05.11. 24
Katie, Julian, Kat, Chris, Edvin, John and Victoria
Well, it seemed like a fine way to spend Bonfire night. It was also a very needed distraction for this American to avoid the worry of a dismal US election night. We set off from Artists corner and headed up to park on Salters. Katie made sure to check that there wasn’t a picnic table on top of the exit hatch first. It was clear and relatively warm for this time of year. We decided just to bring one set of ascending gear and hope that the through trip was still passable. I always think once I descend Gentlewomans shaft that I really am not keen on doing the trip in reverse. Six descended and waited for our seventh….and waited. We rescued a small snail that had attached to Katie's helmet and Kat decided the safest route out for him was in a glove tucked in her roomy helmet. We had a lot of debris coming down the shaft but no one was descending. Eventually the rope was hauled up and that gave us the clue that they could not make it down and we decided to press on. It is a tricky entrance as we may have all encountered. Looking for the climb up left us with many possibilities so we started to climb. We may have climbed higher than needed but it was all good fun. We made our way through and down into Old Jant’s mine. I always forget how wet the gravel passages are but we all crawled our way through. Once we made it to the on your back, head in the water crawl we saw that it was passable. The spade is still there though if you need it. We continued and continued with crawling. Taking time to remove all those small rocks that get caught under your knee pads and lodged into your boots. Once we hit Youds level we stooped our way through to reach the exit. It took a minute to open it from within but we were all happy to be back in the clear night air. No more fireworks and the state of affairs in the US were as dismal as predicted. I am thankful for this great group of Tuesday Nighters which adds to my love of living in this beautiful, kind and adventurous country. Oh yeah... the snail made it out just fine.
