Author: Will Burnett

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

North by North End Pot

Team: Ray, Tom, Will

With various trips happening at various times over the weekend, but none I could make, I found myself meeting up with Tom and Ray at Masongill nice and early on Saturday morning. Although the weather was a huge improvement on recent weeks, there was a bitter chill in the air.

Ray had previously completed North by North End Pot, although some time ago, and Tom and myself were on our first time. Once we’d completed the rather short hike in, we had a quick chat whilst kitting up, and Ray set off down the well-shored entrance shaft to rig. As he’d previously visited, and we were keen to respect the loose rock warnings that come with this cave, it made sense to follow Ray’s lead. This warning was very quickly reinforced as on our way to the big pitch we experienced the first boulder fall of many. Without too much hassle, we all carefully and slowly worked our way through the traverse and down the main pitch. Considering this is supposed to be the ‘danger area’, it turned out to be the least eventful section of either our descent or ascent of NbyNE!

Once down the final pitch, we breathed a sigh of relief and began stripping our SRT kits ready for the next part of our journey. Ray and I were super keen for a venture to the Eastern Front, and Tom had been super keen to make it back to his sofa after about 10 metres of descent down the entrance shaft. I’m not sure if it was the rock fall we’d already encountered, or the impending ‘muddy trough’ but his enthusiasm was quickly dwindling and in hindsight I can’t say I blame him! We pressed on regardless, and after a few short crawls which resulted in us saying “oh this isn’t that bad” and Ray responding with “just you wait”, we watched Ray slip into the first of many unpleasant and considerably wetter mud pools. The kind that would steal your welly if you hung around in the same spot too long, providing it was big enough to stand up in that is, the majority of the mud encountered was in the form of a flat out crawl/swim. After the first serious mud section, we quickly realised we were off course and that could well have been the end of our voyage there, before Tom pointed out another way on that looked well travelled. I wasn’t too keen, but Ray slipped on in after a moments hesitation, and we heard him gargle through mud that this was in fact the way on. I reluctantly followed, on the promise from Ray that it wasn’t very long, and worked my way to a brief area of respite where I could stand. I noticed that I wasn’t being followed anymore and Tom had obviously thought he was going to point the way on and bail, not on my watch! After a brief spell of peer pressure, he sure enough followed me through. Although still muddy, conditions had improved somewhat and so the three of us again pressed on, now admiring plenty of formations around us. One of which being the incredible crystal pool, which Ray had installed the conservation signage for, and what beautiful signs they are! After some quite physical sections of crawling, where you need to stay high in a sloped muddy crawl when your caked in mud, we came to the next flat out section. Tom had had enough and called it there, and so Ray and I continued on with half an hour to play with. Rays earlier enthusiasm had clearly been infectious, and I pressed on determined to make it to the boulder choke at the end of the Eastern Front before the turn around time. Ray was hot on my heels the whole way through and it was long before we were being rewarded with a final stroll through some beautifully decorated passageway. We reached the end, and before I had a quick climb up the boulder choke, we both had a ‘wash’ in the dribble of a waterfall at the end. Looking back it’s quite funny really, as we had to drag ourselves through all of that mud again, but still we revelled in the opportunity to have clean ish hands even if only for a few minutes. Ray and I were time checking with military precision, and took no time at all to turn around and head back into the muddy slogs to work our way back to Tom. Once reunited, it was evident we were all ready for home and so got right to it. Although it undoubtedly was a tough trip, I was still feeling pretty fresh at this point and so volunteered for de-rigging duties. Tom set off up the last pitch first whilst Ray and I were again searching for any drop of water to clean in and get our SRT kits back on. Ray began to ascend, and that was when the hardest hour I’ve had underground began! Whilst working his way over the huge boulder at the bottom of Julian’s leg up, a football sized boulder peeled off the wall. It skimmed by me by millimetres, and I quickly remembered how serious this cave was and how alert I needed to be. I quickly took up a position I felt most safe in, which to be fair wasn’t anywhere at the bottom of this pitch! Ray was now through the rebelay above the boulder, and precariously working his way up the boulder slope above. With no prompt at all, another two larger flakes each roughly the size of your typical pillow, peeled off the wall below the boulder. After watching them crash down exactly where I was previously stood and watched other come out, I began inspecting the wall and now noticed that these 3 boulders looked as though they’d been serving as chock stones for the main big boulder. After realising that there was nothing now holding this boulder in place apart from hope and prayers, my attention was then drawn to the boulder slope behind that said boulder is propping up. Luckily for me, Ray called rope free right as this realisation was dawning on me, and so I began working my way up and de-rigging as fast as I could whilst also making sure not to so much as breath in the direction of any of the slope. As I was attaching my ascenders, the big boulder shifted and few inches twice, causing a small rumble in the boulders behind, which only added to my current paranoia and I really felt I was sat at the bottom of something that was set to go any second. Normally, I wouldn’t feel happy leaving something so sketchy as that without attempting to make it safe for future visitors, but I felt there was absolutely no way I could try to move anything without there being uncontrollable domino movements, and I was certainly not in any safe place to be initiating such things! At this stage, getting out as soon and as safe as possible was the only thing on my mind. The biggest worry is that any future descending team unaware would step on the huge boulder which I don’t doubt would cause a substantial collapse. Thankfully the CNCC quickly responded to our report and published a warning writhing 24 hours. Rock fall was the theme of the ascent for me, and I can’t knock my team mates at all as I watched them ascend as carefully as they could ahead of me, giving each other the full range of the pitches before calling rope free. 3 or 4 times I was hit indirectly by tennis ball sized or smaller rocks and each time I was just thankful that it wasn’t any of the larger ones that had come my way during the trip! As I made the final climb up the entrance shaft I felt mentally drained from the ascent and constantly being on edge for rock fall, something I’d never properly experienced before. Luckily, we all made it out without any injuries, and we all vowed to never visit North by North End Pot again! There are other ways into the Eastern Front and that will be our route of choice in future, if we can ever convince ourselves to face that mud again!


