Small Mammal to Gaping Gill Main Chamber

Sophie, Darren, Scott, Jasmine, Jason, Pete and Ami (report by Ami, pics by Darren)

After nearly cancelling the Christmas party due to small numbers, seven intrepid travellers met in Clapham in the middle of storm Darragh ready to take on a big trip before the more traditional pub-based evening do.

Setting off for the long walk-in in high winds drew even more quizzical (or downright horrified) looks than usual from passers-by, especially the families visiting Ingleborough show cave to see Father Christmas. Between loo stops and cold we didn’t arrive at Small Mammal until 1pm, and couldn’t wait to get inside out of the wind.

We huddled in the tiny entrance way while Sophie (PHD) rigged the rather exposed first pitch. After this we referred to the description, as Scott had not been able to find the way on in a previous trip, and no surprise why! The cave provided some fun combos of scrambling and extremely tight bits which certainly didn’t look like promising routes at first glance.

Thanks to Scott we found our way to the greasy slab without too much trouble, passing a spectacular rock bridge and joining the Bar Pot route. We decided on the Direct route down, which was one of the most impressive pitches I have done for a while, despite the especially slippery rope. Darren and Jason aced some cave photography whilst waiting at the bottom.

After this was a short and soggy traverse, then a LOT of crawling, but the chilly draft both kept us moving and told us we were nearly there.

Entering into the main chamber for the first time was even more spectacular than I expected, with huge falls roaring from the storm on the surface, making the light above dim and blue and extremely atmospheric. We had a good explore and stopped for pictures, as well as testing a slot in the west wall that seemed to lead down a promising rift (another time perhaps).

We then settled on the western boulder slope for our Christmas treats. Sophie spoiled us with mince pies and HOT mulled wine! We could have stayed longer, but conscious our booking at the pub was coming up fast, we headed out in record time. Special shout out to Jasmine who took huge drops, exposed pitch heads and tiny crawls in her stride on her first trip of this size!

Only thirty minutes late to the pub we found Ray, Miranda and John waiting for us (a few pints in, suggesting at least that they weren’t expecting to have to come and rescue us) and enjoyed a lovely Christmas meal, with cave-based crackers provided by Jason. Some members then stayed at the Craven hut to complete the Christmas do. Amazing day, and huge thanks to Sophie for organising it all! I’m very grateful to have joined such a lovely club.