Calf Holes to Browgill and Alum Pot are both on my L2 list but I hadn’t been down then for a while. On the 7th October I quickly popped down Calf Holes and my rigging was rusty. Also had a look at the middle waterfall pitch; it looks too wet even in normal conditions for most of my groups. On the 15th I went down Alum Pot via Dolly Tubs and the Greasy Slab. I’d thought about my rigging since Calf Holes and it was much better on this trip. I wasn’t enjoying using my Stop on 9mm Gleistein semi static ropes though, it was a bit jerky. I also learnt that all my rope lengths were wrong by about 5 metres. I possibly didn’t soak them enough originally and they’ve shrunk a bit since. Time to re-mark them all.
My reval would be a good opportunity to get some extra caves on my ticket. On the 17th October I went down Borrins Moor (easy navigation, more interesting than I thought it would be, as wet as I thought it would be at the exit) and High Douk Holes (straight forward but occasionally wet as you have to lie in stream at a few points, good addition to Great Douk). Finished by going down Middle Washfold to Great Douk; maybe I should use this cave more and see if groups like it?
On the 1st November I had another trip down the Dolly Tubs but this time with Clive Nutton. He’s doing his L2 training in December so wanted a bit of practice rigging beforehand. It turned out to be a really useful trip, it made me think about rigging in more detail, the mistakes people make when rigging and how to improve at teaching it. I also need to look at other people’s knots really closely rather than being worried that I’ll put people off if I ask them to pause a second!
The 3rd of November was my reval (should be called a workshop really as it’s not a pass or fail) with Graham Mollard and Mel Sugden at How Stean Gorge, aided by Tony and Dan Liddy. It turned out to be very useful.
Mel has nearly finished writing a caving specific geology book which is timely as the geology content is apparently increasing within the LCL system. The key take away is I’ve got a lot to learn, my knowledge needs to be to “A” level with regards to caves. Also, chert is pure silica made by salacious oozing!
We also practised some down prussiking, passing a knot and some simple rescue hauls before lunch. I learnt that practising how to re-thread a fusion knot at my kitchen table is not the same as actually having to re-thread a fusion knot for real; I failed. More practice needed.
In the afternoon we went into Goyden to practice other rescues - getting people off a rope by cutting the rope and a haul to traverse rescue. Very useful as I hadn’t done then for ages. Also made me realise that I really need to get to know Goydens.
When I did my CIC I’m sure that terminating a traverse at a y-hang wasn’t really required, although I may be mistaken. I sure I went straight into the y-hang. Turns out that traverses need to be terminated to keep the line high, no more 3 strand y-hangs. I also tried the French srt setup where the leg loop is attached to the hand jammer using the long cowstail. I’d previously tried this in Gavel Pot with Olly Rees and got to the top of the big pitch only attached to my Croll. It scared me a little and I didn’t use it again. Olly loves it though and after some advice from Tony I now leave my hand jammer permanently on my long cowstail and then clip my leg loop into that only when I need it. This means the hand jammer is always there and attached to me plus it’s ready for use in positioning when rigging. I’ve also returned to having two long cowstails, which I prefer to a long and a short, with an Alpine Butterfly on one cowstail to act as a short cowstail, I just clip the existing krab into it.
We also looked at the Petzl Jag system, a 4 to 1 double pulley jammer system. Very impressive but expensive and I can replicate it with what I have, albeit not as efficiently.
5th November - took John Martin down Sunset Hole and taught him SRT. A really good trip, the cave was better than I remembered it was. I rigged all the climb downs as high level traverse and abseil setup and my rigging is now back to normal standard. Just need to resolve one issue with the traverse termination and y-hang connection which really needs a diagram to explain. John will make a good bag carrier!
14th November - Jingling Hole with John. Kingsdale Beck was flowing so our choices were limited The other two parties thought the same but luckily they arrived after us. We did Little Gully and Lateral Cleft and poked our heads down the dig at the bottom.
21st November - crossover trip in Alum Pot with Becky, Dan and Toby (?) in the evening. I went down the NW side with Toby, initially using the wrong trees, and then found that the swing onto the traverse was next door to impossible. I was nearer to the Greasy Slab than the traverse side. After much ineffectual leg swinging I lassoed a boulder and pulled myself over although only after the boulder initially started to move towards me. Met Becky and Dan at the bottom of the Bridge and after they went to the bottom we swapped sides and excited. Good quick trip.