AND LIFELINES

Iwas new to ceving and was arriving back at Geclogy Pot after being
drageed to the bottom cf 'Giant's' by a big cheerful bloke who never stopped
singing ola Elvis tunes throughout the whole trip. I attached the Lifeline

to meself and,es it tightened,prepared for an energetic alimb: my belt

dug deep into my ribs and, suddenly, I was off the ground - my legs fleiled

around wildly in midair whilst my hands frantically tried to keep pace

with the oncoming rungs. On arriving et the top I swore that Brian's overenthusiestic
lifelining was the logical progression frou SRT - afterall tho ladder was
practically redundant!

I don't know what method was used to lifeline ae that day, all I
know is that it was safe - if I'd have let go of the ladder I'd have gone
up, not down! Unfortunately many cavers lifeline in « most unsafe way
as wes graphically illustrated by an Orpheus video, shown et the lest
BCRA conference. There wer: lots of ‘oohs' and ‘ashs' from the conference
audiences as trusty ‘volunteers! fell from ladders whilst various styles of
lifelining were used to try and hold the fall. Much to the audiences
amusement uost of these valinnt efforts aded with climber and lifeliner
flying in all directions and coming to rest in a tangled mass of bodies,
ladder and rope!

It was clear that many commonly used lifelining techniques just weren't
adequate: traditional lifelining (rope around waist ~ like gost of us use)
Proved to be disasterous...,..the chances of stopping a reascnable fall being
virtually nil. The fault in such lifelining is us - the caver (or, more
scourately, his/her back): it's amazing - we expend so such eneray dragging
ground nice thick lifelines, spend pounds on flashy belay belts/krabs and
take tine to lock for solid belays then wrep the rope around our own pathetic
becks! A piece of equipment that, coubined with our hands/arms may do well

to hold & shock load of a few hundred kilogrammes. If we are prepared to
acoept such @ weak link in the lifelining chain we may as well save our-
selves a lot of acney and effort by using 3um (250kg) lifeline! Effective
lifelining clesrly can't involve the caver as a ‘strain-bearing part’.

Direct Belay

With direot balay the force of any fall
is transferred, via a friction device,
directly to a strong belay. The lifeliner f FRILTION DEVICE
is no longer a loed bearing part of the
system (but should still, ideally, be is

Delayed to another totally separate belay). £ \)
ae XN

DIRSET BELAY

If a fall occurs the lifeliner can arrest it
with little effort by pulling on the loose
end of the lifeline so as to stop the rope
threading through the friction device. In
the Orpheus video heavy falls were held
with the lifeliner using just one hand.

Friction Device t

A friction device is essential in direct
belaying - it is this thet enables the life- Y|
liner to arrest even a heavy fall without the
super-human, back-breaking, arm-wrenching,
kneewaching, sweat-drenching efforts of
traditional lifelining! The device is

attached directly to a good belay using « sling. Rope is fed into it with
one hand and away with the other. This can be hard work due to friction

in the device and especially if a helping tug is being given to the climber.
A small ancunt of slack in the rope travelling through the device helps in
passing the rope through it.

There is 2 choice of friction device. Many people use a figure of 8
descender - probably because many cavers carry these around as a standard
piece of equipment anyway. A stitchplate is an easier device to use -
designed by climbers specifically for lifelining, it is a auch smaller,
lighter and cheaper than the figure of & although it doesn't double up as
& rope descender (except in desperation that i:

Friction can be introduced into the lifeline by using e friction knot
such as the Italian Hitch (see diagram). This is perhaps the cheapest and
lightest method es only a large D-gate krab is needed. The Italian Hitch
is a 'knot' that allows rope to travel through itself easier in one
direction than t'other. When a force is applied to the knot it turns
within the krab - using 11mm rope a large D-gate rab is essential or the
knot won't be able to turn.

ae)

N
\
{
j

STITCHALATE

Apart from reducing the effort needed to stop a fall there are other

navaneages to direct belaying:

(i) The lifeliner can easily lock-off the friction device and go
to the victims aia.

(3i) The lifeliner is in no way permanently attached to the lifeline-
should the direct belay fail the lifeliner will not be dragged
over the edge of the pitch to sustain a fall even greater than
that of the unfortunate climber.

