expoweb/years/2025/log_entries/2025-07-23d.json

{
 "date": "2025-07-23",
 "title": "KH - Horizontal leads in the far end of KH",
 "place": "KH",
 "other_people": "",
 "text": "<p>Wook was keen to see what they'd found at the far end of KH, and as\neveryone was complaining about what a long way it was, there were\nstill leads going. Prompt start leaving SB by 8:30 saw us underground\nat 9:20. Got to the far end (bottom of new pitch in Natural Way down\nto Enniskillen Toad) in 3 hours. Had a look round at the various leads\nin Meat Sofa before heading to the current pushing front to see what\nwe could knock off without gear (leaving Buck and Alice to do the\ndrilling/rigging stuff). Looked along walking A-lead but decided to\nstart with the B-lead at the end next to the final pitch\n(eniskillentoad.50) to see if it would bypass the pitch without\nrigging. It did indeed rapidly get us round the other side (or at\nleast one other side - there may well be a '3rd side' - it's hard to\ntell without rope or falling down the hole. Then it dropped with a\nslightly dubious c5 down and back up the other side of a clean-washed\nbit. Luke demonstrated that it was doable so we all followed. Now in a\nsmall chamber, ahead looked down about 5m into some space, to the\nright through a hole looked down 3m into a nice passage but was rather\noverhanging, and to the left was yet another overlook. This time\nunclimable due to height and being a very dodgy dirt ledge. We\nsuspected all 3 led to the same passage.</p>\n\n  <p>Wook found he could shin down the overhang by sliding through behind\nsome fretwork to climb down in acceptable safety. Ash followed. Luke\nwent back to get a rope so we could get out again. We were back in\nwalking passage, now with a fine draught. Surveying along we soon\nfound ourselves back at the original A-lead. So we could have got here\na lot more easily!</p>\n\n  <p>Wook shinned back up the overhanging mantelshelf\nand retrieved the rope. We then surveyed southwards, again in\nmostly-walking passage. Got to a sediment shelf 3m up with another\nacross an inconvenient gap of a couple of metres. Wook decided a\ndynamic leap across was plausible, and indeed it worked. This passage\nis 'Leap of Faith'.</p>\n\n  <p>So we all crossed, leaving getting back for 'future us'. We passed a\nvery clean (and gloriously echoey) inlet. From here there was a deep\nT-slot and the copious dirt fell into the wet bottom. We traversed and\nshinned until reaching a ~6m pitch at a cross-rift. Climbing up the\nrift to the right one could see that the passage continued about 5m\nabove the old level (A-lead), but a rope would be sensible to get into it\nwithout undue risk. There may be a climb up the end of the rift\npossible too (B-lead).</p>\n\n  <p>We returned (getting back turned out to be fine). And headed off\nnorthwards following the main wind. More very nice walking passage to\na T-junction. We went right (uphill, leaving A-lead downhill), and\nsoon reached an unusual 2x3m pool pool in an S-bend. It was very\nclear, but also had unusual floating 'mats/scumlines/dirt' floating on\nthe surface. The water had no pobvious feed, but there must be enough\nreplenishment to coutner evaporation from the wind. Unsure if the mats\nare bacterial or chemical. Ash tried to take a few photos. We tiptoed\naround it to a convenient place to stop (an another\njunction/cross-rift) and called that a day with about 285m in the\nbook. A-lead left, B-lead up to right.</p>\n\n  <p>Went back to complete a loop in a lower passage where we started, met\nup with Buck and Alice to compare notes (they planned to stay a few\nmore hours as last trip) and headed out, aiming to get back before\nmidnight for a civilised kip. Back to the entrance in about 3hr45m,\nthen the rather tedious slog back up the hill for curry.</p>\n\n  <p>Wook logged a GPS track at the entrance for 12 hours, which strongly\nsuggests that the current entrance location is about 12m off to the\nSSW.</p>\n<p>\nAn excellent trip, with more leads at the end than the start. This is\na really interesting area of cave. And despite it being quite a lot of\ncaving, it is only '3-4' hours travel each way once you know the\nroute, so quite do-able.</p>",
 "slug": "2025-07-23d",
 "time_underground": 12.0,
 "author": {
  "slug": "wookey",
  "nickname": "Wookey",
  "tu": 12.0
 },
 "trippersons": [
  {
   "slug": "wookey",
   "nickname": "Wookey",
   "tu": 12.0
  },
  {
   "slug": "ashley-gregg",
   "nickname": "Ash",
   "tu": 12.0
  },
  {
   "slug": "luke-stangroom",
   "nickname": "Luke",
   "tu": 12.0
  }
 ],
 "expedition": {
  "year": "2025",
  "name": "CUCC expo 2025"
 },
 "cave": {
  "areacode": "1623",
  "kataster_number": "161",
  "unofficial_number": ""
 }
}