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2020
Entrance:
15278
Karina Laursen
5 of us – Roger, Tony, Rich, Gerry and Karina – met up for coffee at the 5th Pine, where Roger explained today’s trip to the Water Cave (Cuevas de Agua) to Rich and Gerry who hadn’t been to this cave system before. As Rich still had a problem with his hand it had been decided beforehand that we would enter and come out of the cave at 15278 which meant that we didn’t have to use any of our descending and ascending gear as the entering point is a fairly easy walk/climb into the cave. After the coffee Roger drove us all to the deserted village of Marchalico Vinicas where we changed into the wetsuits provided by Tony. We then made our way through the deserted village and up the track to the entrance – it was a bit difficult to find the track as it was very overgrown, but we finally succeeded and made our way into the cave. A stream runs through this cave system, and as we most of the time had to walk in the water we soon realized that it was a good thing that we had put on the wetsuits though Rich found it a little too hot to wear. On our way through the cave Tony stopped a few times to point out interesting things, among others a small marble nativity scene placed high up at a shelf and some instrument for measuring humidity in the cave. After a while we reached an old iron gate which we passed and continued to the point where there is only very little space between the water and the “roof” of the cave. This was as far as we had decided to go on this trip, so we turned round and walked/climbed/crawled the same way back as we had come in, most of the time in the water which in some places was only ankle deep but in other places as deep as to our breast. After approx. two hours we were out of the cave again and we could walk back to the car and change into some dry clothes. We then drove back to the 5th Pine for a well deserved drink and tapas and were pleasantly surprised by seeing Tom and Linette there, and a little later also Rogers wife, Angie, joined us.
2020
Tom Hudson
It was good to have Karina back with us for todays trip. She joined Tony, Roger and myself at the 5th Pine where, over our Coffees, we decided to go back and revisit the Laminador System. Our trip two weeks before had been cut short by not having a safe way of passing above a 25 metre deep Pozo. This time Roger had brought his folding Trenching Spade. With that we hoped to be able to cut footholds into the steep bank that. We were also going to try and set up a Traverse Line although, from what we had seen previously, the lack of suitable natural belay points would have made that difficult. As we drove onto the Karst a westerly, gale force wind was blowing clouds of Gypsum dust from out of the massive Quarry and up into the air. As the caving area was upwind of this it didn't trouble us, but the high wind did mean we had to be careful that none our Gear was blown away as we got changed. It was then only a short walk to the Sima we had previously used. After I had reinstalled the screw-in belay hangers and Roger had rigged a Y hang I went down the 12 metre pozo, followed by Karina. As it had been a while since she had used her Descender she elected to also have the benefit of a safety line, which Roger paid out until she had joined me. Tony and Roger then followed. While I was waiting for them I made my way across the short distance to the 25 metre deep Pozo. As before I couldn't find any suitable natural belays to attach one end of a Traverse Line to. Therefore, once the others had joined me, I tied a follow through figure eight to my D ring and, with Roger paying out Line, used the Trencher to cut some foot holds into the steep bank. It turned out that there was only a thin layer of soft marl over the much harder Gypsum so the footholds I managed to make were much smaller than I would have liked. I commented that it would have been nice to have the SDS Chisel with us, that would have made the job much easier and quicker. Despite this, the footholds did allow me to make my way over to the other side of the Pozo. Once there I had a good look around, and found, a Rebar belay point. Roger then spotted another one, high up, at the beginning of the Traverse route. I tied the safety line off at my end and after Roger had tied the Line to the one at his end everyone could clip their Cows Tails to the Line and make their way safely across. We then passed into a long cavity. A measure of what lay ahead could be judged from the fact that there were protective guide lines directing our way forward. As we carefully made our way along the winding passage we were treated to a continuous succession of the tallest and most delicate stalagmites I have ever seen. A measure of just how beautiful they were can be judged by the fact that, by the end of the trip, I had taken 132 photos! No amount of photos could convey just how stunning they were. It took prodigious editing to reduce this number to only 29. Having reached the far end of the passage we made our way back passed the crystals to the traverse line and recrossed it to begin our ascents back to the surface. As Roger prepared to be the first, I noticed that there was an unusual amount of daylight reaching all the way down the entrance pozo and into the large chamber. There was even enough, when we had briefly turned off our helmet lamps, to dimly make out our immediate surroundings. One by one each of the others made their way up until only I was left. To be alone in the calm silence of that natural space, lit only by the ethereal lighting, greatly enhanced the feeling of peacefulness. However, soon the call of "rope free" meant it was my turn to make my way up towards the surface. After joining the others in the sunshine and de-rigging the pitch we had enough time to make our way the short distance over to the System del Eco so that Roger and Karina could look around the other Simas we had explored on the 17th April, then it was time, once again, for our return to the 5th Pine to reflect on another great day out, Caving on the Karst.
