Mangle Hole
Today a group of 7 of us decided to venture down Mangle Hole. The group consisted of Tim, Me, Allan, Julie, Matt, Steve and Gaynham. We all met up at the caving club and after procrastinatinig for a bit we made our way over to the ski centre where we are able to leave the cars. All kitted up we walked up the road, into the woods and up the muddy hill!
The entrance to the cave has a scafolding pole across it which is used to attatch the rope and the ladder to. The first pitch is 14m long followed by another 10m and a 5m climb down brought us out into Magle chamber - so named as a mangle was found in it!! This time we took a route down the left hand side which was another 14m abseil into mud bank chamber. In the far corner of the chamber there is a narrow upwards rift climb into slug passage and then a narrow puddle squeeze into Aldermaston chamber which has two deep pools in it. Depending on the weather the water can rise by several metres.
On the way out we took a route up through boulder chamber back to the bottom of the first ladder. Julie, Allan and myself got going up the ladders while Matt, Steve, Gaynham and Tim made their way through boulder chamber. Back up at the surface Julie, Allan and myself waited for Steve to make his way out and then we got changed and went back to the caving club to get showered. Tim and the others eventually joined us after having trouble getting the kit out of the hole!
