DU Potholing Club / Trips 2003-2004

Michaelmas term

Doolin, Co. Clare. 6th-8th October

A small number of club members attended an ICRO (Irish Cave Rescue Organisation) cave rescue practice at Poll Dubh this weekend, with a trip to the far end of Poll Balinney the previous night - a cave with a bad reputation for its crawls, which eventually opens out to some of the largest canyon passage in Clare.

Boho, Co. Fermanagh. October

The clubs first trip this year was to Boho co. Fermanagh. Eleven members took part. There were five last minute drop-outs. Miraculously we managed to squash everybody into three cars. The group stayed in Boho Community centre, which we shared with DIT. On the Saturday, we split into two groups. Both groups went into Boho caves while in the afternoon; one group went into Coolarkin while the other group entered Cascades. Sunday morning was spent in Marble Arch.

Lifelines and ladders course. Burren OEC - Clare.

An SUI organised training event on the use of ladders and lifelines in caving was attended by the club Captain and Equipment officer during the first term. The course was run at the Burren OEC, and covered standard L&L techniques.

Boho, Co. Fermanagh. 30th November

Some club members attended the ICRO rescue practice that took place in Marble Arch this weekend. Water levels higher than normal made for interesting viewing from the top of the fly-over.

Hilary term

Boho, Co. Fermanagh. New years 2004

Four club members headed up to Boho Community Center for the now annual cavers bash. People stayed for varied lengths of time (3-5 days). Trips included: Marble Arch, John Thomas, boho caves, Pigeon Pot and others. New Years day, by all accounts, was mainly spent recovering from the night before.

Doolin, Co Clare. Jan/Feb 2004

The club finally made it to Doolin. Nine enthusiastic members set out on this trip. Transport consisted of two cars, a VW caddy van and the TRAIN! Accommodation was the lovely establishment that is Doolin hostel. A trip to Cullaun II was made on the Saturday morning followed by a trip to Cullaun I/V in the afternoon. Unfortunately due to unbelievably heavy rain on the Saturday evening continuing through night and into Sunday, we were unable to do any trips on Sunday. However a quick trip to the 'Rock Shop' was made instead. It was unfortunate that due to leader unavailability the club could not hold any other official trips during the term.

Trinity Term

Boho, Co. Fermanagh. April 2004 (Easter weekend)

The job of organising this years Student Caving Forum went to the chaps from DCU. I believe I speak for all when I say they did a cracking job. All in all eleven club members managed to make the trip. Full list of trips made to follow shortly. However, our very own Equipment Officer, Laura Walsh won the Ladies section of the SRT Race, with quite a few gentlemen being placed in the Mens event. More importantly, the Trinity team consisting of: Laura Walsh, John Gilbert and Brian Cullen - won joint second place! I would like to congratulate all who took part.

Agnahoo, Co. Fermanagh. Advanced SRT course.

An SUI organized training event was held at Gortatole on advanced SRT and rigging. The first day covered standard rigging techniques and ended with a trip into Noones hole, rigging three routes (direct, flood and the normal way). The second day was spent at the frame in Gortatole OEC where a number of rescue techniques (both remote and 'pick off') aswell as self-resuce were demonstrated and tried by the group in attendance. Many thanks to Eoghan for running the course.

Yorkshire Dales, England. 11th-22nd June

Members of the club once again went with the crowd from Queens to Yorkshire for the annual 10days caving to kick off the summer. The entire group stayed at the Bradford hut, and many thanks to Steve for his organization. Trips in GG, Hurnel Moss, Lost Johns, Ierby Fell and Alum pot amongst others were made.

Gouffre Berger (near Autrans / Grenoble) - Student expedition 2003/2004

A couple of club members attended the student expedition to the Gouffre Berger. A lot of effort was put into organizing the event by both the French cavers that the expedition was jointly run with, and their counterparts on the Irish end. DIT, Queens, UCD, TCD and DCU were all represented. Good weather with intermitent hurricanes meant groups got as far as Salle de 13, with others almost bottoming the cave, and the final de-rig trip getting to the bottom of the hurricane pitch. A full report is forthcoming. Other things that took place on the trip involved the aptly named 'devil karts' and an enjoyable day off doing the via-ferrata in Grenoble.