We joined with CATMHS, to go down Coniston copper mines. BRCC: Me, Shaman & Pete
Although the weather was forecast to be apocalyptic our plans would not be effected. We drove up a rough track to get to the youth hostal before taking the CATMHS vehicles to the very top for a very short walk in.
We descended into the mine through a great rift, which is a common feature in this mine, before reaching the first pitch. We had a couple of novices with us so it took a while for all of us to get down the first 25m pitch. The pitch head is quite scary for novices considering how far you have to reach to get to the Y-hang.
Down that was another pitch immediately, so in-order to prevent my self from getting bored, I went back up the top pitch (we were not pulling through as mines have a habit of collapsing), I did a change over at the top (I think I need to practice them more often) and came back down.
We progressed down the next pitch where a few of us took in a quick side trip above some false floors with some big holes and in this case no safety ropes, so a bit of excitement. I did not dare pear entirely down, all I could tell it was deeper than 20m.
We had lunch and then headed on further down following lots of in-situ hand-lines down steep, loose slopes, intersected by a short pitch in the middle, before another final 30m pitch. I had intended to go back up the ropes to burn off some cals, but I had spent too long exploring and they had de-rigged the ropes. So I joined the others and used the normal entrance, passing a very large chamber and some more deep holes (lined thankfully) before emerging into the merky outside world
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