the roof which the survey claimed was the way on. As it was after
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midnight & we were knackered (especially Rob) we were glad of
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excuse to go home & slowly came out, regretting hoiking 3 batts
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down here, and taking about 5hrs to exit @5am. (It <u>is</u> quite a
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long way). Curry felt well-deserved.</p>
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<p>Traverse Rig<br/>FAR FROM SUPPORT - 2 TRAVERSES:
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[2 diagrams, annotated 'left rigged']
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-12c">2012-08-12</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">83 - Under a Rock, Down Under</div>
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<p>
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Went back into Under a Rock and dropped the pitch. The bottom was a tall rift, up didn't go far, the way the water flows rapidly got too narrow. We followed the 3rd way on, up a short climb and down the other side (via a bolt). We scrambled further down and down some more to find ourselves back at the bottom of the p32. Olly was amused at where we were, I was annoyed. But at least our loop closure was good!
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</p><p>
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Went back to entrance chamber to survey out. Olly spotted a hole thru' some rocks. It drafted so we pulled some rocks out. We couldn't easily make the gap big enough, so tried a meter or so higher up. I managed to get through, and amazingly got under and through a window into another passage underneath <u>Down Under</u>, removed more rocks so Olly could follow me through. Followed the passage past a squeeze and a climb down. Found ourselves above a reasonable sized passage ~5m above. Didn't look climbable down, but I could traverse over. Did this to another 6m drop into the same passage, but excitingly could see a snow plug. We wondered if this was 107. Surveyed out and up to the tag bolt.
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</p><p>
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Scrambled in 107 on the way back and saw a similar looking snow plug. Down the hill the survey data confirms we connected! Not as impressive as The Connection, but we have made 107 ~9m deeper (by the CUCC way) and ~500m longer.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">TU: 7:40hrs Jenny, 7:30hrs Olly</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-15d">2012-08-15</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">83 - derig and survey</div>
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<p>
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Went back to 83 for the actual final trip. I retrieved the rigging gear while Olly sketched the entrance chamber. I derigged and swung across to look at side tubes. One near the top generated another ~15m of passage.
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</p><p>
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Finished de-rigging. [rigging diagram in original]
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 2.5hrs</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-15e">2012-08-15</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">148 rig</div>
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<p>
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Went to 148 and rigged in the first 4 pitches (i.e. to just before deep space). I'd forgotten how cold and drafty 148 is.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 2.5hrs</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-17b">2012-08-17</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">148 rigging</div>
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<p>
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Went to 148 with 100+m of rope, hangers and a drill. Tweaked the rigging on the way in to add a bolt on pitch 2 -> clowns are a poor hanger choice for free hanging rebelays! Also changed natural backups and things. Olly rigged down deep space (and hated using a stop more than hating using a rack) After much swinging about with too much gear he gave up looking for the deviation and came back up. I had a go and managed to find it eventually - a sling on a nose of rick behind you. Must be more than 5 years since I last rigged but I mostly remembered what to do. Except I was slow and failed to find the next few bolts. Safely got to the asteroid belt and found more bolts. Olly came down too and we rigged on to the pushing front. Olly found the missing bolts on the way out.
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</p><p>
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The pitch heads are nasty and tight, but things look better deeper down. Got out surprisingly fast (1hr 40) despite bimbling.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 6.5hrs</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-20b">2012-08-20</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">148 Deep Space pushing trip</div>
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<p>
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Finally, after a five year wait it was time to go beyond the Asteroid Belt in Deep Space (148). Got down to the pushing front fairly quickly, and Olly proceeded to rig our 200m of rope down. First pitch was long (as we knew from dropping rocks) ~60m, most rocks had also gone down the next short pitch too. The pitch after that one was also short, and just round the corner. Basically cave is a very high rift with a little trickle of water down the back. Next pitch was longer + spray lashed at base. Next very short pitch wetter still. Then there was a little bit of horizontal to the following (dry) short pitch, and the same again to the next. Olly got to the bottom of that with 4m rope left, 4 hangers and 4 hiltis, and the cave changed to being horizontal. How is that for careful planning and frugal rigging!
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</p><p>
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Walked/bridged along the rift passage until we hit a boulder choke. I hypothesised that this was the altitude that 107, 97, 82 end at, but actually we were ~40m higher. Olly spotted that the water went under the choke in a little trench. I took off my SRT kit and Olly moved some rocks out. With some effort I managed to wriggle through with the water, under the boulders. Inside the choke I could stand up and cautiously climb up and out the other side! Short passage off to right into another choke (upstream). Downstream to left continued some way, so I went back to get Olly. Olly managed to get through too, and we headed off to explore. Followed downstream, down a climb and to a pitch. Surveyed out from here. Looked at a climb up on the right (going out) which goes up into an aven with black space above - so might be possible to go over the boulder choke. Surveyed back to above the final pitch, then began the long route out. Got out safely and before dawn, what more can you ask for?
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 15.25hrs</div>
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<div class="tripdate" id="t2012-08-21c">2012-08-21</div>
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<div class="trippeople">OllyB, <u>Jenny</u></div>
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<div class="triptitle">107 entrance</div>
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<p>
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Got up late after yesterdays trip, but needed an early ngiht ready for goign to Eishohle the next day, so planned a short trip into 107. Olly placed a bolt backup and then a hang bolt - managed to get a free hang just. Didn't spot the 1978 spit until a later trip - it is a bit higher than ours, but woudl rub. Entrance shaft bells out, and has several possible leads high up. Landed near the snow plug we could see from 83 (Down Under).
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</p><p>
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Had an explore, realised the 1978 survey has the wrong angle for the side passages, and that the projected elevation has the plan lengths and vica versa. Area is a little more complex with various tubes going off - all the ones we looked at either ended or connected with the pitch below. We planned to survey but got cold as it was really drafty.
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</p>
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<div class="timeug">T/U: 2hrs 10</div>
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