This was pitched to be a memorable trip, and it didn’t disappoint.
Same team as last week, partly because I think the others would feel too much like glory grabbing wankers if they joined us tonight. Pre-beers were quick and we smashed it straight to the end, grabbing a bit of content enroute.
Arriving at the end I start digging the boulders low down in the hope that I can ferret a safe enough route through, whilst Jon inspects above. In half an hour I get quite far but everything is loose, including a large boulder above me which is too big to get rid of tonight. I was super keen to breakthrough so decided to change tack and hit the route above. This involved dropping stuff down into where we’d just been clearing and the others weren’t that convinced of my plan. I told them I’d be through in less than an hour at which they baulked but I stubbornly set to.
Dropping boulders like they're out of fashion
After only a few minutes I could see the black space beyond. Progress was quite tricky because almost everything moved and it was difficult to know whether to cap stuff or try drop it down out of the way. Jon was exceptionally helpful steering from the back. Eventually rocks were moving forwards and down easily and I could finally see clearly see into the void beyond, and it look tasty. In an unusual act of consideration I decided not to go head first, just as well as it turned out to be a 3m drop down into the tall passage heading off. I checked my watch, 57 minutes. 😊
Rob squeezing into the void!
Joe comes through to join me, followed by Jon. However Jon managed to use a wrong handhold which then drops straight onto his leg. We both gasp at the blood red colour inside the fresh hole in his oversuit, only to see it was just his red furry suit! Seemingly able to still walk, we step back and look up at the other, much larger, boulders above him and realise we’ve all been quite lucky so far.
Jon just before impact...
The bloody hole!
Anyways, the passage leads 10m or so to what seems to be a big boulder choke. There are holes everywhere so we split up and start pushing stuff. Excitement in the air! Some bits are muddy, some clean washed, some quite calcited with plenty of formations. It’s a weird choke, quite different from the main Waterfall Hole choke. Myself and Joe end up quite low down at one point, maybe 10m lower than where we started, digging through gaps to access a very clean washed bit that keeps going down, just needs capping.
Everyone splits up...
We meet back with Jon in a new place, all via different routes, and whilst they poke a rift I climb up in the roof. Here it opens out with multiple ways off, but there’s lots of loose rocks around which start falling on them below so I pause. I notice that some of these rocks almost look placed; maybe miners have been in here?! The walls are all natural looking so it seems unlikely. I shout this down and Jon says he thought he had seen a stemple hole. I go down to see and it may well be one, but it’s hard to say and it’d be in a very weird location.
We now realise we were pretty late for pub, and as it was going to be a breakthrough night a few others were planning to come see us so we figured we should leave. Hilariously I have almost now idea of the way out and even got my watch compass out to help. Climbing back out the dug section was a little unnerving, so that will probably either need a little bit of work or just passing through with blinkers on.
We made the pub, it was nice to see everyone and bask in the glory.