Lower Long Churn Cave ‘ Alum Pot
Saturday, 20 September 2014
Maz had chosen this trip for her birthday. Luckily there was no rain forecast. We arrived at an empty Alum Pot Lane early in the morning and made our way past Alum Pot. Kev and Vicky went to Upper Long Churn Cave while we entered the system via the Diccan Pot entrance.
A large group of school children were found at the top of the Dollytubs pitch. They were being taken down the left hand route so I rigged the right hand route, using the traverse halfway down.
Luke rigged the greasy slab, at which point Kev and Vicky joined us. We were soon across the rock bridge and reached the bottom of the pot using the pitch on the underside of the bridge.
Maz rigged the last pitch, allowing us to reach the sump pool. There was much less water entering from Diccan Pot than usual.
We made our way back out, the head of the biggest pitch providing a bit of a challenge. A group of cavers were waiting at the head of Dollytubs. They said they were waiting for our entire group to exit before descending. For some reason, they didnt want to use the now vacant left hand route. They gave up and left before Maz got to the pitch.
Luke and I exited via Upper Long Churn in order to derig Dr Bannisters Handbasin. We got to the car not long afterwards.
This was an excellent trip, despite its stringy nature.