Post date: Aug 2, 2011 8:13:37 PM

Team: Petie Barry, Gaelan Elliffe, Hugh Norton

Time: 6 hours

Gaelan wanted to do a tourist trip to the Terminal Sump to train for Dachstein and I was eager to join him, never having been beyond Pollahune to the see the glorious cave beyond. After several weeks of no or minimal rain there was next to no water in the cave. At the pitch it was quiet enough to hear the lads chatting below as I locked off my descender. The mainstream was a trickle, and the Brown Shiver stream a pathetic dribble. All went well as far as the choke just beyond Les's Climb when as Hugh was passing through the start of the climb up into the boulders some boulders were dislodged behind him and clattered down. Hugh, unhurt, passed on through leaving myself and Gaelan looking at the remains, an ominous pile of boulders which Gaelan had seen move an inch or two with the rest of the stuff. We briefly considered removing the boulders but by connecting back the boulders we saw that one of them appeared to be supporting a very large boulder which was in turn supporting other very large boulders. To get into the climb would mean passing within uncomfortable proximity of the boulders, and annoyingly they are required to kick off of to get into the next section.

Gaelan reckoned that Les's Climb offered a route over the choke so we freeclimbed up into the roof. After a quick look at the very pretty pretties we poked into the boulders downstream to find a way on. Up high didn't go so Gaelan pushed a section a bit lower down. He disappeared into the boulders and a minute later there was the sound of boulders clunking, pebbles clattering downwards and Gaelan going "Balls. Fuck. Oh fuck." A few tense minutes later Gaelan returned, a bit paler than when he went in. There clearly wasn't a way through here so we made our way back down to the stream. I pushed on into the choke at stream level and got into a chamber in the boulders. Hugh and I chattered over and back until we found a point where we were only separated by a few boulders. These were removed to reveal a tight hole between big stable boulders. This wasn't passable but could easily be capped into submission with two or three well-placed caps.

Eventually Hugh came back the way he came in, sliding down past the loose boulders under Gaelan's directions. We decided to cut our losses here and turn around. To salvage something of the trip we paid a visit to Upper Polltullyard, which is a rather fantastic section of cave containing unsettling slapdash rigging, loin-firming climbs, beautifully shaped passage and an excellent example of fault breccia. I even passed through the absolutely baltic Mud Duck thinking it was the sump after drying out. It wasn't and I was cruelly laughed at when I returned shivering and covered in slimy mud.

Petie