Reminiscences.
Rumbling Hole. 8th. July. 1979.
I left home at 9.15am and drove straight up to Lack Fell. On the way I met Andy
who delivered the permit to the farm. We continued on up to the Lost Johns car
park and Keith Lewis, Mark Woodhouse, and Mike turned up. While we were
changing, Steve Terry, young Dave from
The rope was
tied to a tree and dropped down.. Keith went down first,
then Mark, young Dave and myself, followed by Steve,
Bob and Andy. Some used a rack, Keith and Mark used one of Keiths inventions, and the rest of us used figure of
eights. We all carried down tackle.
We were all soon gathered at the top of the third pitch which Keith was
rigging. We had come down the first two pitches on the one rope. A 300ft.
length of passage, a crawl and some small climbs led to this. Keith found that
the ladder was about eight feet short for this pitch of about 58ft. We also
only had one lifeline for the last pitch. However we all soon got down this
pitch which was in a fissure. After a short length of passage we came to the fourth
pitch. After rigging the ladder to a bridge above this circular pot Keith
decided that it was too dangerous without a lifeline. So he climbed down a hole
this side of the big chockstone and dropped the
ladder down the waterfall. Even in the water it was an easier take off and a
safer climb down without a lifeline; it was also shorter, about 30ft. at the bottom
of this pitch there was another drop of ten feet which we put the end of the
ladder over. This was immediately followed by a climb down a fissure of about
ten feet. Then a short length of passage and we were at the last pitch. The
take off was narrow at the top but opened into a large pot 50ft. deep. There was a fair bit of
water going down, and we used a lifeline. Keith was the first down, then Mike;
Keith came hack up and I went down followed by Mark. I
crawled down the passage towards the sump, but after a short winding bit it was
sumped up at a small chamber. We climbed back up the
pitch and were replaced by another pair going down, this being repeated until
the whole party had visited the sump.
Keith, Andy , Mark and Mike bombed off out as they had the prussiking gear. Bob, Dave, Steve and myself
de-tackled the pitches, we hauled the tackle up the 30ft and 60ft. pitches on
the end of the ladders; we ‘felt that this was safer than carrying without a
lifeline. The 60ft. pitch up the fissure or rift did not ‘feel safe at all
without a lifeline, especially near the top. When we got to the open pot a rope
was hanging dawn the fifty foot gully, I climbed up using the rope as a handine. Then I hauled the tackle up and threw the rope
back down again for a ladder and rope that Sob and Dave had just brought up. I
tied the rest of the tackle to the abseil rope and shouted up for hose at the
top to haul in. At first it went well, but then the rope got caught on a small
overhang; I tried pulling it free with the end of the rope. There was a lot of
cursing from above, then it came loose.
They dropped a ladder down from above, at first this got caught but with a bit
of shaking it dropped down, then the rope came down, but not enough for the
others below so I had to shout for another 60ft. They tied another rope on and
lowered it again. I threw the rope down the gully for the others and made it
fast at the top of the gully. They climbed up to me, I untied the rope, and
then tied on in the middle of it, then shouted ‘for them to take in”; there was
a cheer from above and I started climbing. They soon started pulling hard so I
went up the ladder fast. Near the top I saw that the ladder was hanging from a
rung which had caught over a small rock. I climbed up to this and reached above
it then shook it loose, shouting for a tight rope at the same time. I was soon
up to the top, and was then hauled out of the pot entrance and over the ‘fence.
They were
hauling the rope across the fell. The rest of the lads were hauled up likewise.
Bob said his feet hardly touched the ladder and young Dave said that he had got
caught under a overhang and was nearly strangled.
Steve called us bastards as he was hauled over the fence.
It was
5.30pm. we had been down about five hours. It was dull and cloudy and started
raining, but it had been a good trip and I think we had all enjoyed it. Then it
was back to the farm and a good meal. Later to round off the day, some of us
went down to the Snooty. Fox for a drink.
Frank Hardy
Back
to: Contents