Author: Scott

By Scott In Day Trips

AGM – Diccan Route

Connor, Dave L, Jason, Sophie, Gareth, Scott

Once again the weather gods blessed us with settled weather for the AGM. After a fine Inglesport breakfast (and some lift-share reshuffling) the Kendal were assembled for action in Long Churns Lane. After the walk-in we formed three tight squads – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly? Earth, Wind and Fire?… No, the Long Churners, The Dolly Tubbers and The Diccaneers were we to be.

Team Diccan consisted of Connor, Tall Dave, Jason, Gareth, Sophie and myself.  As the tackle stooge for this trip, I had lovingly crafted three perfectly balanced bags of gear for this trip (except the one carried by Connor, which was initially full of steel maillons, and the one carried by Tall Dave, which wasn’t quite big enough for all the rope within). My bag coincidentally was the first to be used, so I set off in front.  On the way the bag sank into one of the pools, but I was wise to its ways and avoided a wetting with a violent yank and a swift kick. The bag behaved perfectly for the rest of the pitch.

The first shaft has a couple of rebelays, a handy guide line and two deviations.  All of this took me far enough away from the waterfall that my suit didn’t quite get the thorough washing that I was hoping for.  I touched down, shouted ‘rope free’ and got on with rigging the next little drop.

Connor took over for the next pitch, and had the traverse rigged in no time. A couple of drops later, Tall Dave took over for the final extended pitch.  This involves a few rebelays and deviations as the rope follows a suspended route over the final gully and waterfall. We all gradually descended this in stages, getting in plenty of hang time on Dave’s excellent rigging.  Jason even managed to try a little experimental SRT near the bottom, but the classic system was not to be dethroned just yet.

Meanwhile, Gareth had been doing lots of filming, and Sophie lots of shivering.  We were glad to meet the first of the Dolly Tubbers, and a swift exchange was made. Connor, James and Paddy raced back up Diccan to derig, while everyone else headed back up the Dolly Tubs.  I loitered at the back, chatting to Charlie (Tom’s mate from UCET) and did a bit of derigging on the Dolly Tubs route.

The Dolly Tubbers had rigged the larger hang to the North of the Bridge, and it was a spectacular ascent in the sunshine, although rumour has it that Pete had enjoyed the most dramatic view of Alum Pot that day 🙂

Back on the surface, sunbathing and tea drinking had commenced. Tom, Charlie and I emerged to cake and a hot brew (thanks Sophie!) with the promise of even greater things to come at the Helwith Bridge Inn later on.

Another fantastic AGM with new friends and old! Thanks all for a great day out.

 

Pictures courtesy of David Lund

By Scott In Day Trips

Notts Pot – BUSS and Centre Route Exchange

Paddy, Ami, Damian, Tom, Jasmine, Steve, Scott

A top team of seven headed up to Notts Pot on Wednesday night, carting five unwieldy bags of gear. The weather had been dry all day, but a bit wet earlier in the week (note this detail, dear reader, for it is significant later in the narrative)! 

We were soon down the first two pitches and assembled in the 3 Ways Chamber (with four ways on).  I had been keen to investigate one of the lesser used routes in Notts, so had organised tackle for an exchange between BUSS and Centre routes.  From the description it sounded like it should be possible for the BUSS Routers to land behind the final duck in the bottom passage of BT Route, then climb out onto the last ledge of Centre Route if the Centre Routers were kind enough to drop a rope.

Paddy, Steve, Tom and Damian set off down Centre Route, while Ami, Jasmine and I turned left for BUSS Route.  I had often wondered where the red in situ guide rope led at the top of the Double Bucket shaft, and it didn’t disappoint. An airy diagonal abseil leads to a spacious ledge, and soon we were  moving off down a narrow tube. A step over a hole in the floor leads to a small second pitch (Mud Pot). From here we climbed down into another chamber, then rigged an oxbow on the left which led to a sizeable shaft.

Hanging around at the top, I could that the shaft was split by an arete after a few meters. The right hand shaft (Fossil Pot) looked wet, so I opted to descend the left shaft (Thread Pot). It took 4 deviations from small naturals to minimise the rub, but I reached the bottom. I could see through into the base of Fossil Pot, but would have to abseil blind through a heavy curtain of water to get there, and there was nowhere to rebelay the rope. I waited for a little while, having seen lights flashing somewhere above, but no one materialised. I realised that this might have been Jasmine and Ami’s torches, rather than the other team, so I reascended.

