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Present: Julia, Sian, Chris F, Louise, Katherine, (Mehmet, James B, Stacey)

Got to cave about 2.30pm after much faffing around with our new shiny SRT gear (yeah) and tiny footloops. Al chickened out (very wise) due to alcohol and the fact that he knew how crappy this cave is! After the 1st pitch which took about 2hr to get everyone down (touchy subject!) most of us were freezing our butts off. James light had failed (dusa lights!) and Stacey was getting hypothermia so Mehmet gallantly took them back (hence the brackets).

The rest of us carried on at great speed down the next five (?) pitches full of fun waterfalls and much use of our new gear. By big pitch we were all freezing and wet and Chris (who was rigging) decided there was no easy way to do the next pitch without drowning so we headed back. Katherine and Chris stayed behind to teach her how to de-rig. Julia led Louise and me out. Waterfalls are shit when you can’t deviate around them. Very cold, very wet, very shit. Thank you Julia for the handy hints on using the hand jammer to get off pitches! After a wet crawl out it was good to be out in the cold air (even though I crawled along further than was necessary past the exit and found another one!). Got back down the hill to find no mini-bus – great! Turned up soon though to save the day – warm, dry clothes never appreciated so much!

Sian

Cold, wet + horrible! Should have listened to Al’s advice + not gone! Tried out SRT kit -> its really nice, but not as good as the kneepads! Don’t know how I got out, but I’m still alive! Never going down there again.

Verdict -> SHIT!!!

Stacey

Having been sick all week I told my mum I would not get wet! Oh dear. Unfortunately I really did believe that I would not get wet and so did not bring a full change of clothes. But this cave was really shit and I was soaked after 5 minutes. The more we went on the wetter I got and colder. Chris started to teach me to de-rig – I never realised how hard it was to get back up pitches with a heavy wet tackle sack stuck in a waterfall. This also meant I got stuck in the waterfalls and the water kept flushing down the back of my neck and into my waterproof trousers where it collected.

Finally got out with the tackle sack and slid down the hill frequently getting held back by my foot slings. Got to the minibus absolutely freezing and after about 1/2 hour decided it would be better to go commando than sit in wet clothes. This didn’t seem to be too bad an idea until we got a flat tyre and had to stand around in the cold with a sheep staring at us and wolves howling in the distance. Finally got back to Bull Pot Farm and got some underwear on and food and drank til 4am. I don’t want to do that cave again and from now on I will ensure I have a full change of dry clothes.

Dirty Katherine