|
|
 |
   |
 |
 |
We set off down the valley to see if we could locate any other entrances, the size of the sink convincing us that there was probably major cave passage under the valley. Lugger suddenly recognised the area as one he had visited on an earlier expedition, and we changed our route to see if we could locate an area of shakeholes he remembered being shown nine years previous.
The shakehole, a collapse into a cave passage beneath, had a promising dig in a sink downstream. Ten minutes work, and five metres later, the way on was blocked by a boulder which required a crowbar, as efforts to shift it with the heel of a boot failed. Back on the surface, the "Cuetzalan Blues" had set in, so we decided to call it a day and headed back to Cuetzalan.
The heavy rain the night before, had loosened the boulder, which was swiftly despatched. and we dropped down a short freeclimb and into a narrow streamway. Lugger went ahead leaving us to tie knots in the tape as we surveyed round jammed blocks. One hundred and fifty metres on found us all stood, ladderless, at the top of a forty foot pitch into a large stream gallery. From what we could see down below the way on was wide open. Unfortunately we needed more equipment and so we headed back to Cuetzalan, eager toi get back the next day and push what seemed to be a significant lead.
|
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
After
an hour's steady walking, we came to a deep, dry valley which neither
of us recognised. The area looked extremely promising, as close to where
our route intersected the valley was a large, abandoned streamsink which
looked interesting but was unfortunately blocked by a landslide.
Half
an hour later we were in an area of closed valleys, and one shakehole
in particular looked extremely promising. Leaving Lugger to fend off
an extremely irate bull, I dropped down a rope into the safety of the
shakehole.
The
next morning, we were back with Geordie, who we'd convinced to come
along with our stories of wide open cave passage.