Alum Pot SRT Training/Photography Trip
21/10/2018
Seeing as it was our SRT training weekend we thought we should probably get an SRT trip in there somewhere. We spent most of the week thinking our trip would have to be cancelled as the forecast showed it was meant to be chucking it down it down but fortunately on the morning it suddenly changed to glorious sunshine!
After giving Ben and Laura (even though she decided not to cave in the end) a quick SRT refresher course we squeezed the 5 of us (me, Todd, Javi, Issam, and Ben) and all our kit into Bens car and headed for the cave. I always find churns really confusing (it just has too many entrances!) so I'm not quite sure where we entered (I think Todd said Diccan entrance) but when we did there was only about 15 minutes of squeezing, walking, and climbing before we reached the first pitch.
As we walked out from the bottom of the pitch we got to a rather impressive view, called the window, into Alum Pot - an open shaft which had the previously mentioned glorious sunshine beaming in through the water from above. At that moment I was very happy that I had decided to take my camera with me.
We did the second pitch down towards the bridge but then Todd realised we didn't have enough karabiners with us to do the next pitch so after faffing there for a while with photography and a few of the others using someone elses rigging to go out onto the bridge we turned around and headed back up. We then decided we should introduce Javi to the cheese press (a pretty tight squeeze about three body lengths long that you have to take your helmet off to get through) so we sent Javi and Issam through but me, Ben, and Todd decided to take the route around it.
We then just had a bit of a bimble through the streamway in Long Churns and we went to the hand basin, but as there was a lot of water coming down the climb me and Javi couldn't make it up so we decided to head back and out a different exit.
Finally, seeing as Javi was enjoying the water so much (it was a novelty for him after spending most of his previous caving trips in the warm, dry caves of Spain), him and Issam went through Wilsons while me, Ben, and Todd waited at the end to watch them suffer and take photos of their misery.
Seeing as it was our SRT training weekend we thought we should probably get an SRT trip in there somewhere. We spent most of the week thinking our trip would have to be cancelled as the forecast showed it was meant to be chucking it down it down but fortunately on the morning it suddenly changed to glorious sunshine!
After giving Ben and Laura (even though she decided not to cave in the end) a quick SRT refresher course we squeezed the 5 of us (me, Todd, Javi, Issam, and Ben) and all our kit into Bens car and headed for the cave. I always find churns really confusing (it just has too many entrances!) so I'm not quite sure where we entered (I think Todd said Diccan entrance) but when we did there was only about 15 minutes of squeezing, walking, and climbing before we reached the first pitch.
As we walked out from the bottom of the pitch we got to a rather impressive view, called the window, into Alum Pot - an open shaft which had the previously mentioned glorious sunshine beaming in through the water from above. At that moment I was very happy that I had decided to take my camera with me.
 |
| Javi looking out the window |
We did the second pitch down towards the bridge but then Todd realised we didn't have enough karabiners with us to do the next pitch so after faffing there for a while with photography and a few of the others using someone elses rigging to go out onto the bridge we turned around and headed back up. We then decided we should introduce Javi to the cheese press (a pretty tight squeeze about three body lengths long that you have to take your helmet off to get through) so we sent Javi and Issam through but me, Ben, and Todd decided to take the route around it.
 |
| Issam in the cheese press |
We then just had a bit of a bimble through the streamway in Long Churns and we went to the hand basin, but as there was a lot of water coming down the climb me and Javi couldn't make it up so we decided to head back and out a different exit.
Finally, seeing as Javi was enjoying the water so much (it was a novelty for him after spending most of his previous caving trips in the warm, dry caves of Spain), him and Issam went through Wilsons while me, Ben, and Todd waited at the end to watch them suffer and take photos of their misery.
 |
| Javi "enjoying" Wilsons |
Comments
Post a Comment