North Wales I
Ben Richards, James Perry, Chris Hayes, Julien Jean, Matt Ellis, Thurston Blount, Janak Subberwal, Jackie Li, Aurelia Eberhard, Remi Soubes-Goldman, Zain Fletcher, Lamya Adam, George Wright, Advay Paniker, Ollie Oddie, Hannes Reichle, Esther Mueller
Friday
After a lovely bicycle journey to Beit in the sunshine I was ready to load the bus. Eager to be productive Hannes and I showed up at stores 3 minutes to 5 in classic German fashion, just to find out that stores was locked because we were the very first ones. After watching the mountaineering club packing their kit for about 20 minutes we could finally start to get ours to the bus. 2 seats in the back where removed and after playing advanced Tetris with the kit bags and boxes we departed on time and enjoyed loads of leg room throughout our journey.
Around the time that we crossed the Welch border the people that already were at the hut informed us that there was no toilet paper left. Luckily, Perry managed to convince a pub to sponsor two rolls! We arrived at the hut at around quarter past one and were greeted by Chris and his friend Matt who were only in their underwear...
Esther
Having come not from London but from Bangor I had plenty of time in the evening to explore some local mines with Chris and Matt while waiting for the others to arrive. Some of these were terrible, and others actually had some cool formations in. Before long it was time to turn back to the tiny hut, at which point Chris and Matt spotted the frogs mating in the bog and for one reason or another decided to imitate them with Matt jumping ontop of Chris. They say this was to help them get across said bog, but all this did was sink Chris deeper into the ground until we thought we'd lost him for good. The frogs did not seem impressed.
Ben
Saturday
Croesor-Rhosydd: Ben Richards, James Perry, Chris Hayes, Julien Jean, Matt Ellis, Thurston Blount, Janak Subberwal, Jackie Li, Aurelia Eberhard, Remi Soubes-Goldman, Lamya Adam, George Wright, Advay Paniker, Ollie Oddie, Hannes Reichle, Esther Mueller
The Saturday started very efficient and soon we left for Croesor. After maneuvering the Welsh roads and squeezing the 3 cars onto an already full car park we changed more or less quickly. Meanwhile, a dead fox laying in the bushes provided an unusual olfactory experience…
The walk to the entry of the mine was a bit longer than expected, given that Chris advertised it as the shorter of the two options that we had. We climbed an incline, walked past a lake and climbed another longer incline to arrive at the exit of the Rhosydd mine. The little hike in caving gear and wellies was exhausting but fun and very intersting. In many of the plenty puddles on the path close to the lake we found huge amounts of frog spawn and even some frogs sitting underneath! Soon after passing the mine’s exit we arrived at the entry of Croesor and split into groups.
I was part of the largest group that was about to do the lower route. After stopping at the first chamber that was filled with blue, very clear water we faffed our way to the first pitch. George mastered his very first decend undergroung and soon we climbed through the second chamber. The size of the chamber and the size of the boulders forming little mountains that had to be climbed was impressive and I can easily say that this was my favourite part of the trip!
Right before the second pitch we met another group that was caving with “Speedy”. As it turned out this caver was responsible for maintaining the bolts and ropework in the mine and for setting up the higher route that our two other groups were on! He was very kind and brought a replacement for the partly damaged rope on the second pitch, but unfortunately the rerigging delayed our journey.
The next feature – a zipline across a lake – came into sight very soon after the second pitch. In the interest of time the groups were reshuffeled and I found myself with 4 other people that I had nerver caved with before. We crossed the following cable bridges like true experts and arrived at the canoe soon after. There, I again swapped groups and canoed over a very blue and clear lake together with Thurston and Hannes. I was pleasantly surprised by the experience and the canoes sturdiness, but I am still happy that I carried the live vests into the mine so that they could be used there.
Our trip ended with a lot of walking through the mine and after leaving the exit behind us we sat outside to enjoy the sun and some chocolate.
The evening brought a nice curry and the club’s probably first quadruple squeeze (Lamya, Julien, Remi and Chris made their way through a shoe rack!). A bit later, Remi made sure that he could also leave the house through its smallest window next to the toilet...
Esther
The Croesor-Rhosydd through trip was a blast. Even better was the evening, when George started caving through a small wooden shelf. It had two levels, and miraculously he managed to fit through, although my eyes told me very clearly that this should not have been possible. Cavers being cavers, suddenly everybody had a go, and because going through alone wasn't compressing enough, Chris and Matt went through together, each through their own hole. Through some very elaborate technique, which involved passing at different times, they made it. It all culminated in four persons making it through the shelf at once! This will be an achievement never to be achieved again. Thoroughly, every other possible squeeze in the house was inspected, and the bathroom window was found, through which Remi made it through just barely, and Lamya, with her two-dimensionality, without a problem.
