Sleets Gill

Ray, Scott  Jasmine, Jason

This is very much a cave that needs dry conditions, and I thought that the drought that had begun sometime in April was bound to break just before the trip – but it didn’t, and we set off in full confidence of (relatively) dry conditions.  Actually, the first hurdle was finding the lay-by – I had been expecting to find a stand of trees, but they had been felled so I was half-way to Arncliffe before I decided I’d passed it.  I felt better when Ray admitted he’d done the same thing.

At least the entrance is easy to find, a properly inviting arch sloping steeply down, and down… After a bit of crawling we came to the junction with the Wharfedale Sump, which is normally avoided.  But as it was dry, Jasmine and I thought we’d have a look, and followed the dive line over some sandy crawls, including some snug sections which would have been terrifying if flooded.  After a bit, we came to a pleasant streamway.  Downstream sumped very quickly.  Upstream looked as though it did too, but I couldn’t check without getting wet – perish the thought!

Retracing our steps, we soon came to the impressive Gallery, which could have been a railway tunnel – if pre ice-age creatures went in for that sort of thing.  So now for Hydrophobia.  Jasmine led, declaring that she liked low, wet crawls!  Boy, had she come to the right place!

Navigation is made vastly easier by some phone line laid most of the way between the Gallery and the Ramp – if in doubt, just follow the wire! The low, wet (and spiky) crawl went on for much longer than I remembered, and it was still wet despite the drought.  Ray’s knees had had enough so he turned back after enjoying only half the fun.  But eventually it ended, and we had a quick look at the sump leading to the 68 Series.  I had entertained a fantasy of free-diving through (it’s supposedly an easy dive) which rapidly melted away when faced by the deep, cold water.  No thanks!

But we headed for the Ramp, today’s main objective.  I remembered that it was slippery, and Scott and Jasmine made slow, but steady, progress up the mud slide.  After many attempts, each followed by slithering back down to the bottom, I had to concede defeat, and add the Ramp to the growing list of things I can no longer do.  Gutting!

The return journey was uneventful, in fact slightly easier, as the water is now behind you in the crawl, but the light at the top of the tunnel was a welcome sight as we slowly scrabbled up the entrance scree slope.