To continue exploration of Mageni cave, someone had to climb the waterfall known as Derbyshire Downfall (previous post), that person was Dave ‘Moose’ Nixon (pictured here). He was the strongest climber on our team. I belayed him whilst sat in a survival bag, which I needed to prevent me getting too cold and wet in the spray. Here is a direct quote from my field diary - “After moving to the left on a ledge, getting closer to the waterfall, he moved up through a section of layback flakes before topping out through a face full of water. He screamed and cheered at the top. I could see every move as my eyes had accustomed to the light without my light being on.” This was the last major obstacle we needed to overcome to unlock many kilometres of relatively easy going cave passage.
