Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 1 via Crystal Pool

Monday March 19th 2012

Members present: Caitlin Brumby,  Sophie Hentschel

I agree, it was a very pleasant and efficient trip: minimum of faff (whilst getting ready and going to the cave, not instead of it ;)) It was my first time to lead really, and I was a little bit nervous about it. There was no back-up Martin to explain things to me! But we made it to Crystal Pool within an hour and enjoyed a snack in this beautiful place. I totally failed taking pictures that truly represent the beauty of the formations, nor did we manage to get a nice picture of us. We then proceded on the round trip, this time going up the rope climb to Lowe's Passage in two smooth movements: ha! The first time I did this in January 2012 I needed three guys to haul me up there... I can't get enough of the gorgeous white markings on the walls and still marvel at the dimensions of the chambers in Rawls Series. In Rolly Polly I was a bit too over-excited of rolling about, that I ended up rolling too far down and ended in a dusty, hot maze of holes other people before me had dug to find their way. Luckily Caitlin had not followed me down there, because for a short moment I had lost orientation. But as she was still further up and moving in the right direction, we figured out where to go/ roll. The rest of the round trip was great as always, and I really enjoyed the bolt traverse which had freaked me out on my first trip in January. Testosterone free trips are strongly recommenced ;)