13th January 2011 - Rowten Pot

The fog lay thick in Kingsdale as we dropped down into the valley and locating the parking place just after the farm was much harder than usual. Fortunately Dick has made the journey up onto the Turberry road many times and we were soon at the gate on the track. Following the track now, we soon heard the roaring of the water as it cascaded down Rowten and made our way round to the hopefully drier eye hole.

Rowten Pot Entrance

Numerous P-hangers protect the short drop over the edge and after a rehang or two we landed on the rock bridge that spans the impressive pot. Another Y-hang and a short descent later, the dry rift which we were aiming for became visible. After a few abortive attempts I finally managed to gain purchase in the rift and began the traverse, Dick hot on my heels.

At the end of the rift a y-hang allows an impressive descent of the main pitch to made and I stopped a number of times on the way down to appreciate my impressive surroundings. About 4 metres from the floor of the chamber the rope began whipping through my descender faster than usual and I was relieved when the knot in the end of the rope butted against my hand.

The full implications of "austerity Britain" became now very obvious. It seems that even our ropes hadn't escaped the recent cut backs. There was nothing for it but to make my way back up the pitch, where Dick passed my another rope and gave me a quick lesson in joining ropes and passing knots. It was then back down the pitch to complete my homework. As always in times of recesion there are some winners and the bankers' bonus seemed to have gone to the safety cord leading to my hand jammer, leaving it just out of reach as I tried to pass the knot.

Both safely down the main pitch we made our way down the fossil passage that brought us to a potentially very wet penultimate pitch, the rope taking us narrowly between two waterfalls. Having already pressed the intended rope into service on the main pitch, a glance down the final pitch was all that we managed before making our way back up.

Use of combined tactics saw us up the couple of awkward steps in the dry passage and then it was up the main pitch (again!). Passing a rebelay on the way back to the muddy ledge a whoop of joy filled the cavern as Dick pendulumed out of the rift and into space.

Once again back in the fog on the surface we made our way back along the Turberry road, the noise of the torrent slowly subsiding til silence once more, a glimmer of light from the farm guiding us home.

8th January 2011 - Cold trip down Juniper Gulf

Years ago when we were but mere youths we used to go caving on a Saturday such was our keenness to explore the underground excitement of Yorkshire's great and famous potholes and caves. Here we were once again going caving not on a Thursday night but a Saturday night.

That was good, club honour saved again. The venue a  trip down Juniper Gulf (probably last descended by myself in those youthful Saturdays) is described by John Gardner as a cave that typifies the best of Yorkshire potholes: wet, deep, vertical, and culminating in one of the finest shafts in the country.

Dick at a very snowy Juniper Gulf

The walk across the Allotment with three tackle bags, one containing an 80m 11mm rope was completed in the daylight, which made finding the entrance a lot easier.  Once there, however, finding the P hangers for the entrance pitch was made harder due to the covering of snow that lay over everything.  Once found and rigged pitch one the daylight shaft was descended and suddenly we were in the warmer environment of the underground.

Pitches 1 and 2 went smoothly apart from the rope not being long enough for the traverse and drop (having rigged the bad step, which was deluged with icy water) but we sorted that with some lateral thinking and knot tying.  At the bottom Tom headed off with the tackle bag for the third pitch leaving me to lug the 80m rope through the 'traverse'.  Gardner describes this as,  'rather unfairly described as "nasty" in the old guide book. With heavy-weight equipment, there is no doubt that it would be arduous and awkward, but progressing along it with a rope bag does not present problems for the modern caver'.  How wrong he was!

Awkward traversing in Juniper Gulf

Twenty feet from the bottom of pitch 3 Tom realised that the rope was yet again too short for the pitch!  The 80m beast came into its own and a quick fig of 8 knot later joining the ropes together we were down, rigging the traverse to the head of the final shaft.  A crawl through another icy deluge led to the sloping ledge at the top of the 45m free hanging pitch.  Tom rigged this and a fantastic descent, clear of the waterfall that entered from the left and half way down another that entered from behind a wall of rock to the right.
 

