Xandar.
XandarI have decided to write this trip report as I was unable to find a single one on-line so I thought I may as well write one of my own.
Having read the NFTFH description and thinking it did not sound too bad, I thought why not. Becka had contacted me by e-mail (I had bottomed Langcliff with her last year) and we settled on P5 as she and her friend Andy had spent 2 hours digging out the first crawl on Friday.
It had only gone 9:15 when we arrived in Clapham a very uncharacteristic early start for me. We quickly packed up and set off up the hill. We reached the entrance where a stream was now flowing into a nearby shake-hole, created from the storms the previous day. Not idea conditions and I began to wish I had brought my neoprene.
The entrances starts off loose, very loose. We carefully wormed our way down being careful not to touch well anything. It may had been better to rig it with a ladder, this vertical death chamber. Anyway at the bottom a small sideways crawl led into another loose chamber, ninja skills required.
This ended at a flat out crawl where Becka and Andy spent most of their time 2 days ago. I looked through to see Becka had already got to the other-side of the crawl and was beckoning me through. I looked at it and thought, is that human size? Well it must be Becka got through. I slowly slithered into the water that covered the floor of this flat out passage. I soon found it very difficult to move as the gravel welled up underneath me. Several times I had to stop and shift bits of gravel out of the way. Eventually after quite a struggle I got through to meet Becka.
After this there was a short sitting section, where it would be possible to put on (or take off) SRT gear at this point. The passage from here to the pitch was not too hard, a typical trench affair and except for jamming the bag a few times was quite easy compared to what we had just come through. At the pitch head, there was room for 1 person to put on their gear whilst sat on the edge. Taking it in turns to kit up we both dropped down. You definitely don’t want loads on this trip. It might be better to do this pitch on ladders but it is do-able SRT.
At the bottom the looseness resumed, a rubble slope led up to a climb down. All the time everything we stood on, moved underneath us. Once past this and down the climb there was more low passage. The CRO crawl? No this was far too easy, it was almost hands and knees crawling. A slightly awkward drop then window led around a corner into large passage again.
From here more careful sliding past wedged boulders in the floor of the chamber led us down to a final decaying scaffold shaft of very dubious vintage and the start of the infamous CRO crawl. Becka carried on leading the way, having got this far on Friday. The crawl very quickly dropped to flat out and it was wet. Soon it got very tight too, gravel again causing issues against the smooth rock. It dug into me as I pushed on regardless and eventually slithered through. Becka got through it with far greater ease. The rest of the crawl to the next squeeze was a horrible low affair, not strictly tight at about 10 inches high. But pushing your helmet and bag in-front of you through this very knobbley, low and wet passage made me quite nervous as did not being able to see where I was going due to the bag blockage. The water was flowing except when it pooled around the bag and me. Not a lot of flow but given time or maybe a bit more rain it could become dangerous. At least that was how it felt. Eventually I came to the crux, Becka having crawled most of the way to the pitch by this point.
The crux is a tight corner with an even-tighter bypass. I tried the bypass first and found there was no chance in heck I was going to make it over it, I could not even get past my shoulders. Becka had managed it with relative ease. I tried the corner, I wriggled, thrashed, rotated but whatever I tried I seemed to end up either jamming up against my elbow or jamming my legs if I managed to get further. I was not getting through, I tried several more times and realised I was getting quite cold and tired. Perhaps if I was wearing my neofleece I would have been able to take off my over-suit at the start for this bit, but there was no room and no way I could strip off here in the cold. So the cave had beat me and I had to shout to a no-doubt disappointed Becka that I could not follow. (Becka had reached the pitch head, there is room she tells me to put on gear there).
I reached the first squeeze in CRO crawl going feet first, there was no room in the crawl itself to turn. I tried pushing myself through but gravel soon stopped me and dug into my chest. I moved forward and pushed that gravel out. I tried again same result but I got an inch further than last time. This went on for about 10 minutes as I went into the crawl and back out again each time my chest was getting more bruised from the gravel. Eventually with Becka almost in-front of me now I gave it one last push and went through using the “riggle” technique I taught Don.
We were both quite cold and visibly shivering from the wet crawl so we set a faster pace going out. I found getting off the 1st pitch much harder then going down and to save time, expelling more energy. I negotiated the entrance crawl to the start of the flat out bit where I stripped off and packed my gear (was a bit more room here). Without Becka’s guiding light, wallowing in the water in this flat out, tight crawl led me to almost panic. I involuntary shouted for help before I told my self to calm down. I also realised I could now put my hand under my head and I was basically out of it, so I was not going to drown. I learned not to push my bag in-front of me. I was through and even Becka said it was far worse coming this direction.
All that was left was to levitate up the entrance shaft/boulder pile and embrace the sweet light of day. Becka must had forgotten to defy pysics and stood on something triggering a collapse. Luckly it did not seal me in and the boulder and it’s friends had settled in there new positions. I floated out and plonked myself on the surface. A failure? But alive. Fun trip, even if it was rather short (3 hours).
So maybe I could tick it off with a neofleece only approach to the CRO crawl, but I am not certain I can psychologically take all that loose stuff again! I would definitely go on a drier day, as on Friday I was told the CRO crawl was almost completely dry. (It did not have flowing water anyway).
XandarNote if you want it in a bit better English my second draft is on UKcaving.