 

 

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Little Hull Pot

Team: Will, Connor, Scott, James, Archie

Earlier in the year I was supposed to lead a LHP trip but unfortunately couldn’t make it and no replacement leader/team was available at the time. So I was keen to reorganise this trip before the end of the year.

The five of us met in Horton-in-Ribblesdale ready for our ‘slightly longer than usual’ walk in up the Pennine Way towards Pen-y-Ghent, accompanied by my four-legged companion Lenny. Although it was a cold day around 4-5 degrees surface temp, the sun was shining and there was little to no wind to contend with, so spirits were high and we were soon at the shake hole donning SRT kits.

I was raring to go, so quickly set about navigating the initial cobbled entrance crawl to meet the streamway where it was possible to stand again. A short romp downstream in this familiar passageway soon found us at the first pitch, which I quickly set about rigging with some new rope I picked up from Inglesport the day prior (100m of Edelrid Performance Static for £100!!! Can’t get bargains like that anymore!) Connor was hot on my tail through the re-belays and traverse and we were soon on the ground once again watching the others work their way through the pitch. To keep things moving, we headed off downstream yet again towards the second pitch. Although the levels were pretty low, none of us fancied getting any wetter than we had to, and so the high option with a squeeze through to the ledge was our direction of travel for the second pitch. To be honest, water or not, I think I prefer this way as you get a slightly bigger abseil and some more complex rigging to play with. As I’d finished rigging the pitch head, I heard the others catching back up, so wasted no time in getting down the pitch and keeping the pace going. Again Connor was chasing me down, and whilst the others were working their way through the second pitch, Connor and I pressed on to find the crux. Your faced with the option of either going through a 5-6m low tube/crawl half filled with the coldest water I’ve ever encountered in the Dales, or you must negotiate a ‘bypass’ consisting of a narrow rift with a couple of squeeze pinch points. As I said earlier, some of us (excluding James!) had zero intentions of getting any wetter than necessary, so needless to say we stripped our SRT kits and began working our way through the squeezes. I emerged from the other side just in time to catch James making his way through the low wet tube towards me. Behind his wake, I could just about make out Archie and Scott stripping their SRT kits in preparation for the squeezes, time to push on and keep the momentum I think! After some more rift-y streamway negotiated at water level and then also traversing high in places, we came to the final pitch. Nothing to complex here, just careful of where your placing your feet as everything around you feels very loose and ready to fall. With all five of us to the bottom, we took it in turns to explore around briefly before beginning the journey back to the surface.