Looking down the main pitch of Juniper Gulf

 At the bottom the rope had 2m to spare but the volume of icy water that poured and thundered down the final little drop meant that we didn't descend this to wander down to the sump pool.  Instead we set off back up the pitch, Tom's Scurrion light illuminating the flutings and smooth walls of the huge shaft to great effect.

The spray lashed re-ascent of the main pitch

The exit from the cave was smooth but somehow I managed to end up carrying the tackle bag back through the traverse!  Once below the entrance pitch we saw snow falling down from the surface.  Climbing out onto the moor we met temperatures well below freezing and the gear iced up immediately.

The walk back should have been straightforward with Tom having his GPS with the route on it.  A lapse in concentration, however, had us walking for a while 180 degrees in the wrong direction when we hit a track that we should have crossed adding some distance to the return journey.

Back at the car a bitterly cold change and we were heading to a warm welcome and great pint at the Gamecock Inn.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SCREEN SLIDE SHOW

December 30th 2010 - Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit

The Collonades Chamber in Lancaster Hole

A team of five assembled early at Bull Pot Farm for this classic through trip. Just a few icy patches where left on the paths, and most of the recent snow had now thawed. Lancaster Hole had several ropes down it already, but with everyone abseiling stright down from the top with no re-belays we were all down in about 30 minutes.

After a quick detour to see the Collonades we headed to Fall Pot (seeing some other cavers leaving up the far slopes as we arrived). With two young cavers in our team (Andrew and Matty) we protected the slippery fixed rope descent with a top rope.

Heading into Montague East we briefy stopped to enjoy the spectacular formations at Bob's Boss and Painters Palette before carrying on to Stake Pot.

The Painters Palette in the Hight Level Series

Once again we top roped the youngsters across the exposed descent and re-ascent at Stake Pot, and then continued past the minarets before stopping for a bite to eat. Ian was overheating and briefly stripped down to his undies much to everyone elses amusement! I won't put the photo of this on here, but you can see it on the slideshow!

The Minarets

Exiting the Minarets

Passing through the silent Cornes Cavern and Monster Cavern soon we were at the fixed ladder leading us down into Stop Pot and everyone had a drink of water from the river. A cold section in quite deep water in the Stop Pot boulder choke took us downstream to Eureka Junction.

Mark tackling the boulder choke in the main streamway at Stop Pot

All that remained was the long twisting passages of Wretched Rabbit, always good entertainment, everyone seemed to have plenty of energy left to tackle the awkward climbs and crawls of this classic bit of passage.

In the Wretched Rabbit Meanders

After roping the lads up the last climbs we arrived on the surface at twilight, 6 hours after starting. A very good effort for a team of 5 including two novices annd two 13 year olds! All that remained was to walk back across the moor in the fading daylight and then return to Lancaster Hole to get out ropes.

A happy team back on the surface

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SCREEN SLIDE SHOW

 

 

Map showing Location of Lancaster Hole

Lancaster Hole / Easegill Survey showing Route - click for large image

 

17th December 2010 Diccan Pot

The Awesome last pitch of Diccan Pot

A very cold night saw Lawrence breaking ice as he drove up the track to Alum Pot (Lawrence is a VW campervan).  The temperature when we stepped outside was well below freezing so the change into caving gear and sorting out the ropes was conducted quickly.  Just as we finished packing, the cream team arrived back at their bus, cold and wet from their day of training for their level 2 cave leaders award, TNC member Ali having been there learning new techniques to speed up our trips underground so we can arrive at the pub quicker.

The entrance to Long Churn was icy and icicle festooned as we slipped underground, the air temperature difference immediately noticeable. The water level was quite high despite the freezing conditions outside and the water temperature was low.  Our feet were wet by the time we reached the top of the first pitch of Diccan Pot.

