Peak Mineing/Caveing

Early monday morning pete, rob and myself jumped in a van and raced over to the peak district for some caving. We had plans to head down P8 Jackpot which is a classic underground trip. Arriving in the car park we head out across the fields to find a manway in a depression in the ground. Lifting the lid we were alarmed as to the steepens of the entrance shaft as nothing was mentioned in our guide, but nether the less we continued on. After some half hour things still were not adding up and we came to a tight squeeze which we all had a go at but all unable to fit through. at this point it dawned upon us we were in the wrong hole!!! We had actually gone down P7. Back up on the surface we found our intended cave P8 which was a fantastic but very wet requiring some small amounts of technical ropework. Following day our plan was to head down Rota Hole which involved a 68m decent down a vertical shaft. Arriving at the top pete head down first with his light disappearing into the depths of the mine. All now down in the mine we found a few other roped SRT sections which we explored. Having explored the mine it was now time for the long SRT back out and long it was back up 68m shaft which took around 25min each.

WGL Training Course

Over the past week I have been working on a WGL training course for teachers wanting to start providing DofE in there schools. Due to the fact the WGL syllabus dose not require a expedition to take place during training and the main purpose of the course was DofE there LEA requested a bolt on expedition to this course. The course kicked off monday lunchtime with a introduction to the scheme followed by a intro to navigation and route planning lecture. Tuesday saw us heading out into the winds up onto Trawsfynydd to put this into practice. Due to forested high winds on thursday night we decided to bring the expedition forwards to wednesday night where we head north to Graig Wen with a camp overlooking Llan Festiniog. Both days were spent on navigation and other aspects of the syllabus with a roundup to the week on friday sending the team out at Bwlch Oeddrws navigating on a pre set orienteering course.

Yet Another Mine

Yes I have been down yet another mine, ticking them off ready for assessment and even starting to get into it now!!!! Aberllyfeni slate mine was the aim of the day, which is probably the closest to home yet the most impressive out of the lot. To get deep down into the mine we had to descend a pair of ladders around 50m long into the darkness.

Cwmorthin with a hungover giant

Today Dan, Alex and myself head down into Cwmorthin slate mine. Both Dan and myself had been down this mine a few times before and were keen to explore further ground. Our plan was to head up into some of its higher levels something we did not find possible due to collapses and technical approaches. After exploring as much as we could we head down deep into the mine which was partly flooded before heading out using one of the old bridges.

Winter Is On Its Way!!!

I awoke to the first frost of the year today and im sure along with the whole world of winter climbers I started thinking about the prospects of the coming winter, will it be as good as the last??? This frost inspired rob and myself to bring our axes and crampons out of summer hibernation and head out for some climbing!!!! I hear you asking "what"? Well it may have been cold but not that cold so we improvised using a coniferous tree. Setting a top rope up we both blasted up and down training in some hope of another good winter.

Wet Mine Exploration

Lurking in Till Hill forestry in Corris Uchaf are the old workings of Tyn Y Berth mine. I have walked passed the gaping vegetated looking holes many a time and wonders what was down there. Over the past few months I have been down all 4 with Dan completing the final one today. Access into all of the 4 involved some sort of a abseil and SRT back out. Todays involved a initial 20m abseil followed by another 30m of vertical waterfall. There were addits leading off in either direction with the first being chest deep water leading to a collapse and the second leading into a fair sized chamber. Just to ensure we were wet enough the slow SRT up a waterfall gave us all a complete soaking.

Observing SPA Assessment

For the past few days I have been lucky enough to observe a SPA assessment run by Tyn Y Berth Mountain Center. On Thursday morning the course kicked off with a visit to Craig Y Tonnau situated just over the Crimea Pass where personal climbing was covered. Day 2 took us over to Barmouth slabs, a popular group venue location overlooking the stunning Mawddach estuary where more group issues were covered.