The aim of this article was to jog peoples mmory of @ lifelining
technique, safer than the traditional mthod and suitable for cavers who
do not have the necessary equipment to self-line. Hopefully there will
de a session on ladders at ths next training met - then we cen all try
to arrest an unexpected fall in controlled (!) conditions. If you can't
wait until then try lifelining your granny up the staira or something!

Finally, the best advise in lifelining must be ‘Lifeline as you
would like to be lifelined' - hopefully this means without that 3nm rope!

ei

By great popular demand (but more likely we are running out of articles for our nag)
T have been asked to write an article on the mich acclaimed FX 4 (Ralph's joke}.

So here we go. First get yourselves the following:
1 old Gldhan T Caplamp

4.£ type nicad cells

3 male lucar tags ‘screw down type)

3 gm brass screws & nuts

3 dba tinned brass ring crimp terminal

5! .5ma" insulated multistrand wire

2 female lucar crimp tags (and boots)

11! brass 2ba screw

1 2ba wing nut (2 std 2ta nut may be used but you my have to carry a spanner)
3 litre fibre glass resin or similar

1) fig 1. Mensure and cut the battery case (about 5" from the top)$ beware of acid.

Undo the nuts frou the top of the care and remove the old cells Wash out the case
with vater and dry.Cut out the center cell separator to at least hair way down or

until all four cells will fit inside the case. frill three holes to take Zba bras

screws in the top.

iu.

BRASS NUT(soldered) LUGAR MALW TAGS

~~

TAH _F TYP:
GELL

OLDHAM T
BATTERY CASE

NNECTING.
WIRES:

RESIN(see text

Ne

: EXCESS CASE NOT REQUIRED nae) k

2) Wire the fourcells as in fig 11. leaving long enough leads to rench the top of the
case. Criap and solder the ring crimp terninals onto the three long wires —\,+h and
+B and assemble vith nut and lucar tag as in fig 111. not forgetting to solder the
ring terminal to the screw and the nut to the luear and sere thread.

fy Il.

BRASS WUT

5) Ghange the main and pilot bulbs to 2.4v 1\ and

BRASS
‘SCREW

WIRE

fig 111. CLOSE UP OF BATTERY
———— ee
ae

3) Check all your wiring observing the polarities (positive and negative) and thet all
the solder joints are well formed. Push the cells into place.

4) Snap off the screw holder on the battery lid retainer fig lV.(this is quite tricky
and requires a Little muscle if you can't do this ask your big brother or daddy to
help). Serev the 2in brass serew into the battery lid from the inside.

Grinp and solder the ferale crimp tags onto the wire not forge‘tine the insulating
boots. 2BA SCREW

See

LUGAR FEMALE TAGS

SNAP OF¥ SCREW
HOLDER ON THE BATTERY
LID-RETAINER

igelW BATTERY LID CONVERSION

£igelV BATTERY LID CONVERSION
Se

y «30 respectively «

Clip on the femle erinp to the male lucar, black (or blue) wire to -A and red
(or brown) wire to 4A, switch on the lamp .The lamp my light, if it does leave it
on until it ic discharged, if not (or vhen discharged) take the red wire to +B and
repeat.

6) Charge both sets of tatteries at .875A for Sains and then repeat 5). Both sets of

tatteries should have some charge and so the lamp should now light on +A and.48
if it does not recheck wiring and if you can’t find any fault seek advise.If the

lanp does light fully charge both sete of batteries at .8754 for 12hours, each.
TEED pee ecd@connect* the red wire into 4A and switch on aking anote of. how long

it lasts , repeat with +B. You should be expecting at least 7 hours on min beam
for each set of batteries. If this is correct mix and pour in the resin, which Is
best achieved by sealing the tase and holes on the front and pouring in from the top,

‘typical discharge tine is 14 hours (77 houre svitching over mnually underground)
but by using different bulbs you can vary the brightness and discharge times:

