Alum Exchange
Saturday, 29 March 2014
The day began with a disturbing alarm at 8 o’ clock; I decided if caving meant getting out of bed at that ungodly hour then I was going to have prioritise sleep; however, by about 9 my expected hangover had failed to emerge so I thought Id probably get up and see what was going on. First breakfast was consumed after receiving an odd call from Peachey; (me: Hello?; Peachey: oh its you; hangs up). Breakfast finished my luxury transport for the day arrived. It was agreed that Rob was almost certainly not coming and that wed leave Kristian to get Ann up (or not as it turned out). Having packed the ropes the previous night we set off to the Dales with minimal faff, consuming Huw’s brownies on the way. Thus refreshed (and surprisingly for me not hungover) we arrived at Penygent caf where third breakfast was consumed with Katey stealing my bacon. Suitably stuffed we set of for Alum where a foreboding large amount of cars meant we parked and changed (Peachey into a pair of rather dazzling orange overalls) in front of the hut. Leaving Peachey to rig the direct route we went down a hole (sorry Kristian you were right; it was the Diccan entrance with a funny byepass bit). Following some minor route finding errors we arrived at the cheese-press. Squeezy fun was had just before we met a group of teenagers coming the other way; pleasantries exchanged we continued on our merry way. I rigged the first pitch and second pitch having some faff just before the greasy slab. Katey took over the rigging from the bridge downward also having a bit of a kerfuffle with a mystery (to some…) bolt and rebelay. At this point we passed a couple who were rather bemusedly watching a bored hi-vis clad Peachey going up and down the direct route; whats that man doing? We made swift(ish) progress to the bottom where we went to look at the sump (I do like the bottom bit of Allum; really nice). Peachey then set off to de-rig the ropes wed come down on whilst we headed up direct. I was a bit worried as it looked a bit high and I felt a bit tired however after half a maltloaf I was off up with the rope from the bottom pitch. After passing an interesting expedition style rebelay consisting of various bits scavenged of Peacheys kit I was bouncing upwards on the long pitch. Arriving at the top I realised it wasnt actually that bad (certainly didnt feel as sweaty as Centipede in Lost Johns; perhaps the rather large holes in the groin area of both my furry and oversuit helped with ventilation). Huw and Kristian had gone to help Peachey with bags whilst I sat and waited for Katey. Katey arrived so we pulled up some rope and consumed yet more maltloaf. We made our way back to the cars and had a hair raising (its fine I didnt have to use the handbreak) journey back to Leeds. Peachey also managed to (accidentally) call Katey american on the way back. A big thanks to Peachey for driving and rigging; thanks to everyone else for a really enjoyable pleasant trip.
Comments
(Kristian’s photo)
Nathanael Dalton
Monday, 14 April 2014
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‘Who’s that man and what’s he doing?’
Posted by: Nathanael Dalton
Size: 63kb
Width: 450 pixels
Height: 600 pixels
Posted: 14 April 2014