Crackpot Cave
Andy, Damian, Nick (Report and pics by Nick)
A great trip to Crackpot – me, Damian and Andy. Had a look at the active upstream dig then met another group as we were making our way out.
David ‘Tom’ Holden Memorial Outing
A fantastic turnout of members new and old, to honour one of the club founders, David ‘Tom’ Holden. Great to see the Old Guard, and a lovely time was had by all.
The morning kicked off with tents and tables set up outside the entrance to Yordas, before active members headed up the hill for two trips – Darren leading from the Top Entrance, and John leading from the Middle Entrance. As trips finished and people congregated at the bottom entrance, food was conveniently ready, with fantastic home-made soup and cakes aplenty.
President Fred and Vice Pres Andy both said a few words about Tom’s life and efforts at maintaining KCC; we looked through some folders of old photographs that Fred had brought along, and the KCC cake was cut jointly by the oldest and youngest cavers present.
We then headed into Yordas together with sparklers for some photos and light writing. By this point we were well fed and entertained and ready to start making our ways to places warmer than Yordas, with some having been there about 5 hours.
Big thanks to all who attended, organised and made the day special. Here’s to Tom Holden!
It’s A Cracker
Darren, James, Tom
Just three for this fantastic evening trip to one of Darren’s favourites, It’s A Cracker. By the end of the evening it was one of Tom and James’ favourites too.
We headed in with some of Darren’s site lights for a bit of photography, especially enjoying Park Bench Pitch.
Ribblehead Ramble
Andy, Nick
The Seniors headed up to Ribblehead for a Monday ramble around the various caves in the area. They made it to Katnot, Holme Hill and Thorns Ghyll caves. Great photos as usual.
Long Churn
Yolanda, Scott, Yulia (3rd caving trip), Andy (1st caving trip)
Report from Yolanda:
Long Churn is a classic trip for a novice caver. On Sunday, Scott and myself took Andy (first ever trip) and Yulia (third ever trip) for a potter around Long Churn. We clambered around double shuffle pool and plank pool before wriggling through the cheese press. There was a queue at Dolly Tubs, so we carried on exploring the cave. After a lot of falling in while trying to ascend the waterfall above Doctor Bannister’s Handbasin, we went back above ground for a bit of a break to dry out before going back to Dolly Tubs for a descent and a look round. After a good couple of hours underground we made our way back to the surface, with a bit more falling into pools on the way out. The Yorkshire Dales looked magnificent, and I suddenly realised in a flash of understanding that Long Churn was the first cave I did when I went for a caving trip with my university back in 2014! Thanks Scott for leading us on a great trip.
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Roaring Hole
Roaring Hole 18/10/2023 – Connor, James, Rhod,  Jason
I always like to begin a trip to Roaring with half-an-hour or so fruitlessly wandering the limestone pavement on the slopes of Ingleborough, and tonight was no exception. It turns out that a) What3Words isn’t as useful a navigational tool as I’d hoped, and b) my recollection of the entrance of the entrance was woeful. Anyway, when Connor’s phone got a signal, it didn’t take long before we were heading down.
The first (and only, as far as we were concerned) pitch into Bandstand chamber comes in two halves – the first a simple drop to a wide ledge, and the second a rather awkward Y-hang down the last 5m. I rigged both parts, but regretted it. It’s quicker and easier to tiptoe round the edge of the chamber to the bottom, and really not too terrifying.
There follows one of several scaffolded boulder chokes. There wasn’t much water – the promised storm having held off – but what there was found its way down the back of our necks. A short crawl, and another boulder choke or two leads to Slab Chamber. There are hangers for a handline, and I had brought some rope, but once again the rope doesn’t really help – it takes you away from dry rock with good handholds.
A final boulder slope led down to the streamway, which we explored as far as The Rift, which we left for another time. Getting out is easy enough, though warm work – until the final upward thrutch into the entrance slope. The youngsters all managed this with minimal assistance, but I was badly in need of a shove from Connor, who manfully ascended unaided.
A good trip, and thanks to all for bearing with my attempts at above-ground navigation!
Skirwith Cave
Andy G, John, Nick
The Seniors team were back at it again today, this time for a trip into Skirwith Cave. Some cracking photos, chaps.
Notts II
James, Maz, Pete, Rhod, Tom
Planned as an SRT trip up and over the bottom sump of Notts II to visit Notts III, we made our way down to find the streamway pretty powerful, which was surprising given there’d been no rain for a couple of days. Shows how much fell last week.
After a couple struggled down the water spout climb into the bottom chamber, we decided to sack it off given the job of getting the rest of the crew safely back up it on the way out, and instead had a long wander upstream to see the classic delights of Curry Inlet.
On the way out, James and Rhod were dispatched to the flood bypass route for some muddy squeezing while the rest of us met them at the other side, and made our way out to a nippy night.
Dow Cave
Andy, Damian, John, Nick
The recently formed Seniors team had a day out at Dow Cave.
It was a good afternoon trip. Water had been very high recently – foam spotted everywhere.
Yordas
Maz, Scott, Tom
What a damp evening. The initial plans for Aquamole were scrapped and we’d planned to visit Heron instead. However, on the walk up the rain set in really heavy and didn’t look like it was stopping so we decided to turn back and head to Yordas for a play instead. We headed in the middle entrance, Maz had a try of his new foot ascender on the short pitches then we headed to the traverse to rig and have a general SRT practise
