Swales --- Ogof Ffynnon Ddu Cavers: Sam, Duncan, Connor, Tanya, Dave & Me! We set off from Cambridge with one light between three --- I wasn't allowed to use my new mega expensive Petzl carbide. As we neared Wales an impressive thunder and lightening storm engulfed us. The rain was so heavy that Sam even slowed down. Fortunately the campsite was relatively dry and the rest of the weekend almost Summery. A keen start on Saturday saw us at the top entrance of the cave at 12am? This was partly due to some mucking around: (1) the new mega expensive Petzl carbide won't let you put an electric lamp on it, so I had to find a hat as well as a lamp. (2) Connor's SRT kit looked like a single corroded mass, and apparently this was a good time to clean it.
Furry suit + over suit + sun = hot. Outside the cave it was hot. Inside the cave it was hot. A little waterfall and a crystal clear pool (till Connor washed his gummies in it) offered some relief. Connor and I headed off down this lovely easy passage with lots of nice straws... I took some photos, Connor showed off his considerable modelling skills until Sam and Duncan dragged us down the hole in the floor where we should have gone. Nothing very exciting happened... despite the many big passages we managed to find some crawling.
We met a group of cavers beneath a large carrot formation. They had a map. Maps are for whimps so we moved on... soon we met another group, also with a map. Onwards... eventually we descended a slippery awkward climb into a narrow rift which then twisted its way to the main stream way. After splashing our way down the stream for a while we soon encountered more cavers coming up the passage who vaguely knew where they were going. Eventually we decided to return after realising that finding our way out via the quarry entrance was unlikely to be straightforward. Back in the twisty rift 18 cavers congregated in the tightest part of the whole day's caving --- all trying to head in different directions... after the traffic jam we decided to take a ``short cut''. Long story involving lots of ``familiar'' passage, back-tracking and not following the people with the vague ideas... but Sam was optimistic... Being the closest thing to a novice my light decided to fail. Tanya let me use her battery.... (thanks!). Finally we returned to the original cross roads and made rapid progress back to the upper entrance encountering more cavers before emerging just before call-out... 6.5 hrs underground. Hmmm... almost forgot, someone got themselves wedged between a rock and hard place with their feet stuck in the air.... Dinner consisted of Connor's yummy sloppy thing followed by Angle Dust for desert.
Sunday We got up at 11am. Connor offered to return the lights to the gear shop. With no model, I elected not to cave but head off with Connor --- why cave when you can fondle new gear? Sam and the others went back to the same entrance to complete yesterday's short cut. They found some mud and crawls, so everyone was happy. The End. P.S. gummies = wellies
Quotes:
"This passage looks familiar" -- everyone at some time or other
"I'm stuck" -- Connor
Exposers in Austria Andrew needs the following information from all Expoers:
EGM There's an EGM in the pub next week and we need a quorum, so bring one if you can (i.e. turn up and make sure there are at least 12 of you).
Ramblings
I'd like to have an email list of CUCC members!
Plus I have put some pictures on my web page http://svr-www.eng.cam.ac.uk/~jccc/Egallery/cave/cave-short.html --- The scans are being redone because they're horrible (use a 24-bit monitor) plus I don't know the names of the people.
Handy Hints
Link to
image
Figure 1: Paul uses his carbide lamp to encourage Earl
up the rope and prevent hypothermia.
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