Hal, Chris, Joe, Rob
Whilst another team worked down Cussey tonight, we planned to continue exploring V1, sort out the rigging and have a better look at the digs. During the prep talk it became apparent that nobody had managed to inform Hal that there is now a 20m pitch to reach the end so he’d have to share an SRT kit, oops! I’d also managed to forget my oversuit cos I’m an idiot, so it was a furry only trip for me.
Me n Joe headed to the far left, leaving Chris and Hal to work on the pitch. I was quite keen to try remember some of the survey stations from last week as I’d forgotten my marker, however this was definitely harder than I thought. Meanwhile Joe was off climbing in the roof and managed to pop up into some new stuff. I surveyed my way up to him, through a narrow rift and back into the main choke, and we eventually dropped back down into known ground. This bit of the cave is very similar to Waterfall Hole, where you could survey loops all day and make the cave look really long, even though it’s just a pile of boulders. Still, I’ll take the extra 20m, thanks.
Joe in the new loop
We had a bit more of a poke around, including looking at the big rift in there which is parallel to the main Brooklands Straight rift. The survey suggests that the westerly end of this is in a nice location potentially bypassing the main rift digs, but unfortunately no way on was found.
Joe in the big rift in the Far Left
We then headed back to the other, where the big noises of capping and banging had finished and the pitch rope now hung beautifully. We checked out the #1, 2 and 3 Reich digs but nobody was very excited about them. The rift just gets tight. The draughts prove there will be a way on, but most people would simply call this the end. We’ll see what happens…
Joe climbing up to 3rd Reich
Whilst the others climbed out I had a freeclimb up into another passage even higher up, now a good 14m off the floor, using the deviation to swing in. This rift passage actually starts off quite wide and enticing but soon ends properly in a solutional pocket. I survey back and we all head out. Tough times ahead for V1…
Chris on the pitch with it's now lovely hang