BULB WATTAGE DURATION Z
2e4V 1.254 aw abr

2e4V 1A 2a Lghr

2.4 .BA halogen 2h 17.5hr

Bed 6658 1.64 20hr

2.50 3A Th Ate

lia you my also

This lamp as you can aee is very versatile and by using a spare

be able to use more than one battery underground for expedition, DAKEil etc. ‘

If you intend to make a lamp using my design if you get in touch i can name suppliers
mu can buy the parts. .

ee YSOEREK. (Jane has not typed this blag ne for any mistakes )

BsGsR.A. Film Bvenings

‘The B.C.R.A. are holding film evenings on the following dates:

Sat 21 June (Ingleton Community Centre)
Wed 25 June (Birminghaa University Students Union)
Thurs 26 June (Bristol University)

The programme includes films from several leading continental film makers
and Sid Perou.

Tickets £2.00 available from Ingleton or Jerry Woolridge (phone: 021-426 1803)

Gumdur Access (pronounced Come Door - for those of you who don't speak Welsh)

The Nature Conservancy Council has extended the 0.F.D. National Nature
Reserve to include in and around Cundwr Quarry. The @ntrance to Cvmdvr Quarry
Gave now lies within the Reserve and access is now controlled by permit
available from D.E. Samuel, 0.F.D. Permit Secretary, 85 Cavendis Avenue,
West Ealing London. Maximum party size is seven.

White Scar .

Were you one of the lucky ones who went down White Sear last year before
the management changed? You probably won't be going again | - an entrance
fee of £3.00 per head will now be charged mking Giants a relative Dargain }

C.N.C.C. report that bookings for Gingling and Hammer are down.
- Ivonder why ? tt

"Send For The C-R.0.

My caving exploits on Sunday 27th January vere curtailed when « flustered
caver came flashing across the fell to tell us there had just been an
accident in Rovten and could we help.

Apparently a caver had rigged the entrance piteh (220') and abseiled off
the end of a rope 30? from the bottom. The ORO were sent for as he tad a
suspected broken leg. We thought ve'd send him sone light reading eg. "The
Spur Book of Knots." Within half an hour of our arrival, the CRO arrived
on the scene, a total of 50 minutes following the accident.

Fortunately the group had a survival bag to place him in but after an hour
hic shouting censed, as did our joviality in trying to mke the beot of it.
The GRO, led by Jack Pickup, displayed remrkable efficiency in getting the
piteh rigged and first'aid to the victim but it vas 4 - 5 hours before the
doctor arrived. Thinge vere obviously vorse than suspected and it took

6 hours and 40 cavers to get him out.

He Ind extensive injuries. This should act as a warning to all cavers never
to neglect to tie that knot!

Whether it was co-incidence or a Deific varning to us, thot morning ve asked
our rope-packer if he'd tied a knot at the end.

mNo", he suid, "but it's alright, there's one at the top." Ve all laughed then,
but by that afternoon the joke had turned sour.

LIN.

EXTRACTS FROM CAVES & CAVING (FEB 86)

FURRY SUIT DANGER

Dr, John Frankland, Chairman of CRO reports in Caves & Caving of the danger
of swinming in caves whilst wearing a furry suit.

Recently, a caver of many years experience, drowned in Lancaster Hole sump
after plunging into the deep cold water. He svam for just a fev yards,
turned onto his back and sank, without varning or crying out. He was wearing
a fibre pile suit and an oversuit (both new and intact), wellingtons, and a
ainers Light. 7

‘The Doctor goes on to state that his death was caused by the shock of the cold
vater. A sudden plunge into very cold water in fact causes the heart to beat
irregularly. This in turn creates uncontrollable rapid respiration, making it
impossible to hold the breath when the face becomes submerged.