2020
Entrance:
15052
Tom Hudson
We were joined by a new Caver for todays trip. One of Tonys fellow "Hash House Harriers", Garry, had done some Caving in the UK about 20 years ago and was keen to do some more in Spain. The three of us met up with Roger at the 5th Pine where it was decided that we would go to 15052, Cuevas del Paso. It had been a few years since we had been there and we had been planning on continuing our exploration of this Cave for some time. As it is a walk-in Cave, this meant that Garry's lack of recent SRT practice wouldn't stop him being able to join us. 15052 is situated 3 Km passed the Sorbas Caving Centre. The Cave entrance is directly alongside the Sorbas to Los Molinos road and very near the junction of the Old Quarry road. Once we had finished our Coffees we made our way there, parked up and got kitted up. The sketch we had, showed that the Cave had some Pozos but it didn't show if they had been fitted with belay points so we added my SDS drill to our kit and walked the short distance to the Entrance. This is via a small, dirt hole which nestles in a grassy Doline, at the base of a Fig tree. It was a small entrance, best done by sliding in on your back. Once inside it opened out to a gently sloping cavity that was easily large enough for all of us to comfortably stand up in. The first 60 metres gave Garry an easy introduction to the Karst. The floor of the channel was easy to walk over. It was smooth and over a metre wide. To each side of us the smooth, magda covered flanks sloped gently upwards to meet the flat Yeso roof of the cavity. The height of the cavity gave us plenty of headroom to stroll downwards, towards the first meandering pozo. A Traverse line had been installed along the steeply sloping right hand side of the meander. While Roger made his way down the first 2 metres into the first of the pozos I clipped my Cows Tails on and, as I made my way along the slope, demonstrated to Garry the use of them. Roger then joined me at the far end of the Traverse line where we checked out the top of the 11 metre deep pozo situated there. It had belay points fitted but they didn't look in good enough condition for us to use. We could have fitted new ones but as there were a series of other pozos we still had not checked we made our way back to join the others. To get to these we had to enter the meander that Roger had previously climbed into. I now went down and made my way along its ever deepening base until I came to the first, deep pozo. I discussed how we were going to safely make a descent into it with Roger. By then he had made his way along the top of the meander and was now directly above me, clipped to the Traverse line. We decided to rig a long sling around a large Yeso rock that bridged across the meander. After I had clipped a descent rope to the bottom of the sling Roger recommended that we also add a back up line. He clipped one end of it to one of the Traverse Line points. Having adjusted the Line to the correct length with a butterfly knot, I clipped the other end of it to the descent rope Krab. I then descended the 8 metres to the base of the pozo. Once there, to go on, I had to make my way across the base and pass down a 2 metre deep, narrow, slot. I used the same descent Line to do this. As the way forward was narrow I removed all my SRT gear, except the Chest Ascender, left it there and made my way onwards around a series of ever deepening and tightly twisting curves. Turning a final right hand curve, ahead of me I saw two belay points with short slings hanging from them. I took a photo of them. These were the belay points for another 15 metre deep pozo. As I didn't have the equipment to rig this I made my way back to where Roger was descending into the 8 metre deep pozo. While I was waiting for him to join me I noticed that it was possible to follow the series of curves whilst remaining at this level. Leading off there was a wider route. This had, what amounted, to side steps on either side of the narrow slot. Using these I again followed the winding curves and after a short time arrived above the two belay points I had previously seen. They were now some two metres below me. I carried on but the side steps I was using narrowed to nothing and the slot became too narrow to pass. I therefore went back and rejoined Roger, who had by then reached my position. After I had shown him where I had got to we began to make our way back up. The ascent out of the 2 metre slot was tricky. This time gravity was hindering not helping us. Roger went up first, with me footing him through the tightest section. When it was my turn I chose a different route that bypassed this section. This was equally awkward as there was very little grip as the side walls sloped away from me. However we both got to the base of the 8 metre. As Roger rightly said, this section would have benefited by having a redirect point fitted. Once we had both ascended out of the 8 metre pozo and de-rigged it we went back to join the others, made our way out and went to the Caving Centre to enjoy our cool drinks.
