Crystal Cave

James, Ami, Monica (Ami’s friend), Pete (prospective member), Jason

(Just to prove that proper Dales caving continues whilst the rest of the club are in exotic foreign destinations).

This was supposed to be Steve’s trip, but work got in the way for him, so it fell to me to lead, having been here before (albeit 15 years ago).  The cave is apt to be impassable in wet weather, but March had been dry so far, so it looked promising.

The entrance is close to the road, and easy to find – just follow the stream up into where it emerges from the scar.  Starting with a crawl, we soon came to the First Duck, which wasn’t really a duck at all, with the water being low, but you can’t avoid getting fairly well soaked.  Never mind, we could soon stand and follow the streamway upright.  Better than that, we climbed up to the Gallery, a decorated passage following at a higher level.  There were some nice little gour pools with crystalline deposits (the origin of the cave’s name, perhaps?).

This brought us to Spout Chamber and a climb up the First Waterfall (which was barely a trickle).  The rock is lumpy and knobbly, but this made the climbing easy, with plenty of generous hand- and foot-holds.

Quite soon, we reached the Second Duck.  On my previous visit, this was quite serious, and necessitated going through on one’s back.  This time there seemed plenty of airspace, and the duck is very short, so didn’t present a problem, other than giving us another soaking.  Two more waterfalls follow soon after, and again the climbing is easy although there’s a bit of an awkward wriggle at the top.

This was as far as I’d got the last time, and as far as I’d expected to get.  Northern Caves says “the stream issues from a duck that can be passed in dry conditions to a low crawl into Monsoon Chamber in Dog Hole.”  Well, conditions were dry, and before anyone could stop her, Monica was off through the duck, so we felt obliged to follow.

This was a proper duck, not long, but you have to take a route around a gravel bank (thanks to James and Pete for giving directions) and I for one spluttered a bit before getting through.  Fired up by the prospect of getting to Monsoon Chamber, Monica and Ami were already well along the low crawl.  It was indeed low (flat-out in wet gravel) and went on, and on.  We were committed though, turning round would have been nigh impossible, but eventually there were encouraging cries from ahead.

We had triumphantly reached Monsoon Chamber, but what next?  My guide notes had run out, but James had a survey and thought we could get back to Crystal via Barker’s Passage – nobody relished repeating the crawl and duck.  Just two questions: could we find Barker’s Passage, and if we did, could we get through it?  Northern Caves says it’s only passable by thin cavers.  Not me, then.  But the others were keen, so we had a good poke around The Jungle, which is a confusing section of muddy boulders, climbs and crawls, with a side-line in loose rocks.  After a while, I took on the role of wet blanket and suggested that it was time to retrace our steps (slithers?), which we did.

The crawl didn’t seem quite as long on the way back (to me; Ami thought it was worse!) and we switched opinions on the duck: she thought ‘not so bad’, whereas I felt compelled to go on my back this time.

We were all thoroughly soaked by now (except Pete, the only one smart enough to wear a wetsuit) and getting cold, so we made haste to exit.  So much so in my case that I slipped climbing down the First Waterfall, and landed hard against a rock.  A cracked rib is a great reminder to take more care in future!  Anyway, it was a memorable trip and left us all keen to explore Dog Hole – and maybe even do a through trip if the weather stays dry?