Cavers : Stuart, Andy, Mike, Roger, Ian, Alisdair, Kate, Fran, Dani, Gemma & Robin
There was a large turnout for this trip which was originally just going to be Alum but then Mike’s suggestion of Diccan Pot generated interest. So as we had a number of experienced cavers and novices myself and Stuart had a go at emptying the rope store, ending up with all the maillot’s, slings and well over 300 metres of rope.
There was planned to be 3 different teams, Alum only ( Ian, Kate, Dani, Gemma & Robin), Alum-Diccan ( Stuart,Roger & Alisdair ), Diccan-Alum ( Mike, Andy & Fran ).
This is the trip report for Alum only :
As this was planned as an easier SRT trip, the plan for us was to go down through the Long Churns, Dollytubs pitch, then Greasy Slab and over the bridge. We decided this would be a reasonable trip without descending further into Alum. As the exchange team needed to rig all the pitches for the the other returning team, we left all the rigging to them.
On the way down, Alisdair was only passing the Cheese Press once so he squeezed through and back with SRT kit on before heading off on a solo excursion ( complete with two rope bags ! ) in another passage before returning to join the rest of us. The pools were shuffled around without too many dunking and the Dollytubs pitch was reached.
The pitch was rigged and everyone descended onto the ledge.
The ropes were rigged down the Greasy Slab, round the traverse, over the bridge and down towards the bottom.
Once those of us wishing to go down and over the bridge had been down and back, we set off back up Dollytubs. The top of the pitch proved a little tricky for the less experienced but everyone managed to get up successfully without assistance.
On the way out only Kate and myself wanted to venture into the Cheese Press so the rest made their way out. We removed our SRT kits to make things easier and slithered through and back without too may groans.
Cheese Press shuffling
Once we’d finished in the Cheese Press we continued out but followed another passage for a while before returning to daylight. Kate then wanted to have a look in at Diccan, so we crawled and splashed our way down to the top of the first pitch for Kate to look over and comment No Way. We then made our way back to the cars to find a chilly Dani & Gemma waiting for the return of the car key holder ( me ).
We got changed and gratefully scoffed Kate’s range of cakes and waited … and waited.
A while later the Diccan-Alum team arrived ( about 4pm ). Call out was at 5pm which we would have cancelled if we had mobile signal. So we waited some more …..
Some of the group wandered up to the gate to fill in time, eventually cavers were spotted, they arrived at the cars at 4:45, so I was dispatched to go find signal and cancel call-out. All on our team had a great day.
Roger’s trip report of Alum-Diccan.
Down from The Bridge and out of Diccan Pot. Alisdair continues the rigging, first over The Bridge and then below it. The take off under The Bridge had a bit of a swing out which put off Kate from attempting it! Alisdair, Stuart and myself (Roger) venture forwards/downwards.This descent had one easy deviation after 4m to pass on the way (see photo).From the bottom of this pitch nearby is the short final pitch.
We then wander down the streamway to a 4m waterfall where we see the rope and a light from the Diccan Pot crew below. Alisdair climbs down but it looks particularly difficult to climb up. He then tries to climb back up to test it, but a shout comes up that there is a bypass route just as the same thought came to me!The Diccan crew of Andy, Fran and Mike and also Alisdair come up the bypass and we discuss the route ahead of us.
Wet, spray, noisy and frayed slings on deviations get mentioned. Sounds great.I set off up the first rope. On the way are three rebelays and four deviations. All the deviations in Diccan are quite offset from the direct line of ascent, meaning there is a lot of rope pressure on the deviation carabiners making it particularly difficult to hold yourself in a position to release the rope and reattach again below your ascending gear. I attach my cows tail to the deviation slings to avoid swinging away if I can't hold on. Not too much spray on the way and I get to the top without too much trouble. Quite a long wait for Alisdair and then Stuart who is derigging. I'm still quite dry, so remain warm, which is good as I'm last up the next pitch.Stuart continues up with the first bag of rope. Only one rebelay and one deviation on this pitch. I derig on the way up. Trying to hold yourself in position to derig is difficult in this cave!At the top there is a traverse along a rift with very poor footholds. More a case of bracing myself across the rift and trying to twist around to derig.
The final pitches are wet!Stuart has continued up whilst Alisdair waits in a dry spot. No sooner had I arrived than we hear 'rope free' from above.I go up the first short pitch without problems with the last bagged rope in tow. I enter the spray from the waterfall above. I attach to the next rope as quickly as I can and start tensioning the rope. This rope seems particularly stretchy, perhaps partially because of the length of the pitch.As I lift off the floor I swing across and into the full force of the waterfall and back again. Although not that forceful, the shock of cold water hitting me and going down my sleeves is not nice. I struggle to get going. Bouncing up and down and in and out of the water with a bag in tow making me very slow. I get up enough to be in just light spray and have to rest regularly. A long time passes. I haven't shouted 'rope free' down to Alisdair for the first small pitch yet as I don't want him to have to wait in the spray for the pitch that I'm on and I have no idea how long it's going to take me get up. Trying to shout anything else to him is impossible with the noise. Alisdair obviously gets bored waiting at some point and comes up the short pitch and pulls on my rope to find out if it's free or not. I feel this pull and shout down that I'm still on it. I continue at a slow pace. Two deviations on the way. The last one being what looked like thin bailing twine that's surely going to break. I place my cows tail onto the deviation carabiner so that I don't lose it when the twine breaks. Amazingly it holds out and I reach the rebelay. I transfer ropes as quick as possible and shout down to Alistair so he can start he's ascent. I rest a while before continuing up the last few metres to Stuart. It seems like an eternity before Alistair appears at the top. We all assist in pulling up, de knotting and bagging the rope before heading out. It's at this point there is no avoiding the deep pool that's thigh deep and I truly get wet feet for the first time! We get back down to the cars to discover everyone else had got back 45 minutes before us. A quick change and a bite of Kates banana cake (yummy) and scones saves the tummy rumbles on the journey home. Thanks for the memorable trip. The first and probably last time for Diccan for me.
Roger’s photos
