Curtain Pot

Ami, Jason, Scott, Tom, Will

We’d been looking forward to this relatively new one, which the CNCC claimed as a ‘splendid adventure’, and we accepted their challenge of ‘8-10 hours for an efficient team’. Jason had his doubts about a pre-midnight exit, but the rest of us were confident we’d get our 10-hour certificate.

After Scott and Tom fueled up with a Bernies breakfast we all assembled at Dale Head and grabbed the five tackle sacks (220m of rope) for the 4km hike to the remote shakehole high on Fountains Fell, with a brief pause while Tom jogged back to get essential anti-grumpiness medication.

Once we were in the general area that Jason’s GPS had led us to, we began searching the shakeholes, with nothing quite matching the description. Eventually after about 15 minutes we found the planks boarding the entrance slot up and began our ‘splendid adventure’.

The first 2 pitches led quickly down the splash-shield ‘curtain’ that gives the pot its name (thanks for the thoughtfulness, diggers), through a short narrow crawl and onto the third pitch, a pretty ab down a shaft that pops out in the roof of a chamber. 

Onwards down the short 4th pitch and we were into the biggest ballache of the trip, 100m of horrible thrutchy T-shaped passage, which would have been a breeze if it weren’t for the beefy bags we were lugging, which just kept sliding into the narrow grabby bottom bit of the ‘T’. Once this was behind us, we were into much bigger passage. 

This had some great formations, and no real difficulties. The cave let us know we shouldn’t get too cocky when a slab of the wall detached on touch, Tom leapt out of the way just in time but it continued chasing him down-slope, with a glancing blow to the arse. On we pushed down a couple of easy handline climbs and past lots more formations and a nice straw grotto up in the roof, before the character of the cave changed again.

From here to the bottom were a series of pitches one after the other, never more than about 20 metres and all with totally different character. We slipped quickly down them but we were all starting to feel the chill by this point, the air is damp and you feel a long way from home.

At the bottom of the twelfth pitch (the tallest in the cave), a narrow awkward slot wound down towards the sump, and Scott claimed a toe dip before the sump started gurgling and booming. We knew that rain/sleet was forecast while we were in, and everyone jumped out of their skin at the sounds and started clamouring to get back out of the tight bottom passage. 

And now it was time for the journey out. At the top of the 12th pitch, Jason (second to last up the pitch) sat away to one side for a moments’ peace to eat his sandwich, and it was only out of sheer luck that Scott happened to spot him before powering out with his derigging, leaving poor Jason stranded in one of the lonelier spots in Dales caving.

We made small work of the journey out as far as the more horizontal bits in the middle, but the chills were definitely setting in as we waited for the derigging duo to catch up to take their bags off them, and as soon as we had hold of them set off at top speed to warm back up. The thrutchy T-passage was nightmarish on the way back out with bags full of soggy rope, and we were glad to back at the 3 entrance pitches.

With the chorus of ‘FUCK OFF, FUCKING BAGS HONESTLY’ echoing down the 3rd pitch from Will, we waited our turn in the spray – the water levels were definitely up a little from when we’d headed in. Ami startled us a bit when the end of the rope started following her up the pitch, another near-stranding. Before long we were back up at the surface, to the surprise of a blanket of snow on the ground. We stood around in the biting wind as Scott brought out the last of the bags and we realised we were still an hour’s snowy march from a car heater still. 

On getting back to Dale Head we discovered we’d taken 8h14 from car to car – so not only are we an efficient team, but we’re at the efficient end of an efficient team! Great trip, great cave, horrible weather. RIP Eski, and respect to the original explorers – what made you look up here?

Photos by Will