There was a split in the ranks again on Sunday - Pete really wanted to go to Alum but Rich really didn't want to. With seven of us it was easy enough to make two parties. I opted for the Sidewinder and the non-Intestines routes as I think they're better. I faffed a bit while rigging the top half, including abseiling too low for the deviation.
Then (scarey) I realised the base of the main chamber was covered in foam! I knew the cave flooded big time (and there are some hugh logs in there), but this was the first time I'd seen quite such tangible evidence of backing up.
The bottom half of the trip went without real incident. During the return I discovered how much of the top half can be bypassed by climbing - and Sam nobly carried my tackle sack which I'd left at the bottom on the pitch.The real highlight of the trip was the shock on Damian's face when we returned only a bit late and considerably earlie than he'd expected to see us!
Party: Sam Clifford, Rich Rae, Fiona Weare (YSS) and Si Hlomes (Hades)
Time: 3.5 hours
