Jessica Hitchcock
March 2007
In March 2007, Stuart Jepson, Amy Reaper and I decided to push the end passage of Hangman’s heading towards Bats Cave. We explored up into the ceiling where the cave appeared to continue upwards. We managed to push through a tight squeeze into a small chamber and there was a slot in the ceiling that looked promising, but we had run out of time and needed equipment to progress further.
CPSS members returned on April the 15th to carry on exploring and surveying the Metro-Hangman’s System. Stuart joined us at lunchtime and expressed the wish to continue to explore further in Hangman’s. He wanted to descend some pits near the ‘end’ of the known passage. I decided to join him and we set off at 13h00. Stuart went down first and chimneyed down and found a very small hole and said it was too small to enter. So he backtracked along a lower passage heading towards Hangman’s Entrance chamber and was away for some time. In the meantime I decided to have a look at the hole below me. I managed to drop into it and slide into a horizontal position from where I could progress forward. I squeezed through a constriction into a larger passage over an exposed drop of about 4m. It narrowed further down and there was a sandy stream bed at the bottom. I managed to stretch over the pit and clamber onto a muddy passage on the other side. I waited for Stuart and could hear Anthony and Darryl nearby. They were surveying in a passage below Hangman’s Entrance Chamber at the time. Stuart arrived and I told him that the passage looked very promising as there was a steep drop into new passage without an end in sight. He really struggled to get through the squeeze into the new passage. He had to widen it to get through. At this stage I was sopping wet from the mud and wet walls.
I waited on a large boulder wedged in the passage above the floor while Stuart traversed the walls and descended the slope. He helped me down and then struggled to get over and down a large boulder that blocked the slope. There was a steep muddy gradient on the other side of the boulder that was exposed to a drop into a dry stream passage. He helped me over the boulder onto the lower side. Stuart went down the drop and explored the passage in two directions. He walked along the passage for about 30m in each direction without finding an end. The passage was about 1,5m wide and at least 10m high. It was very cold and we were both starting to shake and were getting hungry so we decided to return.
I could not climb back up the boulder because I was too short and the slope was very slippery. Stuart then climbed up while I sheltered half under the boulder from falling rocks. He could not pull me up because our hands were muddy and too slippery. My shoes were coated in mud and so I could not get purchase on the sloping boulder. I decided to remove my shoes to improve my grip on the walls. I passed my shoes to Stuart and then grabbed the sleeve of his overall and he managed to hoist me up while I used my toes to grip onto the walls. In order to get up to the next level I had to clamber onto Stuart’s shoulders and found his head to be a useful stepping stone.
Back at the pit, Stuart had to lift me up so that I could enter the squeeze beyond the pit. I manage to turn around and climb out. Stuart tried the same technique, but was too big to turn around, so he attempted to do a handstand in order to push himself up and out. I tried to pull him out, but without success. By this time we had been in the cave for over three hours and were very cold and losing strength. We decided that the best course was to call for help. I went back to the entrance and summonsed the ‘old’ men. They were so slow to respond that Stuart managed to extricate himself and find his own way out. Stuart presented my father with two lumps of mud, which proved to be my boots.
Stuart and I agreed that this was the most extreme caving we had done. It was the tightest, most challenging, and difficult, exposed and dangerous passage to explore. We readily agreed that we would not be back in a hurry. Further exploration will require climbing equipment and experienced caving support. Hello Stephan, where are you?
We hope that this breakthrough will lead to the connection of the Metro-Hangman’s system to the Bats, Giants and Climbers system.