Ogof Hesp Alyn - The NE Chamber Pots (Sun 2nd Aug 2009)

Following on from our previous Thursday night trip to check these out, we decided that we would tackle this on a Sunday due to the need to haul extra kit down there (mainly ladders) and so that we weren't rushing. We hoped to be able to descend both of the two pots in that area but as you'll discover later, we only managed one of them.

The four of us (John, Linda, Adam, Marc) met at the Cilcain Bridge Car park at 9am and carefully got our stuff together for the trip. We knew that we needed at least 4 electron ladders so we decided to take 5 just in case, together with plenty of slings and some rope for hand lines as we know that there are some fairly tricky sections. The four of us, fully loaded with gear, descended into the cave.......

The first stretch of the cave was the usual mucky slosh. OHA isn't one for dropping you in slowly. You DO get soaked to the chest in the first 25 yards or so, but I still love it. Taking a left turn we headed up to the next pitch. Jonny did the rigging and a second ladder was used to make this descent. I followed at the back. The ladder was somewhat short at the bottom but it's an easy climb off. Here we negotiated the clean washed and sharp section of cave with some tight squeezes. Progress was slower than normal because we had all the kit to drag through with us, but patiently we got through and into the nice descending low passage that descends gradually for about 30m, is about 2-3m wide and less than 2ft high all the way down. The tunnel was a bit muddier than on previous visits but still very impressive and great fun to slide down head first, all the way down to the mucky bit at the bottom. Then we popped up into a 15ft high roomy chamber. Now at the awkward letterbox overhang we rigged some rope to assist us and very soon we were down into an even larger cavern with massive boulders in the floor, all covered in clay.

Brave Jonny went first descending through the gap between the boulders and down to rig next pitch. There's a lovely natural anchor that we used to put the slings round. We weren't sure how deep it went down below us, but believed it to be quite big, so a double length ladder was dropped down and Jonny made the descent. I went next. About 12 ft down the ladder I stopped to take a look around and down and was amazed by the size of the cavern,- this was pretty big! To my right was a very impressive water carved rock. I descended down the long pitch. It felt very long but in fact a single ladder length lay at floor level.

At the bottom John and I engaged in a bit of excited chat and I was pleased to learn that he'd found a further pot at the end other end of the cavern, and so I shouted up to the others to bring the other ladder down. Soon we were all down and Jonny rigged the next ladder pitch down, again using whatever natural anchors/boulders we could find. John descended first to discover that the ladder was too short and that we couldn't really get off at the bottom safely. It seemed that we were as far as we could go for that day, John came back up and I popped down to have a look. Dangling from the bottom of the ladder I could just about put a foot on the large boulder below,, but I couldn't safely get off without risk of slipping, so I looked around from where I was. Below I could see a pool of water, maybe 2.5m diameter. (I was expecting a gravel choke so can only assume that the choke must be below the water.). This was as far as I was going to venture, and so I climbed back up the ladder. Adam was last to descend the ladder to satisfy his curiosity.

By the time Adam came up John was already at the top of the next pitch, with Linda scuttling up behind him. We de-rigged and wrapped this ladder and Adam followed Linda up. I was left with ladders to roll up and they were all twisted. Just what I didn't need! So I carefully rolled them up and tied them to the bottom of the ladder to haul up after me.

This ladder climb which seemed very long on the way down also seemed very long coming back up, perhaps it really IS long! Understand, I'm a bit tired by now and my arms are aching a bit, but the ladder was finished off without too much fuss. Unfortunately, with me now being at the rear of the pack I had to de-rig. Have to do my bit I suppose! The next ladder was de-rigged and all the kit was passed up to the others, then I got a bit stuck and was struggling to climb out of the next bit, back up into the cavern above. Though I was perfectly safe I just couldn't get the technique right to get my body up and wedged in to climb out. After a few attempts my arms were drained and so the others kindly dropped the ladder down to help me which made it MUCH easier.

By this time we were keen to get out and I could almost taste the Guiness back in the pub! The climb back into the letterbox was made much easier with the rope to assist and soon we were scurrying like geriatric rats back up the tunnel, up another ladder and back into the main cave passage. Another 20 mins or so and we were all out into the glorious sunshine again. All four of us were absolutely caked in mud, as is always the way in OHA, and we all had a pleasant dip in the River Alyn to clean ourselves and the gear.

We arrived back at the car at about 3pm, so the trip had taken us about 5-6 hrs to return. That afternoon I was tired and aching (I'm still aching!!). I managed to get to the pub but could barely keep my eyes open and ended up having a relatively early night, which is rare for me!

A good trip then? Very much so. OHA is fascinating and I believe there is still much to discover. We never made it into the 2nd pot we hoped to descend, so there's still plenty to return for in that area of the cave. Something for another trip then.........

marc