In reply to Cusco:
> On second ab you can't double a 50 or 60 ab rope and reach the bottom without downclimbing. I speak from past experience.
Not even remotely - it's 40m or so to the bottom I think! My 90m rope, doubled, only has a bit of spare at the bottom. I bring my 100m ab rope and double it for the ab (a bit unnecessary) and a 60m ab rope for the top (these lengths are more what I had prior to starting caving rather than deliberate decisions...
As for the top bit ('first ab') there are (or were) two stakes - the one massive obvious one (which does easily come out of the hole if you lift it) and a crappier one buried in the grass slightly downhill (I think) which I never remember about until I am heading out because you don't see it on the way down...
The very top bit of the first ab is a bit loose, then there is a about 10-15m of 45 degree steep path. There is then a bit of a bad step which has a path round it to the right but it is slowly falling into the cove and scares the crap out of me. At that point falling off while still on rope would probably result in a horrific swinging slide thing along one of the sides of Long Rock. You can ab straight over the bad step (about 3m high) and re-anchor onto some threads if you feel the need (otherwise you might as well come off rope because it isn't going to do you any good). I think my 60m skanky old dynamic gets you almost to the top of the easy walking bit of Long Rock. Don't use a dynamic if you can possible avoid it for the first abseil as rope stretch alone will drop you over every obstacle.
Walked off Long Rock once when the wind had suddenly picked up dramatically and having an ascender on the rope added a pleasing bit of reassurance...
Post edited at 00:26