Joe and I were blessed with a guest appearance from the big one himself this week! The weather had been fairly rancid all day, leaving lots of stood water on the top roads. Luckily the rain had eased just as we were pre-beering. We had a quick check of the water levels in the swallet before we descended, the stream seemed to have only just begin to back up which wouldn’t have any affect unless something biblical came down once under. We made quick progress to the pitches and found an easy free climb to avoid Hockenhulls rift pitch, which will come in handy for the future. There was a visible and audible difference down amongst the boulders today, with water pissing from everywhere in Chandra’s series. Upon reaching Boggie’s bit things didn’t seem normal. I awkwardly descended the pitch (splits and all) and came face to face with a much larger body of water towards the east. I checked the dig and the tantalizing stream from last week was a swollen sump pool – DANG!
Rather than retreat Joe and I made the most of the drills battery and enlarged the rift heading west. It’s now possible to comfily access the pitch down. Hopefully this can be descended next week if water levels subside. We retreated hastily and broke surface some 3hrs later. The wash off under the waterfall was epic! The weight of the water pounding down was immense, nearly enough to knock you off your feet! Mechanics for debrief and refreshments.