16/10/22
Four of us went for a sunny evening climb at Stoney followed by a meal at The Moon Saturday night; we awoke in the hut Sunday morning a little worse for wear but breakfast at the Yondermans sorted us out. We dropped Jon off at the Oxlow layby as he was to ride back to Stoney and after collecting all the kit together started off up the hill with Ben, this being his first trip to Mountbatten.
Ben shuffled down to the top of the first pitch and began bagging up the rocks we’d left there on our last evening trip in May. With these moved, we regrouped at the surface and decided to get the Gin wheel installed in the 17m chamber.
Rob stayed on the rope midway down the 1st pitch and managed to drill some threads from which we could tie a nice solid Y hang. With the addition of a concrete screw off the near wall to help pull it across, the wheel now sits about 2m above the 2nd pitch, giving a nice hang.
Whilst we were sorting this, Ben had a little look at the 2nd pitch, getting as far as the ledge above the tight section before coming back up for the chamber. After this, we pulled up the abseil rope and threaded it through the wheel, which inverts the original Y-hang for the pitchhead and allows us to both use it as an abseil rope and a haul line. I then headed down to the bottom with the yellow haul bag and emptied 2 of the white rubble bags Rob and I had filled a while back. The yellow haul bag swallows half the contents of a rubble bag, so it took 4 hauls to get them out. We were keeping it simple, just using a 1:1 through the gin wheel at the top and Rob and Ben seemed to manage well. The bag got snagged a few times but nothing too serious, a long session would be tiring though and maybe we’ll try a 2:1 at some point, although this will introduce more rope into an already really cramped space.
Satisfied it works, I headed back up using my new pantin-with-a-catch for the first time. It makes a huge difference in the tight section, being confident that it won’t fall off the rope means you can just force your way up through it without really thinking. Makes life much easier.
Up and out for about 4ish. (Ben, Mike, Rob)
30/10/22
First trip with a team of four!
We’d lured Jon out with the promise of sunbathing and singing skylarks, unfortunately the weather was utterly miserable and about 30mins after we arrived the rain came down. Ben was in the chamber, Rob at the top of the 1st pitch, I was at the top of the pot and Jon was rain-bathing on the surface .
The haul bags are pretty much done for and will probably last one more trip before they should be retired. One is now more hole than bag.
The rain stopped shortly before we’d finished and we exited to a glorious low sun. The walk back down across the fields was stunning. Back to The Lamb for a few beers. (Rob, Mike, Ben, Jon)
Derbyshire Pennine Club 