Luckily, as self nominated team rigger, my work here was done and so I set off up the ropes first with camera in hand ready to catch make up for the lack of pictures and video I’d taken on the way in due to rigging. The chaps decided between them and took a pitch each to de-rig on the way out and so off we went. It wasn’t long before we were all up the final pitch and working our way back through the crux squeeze, again emerging from the other side in time to watch Scott this time take on the low wet tube of horror, before James also. Naturally, we all reconvened at the second pitch with it being the biggest and taking the longest to ascend, however this gave us plenty of time to get some good pictures and play about with lighting. Once we were through this, the re-filled tackle sacks began moving forward to us front runners and we were soon back moving towards the exit. Like a well oiled machine, we worked our way back up through the first pitch and into the cobbled entrance crawl. Emerging into daylight was quite a welcome, as was the sun when we came out of the shake hole ready for our trod back to Horton.

Pics & write up by Will

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

New Rift Pot (Beryl’s rescue!)

New Rift Pot

Team: Will, Chris Arthur, Ami

Before I begin, go and grab yourself your favourite beverage and get ready for a good one!

Our intentions were to head down New Rift Pot to Coates Cavern via Route 66 for a good old explore and poke about, potentially head through to Necropolis and scout out for a future mission to the Eastern Front. None of us were really excited to walk in with the current conditions being pretty wet, but soon enough we were hopping the wall and heading across the fell path looking for our shake hole. I’d done this trip once before with Scott at the start of the year so fairly confident I knew the way, neither Ami or Chris had been before but both were raring to go after my promises of a grands days caving with plenty to look at.

Chris was up first to rig and quickly got to work scrambling down the entrance climb to the pitch head, closely followed by me and Ami bringing up the rear. It wasn’t long at all before Chris stopped dead in his tracks and was staring down at something below. Low and behold the rough shape of a sheep’s back could be spotted at the bottom of the pitch, it must have taken a tumble from above the entrance into the rift and then at least one other to get to where it was. Clearly Chris and I both quickly concluded we were going to do something, although at this stage we weren’t too sure what! We observed a little more and then noticed that it was still moving around, alive! That changed everything as previously I’ve only dealt with deceased extractions, and immediately all three of our minds started running wild with what if’s, and it was evident we felt this was going to be a rather difficult task. Ami made for the surface to get some phone signal with the instructions to try and gather more club members for some extra hands and see if anyone knows which farmer it’ll belong to so we can notify them. Whilst she was on with that, Chris and I pondered some more from the pitch head trying to come up with a plan of action. The worry was that the more we moved towards the sheep, it would get more scared and potentially hop down the last 2-3m drop to the flat out bedding crawl beneath the pitch. Whilst the 2-3m drop certainly wasn’t serious, especially in comparison to the roughly 30m already descended, it would have been further to extract from and with a lot less room than we currently had if we could make it work. We were envisioning some sort of grab, lash, and haul but knew we’d have to be slick with it. For every move and noise we made it looked almost certain we were going to loose the sheep further into the system as she was teetering on the edge of the drop. Chris was left on suicide watch (although I’m not sure there’s much he could have done had she jumped!) whilst I quickly set about rigging a tensioned line we could use to haul all the way up and out over the fence, trying to make our lives as easy as possible. By the time I was done, Ami had put a shout out to other club members for assistance, informed North Yorks Police agricultural department to try and locate farmer, and got CRO on standby should we have struggled or failed with extraction.

One by one, we slowly and carefully abseiled down to join the sheep, trying our hardest not to spook or scare her at all. Once on a level, there was quite a bit of eye balling between the 4 of us, and I think it was here where Ami had decided she was called Beryl. Margaret and Barbara were also contenders I believe, but Beryl certainly felt more fitting! I slid myself over the drop beneath Beryl to stop her fall, while Chris and Ami coaxed her back away from the edge, and over into the other side of the chamber where we were able to pick her with a human barrier. I say that, there wasn’t much force required as she was ear deep in a pool of water, clearly dehydrated. Whilst having her fill, we took the opportunity to fashion up a harness for her out of a couple of slings crossed with an ‘X’ underneath. With a somewhat equalised central attachment point, we were pretty set to whip her out of there. Ami and I climbed back up to the pitch head and began prepping for the arrival of Beryl, with a view to smoothly transition her up the pitch and up out of the entrance rift. Haul system all set, Chris hopped on the in situ rope to ascend alongside Beryl, just in case she need any in flight attendance. Beryl just sat in her ‘harness’ completely un phased with the most chilled out expression on her face. Perhaps it was the 4 litres of water she’d just downed after 2 weeks of dehydration! I’m glad Chris was below and not me! Everything felt like it went smoothly and to plan whilst between the 3 of us we negotiated the package that was Beryl back to daylight. On the surface, Beryl had a new lease of life and kicked up a fight whilst Chris was taking off her harness, perhaps she wasn’t done with New Rift Pot just yet! Ami to the rescue with some extra hands to hold her down and she was soon skipping up the side of the shake hole on her merry little way, with nothing more than a mere limp for her troubles! She gave us all a look back, as if to acknowledge what had just happened, and then proceeded to head exactly in the direction of where she must have fell down in the first place. We all ran at her to chase her up and out of the shake hole, and just as we did, our back up arrived in the form of a solo CRO volunteer to check what all the fuss was about. I bet he was having a hard time to believe that this little lamb that was skipping across the fell with a grin on her face had just caused so much hassle!

