OHA Sumps and Beyond Pushing Trip 25th July 2010 - (turn over now if you don't want to see the scores)
Someone asked for a trip report on this, so here it is. I know in the end this was mainly a NWCC trip but UCET were invited but dropped out last minute,- and I'm a member of both clubs anyway so here it is:
A team consisting of Mike K, Alan and Myself met at the bridge in Cilcain at 9:30am. Once we were all fully kitted and SRT ready we took the usual walk to the OHA lid, and at about 10:30 we had entered the cave.
I won't go into the details of the first part of the trip to the sumps, because the purpose of this trip was to push way beyond the sumps, and on to further than anyone had been for over a decade......
It must also be mentioned that Mike and Alan had been down OHA earlier in the week to get the siphon running, so when we arrived at sump 1 it was nice to hear the water still running out of the exit end of the pipe. Much respect goes to Mike and Alan for persisting this year with this goal and getting the siphon running so effectively. At sump 1 we tweaked and let the siphon continue to run for a further 20 mins in the aim of getting a bit more airspace...
Also discovered at the sump was the UCET donated rope that we'd left a couple of weeks earlier, which was gratefully received. The plan was to take this with us and use it to replace old ropes and generally improve the rigging further into the system.
It was time now for sump 1. Was I ready for the duck?
Alan had already gone through and as I approached it I could see that there was about 3-4” of airspace. Without hesitation I dropped into the water and thrust myself forward, swimming under the rock arch. With my head to the side I was able to breath quite easily and very soon the ceiling started to rise and it was over in a flash. No worries!
Once out of the water it was straight into some of the worst glutinous mud found anywhere. This leads through some slightly higher dry turns and back down to a 2ft deep pool with a right turn, and then up a long slippery bank up to sump 2.
Once at the pool that makes sump 2, the obvious archway leading on can be seen at the back. I climbed into the water which was about 4ft deep, then over a rock ledge and a quick swim under the arch.
After climbing out of the water one soon comes to a couple of fairly clean vertical shafts, sharply cut and fairly tight. The first one being rigged but the second one larger. A 5m prussik up the rope comes to a horizontal level above which soon passes over the top of the other vertical shaft.
Following the passage along horizontally one soon comes to a very impressive 15-20m deep and wide shaft down. An easy abseil down here with a single rebelay half way down, to a pleasant dry flat floor below.
Onwards then to a rift passage with narrow slits dropping down below and a rope climb at the end leading up (some old ropes were found here which we used). These went up through some sharp ledges leading to a 3ft high passage leading the way on.....
Following the main route we then pass through a high chamber and the main route on is over a ledge to the right, but on the left is a promising shaft down maybe 5m deep but I can't see what's below.....
Continuing over the edge there's a rope assisted descent over a protruding ledge to an awkward but short pitch. Mike re-rigged this as the rope previously fell against the edge of the rock, but the new hanger now a bit low and I found the changeover a bit awkward here due to the severe change in direction....
At the bottom of here is a substantial chamber (about half the size of the cavern in OHF) with boulders to climb down at the far end leading down to a crawly wide but low passages leading to the right and through some turns...
This leads to a chamber with a climb up to the right to a treacherous slippery ledge running up and back round to the left. Mike was able to get up here and I suggested a rope be tied round the substantial natural arch I could see at the top. This was done and made getting up the bank a lot easier for the remainder of us.
The passage led on to a large funnel chamber with a the slope running down to the left. Easily spotted here were some foot steps leading down the right side of the bank and which made the task of getting down to the bottom a lot easier. This series of chambers were very dry and didn't appear to have been wet for quite some time. At the bottom there's an awkward crawl through some moist clay round a smaller chamber.
The passage continues then through some large boulder passages, but easy progress can me made climbing over these...
Continue then through some narrower passages, mostly crawly and increasingly moist, eventually coming to the top of a dry sandy bank. Old rigging is still in place here and it was quite easy to descend the sandy incline to the right which towards the bottom drops over a ledge but the bottom is not much further below...
After crawling through some more muddy and sandy passages we come to a clean washed section and the way on is a bit of a squeeze. The sound of gushing water can now be heard below which is exciting....
Once in the squeeze the old rigging is clearly visible and it's a simple job to get on the rope here before crawling over the ledge and abseiling down a further 5m pitch to a clean washed chamber below.
In this chamber there's substantial clusters of spar in the limestone so we assumed we'd arrived at the Pantymwyn mineral vein. At the far end of the chamber is a waterfall where many gallons per second were gushing out of the wall into a plunge pool which was 4ft deep at one side but had a ledge at the other end. Behind the waterfall (from where the water comes) could be seen some delicate but tight passage, obviously very, very wet that way!
As we'd now found some rare clean water in OHA this was a good opportunity to clean our gear, so I stood with my front against the full force of the water and very soon my SRT gear was sparkling again!
Alan was on his way down the rope by now and Mike was complaining that he couldn't fit through the next hole. The way on seemed to be back at the other end of the chamber beyond the bottom of the rope we'd just come down. But the small hole appeared to have either taken a minor collapse or previous cavers were much thinner than us. We simply couldn't get through so some work will need to be done at this point it seems to open it up a bit.
Anyway, it was at this moment that we reflected on what we'd achieved and agreed that we'd come as far as we could go for today, and soon we started on the long haul back....
Without going into all the details of the return journey, let me just say that it was physically wearing, and I was quite knackered when we finally got out. I was the slow coach of the group unfortunately (I admit it!), but we all got back to the cars safely by about 10:45 making it roughly a 12 hour trip.
Reflecting back, it now being over a week since the trip, I'm becoming quite keen to make a return visit, so watch this space for the next juicy instalment....
Marc Carney
Subject: OHA Pushing Trip Beyond The Sumps 25th July 2010 
Mon 02 Aug 2010, 3:00 pm
