Yordas

Dave, Ray, Tom, Maz, Yolanda

With Smelt Mill off the cards this week, the crew decided to have another (drier) go at Yordas, having been kept away from the traverse last time due to an awful lot of water. Things looked a lot more promising this time, with Long Gill not visible on the surface, and some sun in the sky.

Tom and Maz nipped into the bottom entrance to play with Tom’s new light bomb while Dave, Ray and Yolanda went straight to the middle entrance to get on with rigging the first pitch.

Having practised here in Feb, Dave quickly got the first and second pitches rigged, with Maz and Tom catching up at the bottom of the second. Was nice to not descend into a waterfall and pool this time.

Ray led on with the tackle for the Chapter House traverse and pitch and made short work of the surprisingly complex rigging. Tom rigged the waterfall pitch for those who didn’t fancy going the high road.

We followed Ray over the traverse and down into Yordas Cave, narrowly skirting the waterfall’s spray on the last couple of metres, with Maz abseiling the alternative route… straight into the fall… at least his oversuit and SRT kit got a good wash!

After a quick rest in Yordas Cave, Tom, Yolanda and Dave made a start on prussiking out with Dave de-rigging, Maz and Ray opting for the short way out. We all made it back out into daylight and back to the cars by 9:15, a short trip but plenty of SRT work and plenty to see.