We’d intended to continue with our trip, but after a very hasty 10 minutes of de-rigging and stuffing everything back into tackle sacks, some of which being left behind now so we could move faster The , it just seemed the right shout to call it a day and quit while we were ahead.

In an additional attempt to locate the farmer, I put a couple of social media posts out into local Ingleton groups, which then got spread wider afield and now Beryl is becoming a superstar, with various local news platforms reaching out to cover the story.

Whilst there is absolutely an element of comical value to this situation, I would absolutely like to highlight the teamwork and communication enabling us to achieve this, and a big thank you to CRO and everyone else who were ready if we needed them.

#Berylthecaver

Write up by Will, pics by Will & Ami

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Gaping Gill – BPC winch meet

Team: Ami & Will

Route: Stream Passage to Bar Pot via Main Chamber

After a couple of last minute drop outs and a very rubbish morning weather wise, Ami and I met in Clapham in pretty high spirits ready for a good day out. We had no specific plan, Ami had been in once before when the winch meet wasn’t on and I’d been the previous May with Ray and Claire where Ray took us in Marilyn and out Small Mammal. Ray had recommended Stream Passage to us as one of his favourites, so we sort of had that lined up but thought we’d get up to the tent and see what was what and go from there. We had a dry walk in luckily and quickly found ourselves at the tent gearing up ready to go. With only a couple of teams on the board but headed different ways we were on for SP so quickly navigated our way across the fell to the entrance tube.

The first pitch only short but with an interesting squeeze before the final descent which Ami breezed through and I not so much! The following 3 pitches were continuous and we leapfrogged each other for the photo opportunities before finding ourselves quickly in Stream Chamber. From here we worked our way to the main chamber with a few stops along the way to check the route description, confidence certainly reinstalled when we met a couple of children that had come down the winch in Sand Cavern – we must be getting close! After arriving in the main chamber we sat and spent quite a bit of time chatting to others, taking pictures, having a snack or two, and just taking it all in!

Ready to leave, we thought we’d aim for Flood Entrance as neither of us had done that before but new we could get there fairly easily and quickly, and we didn’t fancy too much more navigating and crawling through the unknown! Before long, we were crawling through the unknown and out came the description to aid navigate. We somehow ended up in a maze of crawling passages thinking we’d truly made a cock up and we’re going to have to double back to the main chamber and then we ended up on the ledge at the bottom of Flood Entrance main pitch, exactly where we wanted to be! However, there was a party descending and informed us there were 4 behind the leader so we thought we’d keep heading along the passage to Bar Pot. Here, another party were mid ascent and so onward we went again to SE Aven where we found some peace and quiet and a free rope to ascend. Up I went first to get some good shots of Ami climbing and right as she was coming into shot another team of two had just worked their way through sideways slot travers that we had to come. After a brief hello and passing in the best place on the route we could have asked for, onward we went and worked our way one at a time through the slot and then up through the boulders to the first pitch of Bar Pot. Ami patiently waited for me to manoeuvre myself through the tight-ish pitch head before then showing me how it’s done. A few minutes more of scrambling and we surfaced, still in the dry to walk back to the tent and sign out before making our way leisurely back into Clapham. Another fantastic winch meet experience!

I must also add, having gone last year on a Saturday to the BPC event and seeing huge crowds and queues with waits of hours long, this year certainly seemed a lot less congested and public friendly. Well done and thank you again to the BPC.

Write up and pics by Will


By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Tatham Wife Hole

Team: Sophie, Will, Tom, James & Scott

Another beautiful day on the surface and unintentionally we set off with a team full of committee members, plus Helen accompanying for the walk in. Two different routes were opted for, and I followed Sophie, which found us at the entrance a short time before the rest of the team. We took a few minutes to gather ourselves, kit up and say goodbye to Helen before Sophie lead us onward.

