Topic

What started as our annual birthday trip for Ian V, ended up not quite as expected.

I arrived Monday night, Happy Birthday Mr V! the plan was an hour or so in the srt room trying out my new chest ascender, an Anthron AC-30 that I picked up for £26 online.

I bought it as the debate about the stainless wear plate on the Petzl Croll being a pile of bobbins meant I was looking for another brand and without any real experience of equipment outside of Petzl, I wasn't sure what to get. Surely the Petzl juggernaut wouldn't sit by and watch their reputation shrivel and a year later they have released a new 'old' Croll version L .

Sadly I didn't know the srt room door code, but I knew it was on the wall in the members room.
Sadly I didn't know the code to the members room, but after some back and forth with the helpful bunch that are the YSS, I was told both and I got going. 20:45 by now so I apologise for being in the srt room slightly past the 9pm curfew. I got a go with my Anthron though so I can do a newsletter review

We debated where to go caving late into the evening, with help from a few members of the Chelsea who were staying and contemplating Pillar Holes (I couldn't dissuade them) and from a Josh who has moved in. We had a few limitations, Ian didn't want any srt and I didn't want to ladder any awkward pitch where I couldn't belay from a well sighted position. We had Krystal with us who had not climbed a ladder before and I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew, none of us having been underground since the President's Weekend. Valley Entrance was my feeling.

Nothing better came to mind after a good night's sleep and so Kingsdale it was.
We arrived to rain, wind and a need for a quick change but we had a problem. Ian had managed to put on significant weight since trying on his YSS oversuit two days before. He could just about get it on but couldn't move! Krystal, a similar height offered to swap oversuits but that was worse and all enthusiasm drained from Mr V . 'Just wear an undersuit', 'see if it loosens as you move about in it' 'try getting it wet' nothing would convince him and so he calmly waved us off, climbed into the passenger seat and went to sleep, we were down to a two.

The drum lid at Valley Entrance is very close to falling into the drum, it's only staying up by resting on the ground. Someone should perhaps do something about that?! Getting through the tube though was pleasurable, the wind was gone and that familiar feeling of being inside the earth came back, causing me to grin widely. I really do like going caving, the amount I do it, you'd think I'd have lost the bug.

After reading an article on the phreatic origins of the roof tunnel, I tried to sound clever pointing out the porcellaneous band, but I don't think Krystal was really listening, I'd mentioned the duck might well be an actual duck and a full dunking was playing on her mind, but when we got there, I managed to get through it without getting my hands wet!

We decided against the Milk Way branch, saving it for the way out if the water was too high to drop into the streamway. The chamber at the downstream sump looked fine. I could see stones so it wasn't that deep and also not a churned up mass of flood water, we had loads of time to have a wander to the Master junction and so rigged up the ladder. Despite the terrible forecast and recent rain, underground was pretty dry.
Krystal had no issues with the short climb and we were off along the streamway for some stomping fun, deep in places and fast flowing but nothing problematic. The master cave arrived and we went up Philosopher's Crawl, but the damp continuation beat me back.

A quick mars bar in the Master Cave before heading back out, I climbed up the pitch because I thought it was easy, it didn't feel as easy as I remember and I was rather relieved to get up to the top. Krystal flew up the ladder and off at the top I packed up the rope and started for home, before realising that shiny glinting thing behind me was the ladder! oops. So that was rolled up and the trip out began proper.
We decided to save the Toyland for a really wet day, but even so the trip out seemed longer than you think it is but then the duck arrived and then the entrance tube and it was back to the car, my grin still in place.

A minibus arrived at the perfect moment, nothing like the cool Kingsdale wind whipping past your white bits whilst a youngster is saying hello and luckily for me Inglesport was still open where I picked up a copy of the BRCC Journal 2 and some Petzl Push rope along with cake, cake and another cake.

All in all a very nice day and I'm trying to wangle more caving over the Christmas break.

Some of us will be in the Dale's between Xmas and New Year, feel free to join us dude. We have permits for Lancaster, Cow Pot and Lost John's

Oooo Lost John's yes please.

(By which I mean I'll ask Linds)

That's where your going wrong, tell em don't ask em