After Jon, Joe and others had been putting in a few good shifts down WH, a few of the gang were quite keen to go for a fun trip about the place. Jim unfortunately had to pull out last minute but me and Chris turned up excited to be shown around by the big JP.
Pre-beers in the cold rain made me miss summer(!), but soon we were heading down the huge shakehole hoping both that the lake wasn’t too high (it wasn’t) and that Chris would fit in the entrance squeeze (he did). I won the bet that Ward Wins Crawl would be wet, although Jon probably thinks he won because it wasn’t actually uncomfortably wet, and soon we were laddering down the entrance pitch and showing virgin Chris about.
First on my list was Westy’s Bit, which Mark had been on about for a while and some research in John Beck’s diaries certainly gave some tantalising insights. This bit is quite near the entrance and is nicely high in the cave, away from the muddy wallows below. What’s even better is that it is away from the chaos of the choke that forms most of Waterfall Hole and is heading south east (towards SMMC!). So yer, defs a good target on paper.
The entrance starts hilariously with a well hidden tight bend in the roof of a rift which requires a bit of thinking. A few boulder ruckles and up ‘n unders and soon a passage is reached with is heading bang south east and covered in scallops. A small, rifty aven is reached with boulders in the roof blocking the way, but black spaces beyond will need inspecting at some point. Ahead another small chamber marks the end of the survey, but a small hole in the floor leads off into another squeeze and a continuation of the rifty passage beyond, although now smaller.
Recalling his trip here a few years ago with Luke, Jon soon squirmed off into a couple passages at the end and confirmed that one of these goes to a little drop where he nearly got stuck last time, whilst the other gets too tight. I went for a look at the latter and openly admit to getting a little excited about it. It’s so clean washed and only one boulder blocks the way on, passed which a good few metres of passable rift is visible. Small draught to top it off, this has LWS vibes all over it, and I’m in 500.
Our antics had taken more time than we anticipated so the WH tour would have to wait for another day. Goes to show though that this cave will need a LOT of work to inspect it all! We start heading out and we notice a small aven to the side was now flow quite a lot, getting us all a little aware of the potential for a flood risk. Nevertheless I go poke a few holes whilst they head off. A few minutes later I get to the silly bend near the entrance to find a Chris down the hole pulling a slight face of panic. It’s a hard hole to get out of, let alone then into the tight passage off! Jon’s overly calming words making me more anxious so I slip down the hole next to Chris. A little cuddle for old times then he climbs up my body, the gravity seemingly strong in this part of the cave right now, and actually quite easily gets himself out. A stemple here will defs work.
We get out, the entrance wasn’t sumped, and then we went to the Eldon pub meet. It was great.