After the initial entrance climb, the action begins immediately with a combination of low sections, sideways crabbing down narrow rifts, the occasional open space, cobbled crawls. From the off you’re almost always descending in one way or another, following the water. Before long we were at the first pitch which Sophie had already rigged and was out of sight on a mission. We all caught back up at the second pitch, where we managed to catch our breath and take a few minutes while Sophie rigged, before shooting off again. I leapfrogged Tom and Scott here so I could try to keep up with the front runners and get some pics of them also. Again, Sophie flew down the third ‘Ramp’ pitch so James sent me after her. After navigating the lower more restricted section, I soon found myself on my hands and needs crawling along a lowering and more restricting passage with the occasional slanted section you could do an awkward stoop in. I caught back up with Sophie at the much anticipated duck, which she really was hoping we’d have a go at given how low the water was compared to a previous visit. It didn’t take any more convincing than that as before I even knew myself what was happening I was on the opposite side of the duck, and luckily not as wet as I was expecting! Sophie waited for James to catch up, who told us that Tom had turned around already due to needing to be elsewhere for a certain time, and then she made her way through the duck before James in close succession. Scott had caught up too by now and was having a look above at the alternative route to the duck, but it was pretty tight and awkward. He didn’t fancy getting wet either, I think saving his kit for more bank holiday adventures! Some more wrestling through awkward rifts for the now three of us had us hot on Sophie’s tail finally, and again with ease she had the final pitch rigged and onward we went for the final section. A quick chat amongst champions whilst we caught our breath and we began the return journey, again Sophie leading with James in tow and myself on de-rigging duties. That was the last I saw or heard of Sophie until we reached the surface, see really was on a mission! I was determined to keep close to James for company and not get left behind so was de-rigging like it was an Olympic sport and free climbed the lower half of the last pitch, the lower half of the ramp pitch and the first pitch – all of which felt relatively easy with safe holds in mostly the right places. James and I were relieved to hear Scott’s voice calling down to offer bag carrying services when we reached the bottom of the second pitch, and quickly took him up on the offer! With everything de-rigged and working my way back through the winding rifts trying to catch back up with a now out of sight but not earshot James, it was right as I was thinking we must be nearly there that he said ”ahhh daylight!” and I couldn’t see it but I felt it! Bags tossed up, the last climb out of the entrance and again we sorted kit in the shakehole before making our way back across the limestone pavement in the general direction of a now slightly emptier car park.

A wonderful day expertly lead by Sophie, thank you very much everyone!

Write up by Will, pics by Will

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Pool Sink

Team: Will, Chris A

Last minute plans saw us heading back up to Bull Pot Farm just over 12 hours after leaving from yesterday’s trip. This time, we were headed to do Pool Sink as neither of us had done it before. No pull through trip for us, we thought it wise to check the route out first, but in hindsight we probably could have gone for it.

After a sweaty romp across the fell we scrambled up a dry Ease Gill until we came to the entrance. Chris lead the way through the snug entrance and into the first crawls. Here we were questioning if we’d perhaps under estimated this trip, expecting a nice easy day out and here we are navigating hairpin bends in tight passageways some 10-15m from the entrance! Lucky for us it wasn’t too long until we were through this and things started to look a lot more vertical. I started the days rigging on the first pitch before handing over to Chris to rig the second and third pitches, then back to me to end the rope-work for now. We took a few minutes to catch our breath and strip SRT kits whilst deciding what to do next, by the time we made it to Holbeck Junction we had a plan. Chris was keen to see Easter Grotto, having seen pictures and read about it, so we decided to work our way through the higher level passages (Gypsum Cavern and The Palace) before attempting the flat out crawl connecting to Easter Grotto. We certainly didn’t expect it to be as tight as it was, but luckily it was over before too long and we welcomed the relieving presence of mud coated boulders where we could sit up and process what just happened! Immediately, we decided not to return this way and instead drop down into the main stream way and return via White Way and Thackray’s Passage. We took a slow crawl through Easter Grotto, admiring and photographing as we went. We scrambled down the in situ ropes to through the Assembly Hall to reach the main stream way and enjoyed the somewhat leisurely stroll back downstream in comparison to our journey up!

