ADCC- Log Book
Although club members are full of good intentions (usually at about closing time), the actual level of literary activity is limited. My thanks to Louis for providing the following (even if a certain amount of poetic licence has been used…)..Fuzz
Thrupe Lane Swallet – early in 2004 (Fuzz, Louis, Dave, Tony, Warwick, Simon, Rob)
The entrance is gated with a 10m pitch about 1m in at the base of a sloped rock. This can be laddered, but we decided it could probably be free-climbed. Rob, Simon, Warwick and Fuzz disappeared off into the distance whilst Dave, Tony and I were left behind. The lead four descended the 15m Slit Pot then the crawl to the bottom of Perseverance. Dave and I attempted to follow, not knowing where they were but ended up getting stuck. Tony called back that he’d found an alternative route (15m Perseverance Pot- can be descended with a 40m lifeline). We sat at the top looking down the 15m drop below and the knackered bit of rope we had to use as a lifeline. Just to make us all feel especially pathetic, Simon just nipped up to see what we were doing. I eventually agreed to go down, but Tony being the owner of the rope and knowing exactly how much abuse it had seen thought better of it and he and Dave retreated to the Pub. And then there were 5.
The bottom of Perseverance is a bit more open and far less jagged than the upper part of the cave. A short crawl leads to the bottom of a chamber with water coming in from the top right and falling down a big hole at the left. This hole can be descended by climbing around it and up over a sloped rock and down through some boulders. This leads on to Bridge Rift and Avalanche Pot. Despite our intentions to go to Atlas Pot, and Fuzz having been down here within the last 12months, we got lost and decided this wasn’t the way. Down the passageway there was a rift which was obscured by spray and Fuzz didn’t fancy taking his odds when he couldn’t see the floor. After an hour or so without beer the caver’s body begins to deteriorate rapidly and so eventually we gave up. Simon decided to go exploring on the way out, just to see if there was anything worth pottering around in. He managed to find Butt’s Chamber (which is up and to the right of the chamber entered from the base of Perseverance Pot), although we didn’t know we had at the time. This is a big sloping chamber with a ledge at the top left. Go left from here and you reach Marble chamber and eventually Atlas Pot. Go Right and you enter a higher chamber with some passages leading off. After several hours without beer, Anbutcombosis was beginning to set in so Fuzz, Warwick and I decided to head back. Simon and Rob refused to be beaten and carried on exploring up the crawl, to Marble Chamber.
The climb back up Perseverance is about 15m. Warwick decided to throw his tackle bag at us after about 5m (the tackle bags were just to make the trip extra fun!). I decided to cheat somewhat and whack a chest jammer on the handline to make it a bit easier. Perseverance is a nightmare to get up. Generally, there are ample handholds although they’re often in positions that necessitate you to get you helmet jammed between the two walls. Fuzz, managed to tow his tackle bag up and then haul our tackle bags up for us with only one “they’re stuck” moment. The rest of the ascent was fairly straightforward, until we reached the surface.
At the top we discovered Tony, Dave and Pot had disappeared
with Fuzz’s car keys to the pub. There was a note on the car saying back at
5.20, although they didn’t actually get back until 5.45. Meanwhile Rob and Simon
managed to get to the top of Atlas Pot and back out. Just in time for a trip to
the Hunters to refuel.