I know that most people will be up North this weekend, but Bella is champing for adventure again. Would anyone like to join us for an easy trip on Sunday? Suggest Belgrave upper levels, or anywhere else that does not require a ladder or SRT.
go yourself john your more than capable
We went there, and did the whole trip along the top level to the end and then up the 'spiders ladder' and along the wet wriggle to the slippery slopes. Bella loved it. She said over chips at the Druid afterwards that she fancies trying sumps next. Is SRT needed to get to the sumps in OHA? Seems like Bella needs to talk to Tim?
Yes, you need to be able to SRT to get to the sumps in OHA and, frankly, I can't think of a worse cave to SRT in (actually, I can't think of a worse cave). The cack can (and most likely will) ruin your kit.
You could try a sump in the Mendips - there are many and I don't think you need SRT for any of them and there is a trip coming up ....
Of course, wanting to undertake sumps is contrary to the biology of natural life and clearly a symptom of a mind imbued with a fractured reality. Or, in otherwords, "she must be mad" !
:huh: :S :blink:
Ian
Don't listen to a word the moaning old woman says ;-)
Agreed that theres mud in parts but its also fantastic! Theres mud, theres sand, theres clean bits, theres walking bits, theres crawly bits theres climby bits, theres fascinating bits, theres awesome bits!
I actually love the place! Its my favourite underground place!
That said, the trip as far as the sumps isn't easy. I went on one trip when it took a group of 5 of us 11 hours (!!!) just to get to sump 1 and back!
But by the same token, Mike and I have raced (and believe me we really did race!) through to sump 1 in less than an hour on a Thursday night - go figure!
Its that kind of place! It can sap your energy. I'm sure you've noticed by now how sometimes trips just seem to get longer and longer and then on other days the group breeze through quicker than expected. This is very much that type of cave.
Getting through the sumps themselves is either easy, or impossible. For it to be easy requires someone to make the trip down to the first sump to start a siphon, meaning that a couple of days later it will be easy to pass - i.e. no longer a 'sump' but rather a wet duck - with about 3-4" of airspace, literally over in a second or two. A few mins later you come to sump 2 which has a siphon pipe in place. Starting the simpon here lowers the water level pretty quickly (sump 2 has a much lower volume of water in it). Then its a case of sitting shivering for about 30-60mins for the water level to drop enough to make the sump duckable (waiting longer means its no longer a sump at all but normally the shivering has set in and its better to take the plunge and get moving). The rest of the cave is awesome - and more men have walked on the moon than on the far reaches of OHA.
A trip to the far end and back is going to take around 12 hours with a competent team, this could easily skyrocket if there were problems.
Casualty recovery from the far end of the system would be 'difficult' to say the least.
Most of the rigging in the far reaches of the cave dates back to the early 80's. Some of the ropes are past there 'best before' date! An effort was made 2 years ago to replace the worst of these. UCET and NWCC donating rope and time to fit it.
Its one to build up to i'd say. Plenty of SRT practice needed first :-)
Taking in all the above advice, it seems that OHA divides cavers into two groups - those that love it and those who don't.
But one clear conclusion is that OHA is not the best cave for Bella to try some simple sumping because it is such a task to get there. I will show her the video posted by Jazwaulk (Tim?) of shooting the sumps to the end of OHA and see if she is still so keen.
Are there any other local caves with a water squeeze that is a little more challenging than the entrance to Maeshafn and the duck into fossil chamber in Poachers?
yer i'm jaswauk on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/user/jaswauk?feature=mhee
if you scroll down through my videos you'll come across 2 videos from OHA, one shows the trip to the sumps (my early days with UCET!) and the other one is the other side of the sumps.