Back at Holbeck Junction in no time, we quickly had a recce about before heading back through the connecting passages to the 4th pitch of Pool Sink. We agreed our de-rigging order and quickly got to work. After a sweaty half hour or so we were making our way back through the entrance crawls with an encouraging breeze to comfort us somewhat, and finally daylight breaking through the entrance. Glorious conditions on the surface saw us halt for a few at the entrance and soak up a few rays before hiking back across the fell to the farm. A fantastic days caving, I’m sure Chris and I will be back soon to attempt a pull through trip.

Write up by Will, photos by Will and Chris

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Notts Pot

Team Twilight Zone: Will, Jim, Jess, Jasmine, Paddy

Team Centre Route: Steve, Tom, Dave, James, Pete M

Yet again another top turnout for a Wednesday night! Certainly too many bodies to be chugging up and down the same route so we opted for an exchange of the upper series. It’s been a while since I’ve made it out on a Wednesday night, however Tom specifically requested a bald rigger and so I had to oblige. I messaged him to see what madness he had lined up for me and his exact words were

”don’t think any of us have done Twilight Zone before, possibly a KCC first or at least the first time the clubs done it for decades.”

That was me sold, sounded right up my street! But it just didn’t add up, the topo didn’t look like anything too crazy, so I decided to google it and see if anything came back. Imagine how gutted I was when the two top results were Ray’s trip reports from 2023 and 2024! After reading through them, nothing sounded awfully difficult, in fact if anything it sounded like one of the many fun days out Ray and I have shared on a rope. The only bit of trickery I could pick out was that he seemed to struggle with finding the deviation on the first pitch. I’m not sure if Ray’s since found this, or if it is still a mystery for him, but I was intrigued to say least to see what it was all about!

Our initial plan was to just do the entrance pitches and Twilight Zone on a quick bounce, but with a few last minute additions to the numbers, we altered the plan to go for an exchange. Steve quickly packed to rig the Centre Route, and Tom had already preached for me to do Twilight Zone. A few forgotten essentials, (oversuits, wellies, helmets) saw a couple of the team having to dash to the tackle store and back, while the rest of began the hike in across the fell. Before long we were at that shake hole and Tom quickly set about rigging the entrance pitches whilst everyone else was kitting up. Tom took us as far as Three Ways Chamber, with me closely in tow, and Dave not too far behind. We waited here for everyone to regather, minus James and Pete that had dashed to the tackle store, then a quick team meet to decide who would go which way before we departed and set about route finding. Following the rift towards Left Hand Route, it wasn’t long before the hard work started as we scrambled up the slick rift. Without too much effort I had the first pitch rigged and a quick check of the topo before setting off down the first ab. Instantly I spotted an old bolt to my right roughly 2-3m down from the Y hang, this had to be the deviation! Relaying the information to Jim behind me t the pitch head, he looked at what was looking at and certainly didn’t seem keen to use it. I gave it a little wiggle and check, the hanger was freely spinning but it seemed solid enough, it wasn’t a huge deviation either so if it had popped it wouldn’t be super consequential. Not wanting to upset those following me, I opted not to use it, and we didn’t experience any rope run or anything anyway, but as I neared the ledge at the bottom of the pitch I noticed I was awkwardly on the edge of it and having to swing back in to get a solid footing. Once on the ledge, I looked back up to where the suspected deviation was and followed in a straight line down and had I used it, it would have landed me comfortably on the ledge not the edge and also literally on top of the bolts starting the next traverse. Possibly the more awkward one to rig, once through the traverse, the Y hang was quite committing with not many foot or hand holds to go at and an obvious void below. It didn’t take too long to get it knocked together with use from my short link I know carry everywhere after using it in rope access a lot and wondering if it would be any good in a cave and now it’s a main part of my SRT kit. Part way down the pitch I spotted the next bolt on the opposite wall and took the swing out to it, although it is possible to continue straight down here also – another of many options of variation to a trip in this vertical playground! Here we could start to hear the other team working their way down through the pitch also, and occasionally saw their lights also flashing through the many openings. Straight onto the next pitch with an interesting window deviation into another chamber that you touch down in, again nothing too taxing. Soon we were working our way through the last pitch, with an awkward pitch head and below me I could see Steve just touching down at the bottom of his pitch, perfect! Exchange is on! The others perched on the ledge while k had a quick drop down to the passage leading to the lower stream way bit instantly everything became very wet and nobody else fancied a look either, not that we could get far as we didn’t bring anymore rigging. One by one everyone touched down, and by now James and Pete had caught back up, so a quick picture of everyone at the bottom before we picked our exits. Tom and I went first, Tom up Twilight Zone and I went for Centre Route, with Jess hot on my heels. Top job from Jim and Paddy de-rigging Centre Route and negotiating kit bags, and likewise in Twilight Zone with Dave and Steve. Again in a similar order we exited, with (I think!) Jim de-rigging the entrance pitches. It was certainly noticeably colder now on the surface, but once all regrouped we all head back across the fell, warming ourselves up as we went.

