NGR:
Depth:58m
Rigging topo
Party members: Dave, Mark, Andy & Jerry
We had planned a short easy trip for a Friday night, after work trip. The plan was to head into Hunters Hole and rig both the main pitch and Sago’s pot. We also were giving Jerry a crash course in SRT (single rope techniques)!
We arrived early at the Hunters Lodge in car park on a cool, dark damp night. Mark was already there and waiting for us, Andy was still to arrive. We wasted no time in getting the kit on as I would need to talk Jerry through the set up. Whilst he was very familiar with climbing techniques SRT is quite different.
I had per packed and knotted all the ropes so as to cut down the time faffing around in the dark. Andy soon arrived and got kitted up and we headed for the cave entrance. The cave itself is located in the field adjacent to the pub on only a two minute walk from the car park. The entrance shaft is lined with concrete pipes and has a permanent steel ladder in place. The lid is a large piece of board to prevent animals getting in.
I was first in and was soon at the bottom of the ladder. A short hand line was used down the first climb making use of the two “P” hangers at the foot of the ladder. The climb was soon descended and I found myself rigging the traverse out over the first section of the pitch. Bats were in residence roosting so care was required. I soon had the traverse rigged and abseiled down to the ledge. And came next, then Jerry and then finally Mark who stayed on the rope and swung out over the main pitch to rig the second traverse and “Y” hang.
I headed down to the left a short way and rigged Sago’s Pot. The pitch was soon rigged and we chatted as we worked. Luckily I had the benefit of a brand new rope which was supple and easy to use. It also gave a speedy smooth descent to the floor once on the rope and abseiling. I quickly overtook Mark who was busy rigging the deviation at the top of the main pitch. Jerry got on the rope behind me and was soon beside me at the bottom of the pitch. I filmed his descent from 50ft or so above me!
I spent some time filming Mark’s eventual descent to the floor and Andy soon followed. The lads spent some time rooting around in the main chamber whilst I continued to play with the camera from various angles and in various modes.
For the Prusik (ascent) back up the rope we swapped over with Mar and Andy taking Sego’s Pot and Jerry and I going up the main pitch taking in the deviation on the way. Jerry went first and had soon honed his prusiking technique. Safely past the deviation he was soon at the top with Mark and Andy. I made use of my Pantin (foot jammer, not heavy breathing!) to help with the ascent. Excellent pieces of kit! I soon found myself at the deviation and spent a few minutes trying to undo the sling that had pulled very tight and was a real pain to get undone! Progress was soon underway again and the various pitches ascended and de-rigged.
We hurried back to the pub car park to get changed in the rain. Kit was stuffed into bags and boxes in a frenzy as only Chilli and Butcombe Bitter was now on the mind!
A nice short evening trip and a great taster for Jerry on SRT techniques. We’ll soon have him in Rhino!
Mark in the entrance climb
Rigging the pitches
Jerry descending Sego's Pot
Monday, 4 April 2011
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Thrupe Lane Swallet- Thursday 30th December 2010.
NGR ST64/6038.4580
Depth 385ft
Rigging topo
Thrupe Lane Swallet was to be the scene of our annual Christmas/New Year caving trip for 2010. Often we head to South Wales but with the recent snowfall and cold weather we decided to stay local and head for the Mendips.
The cave entrance lies on Thrupe Lane between the Villages of Measbury and Crosscombe and was first entered in 1974. There is a small lay-by where cars can be parked and at the time of writing there are no access arrangements and whilst the cave is gated there is no key required.
The cave itself is pretty vertical in nature and ideal for SRT resembling Yorkshire potholes. Thrupe boasts the one of the largest pots on Mendip at 197ft. Atlas Pot can be descended via the High Atlas route (where caution is required as there is a real danger of falling rocks due to the loose nature of the take off points at the pitch head) or from the Marble stream way further down. This was to be our Target.
Mark and Andy picked me up at 08:30 on a cold damp December morning. After a stop for breakfast in Asda (and some funny looks as I was wearing my fleecy having not been warned about the breakfast stop!) we soon found ourselves following the narrow Mendip lanes. Snow still covered the ground in places from the recent heavy falls experienced across the country.
We pulled up at the lay-by and started unloading the kit. The dairy farm remained quiet and no one seemed to be around. It’s a shame the old couple who used to own it are not still there as they kept an eye on people coming and going and would warn cavers planning to take the High Altas route if there were other parties in the cave lower down that could fall foul of falling rocks in the Atlas Pot area.
This was where my plan to wear the fleecy came good and meant I didn’t have to endure the cold air whilst getting changed and had a head start. I soon had all the kit on and the SRT kit ready to go. The ropes had been pre knotted and threaded into the bags to make life easier so I made my way to the cave to go on and rig the first pitch whilst Andy and Mark continued to change and try and work out how to put on their SRT kits!
With the gate propped open with the usual handy log I commenced rigging the pitch. The first “P” hanger is actually on the wall on the right just outside the cave and then the rope crosses the passage to traverse the left hand wall. Only 10-15ft in and you soon find yourself at the pitch head with two “P” hangers to take the “Y” hang. The shaft is only 30ft deep and an easy descent. Mark and Andy soon caught me up and we made our way past the turning on the right to High Atlas and on through the second gate into the tight and sharp rift passages that head vertically down. An awkward section of cave that can tear oversuits and catches the SRT kit wherever possible.
We soon found ourselves at the boulder jam that marks the head of Perseverance Pot. There are two ways on here, Perseverance is directly below you to the right as you climb down and Slit pot directly in front slightly to your left. A squeeze through boulders needs to be done with care as the deep rift of Perseverance lies below. A jammed scaffold bar provides the ideal point to tie in before placing a “Y” hang on the obvious “P” hangers in front of you at the pitch head. The descent of the pitch needs to be done with care as it’s very narrow at the top and sharp in places. As you descend the walls widen somewhat to make for easier progress.
