Crescent pot
5 people were in attendance including the surprise attendance of Chris Kelly. Chris Scaif, Don and Chris Shaman were also in attendance, so a trip with 3 Chris’s could be a little confusing. I think we need to make it a club rule to not allow in any more Chris’s in!
The cave was found rather quickly with the usual fan out approach, as I could not remember where it was (it all blurs into one up there).
We arrived and the first thing we noticed was that it was P-bolted, woohoo! I am glad I did not bother to put a hanger on each crab. We were quickly down the entrance pitches with the minimum of fuss.
The 3rd pitch did not need rigging as it no longer existed due to the large amount of rock now cemented into place.
Going down the new shoring was like descending the steps of an ancient temple. The construction is excellent. This was all made possible by funding generated by the very guide we were using.
Our club including me had helped once or twice with the construction but had never been down to the bottom to sample the fruits of our labour.
After the temple descent we were treated to a flat out crawl, that even I did not fit through until I dug it out a bit. After that was some larger passage and then some slightly awkward roof crawls made worse by bag trapping holes. Thankfully this does not last too long and after an squeeze larger passage leads to the crawl to the start of the 4th pitch.
I was still wearing my SRT kit and could not be bothered to take it off, but halfway through the first bit, I wished I had, I did not let on but I was well wedged for about a minute partly upside down. So, I pushed harder and popped through with a screech. I started rigging from a new P in the more open bit, not trusting the in-situ stuff. You really need to be on the rope for the next bit as you pop out into space with little to nothing to stand on. I looked at the in-situ mallons here and they were almost completely rusted through I was glad of the new Ps to rig off!
Chris Shaman followed with a little coaxing but got through with no fuss, Scaif was worried about his flickering Nora light but had two backups and spare batteries for those so not sure what he was worried about, but I guess I can see why it would be worrying. Because of this, he almost turned back here which would have persuaded a slightly reluctant Don and Chris Kelly on follow him out and Shaman did not fancy doing the cave with just two of us. I was not best pleased with everyone turning back so I let everyone know that, the thought of aborting the trip this early for no real reason.
Thankfully though Scaif changed his mind so one by one everyone came through.
Anyway I carried on rigging as no one else seemed to want to do it (I did ask!) and dropped down 5th and a rather wet 6th, with the tight take off on 5th not causing anyone any issues that I know of.
We reached the top of the 7th which was as far as I had been before, it looked lethal, covered with black slippery death. So I rigged it for SRT. The crawl from here is rather awkward, especially for those taller than me. I personally am glad my new neo-fleece has both built in knee and elbow pads!
After a small drop the passage got more waterlogged before the duck of death. 3 inches of air space approx raising to 4 over 8 meters, if you can stay calm you simply bob along and try not to scratch your face too much on the roof. I went on my side which was just possible, Chris Shaman did the same but with his helmet on! He ended up feeling quite dizzy. Scaif did it on his side too. Don and Chris Kelly, did not do it at all and called it a day there.
Shortly after was the 8th pitch. In the book it says its a free climb but boy am I glad there was a hand-line there. The thing being so slippery it was bloody difficult to climb. The pitches saving grace was it was well broken up so a fall would only be short, but you still have to get back up the thing later.
After this the intrepid three made our way to the end of the cave though Shaman decided he had enough at the junction with Passage of Outer Slime (don’t blame him). Me and Scaif pointlessly powered on to the sump, we left the outer slime for another day (or never), the sump being enough to tick it off in our eyes.
We made our way out. We found the hand-line invaluable on the second to top cascade of the 8th. We did not drown in the duck though for some reason both of us ducked under water at the end of it, really dropping our core temps. By the time we got to the 7th we were too cold to climb it due to numb limbs in the cold winter water. Luckily I had left my SRT gear there (Chris having climbed down) so after a bit of thumbling I prussiced up and fetched Scaifs gear from the bottom of the 6th. I was happy to do this as I could crawl fast to warm up.
We slowly made our way up the pitches where we met Shaman who had waited for us at the end of the crawl leading to the 4th, glad he did as it meant we could shift the gear through the rift. I made my way half through the tight bit just before the calcite, this bit is the crux of the cave. Scaif stopped just before in the middle gap and we passed the gear along, SRT kits, Tackle sacks, my welly (which fell off when I turned around to grab a bag).
Once all through, we had warmed up again by now and it was a straight forward although tiring exit making it out at about 7pm?
The cave had nothing really bad, though the crawl to the 4th is awkward and the duck was not too nice, but at least its not muddy like Echo. It is rather relentless as there is not much easy stuff in there either.
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