One of the wonders of our technological age is the speed with which news can travel around the globe.
Barely had the dust settled from the Skylight Passage breakthrough before word had made it across the channel and members of the overseas contingent of the TNC were heading from the cave bereft Vercors to Calais and the first ferry to Yorkshire.
After driving through freezing mist, Ingleton was reached where a recent copy of Descent and a pair of Wellingtons (obviously given the person they're named after they can't sell these in France) were quickly purchased. The survey was then hastily photocopied (it's worth knowing that the very pleasant lady in the Ingleton post office has a copier for these sort of occasions) before we headed up and out of the fog onto sun drenched tops.
The walk over the fell was superb with just the tops of the Marble steps trees poking out of the fog with the shapely summit of Ingleborough behind. Cresting the hill, the majestic Lake District fells too appeared island like above the sea of cloud.
Dropping into the depression that surrounds the cavern we said goodbye to the sun for the last time this year and made our way down through stalagtites and columns of ice before reaching the first of the pitches.
With Ding, Dong and Bell behind us we passed the bottom of Bubble's route before packing away the SRT gear and climbing up into the Glory Holes. The crawl leading away from these had a sauna like quality and a brief break in the Lounge allowed us chance to adjust clothing before pushing on through the Turtle crawl and its green, half shelled inhabitants.
Struggling with a tackle sack along, first Cripple creek and then Numpty rift, Paul cheerily reminded me that not far below us was the huge stomping tunnel of Duke street - not much consolation. This was however provided by the formations and generous dimensions of Womack chamber.
Beyond this point is a true Indiana Jones style adventure with in situ rope ladders taking you up and down through a series of relatively tight crawls before the final fun and games of the breakthrough point pop you out at a traverse across a wall high above the passage floor. A final climb down then drops you into the vastness of Jupiter cavern.
After a brief explore it was time to drop down into Escalator rift and finally a piece of passage way I recognised from our previous visit to Ireby II. Paul stepped into Duke Street II finally fulfilling a long held dream of visiting this side of the sump.
The Skylight passage crawl felt far more spacious than previously, though I think this is in comparison to what had gone before rather than further excavation since our last visit. The passageway to the bottom of the first pitches seemed longer than ever and by the time we passed the entrance to the Glory Holes once again I was beginning to feel the effects of the journey and happily passed derigging duties over to Paul.
Under clear skies the temperature on the surface had dropped even further and Paul's bare hands stuck to the first rung on the metal ladder in the entrance pipe. Avoiding touching the higher rungs we emerged onto the moor to a stunning display of stars and a sliver of the moon, having completed what must become one of the classic yorkshire caving trips.
Huge thanks have to go to those who pioneered both the dry routes through to Ireby II making this trip possible and to Dave in Inglesport for his helpful advice on completing the trip.
Showing posts with label Ireby ll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ireby ll. Show all posts
Thursday, 1 January 2009
23rd December 2008 Through to Ireby II
As previously reported the epic dig from Whirlpool chamber in Ireby has now gone so it was now time for the TNC to see what lay beyond. After a visit to the sump we retraced our steps and headed up into the aptly named Skylight passage.
far side of Ireby II sump
Fortunately in the week or so since the breakthrough, substantial further widening had taken place and Dick was soon climbing down the ladder into Ireby II. Making our way along the canal brought us into the magnificently proportioned Duke Street II which joins the small number of sequels such as the Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II which are actually better than the original. Arriving at the sump we finally got to see the other end of the blue pipe that took water from behind the dam in Duke Street and allowed it to drain back through the sump, a truly ingenious solution. Passing incredibly stratified mud banks we then followed the streamway up through the continuation of Duke St. Had our flash guns recieved a little more tender loving care we would probably have been able to capture the fantastic proportions of the tunnel, but my neglect left Tom very little light to work with.
Duke Street II
At the end of the large passage way there are two obvious ways on. To the right led to a low crawl who's aqueous nature soon put me off and to the left the way on to Escalator rift. After a short recce we retraced our steps to the canal and the short climb up to the Skylight passage. Then back up the ropes to the entrance.
far side of Ireby II sumpFortunately in the week or so since the breakthrough, substantial further widening had taken place and Dick was soon climbing down the ladder into Ireby II. Making our way along the canal brought us into the magnificently proportioned Duke Street II which joins the small number of sequels such as the Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II which are actually better than the original. Arriving at the sump we finally got to see the other end of the blue pipe that took water from behind the dam in Duke Street and allowed it to drain back through the sump, a truly ingenious solution. Passing incredibly stratified mud banks we then followed the streamway up through the continuation of Duke St. Had our flash guns recieved a little more tender loving care we would probably have been able to capture the fantastic proportions of the tunnel, but my neglect left Tom very little light to work with.
