Present: Rob Eavis, Rob Middleton, Jon Pemberton, Ben Marks, Helen Fairclough
This week’s Thursday night outing saw us head to Intake Dale Mine. After a few miles of careful driving on icy roads, I finally made it to the layby on the hillside at about 1845, where I met up with the others in the freezing cold. A quick and chilly walk down to the engine shaft was had – and to our surprise a rope was already rigged in the shaft – oh well, that meant we could have two ropes to speed things up a bit! Rob Eavis tied a poorly dressed figure-8 onto the belay bar, and was soon met by criticism from Jon over the lack of a backup anchor! Ironic considering how vehement he was on ditching his SRT kit as soon as he could and freeclimbing/ hand line traversing along some of the sketchiest mined passage I have been in…
A quick descent was had by all to a landing around 25m down from the shaft lid. The most dangerous part of this was the ice around the lid - It was slippery when trying to get in. We then made our way down a few pitches and into the ‘Taproom’, and on to the horrible ‘Taproom Traverse’. This is a fairly constricted traverse with no ledges, requiring a good deal of upper body strength to pass it and not end up falling down and getting wedged in the tighter part of the passage. To get onto the traverse in the first place, you must pass through a precarious funnel of stacked deads to make things even worse! After this traverse, yet more traverse lines over dark voids and false floors are ‘enjoyed’ before the next few pitches. We finally arrived in ‘Isolation’, a brown chamber with not much to write home about. The next few chambers were similar, however one had an excellently scary looking slab the size of family car which had departed from the roof and was wedged up by one small boulder. Rob Eavis and I thought it would be a great idea to pose for some photographs underneath this slab, and it occurred to me that the longer Jon took fiddling with his camera and flashes, the higher our chances of being squashed were! After some morbid conversation between myself and Rob over who would get splattered first, Jon finally gave up with his photographs – the weather conditions were a bit misty inside his camera lens apparently!!!
Ben Marks in Don't Flatten Me, by RobE
We had a look in the current terminal chamber of this side of the mine, and then swiftly headed out along the numerous traverse lines and pitches back to the dreaded ‘Taproom Traverse’. The two Rob’s and Helen headed out first, and then myself and Jon followed a little distance behind. As I came to prussik up from the end of the traverse through the funnel of stacked deads, the rocks suddenly began to plummet downwards with the most impressive sound! Shocked and a little taken back by the collapse that occurred just inches from me, I nervously asked Jon what I should do… At this instance, another hefty portion of the stack gave way and tumbled into the darkness below. His response of “If I was you, I’d get moving fast” couldn’t have been any better timed!
Panicking slightly and perplexed at Jon’s relative calmness, I prussiked up and out of the ‘Tap Room’ quickly and made my way back into the engine shaft. Jon and I chose a rope each, and began climbing out simultaneously – a little bit of suspended maypole dancing was required to sort out some of the tangles however! We were both soon back on the freezing hillside, and a brisk jog back to the van was had. We enjoyed a beer each accompanied with some sweets, and chatted long into the night about everything from digs, university, jobs and of course the inner politics of the TSG! All in all, a great trip was had despite some terrifying moments. I can’t say I’ll be rushing back to Intake Dale Mine, but it’s certainly a good trip to have ticked off – I was very glad to have made it out…
Ben Marks