We soon found ourselves at the bottom of the pot and I descended into Cowsh crawl only to find it all but sumped. Only a few inches of airspace was visible and the sound of falling water was loud beyond. This was the first time I had encountered anywhere near this amount of water in the crawl and was quite surprised. I slowly climbed in and found the water over knee deep and icy cold, obviously melt water from the snow thaw above. Within minutes my feet were throbbing with the cold. To negotiate this we would have to lie in it and totally immerse ourselves. Not a nice thought. We had a chat and discussed what we wanted to do. The thought of having to go through this wasn’t very appealing and the amount of water we had experienced throughout the cave didn’t really bode well for the descent of Atlas Pot from the end of the Marble stream way. So we chickened out and opted for a slow ascent out taking photo’s along the way and an early trip to the Hunters.
Perseverance proved as challenging as ever, with limited space to prusik out and jagged edges in a tight rift progress can be slow. Mark and Andy opted to free climb it which is probably easier to be honest! Annoyingly my Pantin kept coming off the rope, typical as when I try and kick it off I can never manage it!
Steady progress de-rigging and we went soon we found ourselves at the surface again. A brief stop for some photo’s and a quick change it was not long before we were sat in the Hunters enjoying a Chilli and Butcombe dinner.
We were a little disappointed that we hadn’t got as far as we wished but vowed to head back in the spring when conditions were a little dryer and warmer!
Depth 385ft
Rigging topo
Thrupe Lane Swallet was to be the scene of our annual Christmas/New Year caving trip for 2010. Often we head to South Wales but with the recent snowfall and cold weather we decided to stay local and head for the Mendips.
The cave entrance lies on Thrupe Lane between the Villages of Measbury and Crosscombe and was first entered in 1974. There is a small lay-by where cars can be parked and at the time of writing there are no access arrangements and whilst the cave is gated there is no key required.
The cave itself is pretty vertical in nature and ideal for SRT resembling Yorkshire potholes. Thrupe boasts the one of the largest pots on Mendip at 197ft. Atlas Pot can be descended via the High Atlas route (where caution is required as there is a real danger of falling rocks due to the loose nature of the take off points at the pitch head) or from the Marble stream way further down. This was to be our Target.
Mark and Andy picked me up at 08:30 on a cold damp December morning. After a stop for breakfast in Asda (and some funny looks as I was wearing my fleecy having not been warned about the breakfast stop!) we soon found ourselves following the narrow Mendip lanes. Snow still covered the ground in places from the recent heavy falls experienced across the country.
We pulled up at the lay-by and started unloading the kit. The dairy farm remained quiet and no one seemed to be around. It’s a shame the old couple who used to own it are not still there as they kept an eye on people coming and going and would warn cavers planning to take the High Altas route if there were other parties in the cave lower down that could fall foul of falling rocks in the Atlas Pot area.
This was where my plan to wear the fleecy came good and meant I didn’t have to endure the cold air whilst getting changed and had a head start. I soon had all the kit on and the SRT kit ready to go. The ropes had been pre knotted and threaded into the bags to make life easier so I made my way to the cave to go on and rig the first pitch whilst Andy and Mark continued to change and try and work out how to put on their SRT kits!
With the gate propped open with the usual handy log I commenced rigging the pitch. The first “P” hanger is actually on the wall on the right just outside the cave and then the rope crosses the passage to traverse the left hand wall. Only 10-15ft in and you soon find yourself at the pitch head with two “P” hangers to take the “Y” hang. The shaft is only 30ft deep and an easy descent. Mark and Andy soon caught me up and we made our way past the turning on the right to High Atlas and on through the second gate into the tight and sharp rift passages that head vertically down. An awkward section of cave that can tear oversuits and catches the SRT kit wherever possible.
We soon found ourselves at the boulder jam that marks the head of Perseverance Pot. There are two ways on here, Perseverance is directly below you to the right as you climb down and Slit pot directly in front slightly to your left. A squeeze through boulders needs to be done with care as the deep rift of Perseverance lies below. A jammed scaffold bar provides the ideal point to tie in before placing a “Y” hang on the obvious “P” hangers in front of you at the pitch head. The descent of the pitch needs to be done with care as it’s very narrow at the top and sharp in places. As you descend the walls widen somewhat to make for easier progress.
We soon found ourselves at the bottom of the pot and I descended into Cowsh crawl only to find it all but sumped. Only a few inches of airspace was visible and the sound of falling water was loud beyond. This was the first time I had encountered anywhere near this amount of water in the crawl and was quite surprised. I slowly climbed in and found the water over knee deep and icy cold, obviously melt water from the snow thaw above. Within minutes my feet were throbbing with the cold. To negotiate this we would have to lie in it and totally immerse ourselves. Not a nice thought. We had a chat and discussed what we wanted to do. The thought of having to go through this wasn’t very appealing and the amount of water we had experienced throughout the cave didn’t really bode well for the descent of Atlas Pot from the end of the Marble stream way. So we chickened out and opted for a slow ascent out taking photo’s along the way and an early trip to the Hunters.
Perseverance proved as challenging as ever, with limited space to prusik out and jagged edges in a tight rift progress can be slow. Mark and Andy opted to free climb it which is probably easier to be honest! Annoyingly my Pantin kept coming off the rope, typical as when I try and kick it off I can never manage it!
Steady progress de-rigging and we went soon we found ourselves at the surface again. A brief stop for some photo’s and a quick change it was not long before we were sat in the Hunters enjoying a Chilli and Butcombe dinner.
We were a little disappointed that we hadn’t got as far as we wished but vowed to head back in the spring when conditions were a little dryer and warmer!
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