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A CCCC trip/permit but there were as many YSS members on the trip as CCCC people....fantastic trip into Lost John's via Centipede. Really dry. Everyone made it to and across the Battleaxe traverse (Mike was really glad for the in situ rigging!).

Top tip: don't sneeze really hard in a cave when wearing small contact lenses.... I found reversing the traverse with only one lens in place really \"interesting\"!
Best line on the trip: \"Using a panten is nearly as good as sex\" (Neil).

Mike (YSS/CCCC), Rob Jones (CCCC), Alex (YSS), Susan (YSS) made it to the bottom
Neil (YSS/CCCC), Jane (YSS/CCCC), Bill Buxton (CCCC, SWCC) to the Battleaxe traverse only

An excellent trip, Battle Axe and Valhalla were fantastic, Lost John's is still up there amongst my favorite caves. Thanks to the rest of the group for a great day.

A slight correction. Alex, Sue and Rob made it to the bottom of Valhalla but then decided to start heading back because of the time. The bottom pitch was already rigged so I decided to descend all the way and also then followed the passage until the T-junction with the main stream. I then returned and got back to the bottom of Valhalla to find Rob just about to ascend. We then derigged our ropes on the way out.

I'm still relatively new to leading. Neil had rigged Hammer, Mud and Centipede and then handed over to me. Funny that because he seems to have handed over just as the pitch heads started to get a bit more challenging As Jane says we found the Battle-axe Traverse already rigged (we were told about this by Russ Brooks in the Helwith Bridge). I decided to practice rigging Battle-Axe anyway and the in-situ rope was only using alternate P-hangers so there was plenty of scope for two lines. However it was comforting to be able to clip my cows-tail into one rope whilst rigging the other

Lost John's now counts as one of my favourite ticks!

Photos of this trip and the one into Alum are now up on my picassaweb album see

picasaweb.google.co.uk/mrc7cam/CavingAtTheYSS#

The the first Battleaxe eco hangers were placed by Alan Speight,Colin Gray & Phil Parker - now drilling & fitting those was realy fun.

I can imagine it was an interesting route to prepare! You have my gratitude since I quite like feeling secure in my belays