Topic

Plan was the Bar Pot Alternative trip to the main chamber to see the waterfall after a pretty heavy rainfall couple days.

Managed to set off late, get stuck behind a a tractor for miles, got lost on the way to pick up a pal and so ran out of time to get to the main chamber and turned back in South East Aven.

That particular trip holds nice memories for me, it was my first long solo trip and so I enjoyed the travelling through memories of the past. I really struggled with the Keyhole Passage section between Bar Pot big pitch and the traverse to the South East Aven pitch.  It's a good marker of how cave fit I am (not at all) as getting through it is either all forward motion in which case it is fine, or it's is a stuttering attempt which really causes the panic to rise. This time was the latter and I was very glad to finally pop out on the way back, obviously I was the only person to struggle.

The South East aven pitch has a new IC bolt placed.  It is a less ideal place as a shared load is now closer to a rub point but with a simple bit of rearrangement you can get a safe hang, which I suppose is true of every pitch, I must be out of practice. It is however better than the original bolt which was beginning to rotate.