13th August 2026 - The height (and depth) of sophistimication

Comfortably ensconsed in The Barn after our Black Shiver trip I was introduced to the delights of a chai latte by Julie. Unlike our usual pints this is so sophisticated they actually bring it to you at your table. Fantastically, on meeting up for this trip, she produced a whole tub of the miraculous powder for me from a highly exclusive European purveyor of fine victuals. If the quality of this blog entry is cosiderably higher than usual, it will be entirely due to my sipping of this admirable beverage as I compose it.

Once again a caving club, this time our own - the Craven, is in residence at Gaping gill. Obviously the main reason for these meets is the winch down to, and up from, the main chamber. For the visiting caver though the main attraction is that a number of the other entrances are rigged. This allows tackle free caving which is about as good as it gets, you can just choose a pair of entrances and make your way between them, unencumbered by weighty bags. From the list of rigged entrances we chose to head down dihedral, a route not available when the winch is running, and then return up Wade's entrance of Flood. 

We're not sure if it's shorter, less climb or less steep but there's something very pleasant about the walk up from Newby rather than Clapham. At the top of the hill there's a grand view of the Gaping gill shake hole and, at this time of year, the temporary camp spreading upstream from the mouth of the pot. Standing above the camp, resembling a Victorian folly, the light green canvas of the toilet tent reflecting the unrelenting sun, clearly marking our destination.

There was calm activity down in the shake hole and we both wandered over to chat with people we knew. Unfortunately I didn't realise Ian was working at the time with a journalist  - sorry Ian. We changed and signed in on the board and headed down towards the winch. Huge thanks to Paul and the young lady, sorry I don't know your name, who directed us to the Jib tunnel entrance saving us the mortification of wandering aimlessly under the watchful gaze of the numerous onlookers. Thanks too to Paul for his sage advice on getting out of Flood, "Just follow the water", worked a treat.

We ducked under the wooden pole with its warning sign, declaring a deep hole beyond, and clipped into the traverse line. At the pitch I was blown away. You don't normally get weather in a cave but here I was looking down on a cloud of sunlit mist. As the descent continued poor Julie was hit by an increasingly superlative ridden barrage of commentry. This is an incredible pitch. At the rebelay ledge I shouted up, "rope free", and quickly readied my camera. Apologies to Nick who was following us down for my photo faff.

Julie enjoying the first pitch of Dihedral route

Nearing the rebelay ledge

After what had seemed a long first pitch I was convinced we must be close to the chamber floor, but at the next rebelay I realised we were probably only half way down. The chamber bathed in both natural and flood light a truely awesome sight.

Almost on the floor of main chamber

The scramble up at the end of the chamber was helped by both the in situ lighting and handline and at its top we both paused to take in the view again before disappearing along the heavily draughting tunnel that was our way on. Familiar landmarks passed we entered the, awkward for me, last section of passage to South East pot. I hardly ever get this bit right and, as ever, turned right too early meaning a slight descent onto, and longer traverse of, South East. At the low point, where the passage we should have taken emerges, a rope hung from the gloom above. I clipped in, held my breath, and swung out, the vastness below me now matching that above.

As I climbed, what I thought was the top of the pitch caught my torch beam, but no it was just a deviation, the pitch continuing to soar above. Julie's been experimenting with her SRT rig and was hoping for simple pitch heads while she fine tunes it. In Flood they just couldn't be any better, high anchors allowing a straightforward step off the rope onto wide ledges.

Returning up the Flood pitches

All too soon daylight was visible and Julie let out an audible sigh. This is a magnificent route into the Gaping gill system and was over far too soon. Emerging into daylight it's always nice to find a sign post declaring that you are where you thought you should be, and just a short walk back to our start point.

Flood (Wade's) entrance

Normally there's still the walk off the moor before we can treat ourselves to a well deserved pint, but on this occasion I wasn't even out of my suit before an impromptu barman at the Trenchfoot Arms served us our drinks. A careful wipe with the hand of the plastic mugs they were served in fitting perfectly with my newly discovered sophisticated lifestyle. It would be far too easy to while away an evening with good company here. As it was we had to pack up our bags and wander back across the moor, taking in the vista of peaks in Lancashire, Yorkshire and Cumbria, after a truly quality trip.