Saturday, 17 June 2017

More Extreme Caving in Burlington Combe - Lionel's Hole

We (Mark, Jess, Kay and I) had attempted to complete the round trip in Lionel's Hole, Burrington Combe back in January but decided to turn back at the second duck in the streamway as one member of the party, having failed to get through one of the six squeezes, was a little concerned that he might not be able to complete the trip.
Fast forward to this month and new provisional members Liz and Tony turned up looking of a caving trip. I was elected to take them on their first trip and Kay, having asked me several times when we were going back to complete the round trip, decided that this would be a good trip for the novices.
Well it was tight and squeezy throughout and a real navigational challenge but we did it!
The novices loved it but Kay decided that she did not like the cave at all - the first cave that has she hasn't liked! I think there were a couple of reasons for this.

  1. The route description says, "Ascend a narrow trench that leads steeply up to the right to a point beneath some wedged boulders. Here an awkward wriggle along the rift at high level ends in boulders." Kay didn't think is was an awkward wriggle, she found is was really challenging and had to be pulled out backwards by Tony.
  2. The route description says, "It is necessary to drop down a square-shaped slot in the floor." This time I had to help a wedded Kay back up as she was stuck like a cork in a bottle.
Strangely enough the more Kay didn't like it, the more I enjoyed it. Anyway have a look at the video and decide for yourself if it is a trip you would love or would hate.

Team Members: Keith, Kay, Tony and Liz

The Video


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