Back at the arete, I was ready to retreat, but Jasmine spotted lights at the base of Fossil Pot, so I headed down. I got to a point about twelve meters off the deck where the torrent of water entered the shaft. There seemed no way of deviating away from it without rubbing the rope on the overhanging roof higher up the shaft, so I reluctantly accepted that this exchange would have to wait for drier conditions.

‘ABORT, PADDY!’

‘COPY THAT!’

I jugged back up to rejoin the others, slightly guilty that I’d had all the dubious fun of exploring the big shafts.  Jasmine was keen on derigging the rest of the route, so I gratefully overtook her and followed Ami back up to the top of the Double Bucket.

Back in 3 Ways Chamber I had a chat with Paddy and Steve, who had had to do a clever bit of rigging and knot-passing only to get soaked at the bottom of Fossil Pot (much appreciated guys!)

We all headed out to a clear evening.

BUSS Route is definitely worth a look if you want to see a different part of Notts Pot, and nothing on it is too difficult. But it’s probably a trip for low water conditions, unless you really, really like water.

Thanks all for another good evening out!

 

By Scott In Day Trips

Lost Johns – Sink Chamber via Dome Alternative

Pete, Ray, James, Dave, Jasmine, Scott

A manky night indeed. Yet more heavy rain, but The Kendal were unperturbed (mostly). Six of us made our moist way to Leck Fell. The plan: to reach Sink Chamber in Lost Johns via a mini exchange between Dome and Dome Alternative.
Unfortunately I somehow left out the short rope for Vestry pitch, so Dave was doomed to run out of rope before the base of Cathedral unless we changed tack. The exchange was abandoned, the Dome rope urged into early action, and we all committed to go up and down Dome Alternative. This charming little route starts with a pleasant crawl in what seems to be completely the wrong direction, before emerging into a parallel shaft and tunnel which eventually brings you to a window halfway down Dome pitch. I quite like it, but most people seem to prefer the more straightforward route after their first go. Anyway, it claimed an early victim in Ray, whose knee was playing up during the crawl, and he beat a reluctant retreat.
Five continued down into Shale Cavern. Dave rigged the last pitch into Sink Chamber, and we descended to take in the view of the very lively waterfall from Monastery Route. We didn’t hang around long, and James and Jasmine did a cracking job of derigging the pitches.
The way out was not without interest, for the stream in the entrance series had risen while we explored, and was pretty sporting, though not quite enough to hinder our exit.
Another good trip – thanks to all who came out in such rubbish weather!

By Scott In Day Trips

Xmas Do at Gaping Gill (via Small Mammal)

 