This caver's unfortunate and untimely death should serve as a sad reninder to
us all that furry suits, oversuits and wellingtons vere not designed to svia
ine

al
THE BITS & BOBS PAGE

Glub Raffle

As many of you know, we have run a raffle in conjunction with Orell RUFC
each year for more than a decade. In principle, ve buy tickets at about
1/3 face value, then we hope all money is returned. Last year vas a good
year for sales, so this year we estimated that we could sell £300 worth.
(£6 a head) Each book costs £2.50 sc most of you received 2 boaks: Had
all tickets been sold we would have made a profit of £210 aporox (not
counting postage and endless phone call:

Unfortunately, 9 books were returned unsold and 19 not returned at allt
This represents a profit deficit of over £47 (an overall actual less on
the tickets bought of £22.40, The profit is therefore about £153, £35 of
this from one member - TR} It appears that many members are buying the
tickets themselves thus putting up their cubs by £5. (£3.30 to CCPC £1.70
to Orell RUFC!) It was felt at a recent meeting that these menbere vould
find it cheaper to pay an extra £2? subs and forget the raffle. The price
of tickets (25p)'has been blaned for making sales difficult, but figures
suggest that those who normally do well still do vell, and those who don't
still don'tht (they also do no worse.)

It has been suggested that as we have decided te abandon Orell, those who
object to the inevitable nembership increase might be interested in an
‘alternative raffle' vith sone sort of sliding scale which reduces the
membership fee in proportion to the amount of tickets sold.

Give it some thought. Itfs your money.

Dear Marjorie,

Thanks to Christine and all those involved in organising the
Club Do at the ‘Out of Town’. A lot of effort is required and mich tine
is spent running around before hand, Very often, all we get at the end
of the day is criticism! However, I feel that we should consider starting
the next one ata later time, say #0,30, in order to give members the
opportunity to arrive on time. Some of us felt like lonely pebtles on
a beach waiting for the tide to arrive.

Dissatisfied |
(Name & address supplied.)

B.C-ReA> Library

A comprehensive list of publications held at the library has now been
published and is available to all members who send a stamped addressed
dabel? for 52p to librarian Roy Paulson, Holt House, liolt Lane, Lea, Matlock
(Tel: 0629-84 775). Non-members can purchase a copy from sales officer
Bryan Ellis, price £3.00 inc pip. The club will receive a free copy.

The library is located in the Local Studies Department within the Derbyshire
County Council Offices in Natlock and is oven on weekdays 0900 - 1700 hours
or by appointment on Saturday mornings. Tel: 0629-3411 Ext 6840 and ask
for Mrs. Jean Rudford or Ruth Convay.

Ropes for Lifelining

By the time you read this, all the club havser lay lifeline rope should

be a thing of the past. It should all have been replaced with kernmantel
rope, This rope is not suitable for SRT or climbing, tut is OK for lifelining
or self lifelining. Sticht plates (or similar) are strongly advised.

PERRYFOOT CAVE TO_PERRYFOOT SWALLET
DCA Newsletter No 6).

Told you $$ This system vas explored by C.C.P.C. in the late 50's by
your's truly & co and by Rob Heath in the '70's. Both of us noted this
in the club log (the club what?) pointing out it's potential, but efforts
were diverted to the cub dig (the club whet?)

Perhaps you'll listen next time 4

See DCA Nevsletter No 61 for further details.

Tony Gamble Nick Armitage

wom, Redacted

George Crane
RGRT suBs.

In the next exciting edition - the full story - exclusive -
- Hanmer, House of Horror t

An Old Fable

You've all heard the joke about the old bull and the young bull looking
across the field at a load of cows; the young bull suggests they run
down and screw cone, The old bull replies "No, let's walk down and screw
them all!"

This little story as about tvo cavers, an old one and a young one, who
vent to Yorkshire to go caving. As they sat in the Marton Arms watching
the thunder clouds gathering, the young caver said "Let's rush out and
do a cave before it starts to rain." The old caver replied "No, let's
take our tine and do them all."

The moral of this story is ~ the cave will still be there next weekend.

AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE 1985

‘The week before we left was hectic to say the least; 1300 ft of rope, 100
maillons/hangers, carbide generators, food, tents, insurance and travel arrangements
all had to be sorted out, That hectic in fect that the first ever incidence of ely
refusing a drink was recorded: "Sorry, i've got to finish packing" !