Thank you all for a great evening!

Write up by Will, pics by Will

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

BPK – rigging masterclass

Team: Will, Chris A

After achieving full member status with the club, Chris quickly set his sights on his next underground goals and asked me if I could introduce him to the world of rigging/de-rigging. Chris is clearly naturally talented on a rope, as he is also a competent rope access tech, so I knew we wouldn’t have to start totally from scratch and would get a lot covered in a single trip. To start with, Chris drove us to Gareth’s house to collect the tackle store key, before heading there to pack for BPK and show Chris the process of a) packing for a trip, and b) signing kit in and out of the store correctly – it seems he may not be the only person in need of this refresher after recent events!

Once loaded up we head over to Kingsdale and began our romp up the hill to the entrance. Chris was quickly put to work, rigging the entrance pitch and the second pitch using the slot and wide ‘Y’ hang variation. The third pitch has a couple of deviations that require a decent swing to grab, so as Chris hadn’t attempted anything like this yet I head on down first to give him a quick demo, before removing the stopper knot at the bottom of the pitch and getting Chris to pull the top back up through the deviations before his descent meaning he then had to swing for the deviations again. He clearly listened to what he was being told and like a pro he breezed down the pitch to join me. The baton back over to Chris, off he went to rig the final pitch, perhaps his biggest test of the trip given that he was now pretty tired, and faced a couple of tight traverses before the final ab. Without too much effort, we were soon at the sump trying to fathom the point of the final pitch given that it’s a lot of effort for nothing at all really!

After putting in a shift on Chris’s part, we decided to de-rig in turns on the way out to give him a little rest, and I took the last pitch and the bigger second pitch so he could work through de-rigging the deviations and not just tire himself out on tight traverses. It wasn’t long at all before we could see daylight once again and with all the kit hauled back up and out, we were on our way back to the car before heading back to the tackle store to carry out some post trip checks on equipment and sign it all back in. Today we looked at:

– Packing kit for trips, organising bags, understanding topo’s, emergency preparations.

– Personal kit related to rigging. What makes life easier, what doesn’t.

– Knot options and selection. When and when not to use particular knots. Equalised and offset ‘Y’ hangs, small and large. Traverse lines. Deviations. Traverse lines that work up or down and protecting a slide/fall.

– Personal placement, good ‘housekeeping’ skills (not creating a spaghetti junction, being aware of cowstails and rigging lines and not getting twists and overlaps)

– Mechanical advantage, being able to use the tools at your disposal to better your position or help you achieve the objective quicker, safer or more efficiently.

– Group focus, rigging for personal/mates and rigging for group trips with all abilities. Being aware of trouble areas where people might need more from the rigging to help overcome obstacles, and being able to identify ways to do so. Also having awareness of surroundings and passing on information, can others follow or do you need room to rig? Does the passageway require one caver passing at a time, etc.

– Swinging on a rope, the principles behind swinging SAFELY on a rope. What to check before swinging, how to swing, and what to do if things don’t go to plan.

– De-rigging principles, bag management, personal protection when de-rigging and making sure that you don’t de-rig yourself out of the system totally.

– General performance analysis, not gassing yourself out, passing the baton if/when tired, focus, delegation if required, caving targets and goals.

All in all a fantastic day out! Chris really impressed me with his ability to learn new skill sets and put them into practice. Not only this, but watching him rig  and de-rig it’s evident to see he’s already thinking about all the important things like placement, protection, movement, etc. Practice, practice, practice, that’s all Chris needs now and I really don’t think it’ll be long at all before we can add him to the list of club riggers. If you’re on a trip with Chris, make sure you put his new skills to the test and get him grafting!

