Bull Pot – Monolith route

Yolanda, Gareth, Jason

The planned trip to Nirvana was called off due to the forecast rain, where to go?  Yolanda wanted some straightforward SRT practice, I wanted some rigging practice, so I suggested the first three pitches of Bull Pot.  I had just got to the tackle store when Gareth rang, and offered to come and show us his ‘new’ route that went straight from the surface to the start of the second pitch.

I wasn’t initially a fan, as I like to keep things simple when it comes to rigging, however we were soon traversing on ledges high above the meandering passage from the usual base of the entrance pitch.  Looking down at the amount of water crashing down this passage, it was obvious it would have been very sporting today, so I was glad to have taken this route.

We were soon at the top of the slot at the start of the third pitch, but decided to call it a day there – we’d already got a soaking swinging onto the ledge, and it only gets wetter further on.

On the way out, Gareth pointed out the “Monolith” – an enormous slab of rock over the traverse – that gives the route its name.

It worked out well in the end – Yolanda and I got our SRT practice, and Gareth got to check out the bolts on the traverse (all good!) and add to his renowned collection of caving video shorts!