Priday 5 July saw several vebicles fron Grewe and Rotherham heading for the
Late night channel ferries (predictably Phil's Lotus ‘wasn't quite finished’ ),
I was in Sinon's W camper van with Phil,Spud and Ken. After boarding the ferry
all of us crashed out on the TV lounge floor with the exception of Ken who headed
straight for the bar, 5am the next morning we awoke to find no sign of Ken -
surely he couldn't still be in the bar! ‘That, though, is where we found him
and the combined effects of half a bottle of whisky + two bottles of wine + rolling
boat appeared to have taken it's toll: a paralitic Ken couldn't even recognise
any of ust

Ken was dragged towards the van as disembarkation was imminent but, after a
violent outburst on the car deck, was left to find his om way. ‘his he failed to
do and after a quick search of the boat we were made to disseuberk leaving Ken's
passport, money and clothes with the port authorities. The ferry quickly reloaded
‘ana (after we'd convinced the authorities that he wasn't overboard ) set off for
Fortsmouth with Ken, apparently, fast asleep in one of the crewe's bunks! After
sobering up back at Fortsmouth he was mads to pay his ferry fare again and set
off on bis third channel=crossing in 2) hours. This time he managed to get off
at France catching the train to Grenoble and arriving a day late,

Meanwhile the rest of us had an uneventful drive through France. As dusk
set in,the Veroors loomed up impressivly ebove us and Simon's van struggled for
the best part of the next hour to reach the top of the plateau. Here the
ebundence of GB stickers showed we'd arrived. The camp fire was burning brightly,
up went Phil's tent, down went our heads.

Sunday morning the sun drove us out of our tents at an early hour (why does
this never happen at Ingleton 7). It was supposed to be a rest day but clearly
Bob (our leader) was itching to start so several of us donned furrysuits and
went to do @ tackle drop at Garby's pitch (-3,0 ft), This trip involved the
‘dreaded' Meanders traverses which fell well short of their ferrocicus reputation.

‘The next day saw us in the Berger properj we were supposed to rig from
Camp 1 (=1600 ft) to Grand Cascade (-2900 ft) - a tall order which, inevitably,
we failed to pull off. After the second part of the Meanders we arrived ut
Aldo's = a beautiful 140 ft shaft - which was followed ty a short scrabble and
squeeze then a massive change in dimensions: the walls parted and faded to
darkness. The booming echo of our jubilant cheers indicated we'd arrived at
The Great Gallery of the Starless River - what a contrast to the weekend
before's caving (Knotlow!!). What do we mess around at in Derdyshire ?
We erdised on , awestruck, down passage of ever increasing size - our carbides
making little impression on the walls either side of us. Then down 400 ft of
boulder slope - the aptly named "Great rubble heap' - to Camp 1.
It was midnight by now and sleep was in order but ws decided to carry on - a bad
mistakes Fhil continued to rig down Balcony , past the 'Zlephent's Plonker’ and
down to Vestibule pitch (-2100 ft). At this point things were getting ridiculous,
nobody could stay awake and we decided on an about tum with akip at camp 1. Arriving
st the camp around 5ea I had a very traumatic experience in the "Black Hole?
(Camp 1's unofficial toilet) - nobody told me to squat over the hole and NOT to clisb
down into it! Talk about Otter,mud will never put ue off now! Qne person who
definitely did squet over the hole was Lin ~ only we wished she hadn't so
unfortunately placed her carbide behind her creating a aassive shedow on the roof
above our sleeping pit! To save her blushes we all closed our eyes (well I dia at
least). Sleep quickly overcane us and an eerie silence closed in, punctuated by
the constant dripping from high in the caverns roof.

I awoke in total dariness and comfortable waruth. Nobody else was awake (cr so
I thought) which please me - this was one morning I definitely was going to have a
jie~in. I turned over and slept again, This sane process happened several times
to several of us (so I found cut later) - it seemed nobody wanted to make the first
nove out of the warm sleeping bags! Suddenly I perosived distant echoing voices,
the voices grew lauder as over the space of many minutes the next rigging party
made their way down the Great Rubble Hoap. Noisily they greeted us - a rude
awakening for some ~ it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon! After coffee and Beanfeast
(a! sort of do-it-yourself Bernie's breakfast) the others ooatinued rigging whilat
we started the slog out.

