A Rematch with Fault Aven

21st and 22nd July at SWCC

Saturday: Ogof Fynnon Ddu 1 to Cwm Dwr via Fault Aven

A couple of years back I went to try and have a look at the Pom Pom, a formation in Fault Aven, high above the OFD streamway. We saw some pretty cool stuff that day, but had not quite gotten to the Pom Pom so I vowed to return one day for a second attempt, this time with a camera.

Two Trips in One Day!

7/7/12

I turned up at Bull Pot farm on Friday night fully expecting a long evening of 'socialising' followed by a late start and a short trip. Imagine my surprise then, when I arrived to find that caving plans had already been formed, and that they involved two trips and a 7 am start! Becka, James and Jenny were going to dig in Link Pot very early as James and Jenny needed an early getaway. Becka was then planning on doing Peterson Pot to Pippikin Pot with Patrick afterwards. Peterson Pot is not renowned for it's easy walking sized passages and is in found in the Black Book of Misery. Not having done much caving of late, I began to suspect I may have bitten off more than I could chew.

A Few Random Trips

Not too much underground owing to various heinous surface-based activities, but a few trips to report.

5th May: Swinsto Hole with Tony and Kathryn, 2 hrs T/U

12th May: Took Kathryn's dad and sister down Moel Fferna, 2 hrs T/U:

A monster sized cavern in Moel Fferna

The Grind Circle

28th April

A couple of months ago Emma and Tom, plumbing new depths of squalour, discovered over 100m of new passage in a slightly obscure part of Link Pot known as 'The Grind'. The new stuff connected with Easy Street, below the Serendipity pitches. Thus a new round trip was born: down Serendipity and back out through the Grind. Kathryn and I joined them to help with the surveying and to complete the first ever 'Grind Circle', no doubt destined to become a modern classic for the perverse caver.

Tenerife

15th-21st April


The Barranco de Masca



Kathryn and I spent the week in Tenerife, for a combination of lava-tube-caving, snorkelling and walking. When you get away from the resorts and built up areas it's a spectacularly scenic place, and is well worth a visit.

 

Our first attempt at finding a lava tube (Cueva de San Marcos) ended in frustration as we spent a couple of hours trudging around looking for an entrance that was hidden somewhere on an inaccessibly steep hillside. Somewhat deterred from looking for lava tubes, we spent the next day doing the impressive Barranco de Masca canyon walk and snorkelling from the beach at the end.

A North Wales Mining Weekend

An unseasonably warm March weekend saw various cars converge on the caving/climbing hut in Tanygrisiau, the main aim being to complete the Croesor-Rhosydd through trip.

The Croesor Rhosydd Through Trip - 24/03/2012
Croseor and Rhosydd are two huge slate mines (more like quarries with a roof on top and a swimming pool at the bottom) on opposite sides of Moelwyn Mawr, above Tanygrisiau, a village near Blaenau Ffestiniog (is that the most unpronouncable sentence ever?). When the two quarries were still in use, a tunnel was driven to connect them. It is claimed that this was to settle a dispute over who had the rights to the slate in which part of the mountain, and subsequently to aid ventilation. However, in reality the tunnel was clearly driven by forward-thinking mine owners to enable mine explorers and cavers to complete an exciting through trip seventy years after the mines ceased producing slate. More background here.

White Scar Cave

17th March On Saturday I joined a large group of Red Rose members for a trip down White Scar, beyond the tourist show cave bit. After squeezing into as much neoprene as we could muster (a task which looked like it was harder for some than for others; I'm assured because the neoprene had 'lost its stretch...') we stomped through the showcave and, after a quick look in Battlefield Chamber, climbed over the railings and into the continuation of the streamway.

Tourists don't go beyond this point, mainly because the water is 8 feet deep and there is no walkway above it, but after a combination of swimming and holding onto ledges on the side, we were through the deep section and into the boulder choke. There was a delay here as nobody could find the way through. After a time, Ian clambered through a hole to find somewhere to pee. Thinking he'd found the way on I followed him. I presume he kept going to get away from me and find some privacy, but eventually he popped out on the other side of the boulder choke, so I guess I can claim some credit for finding the route...sort of...?

Several hundred metres of large, fun, wet streamway followed. Eventually we reached a cascade on the right, at the top of which the passage changed character. The stream was now wide, slow and silty with a low ceiling. A series of ducks followed but, rather than being intimidating, they were great fun as there was so much space under the water and I was quite warm in my wetsuit. Eventually we found a dive line and the first sump. I poked my legs through and could feel the other side, but didn't fancy the free dive!

Back at the cascade, we had a look at some impressively long straws at the top of a hand line climb before heading out after a fine 4 hours underground.