Alum Pot

Long Churns & Alum Pot (report and pictures by Will)

Team: Ami, Chris A, Scott & Will

We’d been planning this Alum Pot trip for a few weeks now as Ami had yet to tick it off and sadly she missed out last time when John, Dave and I tackled the NW route. Chris was also eager to get his second trip with KCC bagged so eagerly opted in whatever the trip. Scott was also on board when he heard of our plans, no surprise there, and we hoped that Sophie may be able to join us too but sadly it wasn’t to be. Despite us both having taken on Rift Pot the day prior, Scott and I were still feeling good in the morning and although some unfortunate Sunday morning issues caused a little lateness, the four of us arrived at Selside in good spirits. As with most weekends, it quickly got busy with a couple of other groups gearing up all eagerly eyeballing each other to see who would begin negotiations. One group with some SRT novices were planning a trip down Dolly Tubs, another heading for the SE route, and as at this point we were still awaiting Scott’s arrival we told them all to go ahead and we’d work our way around once we had a plan. I already had a plan! It was a little naughty, but I packed my ‘big rope’ (John & Dave know it well) with a hope to hoodwink the others into the NW route as it’s by far my favourite. From my experience, if you don’t tell people what they’re doing and just send them a location they usually turn up. The second you mention a 65/70 metre pitch with maximum exposure, people start to sleep in or feel poorly! Given the other teams chosen destinations it would have been ideal to go for the NW route on this occasion, being the only route with no traffic for the full day. However, my sneaky secret didn’t go down to well when I proposed it, and I’m certainly not one to push so we quickly repacked and came up with a new tactic. I’d rig Dolly Tubs because I’m lazy and would rather take pictures, Ami would rig the traverse and bridge, Scott would rig his ‘under the bridge’ variation, and finally Chris would have his first attempt at rigging and de-rigging on the final pitch. Plan set, and to give the other teams a bit of space, we stashed the ropes and headed for the top entrance of Long Churns to give Ami and Chris the full tour.

After working our way through Churns and feeling nicely warmed up, we picked up our ropes and set about the days main task. The other teams had rigged the split pitch in Dolly Tubs, so we went for the traditional ab and it wasn’t long before we were all stood in the window taking everything in. It was evident that, even with our Long Churns trip, there would be no avoiding traffic sadly – but such is the case if you choose Alum on a weekend! Let’s be honest, where else would you rather be stood for a short period awaiting your turn to descend than the window of Alum Pot. From here on, no matter what way we went, it would be impossible not to share anchors with other teams. A few weeks ago, Ami had a really good day of rigging in Aquamole (no sarcasm at all, she rigged top to bottom through a variety of the usual anchors) but had she paid attention to the location of Rupert’s in-situ ropes, Ray would also have had a good day of de-rigging instead of trying to untangle spaghetti junction! With that in mind, Scott and I set Ami straight to work rigging with a few reminders along the way. We discussed a few different things and ways to do things better, safer, or more efficient and I think it’s fair to say we all came away having learnt something! Winner! Absolutely nailed it she did, rigged behind the other team’s ropes all the way even in awkward places. After negotiating around another ascending team along the traverse, we had a clear shot at the bridge and then Scott took over to lead us underneath to the 40m ish free hanging option there. Another team was ascending on the other side of the bridge at the same time, so luckily when we touched down we had the last pitch and the sump all to ourselves. Chris was up next for his first attempt at rigging and he eagerly got to work. John showed Dave and I the traverse along the left to another Y hang (not on the topo) which I now prefer as it keeps you further away from the water for the last abseil. Also, if you do the NW route with a 100m rope you can get straight onto this variation and make one extra big pitch from the top to the bottom. It also has a little bit more rigging involved, perfect for Chris. I followed him along the ledge ready to answer any questions he had, but he took to it like a natural – clearly his IRATA skills are giving him confidence on the rope and kicking his caving career off with the ability to tackle some epic trips. We pushed on to the sump for the obligatory sump photo before heading back to ascend out, de-rigging the pitches we rigged on the way in. Ideal for me, as I could head up first and get some good shots of the others coming up now we had the place to ourselves.

In no time at all we were back on the surface heading for the cars, discussing the days events and recapping what we’d learned. Thank you to the guys for joining me on this one, we shall be back here soon with more members and more ropes for the AGM, so make sure you join us if you’re not already planning to!