Phil end Kelv set cut well before Paul, Lin and ayself. After I'd prussiked up
Aldo's Paul and Lin came up together (there were tro ropes down). Both clipped in
at the top, Paul hauled his suck up but then Idn reflised to pull hers up - she wanted
Paul to do it! Paul refused, Lin shouted, Paul refused again.» and 0 the
domestic dispute continued, bridging across the top of a 10ft shaft! After several
minutes they were still at it and uy patience wore thin so I set off out alone.
A few hours later I arrived at the entrance. It was midnight and a fen of the lads
had cone to meet us in oase we couldn't find our way back to the campsite in the
dark (two people bad already been benighted in the forest). We sat waiting for Lin
end Pau) and on hearing their voices I went to ocllsct ny helast which I'd left ty
the entrance. Just as Simon shouted “watch that hole" ay foot slipped down a creak
in the limatcns pavement and Iwas sent off balance, I fell over backward hitting
ay back onthe rock before being thrown forward to notice a strange sensation =
freefall! I didn't know how deep the hole was end I didn't intend to find out this
way so I stuck arms and legs out at peculiar angles in hope of jamming across the
shaft. I rattled down the narrow shaft in total darkness for whet seemed an age
before grinding to « halt inthe "classic traverse position". For a split second
there was a deathly silence, shattered by Simon's shouting: "Are you 0K, don't
move". Iwas making quick appraisal of uy position - I could feel that I hed
two reasonable footholds but what, in the darkness,was I straddling below? - 6 inches,
6 foot or 60 foot?! Somshow I had managed to hold onto ay holuet during the fall
and I reached over to twist on my zoom: quickly I pointed it beneath ay feet to
see the passage slope off to one side below me, Not too bad. T stayed still ay
back hurt, my ankle ‘ind the skin hed been taken off the backs of my fingers. xen
derigged the Berger entrance pitch and used the rope to lifeline me out. Escapade
over Iwas patched up by Simon before limping back to caup.

At this point the Berger ended for me and the rest of my time was spent
frustratedly with Chris (pulled ligaments) and Lin (Bronchitis) as the sunbathing
invalids! Yor an insight into the bottom 1500ft of the Berger I'll leave Paul te
tell his scorets:

,
The cave changed in character at Vestibule - one enters through adoor like opening
onto the pitch which is split into two separate hangs by a larce ledge. Alucst
inmediately efter are the canals where George dropped a tackle bug and rescued
At by his om brand of cave diving - bottom walking! (without air). The streaumay
at this point is typical of a British cave - fast flowing in a narrow rift passage.

‘The cascades were soon left behind and we reached Claudines which in ny

opinion was the most enjoyable pitch. One more pitch and we, were at the top

of the Grand Canyon from where we could see another party at Camp 2 who resembled
ants! We stumbled down and on arrival at caup discovered they had turned back at
Little Monkey - so near but yet so far. After a brief pause we said our farewells

and parted company.

At the next pitch (Gache's) we came to a temporary halt when Phil got the
gibbers getting on to the rope; this involved a traverse high on the right hand
wall and then a lean out across the passage to reach the rope about 4ft away, it
was a case of sitting on the edge and swinging out on the belt into space. There
seemed to be endless bolt changes on the next three pitches which were continuously
rigged against the left hand wall. The latter (Grand Cascade) was quite damp as
there was a large inlet at the top: I struggled to keep uy carbide lit but failed
and hed to resort to my unreliable electric back up which gave out as much light
as a glow-worm. It was a relief to load my rack on the rope and abseil into the
blackness after fumbling about with the knitting at the top of the pitch; when I
reached the bottom there was no sign of anyon? so I lit uy lamp and set off down
the enormous passage away at full speed. The passage soon closed down again st
La Beignoire (the bathtub) which involved « traverse on a steol wire atretched
about 4 metres above a deep pool.

