Trip report
| 2006-10-21 | Caving at Bungonia Caves |
| Trip report: | |
| Caves: B4-5 Hogan / Fossil including Powell Pot, B44 Grill Cave, B82 College Cave & B54 (rescue training) B4-5 Hogan / Fossil including Powell PotDescription of Trip: Saturday morning was cold so the sooner we headed underground the better. After finding the two scout course starters (who were also SUSS members) we headed off to Hogan Fossil cave. We managed to just sneak in ahead of Scotts College and their large group. I went into the Fossil entrance and dropped the gear to do Powell Pot at the base of the entrance pitch. I then meet the others at the Hogan entrance. The whole cave was even dryer than ever. The dust followed us through the entire cave. After traveersing the hairy traverse ledge we headed down to the extension. Ros & Myself headed towards the Coffin Chamber while the others squeezed through in to the base of the abseils. The extension was drafting well and dust free. We arrived at the duckunder to find Nicole giggling her way through the squeeze. Moving back to Kings Cross smaller groups went off exploring the various passages. Everyone joined together again at the base of the climbs out of Fossil. All climbed out with ease and skill. We passed some of the other groups rigging on the second last pitch. This to remember: Do not secure around a block with a crack that you can follow all the way around; Position the connection hardware high enough so that when the climber comes over the top edge that the belay doesn’t go slack. We decided to go out and have lunch before undertaking Powell Pot. Climbing past the other groups setup on the next pitch we noticed some rigging that needs discussing. Knots should not be loaded abnormally; Camming devices should not be placed in opening on cracks, especially when the floor was dirt and the top was crumbly rock; If the primary and shared anchors point are good then there is no need for a third unless it is diverting the path of the rope. After lunch we headed back into Fossil B4 to undertake Powell Pot. After a short climb and squeeze up hill Ros and John rigged the pitch. However Nicole decided the squeeze was just a little small for her liking so Nicole and myself went off to do Grill Cave B44. The others descended down to the second ledge (a few metres down) and hit foul air. De-rigged and went back to camp for a shower in the new shower block. Skills undertaken this trip: Crawling - on stomach - all Crawling - on knees - all Side shuffling - all Basic short climbing - all Down Climbing - all Traversing exposed ledge - all Squeezing the duckunder - all Basic route finding - Ros Basic rigging - Ros & John Foul air detection - Louise Team work - pack shuffle - all Permit completion - Rod & David That night was cold with the only outside warmth being the heat bead holder that John & Ros bought. After a lovely meal and some general conversation around our heater we all headed off the bed. Much warmer there. B44 Grill CaveDescription of Trip: After deciding to take the car to the Grill carpark, letting Rod get a lift with Ros & John, Nicole and myself did a tourist trip into Grill Cave. No dust! Thank goodness! We headed down the normal way until the split ladder at which point we took the high tunnel. Up, over, walk, crawl etc. into the mud slope chamber. This normally slippery chamber was dry. We kept descending until the fallen rocks sign. A short distance after this we entered foul air. The match went out and so did we. Skills undertaken this trip: Crawling - on knees - Nicole Rift negotiating - Nicole Fixed ladder climbing Nicole Foul air detection - Nicole Nicole left for Sydney although we got the feeling she would have preferred to stay here rather than go home to mind a sick child. B82 College CaveDescription of Trip: Trip began at camp site with John & Ros being told they were leading - from the camp site. After searching the available information we went and signed in. At this stage Ros found that Louise had a more recent map with the camp site and tracks marked on it. This made locating the entrance easier. Have found the entrance and tag we all piled into the cave. Highly polished limestone made for a quick trip down through the rock pile and rift sections. Ros rigged a handline for the rift. Good height & well rigged. “Do different” - Place hand and foot holds in to make it easier to climb back up; bring it a little closer to pitch take off lip. The rigging of the next pitch was completed by Ros and the ladder lowered. Ros abseiled the pitch clearing the rope on descent. All descended safely and were belayed. All Calls were given, where applicable. “Do different” - The anchor point was a block that wedged out the way the rope was loaded. Out of all the anchor points this was my least preferred. It has mass on its side. Proceeding down the cave it wasn’t long before Ros found foul air and I found a $1 coin. We headed back to the pitch where James volunteered to go first and set up the belay. Rod followed on self belay also to check the belay rigging. The packs went up next, as did all the rope. What happened to the rope on the way down? “Do different” - leave a tag line on the packs to aid in getting them past obstacles; leave enough tail so the rope can be reached by the caver’s below. The rope landed on the middle ledge so I had to climb up to retrieve it. Ros and John also climbed up and continued up to the top. This was only possible due to the very dry conditions. The ladder and rope were packed away for the trip out. The difficult task of back tracking up the polished limestone now commenced. All managed to get up using a variety of foot / hand holds, bum wedges and application of friction. Ros de-rigged the handline. I didn’t see anyone use. This means either we are a very tenacious lot all the handline wasn’t rigged in the best location. We headed back to the cars & campsite for lunch. Skills undertaken this trip: Rift suffling - all Basic short climbing - all Down Climbing - all Ladder climbing - all except John & Ros Vertical squeezing - all Basic route finding - Ros Basic rigging - Ros & Louise Belay setup - James & Rod Foul air detection - Ros Team work - pack shuffle - all Permit completion - Ros Entrance locating - Ros with help Organising group - Ros & John - not done. Organising group gear - Ros & John - not done. Abseiling - all Handline rigging - Ros Ladder rigging - Ros - watch anchor point selection. Self belay - prussik - James Self Belay - Mechanical - Rod B54 (rescue training)Description of Trip: The aim of this exercise was to introduce Louise and James to the world or rescue. I am not going to go into details except to say that we commenced simply and added more complexity as we went. B54 is located about 75m on from the Blowfly carpark on the right hand side of the road. It is a vertical shaft about 8m deep. You will have to come and sit in on one of our training days to learn the secrets! Skills undertaken this trip: Rescue calls - Louise & James - more practice Building blocks - Louise & James - more practice Simple hauling - Louise & James - more practice Report by: David Doughty Members login for more details. | |