Duke Street IIAt the end of the large passage way there are two obvious ways on. To the right led to a low crawl who's aqueous nature soon put me off and to the left the way on to Escalator rift. After a short recce we retraced our steps to the canal and the short climb up to the Skylight passage. Then back up the ropes to the entrance.
Ireby Fell Cavern Entrance
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Bubbles down Ireby Fell Caverns 12/12/08
Bubbles ... soft, light, colourful, floating on a gentle breeze... who the hell named a narrow small stream passage 'Bubbles Route' someone called Bubble I assume. Well, this recently opened route led Tom and I down into Ireby Fell Caverns on a wet, cold night. Descending the bottom pitch of Bubbles we turned right to go down to the mainstream way and Dukes Street.
'I don't recognise this' said Tom after we had crawled for a few minutes through a muddy though well decorated passage (it turned out later to be an area called the Glory Holes) that ended in a dig. A few photos later we decided to return to the main passage to find another way on when below us through the rift we heard voices, we were in the roof of the stream way in a fossilised stream passage.
Tom in the Glory Hole area
Dick sitting over the rift where the voices carried up from the lower stream way
A couple of minutes later we dropped down where we had previously gone on and were in the stream way heading for the large passage of Duke Street.
Just upstream of the sump in Whirlpool Chamber (previously reported and photographed in the annals of the TNC) we caught up with the other cavers as they were ascending the electron ladder to the roof entrance of the newly opened link to Ireby ll (bypassing the sump). This had been broken through last Sunday following an epic dig led by the Misty Mountain Mud Miners. Easy crawling through well excavated passage led to a closing down of passage size as markers on the walls showed progess towards Ireby ll. When the breakthrough area was reached the ferrets who opened it showed their size as it was a bit squalid and small and lacking moral fibre I called Tom to a halt and we retreated vowing to return another time when we would bring more courage to push on with.
The return was quickly completed, the decision made to come out via the main route (which was rigged much to my relielf as I didn't want to go up Bubbles thrutch!) Getting to the bottom of the first pitch was interesting as we could see the rope but the way on was a slot that was quite snug! We climbed over the top and did rock moves rather than the squeeze, only to find a cobble crawl under the wall that we had missed in the streamway!
A while later and we exited the well engineered entrance pitches into the rain once more. We will return soon to explore Ireby ll (when Ali gets out of his Bubbles Route bed duvet and joins us once more! Get well soon mate!).
'I don't recognise this' said Tom after we had crawled for a few minutes through a muddy though well decorated passage (it turned out later to be an area called the Glory Holes) that ended in a dig. A few photos later we decided to return to the main passage to find another way on when below us through the rift we heard voices, we were in the roof of the stream way in a fossilised stream passage.
Tom in the Glory Hole area
Dick sitting over the rift where the voices carried up from the lower stream wayA couple of minutes later we dropped down where we had previously gone on and were in the stream way heading for the large passage of Duke Street.
Just upstream of the sump in Whirlpool Chamber (previously reported and photographed in the annals of the TNC) we caught up with the other cavers as they were ascending the electron ladder to the roof entrance of the newly opened link to Ireby ll (bypassing the sump). This had been broken through last Sunday following an epic dig led by the Misty Mountain Mud Miners. Easy crawling through well excavated passage led to a closing down of passage size as markers on the walls showed progess towards Ireby ll. When the breakthrough area was reached the ferrets who opened it showed their size as it was a bit squalid and small and lacking moral fibre I called Tom to a halt and we retreated vowing to return another time when we would bring more courage to push on with.
The return was quickly completed, the decision made to come out via the main route (which was rigged much to my relielf as I didn't want to go up Bubbles thrutch!) Getting to the bottom of the first pitch was interesting as we could see the rope but the way on was a slot that was quite snug! We climbed over the top and did rock moves rather than the squeeze, only to find a cobble crawl under the wall that we had missed in the streamway!
A while later and we exited the well engineered entrance pitches into the rain once more. We will return soon to explore Ireby ll (when Ali gets out of his Bubbles Route bed duvet and joins us once more! Get well soon mate!).
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