Craftsman's Pot
Saturday September 7th 2013
Members present: Andy Hurlbatt, Mark Sims, Toby Buxton
Report by Andy Hurlbatt
After a fairly faff free morning (allowing for a Bernie's brunch and forgetting the metalwork in the car) we were ready to head underground just after midday. It was immediately obvious that this wasn't a popular trip, as the wooden lid was difficult to pry open; grass had grown around and through it, into the wooden framework below! Certainly nobody had been since early spring.
Toby climbed down the scaffolding first, with myself and Mark close behind. 'Are you sure this is the right way?' came a call from Toby. It turns out the new entrance built by ULSA (http://www.ulsa.org.uk/rants/rant.php?rant_id=758) in 2011 bypasses the first squeeze mentioned in the description. At the foot of the scaffolding is a small chamber, with the wet crawl from the old entrance (still useable if you really want!) coming in from the right, and to the left a 45° loose grubby crawl sloping down to a 2 metre drop into a narrow rift. Getting down this was easy enough, despite not really being able to see where you were putting your feet!
A short bit of narrow rift action lead to a cobbly crawl that opened out above a 5 metre rift. Chimneying down was easy enough; it was about the right size to jam various body parts to control your descent. At the bottom of this we immediately came to the top of Hickory pitch, where there was a small platform and plenty of places to stand (for the sure-footed). While Mark and I donned our SRT kits, Toby (who was already wearing his, skinny bugger) rigged the pitch.
At the base of this easy pitch was the start of the loose section. It was clear that certain places could be dangerous, but it seems that the last decade or so of visits has cleared most of the very loose stuff on the main route. The continuation under the 'hanging wall of death', as described by by multiple reports, would now be more accurately described as a 'slightly loose wall with a danger of injury for clumsy people'. Despite the lack of perilously loose boulders, it was clear that the cave was on the move. Old shoring boards in the loose slope to the top of Dickory pitch were more of a hinderance than an aid, as the debris had flowed under and around them, leaving the slimey wood to clamber over.
At the top of Dickory, however, even the visiting people hadn't reduced the looseness. One wall was comprised of rocks from fist to head size embedded in mud, and the other side of the pitch head had an outcrop comprised of a number of coffin size boulders seemingly hanging in free space. None of us made it past without knocking something down. Fortunately you're not in the firing line for long, as it is possible to swing on a crawl-traverse after about 4 metres or descent. There is also a good location just by the first bolt for people to wait without a massive danger of knocking anything down.
Once in the crawl-traverse, I had a bit of a lay down while waiting for Toby to finish rigging. I had some pretties to look at though. I soon found out why it took so long, as I struggled to make my way across to the pitch. The traverse soon left the boulder floor behind, and the smooth walls sloped downward. 'Be careful up there, it's a bit slippy.' said Toby. 'Yeah,' I replied. With very few places to put either hands or feet, progress was slow to the pitch head. I struggled with my long frame; I have no idea how Toby managed it! Eventually I was on the pitch and descending, happy to be off those smooth walls.
At the bottom, a clamber down some boulders lead to a small streamway, and a bedding plane crawl. The water levels were low, and I assumed that the floor of the crawl wouldn't go up at any point, so figured it was passable. After Mark was down, we had a bit of a discussion about the water levels and the forecast of rain, and decided to go through, but not spend more than half an hour on the other side. We knew the crawl was short, and that the other side didn't flood completely.
I poked my head in the crawl, and to my surprise saw it constrict about 2 metres in. I went in regardless, and after a bit of back and forth, digging out some of the debris, and helmet removal, I got through the worst bit. 'Come on', I called. 'No.' came the response. 'Not until you're through.' So I got back to it, and eventually got to sitting height passage and replaced my helmet. 'I'm through.' Toby came through, swearing and spluttering and making goat noises. Mark started soon after, progressing a bit slower than Toby. After lots of grunting came a call 'I'm stuck.', but he managed to force himself through, and we all spent a bit of time admiring the straws and helictites in the little chamber.
Progression from there was easy caving, with a bit of clambering, and a bit of crawling, and lots of fine decorations. Well worth the crawl through. We got the end of the decorations, where the way on was a 7 metre chimney down followed by crawling to a sump, and decided it wasn't worth the risk of rain, and turned around.
The return through the crawl was less dramatic, but a bit more splashy thanks to going upstream. Toby headed up the pitch first, and myself then Mark followed. The return across the traverse was also easier, and soon Mark and I were packing rope at the top of Dickory. We got to the top of Hickory, and started sorting out gear, with no sign of Toby.
*thud thud thud* 'What's he doing?' 'Dunno, maybe stomping on the entrance?' *thud thud thud*.
After derigging and removing SRT gear, Mark and I had two bags between us. This made progress incredibly slow. The 5 metre chimney took about 15 minutes (*thud thud thud*), with much discussion about bag lifting strategies, and building irritation from Toby's lid percussion. After much pissing about (*thud thud thud*) with person-bag-bag-person person-(*thud thud thud*)-bag-bag-person up each little section, we got the bottom of the 2 metre climb. *thud thud thud*
I struggled up with much cursing and thrutching, intending to find a secure spot to lift bags from. Unfortunately the only secure spot on the way up was too high to reach down from. I ended up upside-down on the 45° slope, trying desperately to stop myself sliding down the rift head first, while reaching down to grab the first bag. A serious sense of humour failure followed, with me feeling horrible from being upside down, and Mark supporting a bag with his face.
*thud thud* 'SHUT FUCKING UP'.
The second bag came up slightly more agreeably, with the cord hooked on my foot and my body the right way up. We were soon on the surface after just under 4 hours underground, enjoying the sunlight, and the view of a large rain cloud making its way toward the valley.
We went and had a wash in Yordas while the rain passed, got changed, and decided to head to Bernie's for an early dinner. That morning we had noticed their latest culinary invention, of lasagne served inside a giant Yorkshire pudding. It was good.
An enjoyable trip, short but still challenging enough to feel rewarding.
