Tim Donovan, Darren Mackenzie, Steve Physick, Alec Hunter, Tom Calpin, Scott Nixon, Ray McGarry
A classic Tim D trip – tight, damp and full of surprises. If anyone wants to write an in-depth trip report, I didn’t get past the squeeze between the first and second pitches, so I can only assume that fun was had beyond!
Tom Calpin, Scott Nixon, Ray McGarry
Scott and I had fancied figuring out the Smallcleugh to Rampgill through-trip via Proud’s Sump for a while, and with Ray we decided to give it a try.
We headed up to Nenthead for a leisurely 11am start after coffees and muffins at the Alston services, and wandered up to Smallcleugh. Dropping the bags at Proud’s Sump we headed round the near flats for a quick round-trip. Before long we were back at the sump and kitting up for the descent on the in-situ ropes (which were in good nick).
At the bottom of the first drop were 2 routes on – Scott wasn’t liking the look of a traverse over a pit with the rope secured to rusting rails, and thankfully the route on was the other way, with a short crawl dropping to the second pitch. The in-situ rope for this was almost new and had a deviation in which left no rope rub. This pitch dropped eerily into a flat, with the shaft carrying on down but at this point we swung off into the flat. We then spent a good hour wandering round Proud’s Flats, there’s plenty of stuff to see in here.
After we were done we headed down the continuing aluminium ladder and into the running water of the Rampgill drainage level. From here on out it’s easy, following the water past plenty of bright colours and rotting ore chutes, until we hit a rope climb up that we recognised from a previous visit. Onwards for 20 minutes and we were at Whisky Bottle Junction. After a final stop to peer over the edge of the Brewery Shaft, we headed out into warm sunshine right next to the car.
Photos by Ray
Tom Calpin, Scott Nixon, Bob Cattley, Tim Donovan, John Forder, Miranda Forder, Pete Blamire
A pretty damp day, perfect for a mine. I’d planned a complete through-trip from the top open stopes through to the bottom level, so we all blindly slogged up the hill in kits with rope (this was a new trip to us, although Bob and I had been in the bottom level before). But on reaching the stope, we realised that mine explorers’ bolting is somewhat different to us entitled cavers – they were just raw bolts, you’re expected to bring your own hangers! In a strop we rigged back to some sort of boulders behind the hole as a backup, and Scott rigged the pipe bridging the stope for the main hang. But…disaster. We dropped the rope down and it was still falling at full speed when it went taut – the rope was probably too short, given that we’d used a bunch of it on backing up to a natural.
Trip ruined! Ah well, we slunk back down the hillside to the bottom level, stripped off our kits and left them inside the locked gate, and went for a thorough explore of the bottom level instead. First we headed up the Harding vein to check out all the hoppers, crosscuts, and past the blockage to the far end of the vein, where we found the ladders leading up to the stopes from the through-trip. At this point, Bob’s CO2 meter started getting tetchy and we called off the 8 ladder climb with Miranda partway up. We headed back around the bypass to the collapse and the meter got even more tetchy, beeping loudly to tell us to get a move on.
Next we headed up the Wilson vein, with quick stops to check out minerals, leftovers and to post Scott up into a creaking manway up a ladder. Outward we headed to driving rain covered in arsenic mud and the first appalling car changing session of the winter season. Good times 🙂
Sophie Cunningham, Darren Mackenzie, Chris Downham, Gareth Williams, Isaac Bargh, Scott Nixon, Tom Calpin, Chris Hunter, Tim King, Sedgy
John Forder, Miranda Forder, Tim Donovan, Tom Calpin
Standard tourist trip down Shuttleworth to Witches II on a sunny Sunday. It’s already rigged which caused some minor rigging issues for us on the way down. Once in Witches II we popped up to the Exercise Yard for a gander, then back over the sump to visit the pretties. A quick but careful nip down into My Newt Passage was sloppily reversed (glad we brought a rope) before a wander up to the mega long straws and a gentle exit.
Tim Donovan, Darren Mackenzie, Scott Nixon, Tom Calpin
With my new oversuit due to arrive any day, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for a muddy Mistral send-off so joined for Tim’s trip.
Water levels were relatively high with the beck in full flow, but we managed to get to Leck Fell Lane all the same. A quick look at the thundering inlet waterfalls and we were on our way back through the thick glutinous mud. Darren and Scott headed off to check out Darren and Dave Ramsay’s new dug route down to the end of Pippikin and caught Tom and Tim up as they were walking back across the fell for home.
Lots of folks attended
Conservation trip to Gavel Pot after reports of muddy mitts having mucked up Glasfurds. We borrowed the CNCC conservation gear and headed down for a few hours of scrubbing, rinsing and pressure washing.
Afterwards we filed back to Darren’s for a Barn-B-Q with far too much food, mixed with drinking and a bouncy castle for a messy ending.
Scott Nixon, Darren Mackenzie, Tim King, Pete Blamire, Chris Downham
Scott lead for this Link Pot trip, heading for Cairn Junction, Serendipity and the Easy Street streamway
Ray McGarry, Tim Donovan, Helen Hooper, Darren Mackenzie, Chris Downham, Scott Nixon, Tom Calpin, Sophie Cunningham, Bob Cattley, Nick Davies
A grand day out down Ireby during the heatwave, moving like a slick machine (some via Ding Dong Bell, some via the Shadow Route) down to Duke Street before heading up into Whirlpool Crawl for the thankless slog through to Ireby 2. At this point most of the party in their haste turned right and visited ‘Duke Street 3’ aka a chilly swim to a sump, while Ray and Tom turned left for Duke Street 2. Efficient retreat back out for Sophie’s poisoned hot chocolate on the surface, tainted by no-brand rum from Ryelands
Chris Downham, Bob Cattley, Tom Calpin
Quick SRT leg stretch down to the 4th pitch in a thunderstorm.