Springtime at MB

18/04/22

First MB trip with Sam and first in the warmth of the Spring sun! Instead of being unpleasantly cold, the walk up was now unpleasantly sweaty.

We kitted up at the entrance and I shuffled down to the initial vertical squeeze above the pitchhead. The aim was to lower the floor here to make it much roomier to pass through (and pass spoil through) and hopefully get Sam’s barrel chest through. I sent up several bag’s worth of rocks before removing 3 sandbag’s worth of mud/clay – Rob and Sam hauling. At one point I uncovered a vintage coke can advertising a competition which had an entry deadline of November 1978 and soon after headed back to the surface for a rest, thoroughly covered in sticky mud.

With that done, we set about with phase 2 and Rob headed down to the 17m chamber with the drill to start breaking up the stacked rocks. Sam followed him down to attempt the initial squeeze @6m but it’s unfortunately still a little too tight, although he reckons he’d get through without his croll on or maybe a less bulky suit.

The next hour or so was spent with me at the top of the pitch hauling rocks up from Rob in the chamber, then passing the bags up to Sam above the squeeze. We got pretty knackered doing this and the muddy ropes made simply hauling by hand really tricky and we stopped when my arms gave up. Definitely need some mechanical/pulley-related assistance in future.

With that done, we packed up and moseyed down the hill and headed to the Derwent Water Arms for a pint and chips and sat outside enjoying the last of the evening sun. All very pleasant compared to previous trips. (Mike, Rob, Sam).