Yorkshire II
Christopher Bradley, Dave Kirkpatrick, Dave Wilson, Jack Halliday, James Perry, James Wilson, Rebecca Diss, Rhys Tyers, Zaeem Najeeb, Sam Holden, Armand Cadet, Rishil Patel, Isobel Wood, Hugo Poissonnier, Andreas Revorta, Lucie Studena
Saturday
Notts Pot: Christopher Bradley, Dave Kirkpatrick, Jack Halliday, James Perry, James Wilson, Rebecca Diss, Rhys Tyers, Zaeem Najeeb, Sam Holden, Armand Cadet, Rishil Patel, Isobel Wood, Hugo Poissonnier, Andreas Revorta, Lucie Studena
A disgustingly smooth trip into Notts. Jackhal and I were rigging down left. He kindly volunteered me to do the rigging so I was determined to set a good pace. I think I managed to stay ahead of our novices most of the time. I heartily recommend left as a route to rig. Its very fun. Airy traverses, big swings, nipping down into windows.
We arrived at the bottom first. Somehow I had an entire 20m rope spare so either I had rigged very conservatively or the rope lengths in the version of the CNCC guide we were using are a bit generous. Still better than the other way round.
We had deliberately not taken the ropes for the bottom section as we normally have enough faff and trouble organising the shallow exchange so we sat and waited. The water levels were extremely low, with no stream coming the left route. I was worried we'd be waiting a long time and I went over to point out where Diss would drop in from Centre when she arrived.
"She should appear high up just about - oh, there she is. Ayyyooohhhhh!"
Diss carefully rigged the final hang no rope to spare and all of Centre zipped down. Just as we got around to worrying about where Adamson's was a rope dropped down onto our heads with a Jimmy close behind. We began to kick ourselves for not bringing the bottom ropes as it seemed we had just managed a trouble free exchange. Still I had an extra credit assignment for this trip.
I knew there was a window from Adamsons route where you can see people asc/descending the Left route and I wanted to photo it. I handed out some flashes, 2 for Left and one with me for Adamsons. At the last minute DW suggested that he thought the window was from Centre into Left. Trusting his normally excellent memory I changed plans and started heading out Centre. As I neared the top, windowless, I hear Diss and DKP exchange greetings through the window that is definitely between Left and Adamsons. Bother. Another trip into Notts for me then.
I waited in the entrance chamber as various groups arrived and left. Confident that we'd got the important people out (only Perry and Jackhal left) I headed out.
Rhys
The usual morning ritual, no fuck ups other than us accidentally buying unsalted butter. The red book eventually appeared - all in Notts 1! - and people were assigned routes. I wanted to get some more rigging practice in so picked Centre (looking like the easiest one) and ended up with DKP, Chris, Armand and Hugo (who never seem to part). Lots of faff happened and we ended up being ready to leave earlier than expected. Not to worry, the walk to Notts is fairly long and changing in the wind was slow. There was also a bottle neck getting into the cave as all the routes start with the same two pitches before diverging.
We got in the cave last and I set to work rigging the first pitch - a weird one which i’m still not quite sure how to rig correctly. I ended up using the bolt in the floor as the backup and then rigging a rebelay off a sling via the natural in the ceiling which has some old rope tied through. I didn’t really have any sense of scale on the rigging topo and ended up descending past the natural where i was to rig the deviation. Cheeky changeover and all was well. More down occurred and a bit of knot tying and i miraculously landed where the three routes converge. Some waiting and photography was done, no freshers in other teams were left by the leaders in front and no dodgy deviation-passing practice took place.
I naturally have now forgotten/ can’t be bothered to remember the rest but the day was generally good and nobody died. Pretty tasty pasta was consumed and pot and sling occurred.
Diss
Sunday
Notts Pot 2: Christopher Bradley, James Wilson, Rhys Tyers, Zaeem Najeeb, Sam Holden, Armand Cadet, Rishil Patel, Isobel Wood, Hugo Poissonnier, Andreas Revorta, Lucie Studena
Cheeky little bimble in Notts 2. Downstream to where it gets grim. Upstream to where it gets grim. Fun was had by all, many marvelled at the scaff, some photos taken etc. Classic.
Rhys
Yordas Pot: Dave Kirkpatrick, Dave Wilson, Jack Halliday, Rebecca Diss
Something about Yordas and bleeding fingers.