PCE 2000 - Perlis Caving Expedition

Lo Po Sang Team on 27/12/2000

           Team Members

Leong, Yoke Chuan, Chun Wah, Tony Yap 

     Waking up to a bright and slightly chilly morning, we took our time to get up which was about 8:30am.  It took some time to start our engines and by the time we managed to take in our breakfast and pack up, it was already 9:50am.

     We moved on slowly down the trail and we reached open area facing the plains at about 10:30am.  Taking a short break we continued our journey down at 10:50am and we finally reached the 4X4 at 11:10am thus ending our journey.

     The rest of the day was spent washing and drying all the ropes, SRT equipment and personal stuff.  During the night as we were coiling up our ropes, we had a shock when we discovered that one of our ropes was badly frayed.  On retrospective analysis we soon realised that this rope was used on the first pitch up.  Looking at a picture of this pitch taken during the climb we saw that the frayed section was rubbing against a pipe or calcited metal beam and this caused the rope sheath to be frayed completely until it reached the core.  Thankfully it did not break through completely during the climb and cause an accident.

     The 10 hour journey through the cave also serves to reinforce the general practice of keeping a technical caving group small.  Can you imagine how long it would take the whole group of 11 persons to go through the cave if everyone went.   By the end of the 4 person the rope was already frayed to the core.  What if there were 11 persons.  Probably by the eight or ninth person, the rope may very well have been cut through completely.  Although not everybody went through this cave, all the members of this team had to go through a thorough technical training in the use of the SRT equipment before coming for this trip.

     Thus ended the fourth day of the trip and Selamat Hari Raya.

Reported by Yee Chun Wah