Hannes
I think my only addition to these reports is the note that this morning I had a life tour from Chris: where he got picked up after being reported as a missing person, where he cracked his head open, a top swimming spot by a sewage outlet, his favourite tourist car crash sites, the church of his baptism, his grandma’s house, the list went on and on. We also went in a mine.
Ben
Sunday
Parc Lead Mine: Matt Ellis, Janak Subberwal, Hannes Reichle, Esther Mueller, Ben Richards, Chris Hayes, Julien Jean, Thurston Blount, Jackie Li, Aurelia Eberhard, Zain Fletcher, Lamya Adam, George Wright
Imperial Caving Club Rescues Stranded Caver from Lead Mine near Betws-y-Coed
On March 9th, members of the Imperial College Caving Club (ICCC), in collaboration with the university caving club from Bangor, successfully rescued a stranded caver from the "Parc" lead mine near Betws-y-Coed. The rescue team, comprising Welsh and German cavers Matt, Janak, Hannes, and Esther, discovered the casualty after navigating a series of ladders and a short crawl to the mine's remotest section.
The caver was found in a state of hypothermia, hardly responsive to touch or verbal communication. Apparently, the individual had fallen from a significant height and was unable to be reached by colleagues located at the surface. Recognizing the urgency of the situation, the rescue team quickly devised a plan.
"Figuring out how to save them was not easy," explained caver Hannes. "The route involved tight crawls and ladders, meaning we had to proceed with extreme caution to avoid exacerbating any injuries."
Parts of the team were not sure if a rescue was possible without risking the groups safety and wellbeing. "The more experienced cavers in our group were hesitant at first," noted Esther. "However, thanks to Hannes’ initiative and our recently completed first-aid training, we were able to convince Matt and Janak of our technical approach."
The team executed the rescue smoothly, ensuring the casualty's safe passage back to the surface. Once outside, efforts to combat hypothermia continued. "I was mainly responsible for carrying the casualty out of the mine, while Esther assisted with oxygen supply," Hannes added. "As soon as we reached daylight, I opened the metal water bottle we had emptied and used for transport, and the frog climbed onto Esther’s hands, where it remained to warm up."
Following a brief recovery period, the frog was released back into its natural environment, and the successful rescue team returned to their vehicles.
Esther
The day started with some wonderful views up the valley where the Imperial mountain hut was located. We packed everything up and left the hut on our journey to find some AdBlue before going caving (mining), as the minibus told us it would not restart after 20 miles of travel if we did not feed it what it desired. I was in Chris' car and amazed by the comfortable lumbar support it had, which was completely missing in the minibus seats, so I was dwelling in luxury while looking out at the breathtaking scenery of Snowdonia in the sun. As it turned out, the minibus went another way, which was just as nice as ours, just longer, and we had to spend some time at an incredibly crowded village waiting for them. When they arrived, they first went the wrong way, just for us to take the very same wrong way as well (but turning around earlier). Then we left Perry to a grand day out in the aforementioned crowded village.
What then happened is something I would call the "worst shortcut ever." We were two groups: four persons in Chris' car and the rest in the minibus. Chris was sure that, as we had already passed the route to the mine while driving to the village, there was a better way of getting to the mine than taking the same route back. It consisted of following a sloping path through the woods, which got narrower as we progressed, where we first encountered some mountain bikers, some hikers, and then a whole group of elderly people on a nice hike. It was quite entertaining to see the minibus following our path - knowing that if Remi were to stall it, it would not turn on again, as we hadn't filled in any AdBlue yet. Everything culminated in a T-junction following the steepest bit so far, and so Chris' car went into the best position possible to watch the chaos unfold. The minibus came around the bottom corner into view, accelerated loudly while getting up a slope it had never seen before, and then failed miserably at getting around the corner - there was even a wheel spinning freely in the air. Everybody went out and had a great time watching Remi in his most difficult hour. Eventually, he went up by just driving to the left instead of the right, and it all worked out when we arrived at the mine.
