The entrance series went fairly quickly; in fact I was pleased that it took just over an hour, and that was pushing a bag the whole way. I was less pleased that Jas didn't fall for my trick of trying to get him to go under a boulder at the end of the crawl rather than over. This boulder has caused me some difficulties in the past, when - crawling with my head down - I have failed to see the obvious route and instead ended up in a very tight squeeze. Sadly Jas made no such mistake!
After the entrance series, we made rapid progress through the boulder choke into Jigsaw Passage and eventually to Big Chamber Nowhere Near the Entrance. From there, Eglwys Passage, Five Ways Chamber, Valentine's Chamber and Preliminary Passage all followed quickly and without difficulty.
Before long it was time for the infamous ladder climb up Welly Boy Aven. Everyone we had spoken to said how hard this climb is, mostly for different reasons! These included: a) the ladder being overhanging, b) the rungs being spaced too far apart, c) it being hung upside down meaning bits of it catch on your caving suit, and d) it being bolted to the rock really awkwardly at the ledge halfway up. All of these reasons were at least partially true, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. In fact, pulling the lifeline through the figure 8 as Jas climbed the pitch proved harder work than the ladder itself!
Having conquered Welly Boy Aven, we cracked on with the traverse over White Passage (a nice bit of exposure!) and the two climbs with handlines down into the passage itself (easy but serious given the consequences of a fall). From there, a few minutes’ walk led us to the Time Machine which really was impressive for sheer size. After stomping along it for five minutes or so, and the obligatory photo, we turned round and headed back towards Big Chamber. Jas found downclimbing the ladder much harder than going up it. As he went down each rung, his kneepads would catch and he would have to climb back up to free them. Nonetheless, even with this difficulty he was quicker than me and it wasn't long before we were back at the logbook.
Here I was relieved to hear that Jas thought the through trip would be a good option, as I really didn't fancy reversing the entrance series! The through trip went without incident, with the exception of a minor navigational error in Antler Passage, which was quickly corrected. There were a couple of moments in Busman's Holiday where we had to guess the way on, but before long we saw the reflective sign for Cnwc which showed us that our guesses had all been right.
In Cnwc, Jas saw what he thought was a handline, but in fact was an SRT rope. He decided this was the way out rather than the passage ahead of us, even though it involved a horribly sketchy, overhanging climb into a hanging rift several feet off the ground. Being in awe of his machismo (and also because it was quite funny!) I let him get a few feet off the ground before telling him I’d take the easier route out. While it may have been easier, it was still not easy, but after a bit more squeezing and crawling, we eventually exited Cnwc into the evening gloom. And I had the satisfaction of finally getting to the Time Machine!
Cavers: Dave & Jas
Trip Report: Dave
Photo: Jas