Pete, Jason, Connor, Jasmine, Scott

It was hard to believe that a year had passed since our last mission to GG, but it was so. As before, soggy conditions forced us into Small Mammal, the least wet way into the system for mere mortals. I had been tasked with organising the trip, and so quickly delegated most of the ropework and bag carrying to other people, choosing to concentrate on the most vital aspect of the expedition – looking after the mince pies and mulled wine.
Unfortunately, fate had decreed that while the mince pies were unmatched in both excellence (Aldi standards, that is) and application, the mulled wine was to be hindered by a significant planning flaw. I had brought wine, stove, lighter and plastic drinking vessels – all exquisitely packaged to withstand the rigours of Small Mammal – but no pan to heat the wine. A quick straw poll at the entrance confirmed that no one wanted cold mulled wine in the Main Chamber (right answer), so the wine was abandoned at the entrance.
The rest of the trip was really good. Connor rigged the entrance pitch, Jasmine the big pitch, and I the traverse around SE Pot. We saw another team from the YSS coming down the last pitch of Wade’s, which confirmed our suspicion that it might be really quite wet on that route. They obviously didn’t let it stop them though, and they were leaving the Main Chamber by the time that we arrived.
The waterfall from the Main Shaft was colossal today, and crossing to the North end of the chamber necessitated a soaking just from the spray from Rat Hole.
Mince pies were consumed. Pete eschewed his in favour of a nutritious sandwich, but I didn’t hold a grudge, and certainly didn’t spend time calculating the distance, height gain/loss and calories of effort expended in transporting this most delicious (Aldi standards) of morsels to this remote spot in vain. Anyway, I digress.
We went for a look at Mud Hall. It remained large and muddy, with no sign of movement from the much-hyped earthquake of a couple of days before. Connor stopped to take photos while the rest of us traversed the glutinous slopes on fixed ropes to the end of the chamber.
The return trip was fairly uneventful except for the arrival of a couple of teams of student cavers into the system. One bold squad had canyoned their way down Stream Passage, and raced back up the Big Pitch of Bar Pot with impressive speed (as in, they totally burned me off by rope walking, the young scamps). Another team of the less experienced were being slowly taken through their first descent of GG (or perhaps any cave?), but we managed to reascend our rope in between their abseils.
Pete had had a rough time on this trip, with back problems and a headache – classic symptoms of mince pie deficiency in anyone’s book – but he took on the frustrations of bag hauling through the Small Mammal bedding crawl with an absolute minimum of expletives, numbering well below twenty. That bedding plane, when you’re tired, really is an Awkward Sod, and I’m almost tempted to trade it next time for the classic Bar first pitch (a vertical Awkward Sod).
Anyway, eventually all bags and people were reunited on the surface – thanks Connor and Jason for the bag hauling – and the bountiful cave water which had so refreshed our skins all day was topped up, reinvigorated by copious quantities of sky water; what a blessed relief, in the wintry darkness, the wind, the misty isolation of  the arse-end of Ingleborough.
We ran away. Eventually an excellent meal at the Crown in Horton blotted out most of the horror.
Thanks to all on the trip, and all in the pub afterwards for the fantastic Xmas Do.
Merry Christmas! – and I look forward to the rightful reinstatement of our one true Mulled Wine Operative on the next Xmas trip.

By Scott In Day Trips

Not Peak Cavern

Jasmine, Scott

Quick write up for this one. Despite early promise, the weather deteriorated badly in the run up to the trip, so once again Peak Cavern was abandoned. Jasmine and I were still keen to cave, so we had a little foray into Suicide Cave to do some rigging practice for a couple of hours, had lunch, and then headed to Eldon Hole. We rigged the straight hang down the West Side and got dangling. A couple of rebelays later and we were at the base of the Main Shaft. From here you can climb down into an adjacent big chamber, and use the in situ tracer cord to rig your own rope through an anchor high up on the far wall. This leads into the Damocles Rift pitches, which are quite spectacular and are well worth taking a rope to access.
The next day we had a quick trip to Knotlow Caverns. Once again, I managed to take the wrong, very narrow lane from Monyash, and walk past the hatch entrance. I did at least remember a ‘Derbyshire Key’ though, and Jasmine was soon rigging down the Climbing Shaft.

Knotlow is an interesting mixture of cave and mine, and after a couple of pitches we reached the balcony overlooking the Waterfall Chamber. Predictably this was wet at the bottom, precluding a full descent, but Jasmine was keen to crack the aid traverse and descend a few metres at least. She did a great job, getting soaked in the process by a persistent dribble of icy water from above. To finish off we decided to find the window to the Chapel Dale Engine Shaft, and used that to descend to the other side of Waterfall Chamber, stopping just above the water before reascending, and then derigging our way back out to daylight.
So, once more Peak Cavern was foiled by the capricious Pennine weather, but thanks to Jasmine I had a great weekend of dangling on ropes in Derbyshire. Will be back in the Spring for another try at Peak!

By Scott In Day Trips

Notts Pot: Adamson’s – Centre Route Exchange

Dangling tonight: Ami, Jasmine, James, Scott

“The rain it raineth on the just
And also on the unjust fella;
But chiefly on the just, because
The unjust hath the just’s umbrella.”

Anyway, it had stopped raining for the first time in days when we met on a dark Leck Fell. In fact there were distant fireworks, this being Bonfire Night and all.  We had a brief discussion about whether to bother exchanging routes with only four of us?  James expressed a slight preference for exchanging and was justly rewarded with two rope bags for the walk in (thanks James, I was keen on exchanging too!)