Descending the main pitch

The first pitch was spray lashed but quickly dispatched once the third re-hang was rigged.  Once at the bottom of the second part of the pitch in the dry away from the spray it was time to watch the water lashing over the rocky ledge in the backlight from Tom's Scurrion light.

The second pitch was passed in the dry followed by the final awesome pitch that requires a traverse above a huge chasm leading to a technical descent that involves pendulums to catch deviation slings in the sloping roof in order to guide the rope away from the thundering water falling down the back of the pitch.  A single re-hang off a ledge led to a final icy-spray lashed pitch landing in a pool about 5 metres away from the terminal sump of Alum Pot.

A quick look at the sump pool and then off up the passage towards Alum Pot and the daylight (now dark as it was nearly the shortest day) shaft where we had heard from the cream team that icicles were falling  down the shaft.  We were brought up short by the short pitch leading up into the open air where ice pearls were forming on the rocks, formed from spray splashing off the rocks.

Ice covered rocks at the bottom of Alum Pot

Back at the foot of the ropes it was Tom's turn to de-rig.  The awesome pitch caused some wild swings  as the rope was freed from the deviation slings, the light from above and from Tom's Scurrion showing that he swung into the water falling  down with the stream.

At the last pitch Tom went up first as his hands were really cold and the rope was spray lashed for 3/4 of its length.  Climbing the pitch brought us soaked and cold back to the re-hangs, which were fortunately above the spray.  Once back the head of the pitch the 80m rope wouldn't fit back in the ropebag so it was  coiled on top but with the water in the bag and weight of the rope the final 50m back up the stream passage was hard going.

Returning up the main pitch

Once back on the surface the cold hit us.  Wet gloves froze to metalware, the rope bags formed hard ice carapaces and our suits froze hard.  

Back at Lawrence a quick change led us to the warming drive to the once famous caving pub of the Craven Heifer in Ingleton where generations of cavers have drunk the night away.  If only we could say that a warm welcome awaited but .... well that is another story.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SCREEN SLIDE SHOW

10th December 2010 - New Rift Pot

In the description of New Rift it mentions that even with moderate rain the crawl between the first and second pitches can become impassable. It hasn't rained in weeks but the cold snap had ended during Wednesday night and with temperatures rising by the best part of 20 degrees what effect would the snow melt have had?

With neither of us ever having visited Rift before, there was only one way to find out...

As we drove up the lane to Mason gill we could see that a lot of water had come down recently with gravel strewn across the road in a number of places. Just before the water treatment works the sheet ice started and Tom skillfully turned the car around before parking on the most ice free spot we could find.

Finding the large shake hole in which the entrance sits, our worst fears were becoming a reality. The remaining snow was melting fast and all of the melt water was making it's way down the wood covered opening. As we geared up we heard an ominous rumble from within, a lump of ice making its way down the first pitch.

From within the entrance we began to get an idea of the amount of material held back by earlier explorers using wood shuttering. Neither the state of some of the wood, nor the water filtering through it filled us with much confidence, still there were some nice ice formations. An in-situ rope soon saw us at the bottom of the pitch and a first look down the crawl leading to the next pitch.

The water seemed to be confined to a very small trench in the crawl, so removing my SRT gear I set off to have a look. A couple of shallow pools were no match for my brand new, tailormade undersuit and so I kept going till a slot in the floor allowed me to stand up. Nice and cosy and working on the principle that the melt rate should be decreasing as the night set in, I set off down into another crawling section.

Unlike the wider passage that had gone before, this was more tube like. Another drop in the floor beckoned so I kept going until I had the disconcerting feeling of water coming over my shoulders. Though the drop in the floor was only a couple of feet away I crawled backwards as fast as I could, trying to let the backed up water run underneath me, rather than over. Standing once again and lesson learnt I made way back to Tom and the climb back up to the entrance.

Tom making his way out of the entrance (exit?)

Tom accepted my apology for possibly not the best choice of cave and the forshortened nature of the trip with unparalled grace. It was almost as though he was happy to be making his way back to the pub so soon.