2020
Entrance:
15196
Tom Hudson
The day before I had been out with GTS taking Topo. readings at the System del Eco. During this it had occurred to me that it would be a good place to start todays Monday Cavers trip. The System consists of five Simas, of which 15196 is the largest. The base of all five can easily be reached from this walk-in Sima. Thus it was that during our Coffees at the 5th Pine I showed the information on it to Rich and Tony. It was only a short walk from where we parked to the System. We didn't need to take much gear as all the Simas are less than 10 metres from the surface and there was plenty of daylight finding its way down from the top of each of them. When we had left the Playa it was an overcast day and we had been driving through a cold, sea mist but, inland, as it had been on Sunday, the Karst was in bright sunshine. From our vantage point, high up on the Karst, we could look down and see the coastal hills still shrouded in mist. Even the 600 metre summit of El Cerron, Bens Nose, barely poked out above the mist. The easiest way into 15196 was down a grassy slope. This took us below the layer of two metre thick Yeso which covers the System. A large Fig tree was growing at the base of the Doline. Further progress down the last three metres was via the branches of this. We could now make our way to each of the other Simas. Above us it was easy to make out the details of the intricate underside of the Yeso. The bright sunlight pouring down the various Simas and the more than adequate head room made exploring the cavities even more of a pleasure than normal. Of course, one had to be careful. The water that had formed this space had eroded some deep holes and channels, but, with care, it was possible to get to each of the other four Simas and gaze upwards through each of them to the glorious clear blue sky. A second Fig tree had established itself in the second largest of the Simas and, using this, it was possible to climb out of the Doline. When I had been here the previous day Alain, the President of GTS, had called it "the Spider". While I could see his point, I thought the roots spreading outwards from its centre looked more like the Tentacles of an Octopus. I took a photo of it so you can decide for yourselves which description you may or may not agree with. Both Rich and I used it to climb out and joined Tony in walking about on the unsupported surface. It was a sobering thought while doing this knowing that what we were walking on was one day going to collapse into the Doline. I hadn't had time on Sundays visit to explore the narrow shaft situated at the lowest part of the Doline but today I rigged the 27 metre rope around a large rock and descended the 4 or so metres that led to a deep Pozo. I carried on down that but could see that the rope wasn't going to be long enough to get to all the way to the bottom. I did manage to see that there appeared to be two exits leading off from the base in Northern and Southerly directions. When I came back up the narrowness of the exit was enough to dissuade Rich and Tony from joining me in the exploration. We therefore moved on to our second System. This one was even nearer to where we had parked the car. I had noted down the plate number on Sunday and subsequently seen that the System had a 4 page spread in the Sorbas Caving Book, including 3 pages of photos of the Crystals it contained. A couple of small diagrams gave details of the depths of the descents into its three Simas and a plan view gave details of the sizes and layout of its various passages. The diagram of two of the Simas showed that they had small passages that would probably need crawling through to get to the main Crystal Chamber. The third Sima had the deepest Pozo, at 12 metres, but led to the northern end of the large, main chamber. When we looked on the surface for any belay points there were none, but we did see that there had been some at some time as we found the ground off stubs that showed that there had once been four Rebar belay points. Uitilising part of my GTS equipment I used my SDS drill and screw-in belay points to rig a Y hang and, after positioning rope protectors, descended into the main chamber. It wasn't necessary to go to the very bottom as, once the Sima had opened out, I could see, at one end, a likely looking passage. Using the descent rope as a safety line I locked off my Stop until I had made my way out of the Pozo and around its rim to a large, flatter area. Having then disconnected myself and called up that the rope was free I made my way across towards the passage. To get to this I had to cross a crumbling slope that fed, according to the Caving book, into a 25 metre deep Well. While I waited for Rich to join me it was with some trepidation that I carefully made my way over the slope. Having done so I was rewarded with a display of magnificent Stalagmites. Unsurprisingly, protective lines had been set in the floor to guide Cavers through this spectacle. I carefully followed the set path for a while, passing one after another of the best crystal formations I have ever seen. I reluctantly decided that it was time to return to meet Rich and guide him out of the Pozo. The return trip over the slope was potentially even more hazardous. To make it safer it needs either a track dug across the slope or a Traverse Line fitted, or both. When Rich came down it was decided not to risk going on but to come back with more equipment at a later date. We therefore both went back up to join Tony and made our way back to the 5th Pine for some well deserved Drinks and Tapa.
