Not entirely successful rescue training

If we as North Wales Cave Rescue get called out to assist humans, it is most often in CRTT. (Dogs are more unpredictable.) So we had decided we should do a big communications check. We wanted to try if it was possible to establish communications from one mine entrance to the other; both above ground and underground. 

Above ground the issue is that there is an hill in the way, that radios struggle to get past. But we would bring a repeater, and see if that would sort that issue out. We could also check if it was possible to establish communications between the mine entrances and the respective parking lots.

Underground we use Cave-link; it uses the rock as an antenna. And in theory it should be possible to set up a surface Cave-link at one entrance, and communicate all the way to the other entrance. But that is the theory! We would find out what the practice would be. We wanted to first establish contact with a location in the mine quite close to where the surface Cave-link was, and then move the underground Cave-link to the middle of the system, and then to the end. We would find out if it had sufficient reach! And if not, we could try out how far we would have to move the surface Cave-link to re-establish contact if the underground Cave-link would move further towards the other entrance.

I got to the parking lot in good time. In the weekends, that parking lot gets very very busy! And I already found Jonty, our training officer, and Nick, another team member making plans. I joined them. The rest of the participants appeared as well. It was a classical cave rescue demographic: except me, all men (plus one dog!). We subdivided ourselves into an underground team of four, and an above-ground team of three. I would be in the former. So I got into my kit.

We all walked to the entrance of Rhosydd. There the two people who would place the repeater peeled off. The rest of us continued to Croesor. It was quite windy (that seems to have been a complete constant in the past weeks) but otherwise the weather was fine, and the views were great! And we managed to keep communications via radio quite long.

Walking up to Cwmorthin 

Above Rhosydd

Beautiful dam along the way 

Looking down on Croesor

Once there, Ed set up the surface Cave-link, well the underground crew took the other Cave-link with us. We had planned to set it up some six minutes inside the mine. So we found a spot, rolled out the antennae (these are 50 m long; this is not trivial), and then switched this thing on. At least; that was the plan. Nothing happened.

When we were sure we couldn't switch it on I went outside to tell Ed. And Ed had radio contact with Cave-link specialist Tony. The diagnosis was quick: it probably had a flat battery! That was a bit of a bummer. That meant half the training had gone straight down the drain. I suggested to Ed we would bring the useless Cave-link out, and then just do the trip anyway, as two of us hadn't done it in a fair while, and wanted to be more familiar with this venue where we were needed so often. One of them was me; I hadn't done it in nine years! Ed thought it was a good idea, so I went back in to tell the others. I sent Jonty out to agree new callout times with Ed. And I sat down to have a sandwich.

Towards the end of my sandwiches I noticed we still had the Cave-link. Jonty had forgotten to bring it out! That was a bummer; now we had to bring it through the entire system, and one of the two pelicases it comes in is quite heavy. I hadn't been carrying much so far, so I stuck it in my bag.

When Jonty got back we got ready to move. We were close to the first pitch, and I went down it. I started walking towards the second one, but not much activity happened behind me. The men shouted at me that there was a technical issue. And a while later they shouted to ask if I could check if there perhaps was a telephone in the pelicase. There wasn't, but that told me what the so-called technical issue was. Jonty has lost his phone! So he quickly decided to go back out. And Nick insisted on coming with him. That only left two people, and not just any two people; David and me.

I have a problem with David’s societal views and how he expresses them. I am sufficiently polite to him, but I do not enjoy his company. So I suggested I just prussick back up and we abort the whole thing. But then my sense of duty kicked in. This was my opportunity to get more familiar with CRTT. And David is a team member, whether I like it or not, so in an emergency there is the possibility I will have to work with him. So I shouted up I was willing to continue. And then David came down.

At the top of the next pitch I was confused. I heard voices, and saw a little bit of light. We knew there were two cavers in the system; we had seen them go in. But they should be way ahead of us! What were they doing so close to the entrance? Had they encountered a problem and had to turn back? In that case, we probably would have to turn back as well. We waited for a few minutes at the top of the pitch to see if they would appear. They didn't, so we went down anyway.

The next obstacle is a zip wire. I had done an old version before! It was a bit of a faff to attach myself to it. I was wearing a double set of cowstails, as I know my normal cowstails are not compatible with the use of a tandem pulley on a zip wire. And coming off on the other side was interesting as well. That is easier for tall people!

Then we got to the ladder bridge, and the traverse, which has been made an awful lot easier since the first time I did it. Then there was the first wooden bridge, that you can just walk over. And soon after that the Bridge of Death, which I remembered as interesting if you're not very tall. In the middle of the bridge you have to move whatever it is that keeps you attached to a wire to the other side of an attachment point. That was okay! No issues. Coming off on the other side was more interesting.

When you've done that, the next thing is the boat chamber. It is a flooded chamber with a canoe in it, which is attached to a length of polyprop rope that is fixed to both sides of the chamber. The idea is that you pull it towards you, gently lower yourself in it (you access it from a vertical drop, so you have to get from the rope straight into the canoe), pull yourself to the other side, and then get out. On the other side you can scramble up the wall.

We met the other two cavers again. They had probably just been taking pictures or something. They said the canoe was giving them wet bums. Oh well!

When they were done we pulled the boat towards us, and David lowered himself first. It was not just a bit damp! The thing was lying really low in the water. It looked a bit scary. I made sure to put the waterproof case with my phone and car key in it on my person. If the canoe would go down, my pack would disappear immediately; the heavy Cave-link case would see to that. I made sure it wasn't attached to me in ways that are difficult to undo if you are suddenly in ice cold water.

I really gently lowered myself as well, and we were on our way. For a few metres. It looked like the rope had snagged, so I prussicked back up, released the rope, and lowered myself again. Attempt number two! This time it worked. And it felt very wobbly in precarious, but we did get to the other side without capsizing. Success!

Once you get to the other side of the boat chamber, you've done all the obstacles. There are a few collapses you have to scramble over, but that's it. If people have made it that far, their only enemy is the difficulty of finding the exit.

We came out and found (most of) the cold surface team. Two people had already gone home. We went back to the cars and headed home.

I think we need to do this exercise again! We are alright with surface communications, but I still think it would be a very good idea to try out the Cave-links in this system. Let’s see when Jonty gets away with putting another full day training in the calendar!