Jasmine rigged down the entrance shakehole.  The bedding plane crawl wasn’t as soggy as I’d feared, and soon Jasmine had us all down safely in 3 Ways Chamber.  Here we separated into two factions – Ami and James on the Centre Route, and Jasmine and myself on Adamson’s.

I had intended on rigging the 15m traverse on the approach to the metal staples, but didn’t really spot it and we ended up just doubling back on ourselves to find the right place. A scruffy pitch brought us to an oxbow on the right, and the start of the first section of Birthday Pot ( down a hole on the left). I’d be quite interested to come back at some point and explore De Profundis, another route which diverges from here.

Birthday Pot is in 3 sections, the middle one being the most pleasing, and it lands only a metre from the base of Centre Route, at the time occupied by an Ami.  It was a bit soggy down here, with the water from Left Hand Route emerging nearby.  We exchanged pleasantries while we waited for the other two to descend – my main contribution being to mention that I’d brought Wagon Wheels for everyone, but left them in the van by mistake.  Jasmine arrived, but no James? I eventually went up the last two small pitches of Centre Route to see how he was doing.  It turned out that the rigging had been a bit tight on the final section after adding in an extra anchor, and he’d wisely decided not to swing around under the waterfall for too long trying to escape, and had backtracked.  A bit more fiddling and he was then able to get past, and descended to the bottom.  At this point I pondered that I hadn’t realised that Centre Route actually took this much water… clearly I hadn’t been there in wet conditions before.  The cunning thing is that the water only appears at some late point on the first pitch, and then departs down a convenient hole before the base of the last pitch, some it comes as a delightful surprise…

Jasmine followed me up, very competently derigging the 60m rope, and we swapped bags for the top pitch of Centre. While she derigged the last bit, I spotted the traverse that I should have rigged to get to Adamson’s, and climbed up it in time to meet Ami again.  This traverse is a bit polished, and I didn’t climb back down the same way afterwards.

In a fit of remorse for letting James carry two bags on the way in, plus not considering that Centre Route might be rather wet and then finally denying everyone a Wagon Wheel at the lowest point of the cave… I set off out with two tackle sacks, reflecting that at least I’d eaten a Wagon Wheel before the trip began (this was originally earmarked for Tom, but he cancelled last minute and thus forfeited his sugary snack).

It wasn’t too long before we were all back on the surface. A good trip, with everyone rigging bits and pieces.  Maybe a BT route – De Profundis exchange next time, if there are any takers? 🙂

By Scott In Day Trips

Valley Entrance to Rowten Passage

Tom, Maz, Jason, Connor, Damian, Scott

I’d been looking forward to donning the neoprene and exploring the wet stuff in the Kingsdale Master Cave for a while.  Going upstream at the Master Junction never seems to appeal much on the way out of Swinsto or Simpsons, and this bit of passage had always looked a bit unenticing, so I suggested it for the summer meets list, thinking that at least the water wouldn’t be too chilly.

As it happened, a massive traffic jam delayed me on the nominated evening (and robbed us of Dave’s company), so I was about an hour late to the cave. I kitted up in a hurry and completed a real speed run through Valley Entrance – this was surprisingly thrilling, and should be repeated sometime – just in time to catch the others up at the Rowten Sumps.

There was a bit of back-and-forthing going on at the prospect of committing to the first sump, but neoprene hoods were being brandished, which seemed like a promising sign, so I had a feel around with my feet.  Sure enough, there was space and air on the other side, so I slid through into a spacious airbell.  Soon I was joined by Connor and Tom.  The next diveline went off to the left, and seemed a bit more committing. Legend has it that this sump is 4m long, which doesn’t sound too bad; but there was zero visibility, and Connor’s exploratory dive didn’t reveal much, so we reluctantly(?) left this one for another day when we were feeling a bit braver.

On the way out Damian crawled off for a look at the start of the Mud River series, and we found the other sump on the right which eventually links into the end of Philosopher’s Crawl.

Before too long we were back at the pitch, and then out into the warm night air with the tantalising possibility of the Marton Arms still being open…

Nice little trip, thanks to everyone who came along.  Can recommend this route for anyone who has dirty gear and needs a rinse off!