2020
Entrance:
15277 15280
Tom Hudson
Iris, Tony John, Carol and myself met up at the 5th Pine for todays trip to the Water Cave, Cuevas de Agua. Rich was supposed to have been there too but had left us a message on WhatsApp saying he had come down with a Cold and, very reluctantly, wouldn't be able to join us. Tony, as promised, had brought Wetsuits for all those who didn't have one. After our Coffees we made our way to where we were to get changed into them. Our entry point to the System was in the middle of the Karst and our road cars weren't able to get anywhere near to it. We therefore parked our cars at the top of track that leads down to where our trip was to finish, the abandoned Village of Marchalico Vinicas. Iris was concerned as she realised that, once we had finished, she would have to walk from there, back to the cars, wearing her wetsuit socks. The possibility of us walking down to the exit point at 15277 and leaving our change of clothing there was discussed but, luckily, Iris found that she had bought an extra pair of walking shoes with her so we didn't need to do that. Instead, once we had got changed, we followed the co-ordinates for what should have been our entry point at 15280. I had got these from the Caving book but they turned out to be well away from the correct location. Once I realised this, and knowing that 15280 is very near to another cave, 15282, which we frequently use and whose location I knew, we walked there and soon found 15280. There was a grass covered slope leading down the Doline to the metre and a half drop that then curved round and underground to where the 16 metre entry pitch started. John was concerned about Carol slipping as she made her way down the slope so, using one of the belay points at the top of the Doline, set up a safety rope. Meanwhile I made my way down with the 27 metre rope and set up the Y hang. Tony was the first one down, followed by Iris. After the first three metres there was a large shelf. As the rope would have chaffed on the edge of this Tony and Iris added a rope protector. This consisted of a 2 metre length of plastic Hose, as this just slid over the rope all that was necessary was to stand on the wide shelf and having disconnected the Petzl Stop, slide the protector up enough to be able to reconnect the Stop then continue the descent. It was an easy task, as the decent continued, to bring the hose back down to its correct place to protect the rope. Once we were all down we could begin travelling through the system. There were lots of dry sections where the stream ran nearby. Often it was out of sight as it ran through alternative tunnels. I have used the term Stream as, when we were there, there wasn't a great mass of flow but it was obvious that, at times a raging torrent pours through there. It didn't take long before we were wading through water. Early on, in a couple of places, the water was deep enough, and the ceiling low enough, to give us just a small space in between to breath. These were only very short and the rest of the way was a succession of interesting passages, some small, some massive but almost always to the accomplishment of the sight and sound of the running waters. At times I was at the rear of the group and when we were in one of the straighter sections it was fascinating to look down the length of the cavity that was being illuminated as each of my fellow Cavers made their way along it. At one point Tony pointed out an area where the water had carved out an Oxbow. This had been left high and dry as the water course had cut its way ever lower. Tony led us up the short ramp onto it and, sure enough it curved around to rejoin the main passage a short distance further on. As we were reaching the end of the trip we passed through the rusting Iron gate. The frame was still attached to the Yeso and the gate was still in one piece but, thankfully, not connected to the frame and closed. It would have been a big disappointment if we had found it locked and missed the opportunity to see the shafts of daylight ahead of us and been able to scramble out, over the jumble of rocks, to emerge into the sunshine at M. Vinicas. The trip still wasn't over as there was the small matter of going back to our cars, getting changed and returning to 15280 to de-rig our gear. All went well until, as we tried to pull the descent rope out of the pitch, the bags that were attached to the end of it, got snagged, halfway up. No amount of pulling would free them. I did consider free climbing back down the 3 metres to the large shelf but decided it was too risky. As we had left all our gear in the bags, at the end of the rope, John and Tony made their way back to the cars to get the spare Descender from the Club bag. When they returned I used it to get to the large shelf. From there it was an easy job to manoeuvre the rope, clear the bags from where they were snagged and finish de-rigging the pitch. All that remained was the walk back across the Karst to load up the cars and make our way back to the 5th Pine.
2020
Tom Hudson
It was good to have Tony back to join us at Los Martinez. John and Carol had brought him with them, in their car. They were already parked there when I arrived in my car, having picked up Iris and Rich on my way. After my disappointment with the fact that only Rich and I had done a descent last week. I was keen to try and make sure that everyone was able to have a successful trip today. I had been out on the Karst the day before checking out some new Simas that GTS wanted more information on but I didn't think any of them were suitable for us to use today. Similarly a Sima, Cueva del Paso, that Roger suggested, needed to be explored first. Therefore, while we had our coffees, we discussed which cave everyone would like to do. It didn't take long to decide on Sima los Pinos. The descent into it wasn't too long, 15 metres, and everyone who had done it before had loved the stalagmite formations in it. Tony had been the exception, as this would be his first visit there, but he was keen to see it for himself. While we had been running through which cave to do, as next week would be Carol and Johns last week, it had also been agreed to do the Cueva de Agua. Tony said he would bring wet suits for everyone that didn't have one of their own. Our next problem for today was that the caving book didn't have the coordinates for the location of Los Pinos. However a WhatsApp to Roger, back in the UK, soon meant that, not only did we have its location, but also a detailed layout map of it too. Thanks again Roger. We look forward to your return next week. We made our way onto the Karst and, having kitted up, walked from our cars the half kilometre to the Sima. This turned out to be a small Sima, situated in a shallow depression. It was half covered by grass and shrub. Whilst the layout map Roger had sent us showed that it was connected