At the mine, German efficiency unfolded, and we (Esther and I) were the first, with Matt and Janak, to depart. In hindsight, this might not have been the best idea, as Matt and Janak were, in fact, very enthusiastic about looking at every accessible part of the mine. We went in and were quite impressed, not just by the ceiling being held in place by some old logs, but also by the holes going down for over 30m next to the mine track. The formations were also very nice to look at. At the end of our fast-paced journey, there was a collapse, but someone had dug a tunnel through it, which was supported by wood. This was the only proper "caving" in the mine, but very brief, with only a 5-meter length. After that, there was some kind of a wooden construct with two wooden ladders (but with metal bars) leading up to something that seemed to be a power redirector from the Victorian age. The old technology was really cool, but the two ladders, which rose about 8 meters, were really sketchy, as there was no lifeline and it wasn't apparent what held them to the wall. After starting a rescue operation for a frog that fell down into the deep shaft from the surface, we went back and had a look at the other side of the mine. There was an old laboratory with a lot of styrofoam and another shaft with similar vertical ladders made out of wood and with iron bars, but now leading down. As Matt told us that it would be only 3 or 4 ladders to the bottom, we decided to follow him. However, just as I was down on the second ladder, Matt called that it was apparently many more ladders and descended much deeper than anticipated. Now it was too late to return, as Janak was already above me and Esther below me. I went on climbing from one sketchy ladder to another without any lifeline, just as I heard a loud bang and some incomprehensible screaming from below. For a short second, I was horrified, because I thought that Matt or Esther had just fallen off the ladder to the bottom - but luckily, it was "only" a stone that had detached from the wall - and missed everyone. That was probably the scariest moment I had in caving so far. After 10 ladders and about 30 meters climbed, we were finally at the bottom, and I was very glad we made it in one piece. There was only a bit more to explore, like a big shaft with two massive iron bars over it and a big crank. After this, we made our way up again, where I was very careful to always have three connection points to the ladders, and we joined the other group at the exit.
I think, in hindsight, I would've never gone down these ladders without a lifeline if I had known that it went down that far - and that we were really lucky that nothing serious happened, given that we couldn't assess the quality of the ladders, and going down such a long way without a lifeline is already dumb. So the takeaway from this is that you should still think for yourself when entering such a situation, don't follow blindly because it looks "easy", and remind yourself that it's really easy to get persuaded into something you otherwise wouldn't have done if you were there alone.
The mine itself was still very fascinating, and I definitely got a lot of nice impressions from it (the frog was rescued successfully!).
Hannes
Sunday Going Back:
As we went through the mine very quickly, we were already on the verge of leaving at 3 pm, and I told Aurelia that this time we were finally going to be back at Beit before 10 pm!
Strangely, only about 2 liters of Ad-Blue fit into the supposedly empty 15-liter tank, and filling it (without spilling a considerable amount) somehow didn't manage to convince the minibus that it had enough Ad-Blue. This meant we were starting our six-hour journey home with the message that the minibus would not restart after refueling. Initially, the plan was to drive to Birmingham to drop Perry off and then test turning it off, as it would be very close to the train station. However, we saw a supermarket on the way where we parked.
I was very surprised when the ignition was turned off there, and - unsurprisingly—it didn't turn on again after we finished shopping. So, recovery services were called, and we waited, exploring our options. It was 5 pm, and the recovery vehicle was supposed to arrive between 9 pm and 11 pm. Thurston managed to persuade the Union team to pay for our train tickets home, since it was obviously their fault for giving us a faulty minibus.
We had to wait for over 40 minutes for them to call us back, and by then, the train that would have arrived in London at 9 pm had already departed. Our only option now was to take a train one hour later, which would get us to London two hours later. We walked to the train station, which had a very nice smell because there was a giant chocolate factory nearby. Julien tried to buy the tickets as we still had over 30 minutes left.
At first, this was very unsuccessful because National Rail, at the very last step, was convinced that there were no tickets left (despite offering them to us). I got quite nervous as I have some PTSD from traveling with the German railway. I tried to calm myself down on a nearby bench when, luckily, they succeeded in buying tickets through another app—just 10 minutes before the train arrived—and we set off!
The route back was very nice and comfortable, and we enjoyed meeting Chris by coincidence at a transfer point, who had come all the way from his parents' house in North Wales. We arrived in London at 11 pm, and Esther and I were back in South Ken by 11:30 pm.
We both decided to wait until midnight for the Minibus Crew to help them unload, as the car mechanic had come much earlier than expected and fixed the bus in less than five minutes. At 12:30 am, the minibus finally arrived, and we had the most efficient unloading I had experienced so far, with all five (or six?) of us lending a hand to finish the job quickly. I really liked this, because normally when we arrive, I'm already very tired and want to go to bed as quickly as possible, so people just standing around and wasting time really bothers me. Since there was no faffing around during this unpacking, I was very happy when I finally went to bed.
