Juniper Gulf

Sunday May 12th 2019

Members present: Christopher Edgar,  Hannah Gotheridge,  Jean-luc Heath,  Joshua Young,  Miles Armstrong,  Sam Dennison

A very straightforward approach was made from Horton, although worth bearing the exposure in mind on particularly hot or cold days. Once in the area, the wall can be easily handrailed until a fenced of shakehole is reached - from here the depression to Juniper Gulf is obvious, although slightly longer than the CNCC described method, it is perhaps more reliable in the dark or poor visibility.

The cave itself was easy enough and quite dry despite heavy rain the previous few days. It is worth mentioning that although not thoroughly difficult, the traverses are awkward in places and offer a less than ideal location to introduce novices to traversing. This said, our two novices had little to no trouble negotiating these sections with some supervision. Unfortunately, due to a forgotten tackle sack the final pitch could not be descended on this trip, however, without total trip time already reaching around 6.5h, this was probably for the best.

Overall, a very enjoyable trip with interesting traverses and some added spice caused by the retrieval of 'Sam's birthday sack' from the bottom of a rift, allowing for the consumption of cave birthday cake.