Last Friday my 10 year old niece and I slept in a cave.
First we practiced abseiling down a steep bank with a prusik. As we only had one belay device, I tried a prusiked Italian hitch.
As it started to rain we squeeze through the entrance into the cave, perfectly protected from the weather outside.
There is a 20ft drop at one end of the cave, so I set up handlines off some bolts, a nut and cam so we could stay safely clipped in.
Once our sleeping bags were out, my niece, nonplussed buried herself in her kindle.
My toes were just touching the edge of the drop so when I woke up, surprised that I’d slept so well in a climbing harness, I could look out onto the tree canopies below.
The way out of the cave was down the big drop by abseiling.
First it was my niece’s turn. She’d been afraid of this part.
We’d practiced abseiling on a bank, but how would she cope with going out over the edge? Was she heavy enough to pull the double 11mm rope through the belay device? Would the prusik hold her? Do 10yros bounce? What would I have to explain to my sister?
As she edged backwards towards the edge, I saw her testing the prusik’s ability to stop her and as she went backwards over the edge, an air of cautious confidence took over and inch by inch, she lowered herself out of the cave and to the ground.
I lowered myself off to find a very pleased niece and we headed off to find some breakfast.
Originally posted on this post on Instagram
