Pozo Castillo / Segura

Eastern Massif, Picos de Europa, Northern Spain

Pozo Castillo / Segura

Thursday 13th July

Chris and Hannah required a dry way into Segura. Phil responded by rigging a few pitches down Pozo Castillo. Pyro lead us to the start of the ropes from the previous trip. There was a snow plug. We went down it. A few blind pots and cold feet later and a sump was located. Time to find the sun!

Phil and Pyro started some surveying, as an attempt to connect the dots with Castillo and try and find some missing bypass to the collapse.  Using a Distox and a Nexus 7 with Topodroid (excellent bit of kit!) we started surveying a number of areas; Castillo pitches down to main junction, Castillo crawl and a few further upper series passage.  While approaching the Castillo crawls, Pyro pointed out that he had taken team over the top of the crawl, and that the crawl lead to FT16 probably.  I felt a bit of disappointment, in that I had hoped that the area of the snow plug that the others were working may have been beyond the collapse, but it was looking more likely that they were in Segura 1 or an undiscovered mine area near the surface.  We went into the collapse and I had a quick look, compared to last year the snow appears to have melted further (no much snow in the picos this winter) and exposed more wooden props.  Maybe it just needs some balls of steel and slide down the snow plug at one side, into lower ‘ante-chamber’.  80’s description suggest this is the way forward, possible the collapse is no worse than it ever was, just we are not as hard as the French.

After a quick stop at the snow plug entrance, where we couldn’t hear Hannah or Chris, we exited and located Segura 1.  A short adit, straight onto a wooden winch platform, with nice soft rock and muddy underneath (scary).  This was the same winch platform as can be seen from below, in the snow plug cave.  Again disappointing, but serving to clarify points of entry and conditions.  Exit again and met up with others.

Friday 14th July

Lots of illness and injuries running through the expedition personnel, myself and Bob headed up to the White House, so that I could survey the ‘new’ snow plug (FT16) and derig.  Bob had no SRT kit and Emma was taking some kit to Fallen Bear  with others before meeting us with her SRT kit (never happened).  Bob and Phil surveyed, Segura 1, Upper Crawl Series and a few little passages. There was still no sign of Emma so I donned my SRT kit and started surveying FT16.  One massive snow plug with various stages of melt, proving tricky and unnerving.  Obviously the survey equipment malfunctioned, requiring a long sit on a patch of snow.  The bottom of the plug suddenly ends in some driven mine passage, containing old mining ladders, before a final pitch down to a sump / flooded level (probably same level as flooded pot in Segura 2.

Started de-rig to eventually greet a worried Bob, who thought I was either buried under snow, or taking too long and he would miss the pub.