 

By Scott In Day Trips, Uncategorised

Dowbergill Passage

James, Tom, Scott (narrator)

I’d heard lots about Dowbergill Passage: a long, straight through trip between two caves, with deceptively tricky navigation. Deep water, high traverses. Mind games, physical attrition, tricky rescues.
Actually, I quite enjoyed it. In dry conditions, with good companions, a detailed description and the right gear, it just felt like a fantastic trip.
James and I met Tom at Park Rash, and he kindly left his car there to shorten the walk back from Dow, when or if we exited.
I’d had some good input from John and Jason during the planning of this trip, and had opted to carry a short rope for any scary downclimbs, although the planned route would stick to the lower, more watery sections. I was wearing a full wetsuit under my caving gear, while James was confidently sporting a furry onesie. Tom was somewhere in the middle with 1mm of neoprene.
The walk up to Providence Pot wasn’t too bad, and we entered the scaffolded tube with an audience, who seemed privately sure that we would never emerge again. James navigated using the excellent description from NFTFH, and guided us through various wet crawls, blasted crawls, muddy crawls and occasionally some big muddy chambers that we could walk in.
Eventually we met the actual streamway at Stalagmite Corner, and so began the fabled Dowbergill Passage. All went well until Bridge Cavern, which is a breakdown chamber with extensive sections of false floor. We went past one possible climb to the stream below and investigated further on, but the next climb looked worse, so Tom and I retreated to the last climb, not quite followed by James. At this point several things happened in close succession.
Tom climbed down through some precarious boulders towards the stream, dislodging a small rock as he went. He warned me that things were on the move, and after having a look, I carefully followed him. I’d gone a few meters downstream when –
BANG!
A big block fell down behind me somewhere. I paused, bridging a rift, and shouted to see where James was. No reply.
We hurried a bit further downstream, hoping to see him still on top of the sketchy climb that we had retreated from. So he was! It turned out that both of his lights had failed, and he’d been forced to wait until we reappeared.
We lit up his surroundings and spotted him down the climb, until he’d restored life to one of his torches. The other remained stubbornly dead.
I went at the front for a bit as we entered a ‘fun’ bit of streamway, which had various chockstone obstacles to overcome until we got to 800 Yards Chamber, where we had a short rest. Then onto a wet section with narrow squeezing just above the water. After a while we came to the Brew Chamber Boulder Choke, which required a bit of vertical squeezing. On the other side was a handline climb into ‘The Narrows’.
I went down this, and found it doable but awkward, even for my scrawny build. Sensing that James and Tom might make heavy weather of it, I shouted back to traverse over the top. I turned back, and very nearly got stuck myself. I had to back up and take off some kit, then nearly lost a welly as I struggled back to the handline.
At the top, James led a section of traversing, then downclimbing. This bit was quite reminiscent of the Crabwalk in Giant’s Hole. We eventually ended up on the downstream side of The Narrows. From here, the route was wet fun (if you’re wearing a 5mm wetsuit anyway), with wading, a few low airspace ducks, and even a tiny ‘free dive’ under a boulder. We stayed low, ignoring the climb up into the Gypsum Traverse, and were eventually rewarded with the sight of the giant flowstone formation near the Buddhist’s Temple in Dow. We had made it!
The exit from Dow was easy stomping, and we emerged to bright sunshine and Tom’s chariot awaiting us at Park Rash. Later, we went to the pub, which even served coffee (thanks James).
Dowbergill was a really interesting journey, and now that a week has passed I’m quite keen to get back in sometime for a look at some of the other options. Going in from the Dow Side and just doing some wet canal bits, then back over the top via Gypsum Traverse would also be a fun trip.
Many thanks to Tom and James for their usual good company, and an excellent way of avoiding the football!

