Robin, Andy, Ian and Roger
We met at Inglesport cafe at 9am just as it started to shower. No breakfasts as they were short staffed but there were butties available which included all the ingredients to make a full breakfast!
Whilst waiting I purchased a new hand jammer/foot loop cord and tied the knots to replicate the old one. Andy had also just replaced his cord and cowtails as well.
Sunday luckily was a much cooler day than the previous day which meant we didn't cook ourselves (too much) on the walk up from the parking at Yordas Cave.
Robin rigged and descended the entrance 10m shaft. At the bottom he discovered an excess of rope left over. He'd started from the wrong bag of rope! Andy re rigged with the correct rope.
Pitch 2 starts a short distance away. It starts 2 to 3m above the stream and traverses around an S bend to the pitch head where a Y hand can be placed. 5m down you land on a shelf (it can be easy to miss this and continue further down which isn't the way on). This shelf can be a dramatic and rather draughty and damp place in wetter conditions, however today it was dry.
Pitch 3 Slot route.
There is an alternative wet route but we took the dry 'Slot' route straight from the shelf. A few metres down is an easy rebelay at a small shelf.
Pitch 4. Ian starts the rigging on a traverse high above the stream but can't reach the awkward last P bolt where the Y hand needs to be placed. He retreats and we rearrange bodies in the restricted streamway. We obviously need to send in the largest member of the team at this point, so I get the job. I get to where Ian had finished and start preparing the knot in the rope for the Y hang before pushing forwarded as far as I dare and reaching the P bolt. I then spend quite some time adjusting the lengths of the Y hang in the tight space with one knee in my face and both arms stretching forward. Eventually satisfied I attach myself and descend a few metres of the pitch to a 'steep and challenging deviation'.
It's at this point I recognise where I am. Quite a few years ago Nathan rigged the pitch and because it was particularly wet needed to reach a second deviation further away from the water but couldn't reach it. Again I was called in and made an enormous swing across the spray filled shaft to reach this.
Today it was so dry we probably didn't need the deviation at all but I rigged it anyway and continued down. Andy followed and whilst I was slowly squeezing through the next section and contemplating whether to get wet in a duck he caught me up.
There had been some discussion of the fifth pitch being difficult so Ian had decided not go beyond the forth pitch. He and Robin decided to start heading out. Andy and I decided to abandon the fifth pitchas well and head out which meant I didn't have to get any wetter. Andy had a quick look further at the start of the traverse to the last pitch though.
No problems getting back up and out and changed by about 2pm. An early finish. Robin wanted to return to Inglesport to buy some carabiners so we all returned to the cafe again for coffee and cake. Ian, not to be left out on gear purchases decided to also buy a new hand jammer/foot loop cord as well.
Roger
