Post date: Aug 30, 2010 11:23:33 AM

Roisin Lindsay, Gaelan Elliffe & Stephen McCullagh

Trip Time: 3 1/2 Hours

After the success we had with natural rigging the day before we picked another cave which hasn't been visited in years. Aughakeeran isn't necessarily part of the Noone's hole system but it seems close enough to make a connection in the future.

The hole itself is not far from Pollnariffin. Carparking can be at the land owners house but ask permission first.

The cave is found in the corner of a field at the front of the house where a small stream enters via a small hidden waterfall. The first pitch is a series of climbs on slippy rock and the rope is rigged off a tree. Routefinding is easy as you follow the stream down the cascades to a small chamber. Off this chamber there is a 10 m-long flat-out crawl in the stream bed to the top of the second pitch. The guidebook suggests that this is awkward and it isn't exaggerating. To rig this I went back up the flat out crawl and found a large chert protrusion on the floor and together with an eyehole 1 m back I was happy enough to get into a position to rig the top of the pitch. The pitch is best rigged by going back up the passage and then reversing feet first out over the hole. A metal stake (which we had conveniently brought) came in handy to rig one side of the Y-hang and a dodgy natural (that stood chance that the sling might fall off) formed the second. Unfortunately it is difficult to rig out of the water (a deviation might be necessary further down but I decided against it because of the natural I used at the top). Looking down the pitch it takes on impressive dimensions. Abseiling I found a sharp flake about half way down that, with a bit of modification to remove sharp edges, produced a good rebelay for getting to the bottom. The water here goes down an inpenetrable chute. The way on is up a 10 foot climb to find the top of the final pitch. This pitch can be swung into from the top but it is difficult for the rigger.

I rigged this pitch in two steps from a couple of fairly obvious naturals. At the bottom the water funnels into another rift which is too tight to follow without a big bit of persuasion.

All in all a good Sunday trip. Be aware though that during our trip it had rained and the streamway increased in size enough to thoroughly soak us on the way out (good for washing gear) however if the stream increased any more it might not have been as much fun. A wait at the bottom would not be pleasant.

Stephen