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The first job was to cut through the thick vegetation, to see which was the best way down. Having done this we discovered the best way down was on the other side of the thicket! On the other side, there was a large tree overhanging the hole, which would give a nice freehang down the shaft and save our precious expansion bolts. This meant cutting down through the vegetation again. The slope was steep and I clipped on to the rope. I was accompanied by a local man who chopped the branches and thorns out of the way with a machete, while holding on to the rope as well. This caused me some concern that he might accidently chop the rope or me; but apparently it was safer for him to do it than let me loose with a machete. |
Madam Tang checks |
Jack fights down through the vegetation. |
Eventually the vegetation thinned and he climbed back up. After 20m of kicking through mud, leaves and branches I got to the tree at the lip of the shaft. A quick rebelay round the tree led to a 15m drop to a ledge and a small alcove, where I was able to shelter from falling rocks and vegetation, while Jack and Laurie joined me. From here we decided to traverse round the shaft to avoid loose rock at the position we were in. The rope was rigged with two bolts for the traverse, out to a further bolt high on a spur of rock, which enabled us to pendulum down to a large ledge where another bolt secured the line. |
One of the resurgences down in the valley. |
On the far side we rigged the rope in a narrow chimney, using natural 'chockstones' and saving our bolts, before dropping 10m to a ledge. At this point we decided we would have to terminate our explorations, because of the time and to save some expansion bolts for the main area of our expedition. |
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I couldn't help feeling slightly disappointed that we hadn't got to the bottom of the two shafts, but at least everybody felt the area was worth coming back to. We were assured that the shafts we had visited were simply two of many. Perhaps they may be choked with mud, but if just one of them is passable the depth potential is great. |
 Road & River To Jiang Kou |
