Illusion Pot

Team: Scott, Dave, Jim, Jess, Pete, Ami, James

After some confusion about which lay-by counted as ‘the usual’ (poor leadership I say), we set off for this nice little jaunt in the glorious sun, with the usual freezing Yorkshire wind added on.

Exactly a mile across the dales is the entrance to Illusion, with an unnecessarily beefy lid. A few sets of ladders and a little bit of wriggling later and we were at the infamous duck, to find it barely a puddle! A far cry from the 30 mins pumping and thorough soaking of last trip.

Once on the other side (and celebrating still having dry pants!) there’s a T junction which offers lots in both directions. Left first took us to some real pretties. Lots of long and delicate straws and some very stripey curtains, which James likened to a 70s house for their garish colours.

Back to take the other route towards ‘the carrots’ and beyond to the Dale Head end. We had all worn our Cows Tails for the traverse. I was especially keen as I failed to make it down the final climb last time, so didn’t want to be outdone this time. After inspecting the new anchors – which weren’t rigged – and the very rusty old ones complete with tatty rope – we began across a fun little traverse, trying not to touch the rope as we went. With so many of us, those at the back could even see the lights of the leaders far below when coming over. I made it down the climb (turns out it’s easy if you approach it from the right way) to the bottom thinking it might not have been worth it.

But it turns out there’s a slightly hidden but spectacular, clear pool, complete with divers’ line. There’s a very wet looking squeeze that we did try to tempt James with, but easier access is via a little climb through crack about 1m up the left wall. Completely stunning and I thought rather inviting (Pete disagrees).

Wonderful little trip and in such dry weather would be good for a newbie too. We even made it out in the light!

Pics by Dave