to the main cavity, it had no belay points. This probably meant that it would have involved, after the rains of a couple of weeks ago, a muddy crawl for at least 30 metres. We therefore made our way to the much larger Sima. This one had three belay points. The line made in the earth away from the third one showed clear signs of it having recently been used as a redirect line. As we had left our Steel wire, redirect line, back in the cars, while John set up the Y Hang on our 27 metre rope and clipped the loops to the other two belay points, I went back to get it. When I returned I estimated the length of the line needed and, having clipped it to the main rope, John made the first descent. As he began it seemed that the line may have been too long. As we had already lain a rope protection sheet, to shield the upper portion of the rope from the Yeso, John carried on with his descent. What we couldn't see was that as he descended he hadn't re-clipped the redirect line above him. Afterwards we realised that, as John continued to descend, this had caused a loop to form between the belay points and the Carabiner situated at the end of the redirect line. As John descended into this loop the rope bag, which he had clipped to his Harness, continued to feed out rope until the knot at the end of the rope tightened against the bag and brought him to a holt. He then called up to let us know of the problem. By unclipping the now empty bag from his Harness he could continue to descend. Although we could not see this, what must have been happening was that his continued descent was raising the bag back up towards the redirect Crab. His descent brought him almost to a shelf which was 2 metres from the bottom of the pitch. Meanwhile we had removed the redirect line from the 3rd belay point. Paying out extra length of the Line enable John to safely descend the remainder of the Pitch. We then pulled the Line up and removed it completely from the rope. Iris was the next one down. She descended without any problem until she reached a narrow section. This was just above the shelf. As she squeezed her way passed this her Chest Ascender became inverted and dug into the area of her stomach. She managed to reposition it and, in some discomfort, successfully completed her descent. The remainder of us then descended. When I got down I went off to check out the condition of the passage to the Crystals. The rains of two weeks ago had resulted in a trickle of water making its way along the floor and in places water was dripping from the roof. I put some stepping stones in the second of two deep puddles we had to cross then returned to the others. Iris decided to stay at the base of the pitch while the rest of us made our way to the end chamber which contained the Pine Crystals. Tony was as impressed as all of us had been when we had also first seen the largest one of them. I took a photo of him standing alongside it. When the others had also taken enough photos they made their way back to rejoin Iris. Meanwhile I showed Tony the smaller Crystal Cone that is growing in the centre of a small grotto. After taking more photos we also went to rejoin the others and begin our ascents back to the surface. Iris said that while she had been waiting for us she thought she could see daylight coming from a side passage. As I was to be the last one out I had the time so went to investigate it. I probably crawled along it for 20 or so metres, until I came to a narrow section. I didn't have the time to try and squeeze through it so returned to the others. I kept turning my light off to check for any trace of daylight but there was none. When I checked the layout map that Roger had sent us it appeared to be a meander, the end of which still has to be found. As the last one out I could watch while the others made their way up the first two metres onto the shelf. This appeared to be large rock that was jammed across the narrow passage. As I watched each person make their way onto it I could see the end of it moving. When it became my turn, and I was standing on it, I could see that approx. the final third of a metre of it had broken loose. As when it, inevitably, comes away completely, very likely when a caver is standing on or even under it, I will be reporting it to the GTS working Group suggesting that we make it safe asap. Having rejoined everyone on the surface we de-rigged the Sima and made our way back to the cars. Iris was very keen to get back to Mojacar as she was due to play Paddel Tennis. I therefore agreed to forgo joining the others for our customary return to the 5th Pine and, with John agreeing to drop Rich off at Mirafloras, left the others to enjoy their drinks and Tapas.
2020
Entrance:
15665
Tom Hudson
I picked Iris and Rich up and we met up with John and Carol at Los Martinez. Tony was supposed to be with them but they had received a message that he wasn't feeling up to Caving today. As it turned out this wasn't such a disappointment as it would normally have been. Unfortunately it turned out that my choice of Cave for today was too difficult. We were going to yet another Cave, new to us. While we were having our Coffees I ran through todays plan. Which was that we were going to a System called Magda. The Simas in this one had exactly the same numbers as the Lapo System. It even shares the same System Number, 17016. We had previously explored a large part of the Lapo System but the Sima we were to descend into today, 15665, was not one we had used. Careful investigation of the information on page 198 of the GTS Sorbas Caving Book showed that roughly half of the 19 metre descent of 15665 was through a narrow slit. This had been confirmed by Roger. He had descended into 15665 back in 2015 with another Caver. His notes of that trip said that, after 10 metres, there was a shelf that led off further downwards. The remainder of the descent was via a narrow passage. The Caver he had been with that day had decided not to carry on, so they had come back out. At the bottom of this narrow descent, page 198 showed that the connection from the Magda System to the Lapo System was via a wide, but low passage. The diagram on page 198 contained a lot of extra information which made it difficult to follow. I had therefore drawn out a larger diagram showing just the parts of the Magda System we would use today. This showed that the first and third of three Pozos that descended from this passage led into the Lapo System. The second, middle, Pozo was shown as ending near to, but not connected to, Lapo. There were a number of possibilities for todays trip. If we could all descend the 19 metres to the bottom of 15665 we could make our way the short distance, approx 10 metres, to the first Pozo. After rigging that we could descend the 19 metres of this Pozo, which would take us into the Lapo System. Various options from this point onwards were