Topic

This was my first weekend staying at the School since joining the YSS, myself and some friends when down Lost Johns to Long Lake on Friday and yesterday went to the sumps in Rowten.

Our Rowten trip went much as planned but after dropping the main pitch decided to follow the route on the topo down the hole on the left but rather than swinging along the rift to the rebelay (and flyover) we went to the bottom of the pitch. None of us had been here before and we expected from the rigging guide that this would be a straight drop to the head of the final pitch. However we found ourselves in a nice piece of streamway with a further pitch just around the corner, this we rigged with a wide Y hang that took us to the top of a waterfall beyond which was the final pitch. This is a lovely piece of cave and worth a look if like me you have only done the flyover route before, that said it really isn't a place to be in high water and I can imagine an unexpected storm would make exiting the cave near impossible.

A very enjoyable weekend, I can't wait for the next one...

Forgotten streamway, ace!

nftfh Rowten is on my list of trips to do, but I've a lack of courage at the minute, well this decade so far! ha

Yeah - my first trip that way was to do the topo for the rigging guide and I too was really impressed by a lovely and interesting addition to a cave I thought I had "done" far too often.

Combined with the new Gulley Route, the bottom section makes for a superb figure of eight round trip-exchange with the only common ground being the last few metres to the sumps ... must do it at some point.