31st March 2022 - Boundary to County

 With just two of us available a quick trip around one of my favourite Ease Gill routes seemed appropriate. The big attraction of this trip is that it normally requires no tackle at all and neither of us particularly likes carrying tackle. With Wetchedy Wabbit currently out of action though, our first port of call was into County to drop a ladder down the pitch so that we didn't need to carry our SRT kit through with us. Then off up the fortunately dry valley to the Boundary entrance.

We're starting to get to know Boundary quite well now and we were soon through the more grovelly bits and dropping down one of my favourite free climbs into the more spacious parts of the system. A slight navigational hiccough as I tried to follow a more aqueous exit out of Fusion cavern was soon corrected by Mike who'd found the much more pleasant way on and we were soon passing the amazing false floors on our way to Hiroshima.

Through the Manhattan connection and again I was on a roll with Mike having to rein me in as I carried on climbing higher and higher in Nagasaki, completely missing the way on. To avoid further navigational issues, Mike now took the lead and with a swift peek into Easter grotto we made our way through the Assembly room, White Way and Thackray's before the quick shuffle at Holbeck junction through into Stop pot.

At the main line terminus we had a brief rest before Mike was once again off through the Manchester by pass. Knowing how familiar he is with the passage, I undid all my zips and removed my hat. Had I been able to I'd have put on shorts and a t-shirt. Trying to keep up with Mike through passage he knows well is a full on sprint!

The brakes came on briefly for the climb up from Broadway and for the ladder ascent but we were soon making the final moves up into daylight. This is a terrific little trip with a little bit of everything. Cheers Mike for a grand evening, though we're going to have to slow things down a bit if I'm going to avoid paying for parking in Kirkby.

9th January 2008 - A fine evening in Ease Gill

Not only are the Red Rose busy above ground, renovating their Bull Pot Farm Headquarters (or are they creating a direct access from the changing rooms straight into Bull Pot of the Witches?), but they've also been busy underground too. At the bottom of the Wretched Rabbit climbs there now sits a dry stone walled entrance into the upper reaches of Spiral Staircase passage. Descending through it we were almost instantly met with the first formations of the evening, a series of pristine straws.

Spiral Staircase Passage

Photos taken, we carefully continued down via a couple of climbs with fixed ropes into Green and Smelly passage, another climb and finally to Lower 'T' Piece passage. Dick and Tom were now in terrority they recognised from years previously and trips down through the Borehole or up to Top Sink. Instructions such as "follow downstream" were harder than usual to follow as most of the water that usually flows down through the Ease Gill lay frozen on the surface. Despite the drought like conditions not helping navigation we soon found ourselves at Holbeck junction, a point we would be returning to later in the evening. We were once again surrounded by impressive decorations as we made our way up the Thackray's Passage streamway and up into the White Way.

White Way

This opens out into the Assembly Hall and the first of the climbs that lead up into Easter Grotto.

Easter Grotto

While the floor is no longer pure white and some formations have been destroyed since its discovery back in the Easter of 1951, it is still an impresive place to visit and the rusty, pineapple like features on some of the stal were a new sight for me. The taped route takes you through into a parallel and slightly less well decorated passage before an ominous looking hole appears in the floor. Dropping through this, the way on is via a 30m long crawl. The crawl is not overly high and a couple of stalagmite stumps restrict movement further. Its floor however is made of calcite and with a bit of water on top of it, progress can be made quite easily by sliding your body along. Over enthusiasm for this means of propulsion needs to be curtailed before the end of the passage however as it appears from a slot about 2m above the floor at the end of Gypsum Cavern. Tackling this obstical headfirst would probably hurt. The cavern is higher than Easter Grotto so its stalagtites hang a safe distance above cavers' heads in all their glory.

Gypsum Caverns

Climbing out of the cavern up another fixed rope soon brought us back to Holbeck junction and the route through to Stop pot. From here it's possible to return directly to Wretched rabbit but we took advantage of the low water conditions and made our way down the trickle of a stream to Eureka junction. Standing with the water barely lapping over our feet it was sobbering to see froth on the roof of the passageway. Then it was 'just' back up Wretched Rabbit to the frozen moor.

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