Ventured down to Bungonia to sample some of the caving down there. Grill Cave sounded good to warm up in. Three of us in the group, 2 experienced, one who turned out to be not nearly as experienced as I believed.
Not a bad cave, not much in the way of decorations except for the Crystal Palace. But some amount of scrambling, up and down climbing, and a couple of not to tight squeezes.
Encountered bad air once past the loose boulders section, the two fellas panting heavily, at this point we put it down to One just getting over the flu and the other unfit. I was not affected. Proceeded until we reached a pinch in the passage sign-posted Foul Air. I was starting to breathe a little bit heavier and we climbed back up to the bifurcation. The boys went off crawling into another passage and when they returned were puffing as if they had run a marathon. Time to get out of there. I was only breathing a little heavier than normal. As we ascended through the cave, their breathing returned to normal.
That night we sat around maps and eventually settled on Argyle cave for the next day. We were keen to go vertical and Rod was keen to get his new harness dirty. He hates clean stuff! So once all plans were made and bed was being mentioned, our lesser experienced member decides now would be a good time to admit he's never prussiked. WTF! No elevators here, how did he think he was going to get out? Thought he was going to abseil several pitches and just walk out the other end. Strewth!
Shelved the plans for Argyle, and packed up and went home the next morning. My next trip there will only comprise of people whose skills level I know personally.
Only took a few pics as the trip was cut short but can be seen at
http://imageevent.com/jburton/caving/grillcave290809Julie
