Present: Maria Buckles, Hannah Walker, Sarah Crooks
Duration: 3 hours 30 minutes
Saturday trip of Dinnermeet. – Only got to 2nd pitch After finally being able to leave the hut since the apparently comes-charged batteries were actually charged, Erica drove us to the layby outside of Bull Pot, dropping Ben at the layby by Valley, so he and Tom could decrease their already long walk to Crescent Pot. We got changed quite quickly, noting that pulling up kneepads shouldn’t be a 2 person sport but it gave us laughs. Erica then realised Ben had left his wellies in her car, so drove back to their layby, and then returned. We walking up to the entrance (a bit steeper of a walk than I would’ve preferred) and started our debate on how to rig it. The topo suggested using a large boulder on the left side of the hole and the 2 bolts on the right in an offset y-hang, but we ultimately found it better to use a boulder on the right of the bolts. Whilst Erica was rigging the 1st pitch, a lady and man had passed by and stood for a chat, turns out she was part of scottish cave rescue! Anyway, once rigged, we all smoothly went down and headed towards the 2nd pitch, where we ran into a bit of trouble (well not trouble but I can’t think of a better word). Erica suddenly says that she’s standing at the pitch but cannot see any bolts. I direct her to look up where the bolts are firmly bonded into the ceiling. The rigging seemed to daunt her but I got her to give it a go. However, she decided after some deliberation of how to get up to the bolts, that maybe this pitch wasn’t one for her to rig. Hannah also mentioned not really wanting to rig the pitch, but would give it a go if all else failed. Determined not to have my trip turn around one pitch down, I stepped up to have a go. After looking at the walls for a lower bolt, I found a drilled thread and started my traverse there, tying an alpine after my rethreaded figure of 8, so I could clip into the rope as I climbed up onto a ledge. I then managed to rig the rest of the pitch (which only consisted of 3 bolts) but edging myself forwards on a polished slopey bit of the wall. Once rigged, I descended to the challenge of deciding what bolt to tie the rope to. The one before the slot pitch, meaning you’d have to step over it unprotected, or the one after, which made the rope just a smidge too short. After some deliberating, I got called down to that the others were getting cold and so just left the rope hanging on the premise that if I could get myself onto the ledge, the others would to without the need of the rope being tied. Erica came down fine, followed by Sarah, who seemed to have some trouble at the pitchhead but I’m not sure what was happening since Hannah was helping her. Hannah then came down smoothly as ever but descended a bit too low, so getting onto the ledge was a bit of a challenge for her. All in all, we had managed to spend 1 1/2 hours at the second pitch, so decided to turn around as people were getting cold (not me though lol). The way out was smooth and quick, with only getting Sarah off the 2nd pitch being a bit troublesome. Hannah de-rigged and I took some great photos of Erica’s butt as she went up the 1st pitch. Once at the top, we took a quick group photo and headed back down to the car to get changed, head back to Pinecroft, and get a start to dinner.
Maria Buckles