I still hadn't cought the others up when I reached a low section and thought
I'd gone wrong, there was no other way on but to get down and crawl! I emerged
froa the low wide passage to find Melv, Bill and Phil huddled together in «
raughting passageway, “What's wrong"? I asked, "Nothing", said Phil, "we're
waiting for Tim to rig Little Monkey": after what seemed like eternity we set off
one by one along the traverse and down the pitch. The line the rope tock on the
pitch necessitated one to clip in to a taut rope to aboid abseiling in the water.
The rope was continucusly rigged along the left hand wall at the bottom to stop
people falling over Hurricane Pitch, I crawled elong « norrow ledge to the top of
Hurricane which Phil was in the process of rigging; there was a sudden screen
from below and I feared that Phil hed abseiled off the end of the rope. I lay
there for almost half an hour petrified; Melvin finally persuaded me to go down
the piteh which had an extremely difficult take off. The others followed and we
411 shook hands at the bottom and strode off down the boulders towards the pseudo
siphon. Melv and I reached a waterfall which we didn't attempt to climb down and
so retreated to the bottom of Hurricane. I was so preoccupied with reaching the
Dottom that I hadn't even contemplated the climb out! We progressed slowly to Camp
2, where I felt very cold until I drank som: soup. When we arrived at Cuap 1 I
didn't went to stop, I felt I could carry on for ever; uy stomach however was
telling ue otherwise! The famous Beanfousts came out and we all tried to eat ono;
few succeeded! It was fantastic to get into a warm sleeping bag, even though it
was wet.

Everyone went out at their om pace, I surfaced at 4.45pa. I was s0
enthusiastic to reach base camp I stole off in front cf Melv, confident I imew
the way back, The red marks painted on the path appeared rather brighter than
usual; I had been following the wrong path all along - the paint was wet! ly story
of how I reached camp doesn't need recounting, to say it was embarrassing is an
understatement.

At this point Mpple takes up the story again:

ies
George had built a lerge fire this night and we sat in the warmth waiting and
drinking. Suddenly 2 dark shape could be made out lurching towards the fire. The
staggering figure was scon upon us and the firelight enabled me to discern two
white eyes and a set of white teeth behind a totally blackened face ~ Paul's face.
Looking like a miner tied up in a fibre~pile sack he looked bloody funny, but he
wasn't amzused: "Vell you soon find out who your mates are ~ there's me lost
in this bloody great forest and nobody coues looking for ne". Faul was soon
talking jibberish about big hairy animals hunting him down in the forest: " I looked
up and saw this big pair of eyes staring at ue frox the dark of the trees - Ithought
it was @ bloke end shouted Hello - but no reply. I tried again - no reply - this
ain't no man I thought and ren like bloody hell in the opposite direction until
I couldn't run eny more ". At this stage he saught protection in the Berger entrance
and even considered abseiling down to the safety of a night st Camp 1.!! Well to
out a long story short he eventually stumbled across some French campers in a
clearing and DEMANDED to be driven to La Molliere! Apparently they spoke no
English but obliged. I wonder what they thought of this crazy English ‘miner’
in a filthy furry-suit demanding to be driven to the top of the mountain!

13,
f

yen Griffiths is looking for Instructors in various activities such as camping, caving,

Jee canoeing, sailing etc. for 4 weeks in August, £3.00 per hour aprox. , about 40 hrs.

per week, Contact Ken on SOT267489

FOR SALE. Tackle sacks, personal sacks, sit harnesses (M and S) ...no not Marks and Spencers!!!
Lamps T type, Sweat shirts, T shirts, Contact Ralph,

Sid p. watch out 1!!! There is an evening arrange at the Biddulph Arms on Friday 20 June
8.30pm. This is a last get together before this Summers trip to France, To round off the
evening we will be showing the 60'sB/W film of the Berger plus I.C,,s latest box office
blockbuster shot entirely in the British Isles, (Rumour has it that many of you might

)

+ anyone wishing to be the pioneer of

recognise the venue kept top secret on the grounds of conservation!

STOP PRESS, George has refurbished our Russom drill

a new and as yet undiscovered extension to Giants rivalling the Three Counties system had

better get their finger out since the queue siiu> is growing by the hour.. All applications
should be made as soon as possible td avoid disappointment.

LECK FELL, All cars must use the LOST JOHNS car park even if you are doing Notts {$1 NO

MORE THAN THREE CARS PER PERMIT.
S*OWD MON finally does Darren carrying tackle bag containing everyones gear !!! Rumour has

it that this could be his last trip $1!

It,