discussed, including the possibility of following the System until we reached cave 15129. This is the walk out cave we had used before. Because of the possibility of the narrowness of the Magda System it was also discussed about, today, doing an entirely different Sima to this one. This was partly because today was Rich's first Caving trip since about last May. However he was willing to try it so it was agreed that we should all see how the descent into 15665 went. We therefore made our way the short distance from Los Mart. to our usual parking spot, just beside the 340a road. By then the early morning chill had gone and, after kitting up, we made our way, in bright sunshine, across the Avellanos countryside to 15665. While John helped Rich to re-practice threading his brand new Petzl Stop, I connected the 50 metre rope we were going to use, to the two belay points. I was going to descend first and report what I found. When I was ready and began to descend, Iris helped me lay a rope protection sheet onto the slopping side of the Sima. I had clipped the rope bag, with accessory chord, to my Belt as I don't like throwing a rope down a deep Sima. This turned out to be a good idea as, when I had reached the shelf, it turned out there were two ways to descend the rest of the way. It had been quite likely that the bag would have fallen in the direction I hadn't wanted to proceed. Actually neither way looked particularly inviting. As Roger and the Caving book had said, they were both very narrow. I reported back to the others but, despite the narrowness I decided to go on and chose to go down using the passage to the right of the shelf. As it was narrow I took the small rucksack, that I use to hold my Caving Gear, off my back and clipped it to the side of my Harness. As an added precaution I also the removed the Hand Ascender from the rucksack and added it to my Harness. I already had the Chest Ascender fitted. I clipped the Hand Ascender, out of the way, to the opposite side of my Harness. If I hadn't done his, and the descent had to be aborted, it would have been extremely difficult to remove the H.A. from my Rucksack and fit it in such a confined space. Not that I anticipated any problems with the descent. I wouldn't have opted to do it if I didn't feel confident it could be done. The descent went well. I took my time and kept looking around and down, choosing the best way i.e. least narrow part, of the slot. Even when I reached the bottom the problem wasn't over. Just as the diagram on page 198 had predicted the passage was wide but there wasn't much height. It probably only came up to just above my knees. After I had disconnected myself from the rope and called up that the rope was free I had to shuffle about as I gradually lowered the rest of my body into the passage. I was now propped up with my back resting on the curved end wall of the passage. As I had my mobile phone with me I used it to take a one minute video of my surroundings, then, while I waited for the next person to descend to the shelf, I made my way along the passage. As with the descent it was necessary to plan the best, in this case highest, route. This meant crawling in a zig zag fashion from one side of the passage to the other. As there is a deep channel running along the length of the passage this had to be crossed a few times. I soon came to the first pozo and saw the two belay points that had been installed in its wall. I looked down and saw ripples on the water at its base. It wasn't possible to tell how deep the water was but it did seem to be only a puddle. I carried on a few more metres but, when I heard conversations from the others, returned to the base of 15665. Rich had made his way down to the shelf. After discussing the difficulties of him coming down to join me he decided not to, so I prepared to ascend back up to join him, but before I did so I investigated along the base of the slot. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a few metres from where I had descended there was a much larger slot. It would have been much easier to descend via that chamber. I shone my Light up it and asked Rich If he could see it but he couldn't. Similarly, when he shone his light down, from the left hand slot, I couldn't see his light. I therefore concluded that this chimney led to a different Sima. Also the height of the larger slot was considerably more than where I could see Rich was standing on the shelf. I wondered if what I was looking up was a chimney that originated at the surface, at one of the nearby Simas to 15665, there were at least four that it could have been. Definitely something that could bring advantages after further exploration. Having returned to the rope I paid particular attention to making sure that as I climbed, the rope bag would be suspended off the ground. I had put my rucksack in it too, and tied a Butterfly knot in the rope to hold the bag off the ground. However, as I loaded the rope it extended and the bag settled back onto the floor. With the bag still attached to the rope, and all my weight hanging on the rope, I had to adjust the position of the knot higher up the rope. It took some time to do it in the narrow slot but it was well worth the effort as it meant that, as I ascended, I never had to take up the slack in the rope, which would have been generated above my chest ascender. Although the rope fed easily through the Chest Ascender, in the narrow slot it proved very difficult to use the leg loop. It was much easier to use the many foot and hand holds available in the Yeso to physically climb upwards. This also included the hand ascenders grip, always an excellent hand hold. Doing this I soon rejoined Rich at the shelf. As Rich set up for his climb back out it took a little time for us to correctly configure the foot ascender he had borrowed from the Club Gear bag but once this was done he made his way out. As he got towards the top a rain of loose dirt and small stone began to fall on me. I was still standing at the right hand side of the ledge, and. of course, clipped onto a suitably slack piece of the ascent rope, but I couldn't go any further to the right. I called up for Rich to pause while I moved out of the way, to the left hand side of the shelf. While I waited for him to finish his ascent I used the time to make my way around the left hand curve of the slot. I couldn't go too far as the footholds to either side of the slot were getting smaller but I did manage to go far enough to wonder if this way would lead to the larger chimney I had seen from the bottom. Once Rich was out I pulled the rope bag up to join me on the shelf before ascending out myself. It had been a disappointing Caving trip as only Rich and I had gone into the cave. I asked if anyone would like to try a different Sima but it was agreed to call it a day and make our way back to Los Mart. for our Beers and Tapas.
