Report by Jim Thompson
Cavers: Steve (Stik)
Rider (EPC), Jase Rider (EPC),
Pete Pollard (EPC), Carl (Bog) Bergmann (EPC), Jim Thompson (EPC)
A few of us met at the Knotlow triangle for a fun little trip in
Hillocks Mine. The idea was to give Pete a bit of SRT practice, and for
me, at least, it came in pretty useful too.
The way we rigged
everything meant that all 3 pairs present could do a couple of
different through trips. Bog and I initially rigged and dropped the
Whalf Engine shaft, meeting up with the rest at the bottom
junction. Nigel and Pete rigged the Whalf climbing shaft whilst Stick
and Jase had come in via the ladder pitch and climbers. We said hello
and passed each other on our way back out.
From there, one team went back up the engine shaft, another up the
Whalf climber, and Bog and I out via the climbing route and old coffin
level (apparently the longest of it’s kind) to the oil drum entrance.
We bumped into Lee Langdon from the Masson CC who showed us the way as
I wasn't sure I could remember it, although I did as it turned out. The
climbs back up the hand picked shafts were thrutchy little affairs and
great fun.
Back at the top we passed Pete and Nige who were just making their way
into the oildrum entrance, and I then dropped the Whalf climbing shaft,
passing Nigel's frugal rebelays with interest! It seems however that
the others had viewed my 'extended Y hang' with similar surprise!
Once down, I jugged back up the 180m engine shaft, cursing Bog who had
wisely elected to wait for me at the top! The fine free hanging pitch
which was a breeze to abseil down on the way in, is a bit trickier to
get back up- the rope boings all over the place making prusiking a
tiring effort. Eventually however, I reached the top where Bog was
waiting, and expertly climbed up the ginging past my perfectly rigged Y
hang, wondering what the rest were on about. If there had been no holds
in the ginging I suppose it would have been a different matter…. Oh
well, I knew that in the first place!
Once derigged, we were met by Stick and Jase who had already got
changed and were wondering where we'd got to. In the end it turned out
that we had been quicker than Pete and Nige, who had got confused in
the mine and done a couple of circles before finding their way back to
the shaft and getting out. Once we saw steam coming out of the shaft
and heard voices, we knew they were on their way, so Stick and Jase
left us to it as they had to get home. I ran back to the car as I was
freezing in my damp suit, following the previous night’s dig in
Bagshawe.
Luckily for us, we just
got to the Bull's Head in Monyash at 1 minute to 11, but the kind
landlady let us stay for a couple anyway. As usual, it was well
appreciated after that long, bouncy climb out of the engine shaft!
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