As we approached the water board building, there was something not quite right. On leaving the car it had been neatly parked by the side of the lane next to one of the walls. It now sat nearly right across it about 6 feet further down the lane. The handbrake was still on and there was no sign of outside interference. Spooky.

"I'm sure this is where I parked the car."

John would have loved this trip, we probably spent longer in the Craven Heifer than we did underground and still got home at a reasonable time.

My thanks go to Dennis at Jumpsuits for a fantastic new undersuit and my apologies again to Tom for about the shortest trip of the season so far.

26th November 2010 - Pool Sink

In the bacon slicer

With poor Tom unable to join us having fallen off his bike earlier in the week and Phil and John otherwise committed, it was a slightly reduced team that set off onto the moors from Bull Pot farm.
With temperatures in the last couple of days having fallen well below freezing we followed a ribbon of ice over to a very dry Easegill, Pool Sink seemingly a misnomer under these conditions.
Entering the cave was like stepping off a plane in Southern Spain having boarded it in England, the exertions that followed adding to the rise in temperature too.
Once through the entrance S bends, the sink opens up into a fabulous meandering passageway before the first pitch is encountered. Given the complete lack of water, the initial Y-hang gave us the desired free hang with no need to deviate and use up one of our precious krabs. Gearing up at the car we had realised that most of the maillons must be with Tom, but by cobbling together all the krabs taken off bags and found in the car boot, we hoped we had just enough.
While the way on lay down stream, we deviated up stream to have a look for Magpie Grotto. It felt like we were very close to the surface again when we stopped in a small chamber, presumably the Grotto, decorated with stal but with boulders and a large of amount of mud spilling into it.

Dick in Magpie Grotto

On again downstream before a traverse over a couple of deep holes led us to the second pitch, split by a small pool.

Rigging the second pitch

To gain the third and final pitch we needed to make a rising traverse up "Jacob's ladder". A brilliant final pitch in this classic Ease gill entrance.

Heading up Jacob's Ladder

Following the water down from the base of the pitch we were soon in familiar territory, the unforgetable "blades" of the bacon slicer cutting into the passageway. Mindful of the return journey through the entrance passage with our tackle bags, we set off back up our ropes towards a stunning star filled sky and the sofas in front of the fire at the Barbon Inn.
John you'd have loved the last bit.

20th November 2010 - Coniston Copper Mines

Friday night. Caving season. Heading AWAY from the Dales and its cave riddled limestone.

They say though that variety is the spice of life and we were heading towards Coniston and its historical copper mines. John had arranged for the TNC to meet up with some friends who actually do cave on a Thursday and a member of CATMHS to be given an intro (or refresher for some) to the possibilities for trips in the workings.

The first level we looked into gave us the chance to look down into a shaft flooded by crystal clear, blue green water. The level was terminated at a set of workings. While the ladders looked sound their exposure to air and decades of dripping water excluded further exploration for us. On returning to the surface we headed up hill again and into the higher entrance of Hospital level.

Dick in the entrance passage

Before long the nature of the workings became apparent as a collapse in the false floor allowed a view down onto further false floors and the remains of their stemple supports. Fortunately the volunteers who have done so much to gain and maintain access to the mines had provided us with a secure bridge over the collapse.

Looking down towards Deep level

Further passage and chambers led to a tunnel, complete with railway lines that followed the miners optimism towards further deposits. These never materialised and the tunnel finished at a dead end.

Stemples high in the stope

Returning back to the entrance gave us another opportunity to admire the green and blue formations, a change from the pristine white of calcite that we are used to. Before returning to the entrance a quick detour took us to a Temple of Doomesque passage with railway lines finishing in mid air over a huge void.

Phil admiring the green formations

Our thanks go to Mal and Brian for their company, Mark for being a superb guide and John of Barrow Mountaineering and Ski club for the post trip cup of tea in such comfortable surroundings.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL SCREEN SLIDE SHOW