2020
Entrance:
15663 16760 16761
Tom Hudson
Tony, Iris, John, Carol and I made our way to the 5th Pine for todays visit to the Karst. It was good to have John and Carol back and even more so to have Tony joining us again now that he was over his health problems. This week we were going back to the Lapo area to begin a task left over from a previous week. We had been asked to do this task by the Group Trabjo Sorbas, GTS. It had been the third and last task of the trip we had done on 11th November 2019. We had completed the first two tasks but, in the time we had left for the final task, all we could do was to check that the Sima we were to enter had belay points and, having cleared the Tumbleweed from its entrance, seen that it was of a decent depth. I still had the hand drawn, A4 sketch GTS had given us. It identified the system as the 3 Girls, Tres Ninas. It consisted of 3 Simas, 16760, 16761 and 15663. The Sima we were to enter was 16760. The sketch showed it as being 15 metres deep. The sketch also showed that the three Simas were connected by a passage and there was also a 20 metre deep Pozo off to the side of the passage. Once we had rigged a Y hang and placed two rope protection sheets over the sloping Yeso rock I went down first. As is my normal practice, I was carrying, on my back, my caving gear in my rucksack. After I had descended a couple of metres the Sima had narrowed enough that it was getting harder to pass through the slot. A previous set of Cavers had also placed a deviation point into the side wall. From this there was hanging a loop of blue webbing. I thought about using this but decided it wouldn’t have helped the descent, only complicated it. I called back and suggested that it would be a good idea for the others to descend with their gear secured and hanging below them. I did manage to struggle through the narrow section, below which, all the way to its base, the Sima widened substantially. Having got to the bottom I called back up when I was free of the rope. While I waited for the next Caver to join me, I went off to begin exploring the subterranean area. A narrow but high passage wound off in a northerly direction. After approx 5 metres, high above, I could see a shaft of daylight. I assumed this was coming down from the Sima 16761 as it would have been in that location. The sketch had shown that the passage I was in should have carried on in an almost southerly direction, towards 15663 but the only route onwards appeared to be via a small, triangular passage, This was at ground level and curved away in a northerly direction. At its entrance there were two belay points placed, low down, into the side wall. As I was still waiting for the next caver to reach the base of 16760 I decided to investigate. The base of the triangular passage was its widest part, but it wasn’t wide enough to pass through whilst laying flat. This meant that to pass through it I would have to lay on my side. It is never a good idea to enter an unknown passage head first so I shuffled my way through it feet first. As the curve of the passage was to the right this meant I had to lay on my right side.The floor of the passage was covered in smooth, firm, damp mud which made my progress reasonably comfortable. There wasn’t much space to see what was ahead of my feet but I could see enough to carry on. After approx 4 metres I could feel my legs entering a wider section. As my body was fully supported on its mud floor I carried on. By the time I was getting towards the point of loosing my stable support I could feel with my legs, and see passed my body, just enough, to be sure that a larger chamber lay ahead. I couldn’t tell how deep it would be and certainly wasn’t going to risk going any further. By now Tony and John had arrived at the base of 16760. I called back and told them what I had found and made my way back. After discussing with them how to carry on I connected the 27 metre rope we had brought with us to the two belay points. At the other end I tied a figure 8 on a bite and clipped it to my D ring. John then used his Petzl Stop to pay out the rope while I made my way back through the passage, this time head first. At the far end I could now see that the chamber was the top of a deep Pozo. It must have been the 20 metre one, shown on the sketch. As I was still constrained by having to lay on my side my field of view was limited but I did see that a belay point had been put into the roof above the Pozo. With my poor range of movement I couldn’t see if another one had also been placed nearby. However I was happy that I could rig a safe descent line. Once again I returned to the others. The plan was that the 27 metre rope, which was still secured with a Y hang to the two belay points at the beginning of the passage, would be fed through the passage, clipped into the roof mounted belay point and the remaining length lowered into the Pozo. First I, and then John, would make our way to the top of the Pozo, clip our Cow tails into the roof belay point, connect our Petzl Stop to the descent line and having checked its correct function, ease our way into the Pozo. Once we were happy we would disconnect the Cows tail and descend to the Pozos base. Once I was on the Stop and ready to lower myself I could get a better look around. I was then able to see that there was a second roof belay point available to back up the first one. As it would have been too time consuming to climb back out and re rig the rope I was happy, this time, to carry on with just the one point as, if it had pulled out, all that would have happened is that the rope would have dropped less than a metre to the top of the Pozo. uncomfortable for me and undesirable but unlikely to happen. I would have suggested to John that he could clip a Carabiner into this second, back up, belay point and run the rope through that one as well. However, as it turned out, once I had got to the bottom of the Pozo and John had made his way along the passage he found that his Petzl Stop was completely clogged with mud. He had been crawling along the passage with it clipped to his D ring. It wouldn’t have been easy to clean it effectively in the limited space available so he aborted his descent. Meanwhile I had seen that there was a low, wide slot that exited the base of the Pozo. It led away for at least 3 metres, at 130 degrees North, but needed some of the rocks that were half buried in the mud to be prized or dug out before a successful survey could have continued onwards. As time was getting on I therefore made my way out to rejoin the others, who had already begun to make their way back to the surface. Once we were all out and had cleared all our gear we made our way back to the 5th Pine for our customary, and very welcome, drinks and Tapas.
