Hell Hole
Friday, 5 September 2014
The day before had seen me move into Beamsley Terrace; to celebrate this occasion alcohol (or liquid painkiller as it is now known) was consumed into the early hours of the morning. At 9 I managed to get Brendan up with Peachey being told that, were all ready and raring to go, unfortunately Peachey arrived not long after to discover Mike still in bed, me wondering around in my boxers and Brendan cooking an intricate breakfast. After much faff we commenced on our journey; yet more faff at chapel (due to a lack of short ropes for the saturday trip) followed by shopping. Thus suitably equipped we set off to Hell Hole. A pleasant walk to various spots saw us placing data loggers at one of the Hell Hole resurgences and also the Napeswell resurgence.
Quickly getting changed we set off (at about 5:20) to the 1st pitch along some hands and knees crawling. Peachey rigged the first pitch quickly. To get to the second pitch some fun crawling; this fun was definitely made more atmospheric by the fact that my glasses had steamed up and my helmet had come over my eyes, however this lack of vision didnt cause major problems. The second pitch required an awkward shuffle to get onto the pitch head but once this was achieved it opened out in a pleasant shaft. Due to low water levels we werent able to do a very basic (food) dye test, but could however go underneath the boulders underneath the way on (immediately after the pitch), this was pushed by Mike and Peachey but looked like it carried on the Sam Allshorne way as the passage we were in so we left that and continued to the end of pushing front through several sketchy free climbs up (one solid looking handhold turned out to be not so solid resulting in me nearly shitting myself). After some more crawling over the top of a rift (which Peachey spent some time trying to get up in an exciting and adventurous way) a slope down is reached; after this is a right angle bend (Pearly Gates) that Mike suggested going through right hand down this worked particularly well despite the mega arching of back required. A bit more caving saw us reach the pushing front; a roomy chamber with a (sketchy) rope climb up leading to some pretty formations and the boulder choke that was going to be snapped.
After setting up (and photographing the pretties) we retreated to a safe distance. Covering our ears Peachey detonated the charge and a small amount of rocks fell down the slope. Following this the ledge Mike was stood on decided it had had enough and spontaneously collapsed sending Mike downwards; as an instinctive reaction I stuck my arm out to steady him (and maybe grab hold of him?). Mistake, thus following Mike in falling the ~4m to the bottom, sliding down the wall; however whilst Mike had the good aim to land on his feet in a nice flat bit I had the misfortune to land with my back on a ledge of rock. Owfucking ow
After the initial walk around swearing I headed off to get through Pearly Gates before I stiffened up (and also whilst I was still buzzing from the adrenalin), after a couple of attempts and wimping out I decided to sit and eat a mars bar and calm myself down (this seemed to fail utterly as it was at this point that I got the shakes) getting through Pearly Gates was eventually fine once Id committed and before long I was sat in a nice chamber waiting for Mike. Once Mike arrived we pushed on to (and up) the second pitch where I proceeded to go the wrong way necessitating a thrutch over the pitchhead following this more crawling happened and I was sad. Reaching the first pitch was a moment of joy as I was able to stand up and stretch as well as washing my glasses and helmet which had become rather muddy. After the pitch and a couple of slips and almost falling over I was out with Peachey and Brendan shortly behind us; out by about 24:00.
Carried on out to the Bradford where Peachey volunteered liquid painkiller (Russian Standard) and merriment occurred. All in all a fun trip however potential for it to be more fun and less hurtey if falling off ledges is avoided.
N.B. Mike comments that he was unharmed and enjoyed boulder surfing (I did not)
Comments
(Photo’s by Brendan)
Nathanael Dalton
Sunday, 07 September 2014
Whilst i couldn’t see very much due to snapper fumes the majority of the pretty’s appeared to remain intact post bang
Ian Peachey
Sunday, 07 September 2014
Images
Peachey just after the second pitch (up is the direction he’s looking)
Posted by: Nathanael Dalton
Size: 51kb
Width: 600 pixels
Height: 337 pixels
Posted: 07 September 2014
Pretty before the bang
Posted by: Nathanael Dalton
Size: 55kb
Width: 600 pixels
Height: 337 pixels
Posted: 07 September 2014
Peachey
Posted by: Nathanael Dalton
Size: 60kb
Width: 600 pixels
Height: 337 pixels
Posted: 07 September 2014
Pretty
Posted by: Nathanael Dalton
Size: 61kb
Width: 600 pixels
Height: 337 pixels
Posted: 07 September 2014