By Scott In Day Trips

Titan (Team Sunday, Derigging)

Connor, Jasmine, Scott (narrator)

Sunday saw the weekend’s second excursion into Titan for KCC, with the aim of having a bit of a look around at the bottom before derigging all of those nasty heavy ropes.
Jasmine, Connor and I met in Castleton at 11 before liftsharing up to Rowter Farm. The impressively engineered entrance tube was located and descended quickly. A careful walk through a big puddle – don’t get your feet wet at this early stage – led to a window with a familiar looking rope rigged to the left. I clipped on and climbed up onto a flowstone ledge, then squinted down into the darkness. I could just about make out the Event Horizon, about 70m below me.
Horizontally, the chamber extends maybe 40m into the distance before narrowing down a little. An atmospheric place indeed! While I can appreciate the grandeur of such pitches, I find them difficult to process in some way. Jasmine caught me up, and it dawned on me that I was actually going to have to abseil out into that void. Hmm.
I got on the rope and descended about a foot, but thought better of it and came back up. I actually felt fairly happy with that decision as I watched Jasmine and Connor spiral away from me into the gloom. It’s not so much the abseiling that gets me, more the sense of growing exposure during a slow ascent in free space… so I wasn’t particularly scared standing on the edge, but the expectation of fear later was giving me a mental block. Should have organised a through trip, and exited through Peak Cavern!
No matter. I have quite a good record of turning away from scary pitches and then going back and knocking them off at a later date. No doubt I’ll be back one day before too long… so ran my thoughts as I waited on the ledge, listening to Jasmine and Connor’s voices as they receded into eventual silence.
After a while I moved to a drier bit of passage and turned off my torch.
Drip… drip… An hour went by.
The sound of water from the Event Horizon seemed to be growing in prominence, and I wondered if it had rained heavily on the surface? The others had obviously gone for a bit of an explore at the bottom.
My Mars Bar long since dispatched, I decided to nip back up the first pitch to warm up. This did the trick nicely. I went back down, and before too long I could see Jasmine’s torch as she made her way up the bottom pitch.
It took a while for the pair of them to ascend – it being a really long way, and Connor was derigging as he went. Eventually we were all reunited at the window. The others had been for a romp along a roped traverse deeper in the system; apparently the water level had remained low throughout their ascent, so nothing to worry about there, just some trick of cave acoustics.
Getting the bags up and out of the two remaining pitches was good, warming work, even with a 3:1 haul going on. It might be worth improvising some kind of tripod for the surface pitch next time, or at least clearing away some of the copious sheep poo from around the entrance.
Back to Rowter Farm for a change of clothes, and then we jumped in Connor’s luxury work van for a lift back down to Castleton before going our separate ways. In a final comic twist, I forgot that I had to return the key to the TSG, and didn’t remember until I was about seven miles away. Much swearing ensued.
On reflection, I’m quite happy to have at least had a good look at Titan. Jasmine really knocked the ball out of the park with this one – not bad for someone still in their first year of SRT. And always good to cave with Connor, even if he accidentally sent four krabs to their forever home whilst derigging 🙂 Hope I’ll see you both underground again sometime soon!

By Scott In Day Trips

Buckden Gavel Mine

 

I’d been curious about this mine for a few years, and didn’t know much about it apart from the story of Buckden Bill:

(https://vetch.co.uk/buckden_archive/ThemysteryofBuckdenBill.pdf)

I was met at the village car park by Damian (who was a true local, having grown up in the shadow of Buckden Pike), Jason and his daughter Rosa. Together we took on the steep path beside Buckden Gill, which had some polished scrambly bits, and finally reached the adit entrance after a good walk.
After some initial sticky mud – nearly, but not quite high enough to inundate the wellies – we were into the mine proper. There were still a few small bats hibernating, which were definitely a different species from the Lesser Horseshoes that I’d seen in South Wales. We carefully set about exploring the various offshoots of the main passage.
There’s a lot of mine to explore here. We didn’t see that much in the way of artefacts – a few tools, the remains of a clog, and plenty of iron rail. There are obviously levels above and below, which presumably must be accessed by sketchy mud climbs (up) and unbolted shafts (down). Our survey seemed to have been compiled in the 1970s to show a safe route for novice groups, but we sensed that there was plenty more passage off the printed page… This mine would be a good option for a wet day in the winter, maybe with a scaffold pole and ladder to get into some of the higher bits.
After a good stomp around, we headed back down the hill. Damian and I wandered around the flank of Buckden Pike to walk down the easy rake, while Jason and Rosa opted for the gillside path. This trek to and from the adit would have been yet another hardship for the original miners, but it was pleasant enough for us on a dry Spring day.
Thanks to Jason, Rosa and Damian for a great trip!