In reply to BALD EAGLE & Moritz L
Just wanted to thank you both for your help with the advice / links for the Croesor / Rhosydd through trip. We've ticked it already! We had mon & tues free this week and headed down to Wales for 2 days of climbing and wasn't expecting to do this underground adventure at all. With the guides printed off just in case though, we decided to go for it due to the terrible M6 traffic losing us an hour or two and the rain and wind putting paid to any climbing plans.
We were at the entrance to Croesor for 14.00 and after a quick brew and food, we entered 30 mins later. At the top of the ceramic pipe section where the first abb is we turned off our lights 'for a laugh'. the darkness was absolute and I haven't experienced anything as black before. It reinforced what we were about to undertake. The first 2 abbs into the massive chamber were fine, well equiped and all rub points really well protected but the chamber itself was very scarey, our lights couldn't possibly light up the whole area but you can sense how big it is and the fallen rock that covered the base made it a nervious and frightening place to be. The zip slide over the lake was a blast and the suspension bridge cruely sat 6 inches below the surface due to the rain, wet and cold feet it was then! The bridge of death was tricky as we didn't have a pully and had to click-clack our way over with 2 cows tails on the steel wire <and another on the safety> The canoe came to us slowly after pulling the cord, it's ghostly shape appeared. Dave abbed straight into his helmsmans seat and I followed him down. It was riding high and despite previous users using rocks as ballast we decided to have our packs in the centre area to spread weight even more. We crossed without incident and quickly shunted the rope climb into the next section. We followed the guides we had and after much exploring, eventually agreed the tiny squeeze into the next section was the right way to go. The polish on the rock gave it away really but it isn't obvious at first. It seemed strange to get a glimpse of daylight and yet turn from it and head even further underground but we really wanted to find Adit 9. We did, hidden away amongst the rusting machinery of the bygone industry. Its a tiny pin prick of light and it never seems to get closer but eventually we emerged at 18.00. 3 1/2 hours for the trip and an hour of daylight left, I quickly got the map & compass sorted and we romped it for the path which we hit perfectly where intended and strolled back to the car in Croesor wet, filthy but very happy!
I don't want to promote this trip as IMO it is a dangerous and committing undertaking. An accident down there would have consiquences not worth thinking about. BUT, having said that, If you are a competent climber, can climb ropes with a mechanical aid and you work well with your partner, the trip through is worth considering as a wet day adventure. We had no special equip other than plenty of slings and screwgates, a shunt and several prussicks. Helmet is vital and so too are 2 headtorches each. We took a 50m rope just in case but it wasn't needed. We found it hot down there and needed to strip off a bit but did have hats, gloves and spare socks with us. We had the trusty jetboil too, you cant beat a hot drink.
It really was a brilliant day and we found our climbing skills crossed over to the underground world well. A great tick, thank you guys!
<tuesday was bright and mild and Gambit climb and walking off via crib goch was great. A wonderful couple of days>