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New Rift Pot 23rd March 2013

Keith, Richard & Emma, Ian Ball, Pete J

Weather was bloody cold, snow everywhere and what felt like gale force winds. But we had Keith who drove up Turberry Lane past the pumping station parking almost at the hole. Had to laugh as Keith tried to park the wagon as close to the wall as possible, only to find it slid back onto the path. With an audience of many sheep we all got our gear on rather hastily as the snow drifts where blowing into the back of Keith’s car.

Rift was already rigged as there is a dig going on. Easy first pitch into a long low crawl made far easier without SRT kit on. A couple tight drops lead to the second pitch, again just to add insult to my aching body this was tight, gravity is your friend. Dropped down Route 66 the third pitch straight forward with a nice ledge to stand on into the main chamber.

Abandoned the SRT kit as it was no longer needed went for a wander, made our way through some muddy crawls heading for the mouse hole. Keith and Richard went searching for the bypass passage which avoids the wet crawl through the mouse hole. I ran into two of the diggers Neil and Beardy who led the way for me to follow. Squeeze then into a climb followed by a long long muddy crawl eventually we re-joined the main passage on the trade route.

Made our way back towards the bottom of Large Pot and a very impressive Colossus pitch, from their we were invited by the diggers to go have a look at the dig. More squeezing and squallier and we were presented with the Western Front dig.

Retraced our route and headed back, met up with Emma and Ian, I was physically exhausted after today, found the free climbs challenging; the crawls were smooth and fairly easy.
I know the snow was bad but to find a five foot snowman on Keith’s bonnet was hilarious. Drove back to the Telephone box with Frosty, dumped him off.

Great day black and blue and full of mud, what else to you want from a gentle YSS trip?
PJ.

Was a good trip, not sure which of the two connections I prefer best......jury' still out
Having exited the cave and the short 10 minute walk back to the truck, it was a hard job stripping kit off as it was all freezing up. Did appreciate Beardy's sense of humour with the snowman

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Nice photo's Ian

Intriguing dig with a promising draught – could be the next big one!

The bypass over the Mousehole would make a Large Rift exchange much less of a gamble (as the water is very slow draining), but might take a bit of finding from the Large side if you hadn’t done it before.

Ian, you missed off the best formation!

richardrae wrote:

Intriguing dig with a promising draught – could be the next big one!

The bypass over the Mousehole would make a Large Rift exchange much less of a gamble (as the water is very slow draining), but might take a bit of finding from the Large side if you hadn’t done it before.

Ian, you missed off the best formation!

Also known as Frosty

Funny thing is Richard, I tried but couldn't get my fingers to open the drawstring of the bag I'd put my camera in, I was definitely feeling the cold by then, inanely jabbering away

Note to self, if you're going to get stuck try to do it in a dry bit.

The snow on the wall in that photo has some pretty cool shape too.

iball wrote:

Note to self, if you're going to get stuck try to do it in a dry bit.

Good job Emma was there to rescue you or you could have been in for a long wait