Cueva del Nacimiento (Camp – Day 1) Last night the bulk of people arrived. Martin T, Anthony and Simon arrived in the afternoon after a fast non-stop drive down through France. Alan, Duncan and Matt arrived a few hours later. Just as well, doubts had begin to set in as to whether we could get…
Read more
A relatively easy day ferrying camping gear to Boulder Hall ready for a full on 2 days of misery in the cave. Made the stupid mistake of unpacking my camping gear that I spent hours carefully packing back at home. Took me ages to repack and meant I got down the hill late. Soon caught…
Read more
First big day trip into Nacimiento. Tentative plan was to get to the upstream sump so Martin could scope it out. Early start at 8 and down to the cave for around 9ish. Various combinations of bags between us, with Martin carrying in some more oxygen cylinders. Water levels normal and fairly quick progress was…
Read more
So when I talked in the last post about the diving bottle filled with the heavist gas known to man, I lied, today’s diving bottle was filled with an even heavier gas… Plan today was for madPhil and Dave to take a bag of rope and rig all the down pitches to Consort Hall, the…
Read more
The first date is always filled with trepidation, you are both nervous, not sure what to say or do, bound to say something stupid. Is it going to work, do either of you want to be here? Sometimes you will look at each other with confusion and embarrassment. There are some awkward silences. The end…
Read more
Sunday 22nd Derek arrived the night before and we packed the car to the roof, ready for an early start. Looked like plenty of space for more equipment. Left at 10 on the Sunday for a straightforward drive down, picking up Mark Sefton outside the Premier inn, Dover. Having never met Mark before I took…
Read more
This is a word I use far too often. In the past few weeks I must have mentioned it at least 10 times a day at work. Generally used by me to avoid telling what I really think about a question I’ve been asked. So I’m vowing to stop use it. Saying that it’s probably…
Read more
So what has been happening between the last years trip and the imminent new one? The 2011 trip ended on a relative high, despite not being able to get a chance to scale the climbs at the limit of exploration, Cueva del Nacimiento had been rigged to the limit of exploration, a lot harder job than was…
Read more
I guess the obvious question is why did LUSS and now the SWCC spend most of their summer, grovelling around in the cold and damp caves of the Picos, covered in mud and grit, tired hungry and generally miserable? I’m not going to go into the usual arguments around, exploration, adventure, ‘because it’s there’ etc. but the following post…
Read more