2020
Entrance:
15133 15796
Tom Hudson
Just Iris and myself were available for todays trip. We were going to see if there was the anticipated connection, in the Cambion System, between Simas 15796 and 15133. The Monday Caver's had last been there on 4th November. On that trip Roger and I had descended into 15796 and got passed the pinch point I had previously opened out. I had then gone on and, on coming out into a large passage, I had seen footprints in the soft mud. After reporting back to the others it was decided not to explore further. This was our first opportunity to go back and complete the trip. In the meantime I had gone back and added a deviation fixed point, directly above the pinch point. This was to make it easier to descend passed the pinch point. Previously the descent had been at a slight angle, not vertical, which had made manoeuvring oneself passed the narrow gap much more difficult. Our first task of this day was to rig what we hoped would be our exit route out of Sima 15133. Five of the Monday Caver's had last been there on the 14th October. Today, once we had rigged it, including a redirect line, I went down to ensure that, what we hoped would be our ascent rope and its bag, would be correctly placed, and waiting for us, at the base of the Sima. Once I was happy that was the case I ascended back out and we made our way across the approx. 50 metres of ground to 15796. Once we had rigged that, first Iris, and then I, abseiled the 6 metres or so down to the level of the pinch point. It was at that point that I remembered I had failed to notify anyone that we were both going underground. Of course there was no phone signal down there so I had to ascend back out and make sure the message had been seen. Thank you Roger :) Having rejoined Iris we put a butterfly hitch into our descent rope and attached it, with a locking Carabiner, to the deviation point. The placing of this deviation point also gave us another major advantage. To operate the standard descent set up, of having the Petzl Stop attached directly to the D Ring, requires the Caver to have their operating hand(s) at waist level. In the narrow space of the pinch point there isn't enough space to do that easily. However with the descent rope attached, comfortably high enough and directly above the Caver, it was possible to attach an extension rope, in our case this was the Cows Tail, to the D ring. The other end of the Cows Tail was then clipped to the Petzl Stop. With this set up it was then easy to operate the Stop and descend with your hands held above your head. Both Iris and I used this technique to lower ourselves. Speaking personally I found this method a massive improvement over the standard set up. It was effortless to slip passed the pinch point and descend this way. As Iris hadn't been here before, once we were both down, and she had enjoyed a little snack, we made our way over the short distance to the base of 15132. The passage didn't go any further in this direction but from here we could see upwards, through its narrow slits, all the way to the light of the surface above. We then returned, passing through the base of 15796, and made our way to the large passage I had found on the 4th November. From here we followed my Compass bearing which showed that, of the two possible directions to go, it was the one to the right that should, hopefully, take us to the base of 15133. Our first task was to safely pass over the long Pozo that wound its way around a right hand corner. Having accomplished that, a left hand, then a second righthand curve led us to a short straight section. As we made our way along it I was surprised by, in what seemed no time at all, the sight of our ascent rope and its bag waiting for us. The previous time we had rigged 15133, on our 14th October trip, we had rigged it differently. To get to where the rope and bag now lay, we had rigged it in two stages. After the first 17 metre descent we had rigged an additional Y hang. We had used this Y hang to descend the final 6 metres. To simplify, and speed up, todays rigging we used the fact that there is a staircase of shelves that can be used to reach the same place. This made our ascents much quicker. However some of the time saved was wasted as, after we had both ascended to the top of the staircase, and were about to begin our final ascents of the final 17 metre section, we discovered that Iris's rucksack was missing. Unseen by us it had rolled back down the staircase, all the way to the bottom of the 6 metres. I therefore went back down and this time, having put it securely inside the rope bag, ascended back up to rejoin Iris. Our remaining ascents out of 15133 were uneventful and while Iris de-rigged and packed that gear away I returned to 15796 and did the same to that Sima. That did require me to re-enter it to remove the rope from where it was clipped to its deviation point. Once that was done and I had returned to the surface we were soon ready to begin our drive home. There was no post Caving visit to the 5th Pine today as, it being the 3 Kings Day, it had closed at midday.