Finally a return to Diceman was on our agenda for this evening. Joe and I now feeling Cliffestile fit with Sam tagging along, kitted up in Eyam on this sweltering hot afternoon. It wasn’t fun putting wetsuits on but in hindsight this was a much better option than Cussey.
The walk over was bleak, we stashed away a couple of post beers at the lid, ready for post 80m prussik. A wade up the sough and a quick march through Glebe got us to Sooty which we had left a ladder on from our previous trip. The ladder was not in great condition but with a rope still in situ it was safe to use. We all squirmed our way through the first choke and Joe bravely knocked a rock out of the way in the second choke which had decided to collapse in on itself. Now we we’re finally in Diceman again. Previously we’d only made two trips to this place to gain access and survey. The large natural rift lies at a very exciting place under Rocky Horror in Cussey Pot and could provide the elusive ‘Artistic Connection’ into this side of the system. Our mission for this evening was to climb the rift. We checked out the far side first to where the smoke grenade we used on the final trip followed the draught upward. The climb here looked abysmal and choked. We then backtracked to the main chamber just above the breakthrough window, here the walls looked much more solid and the view above looked enticing. I told Joe to crack on and he quickly kitted up for his third bolt climb in three weeks!
Joe quickly progressed up whilst Sam and I got cold in the draught. About 10m up he gained a ledge formed by a large ruck of boulders. From here a delicate traverse over holes led to a further rift which climbed out of sight. We called it quits here as it was getting late and we had a trek back out. The upward spiral choke was awkward with bags but what was more terrifying was the glutenous mud which nearly killed Sam and I, luckily for us Joe was on hand and keen to rid his ‘Soulless’ nickname and jumped in to save the day and retrieve our wellies! Ideally this requires some stepping stones.
We hit the sough and washed off (main reason we chose the sough rather than Cussey)!! The trip out was uneventful until we hit the shaft where near the top Joe decided to kill us both by lobbing summat down the shaft. Scary place to be with nowhere to hide. Beers on surface were a reyt treat!
A return trip is planned.
[Below] Sam getting cold in The Diceman (JRP)