Write up by Will, photos by Will and Chris

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Ogof Gofan – trip 2

Team: Scott, Helen & Will

It may or may not surprise you that this trip went quite a bit like yesterdays! The weather was pretty similar, perhaps slightly dryer but gusting winds still. The three of us met early morning and kitted up before heading across the sea cliffs once more. I must admit, a wet day prior plus a late night at the pub with yesterdays team and a sleep in the van wasn’t leaving me feeling in the highest of spirits, but I was determined to show Scott and Helen just as good of a time as the others!

Pretty swiftly we were rigged and all inside the entrance stripping our SRT kits off, a pretty dialled and efficient process now after all the practice I must say. This time, I was focusing on trying to put myself in different places so that when I shared the photos and made some reels of our trip later on, they weren’t a complete de ja vu of the day before! Helen lead the way with Scott hot on her heels, through the first crawly sections and into the window chamber. It definitely felt a bit more slippy in here today so there wasn’t any edging out for a photo op from me today! Further on we went and soon we were in the main chamber, again admiring the incredible formations on offer which still made Scott and Helen wow in awe despite all of the photos and videos they’ve been flooded with of the place! I’ve now passed through this chamber 6 times and still have to stop and take a few minutes before pressing on. On through the next crawl and I decided today was the day to explore the little off shoots that Ogof Gofan has to offer, firstly with the down climb between boulders that sadly chokes up after a few metres. Once in the last chamber, Scott and Helen set off in different directions to again explore the off shoots, all again choking up after not much exploration but all worthy of a quick peek due to the pretties on offer.

Before long we were retracing our steps, Helen again exploring some more tight off shoots but shortly returning. Once back at the entrance, Scott offered to de-rig, giving me the opportunity to shoot up the rope first and just after the re-belay I found a suitably placed spike to toss a sling over and hang myself from to get some good shots of the others exiting.

This little beauty of a sea cliff cave has been an incredible trip to plan and arrange and I’m glad everyone in attendance had a fantastic time. I’m more than happy to return again with people if our reports have inspired you! Feel free to reach out to me (KCC or not) and I’ll happily share my knowledge and information on this trip.

Write up by Will, photos by Will and Helen

By Will Burnett In Day Trips

Ogof Gofan – trip 1

Team: Sophie, Darren, Gareth, Will

Some of you may remember back in January I did a solo recce trip to Ogof Gofan with a view to working it into the next meets list. I’m glad I did the recce trip, as beforehand I’d read through horror stories in other people’s trip reports saying how they’d scoured the cliffs for hours with no luck finding the entrance, or some had found the entrance and made it inside, but then could find the way in or were turned back by the squeezes on offer. On the recce, I took a selection of anchor supplies and rope protection, but none of which really sufficed and so I made a mental note of what I thought I needed to return with to make the pitch better suited. The cowboy in me wasn’t too bothered on the recce mission, I was more keen on getting in and seeing what was on offer! At times throughout both of our trip reports I’ll be pretty vague about locations and descriptions out of respect for the process of entry. Like many caves in Wales, you can’t just rock up whenever and enter Ogof Gofan, you must get in prior contact with the park ranger and conservation/access officer to arrange a permit. There’s pretty strict provisions in place to protect this little hidden beauty. Maximum of 4 cavers per trip, the highest standards of cave etiquette are expected, and lastly there’s a bit of an unwritten rule to not post or advertise the exact location of the entrance. Perhaps it’s to keep some air of mystery over the cave, more of an adventure come mini expedition style trip with some good old fashioned exploration. Or maybe it’s to again minimise the traffic this cave receives. There are some pretty good videos out there on YouTube and other places of Ogof Gofan, with researching these and looking on the Caves of South Wales website you can pretty quickly build a solid knowledge of the rough area to be in. I’m also more than happy for people to reach out to me for information, KCC members or not, and I’m happy to help you with planning your trip or joining you to show you the way!

After the long road trip down it was fair to say we were all raring to go, despite the wind and rain that had been hounding us all morning. It was that bad that on our walk in we’d decided to have a look and see the conditions cliff side, potentially having to abort should it look like we were going to be on for some horizontal abseiling! Luckily, the direction was ideal that the entrance was sheltered and only the odd gust now and then came our way. Whilst the others harnessed up at the top, I made my way down the cliff, walking at first, and then a small scramble before reaching the ledge. I guess there’s loads of ways you could rig the entrance pitch really, but I went with my mental list following the recce trip and thankfully it worked a treat and it wasn’t long before I’d rigged and swung into the entrance – the first time on my own I didn’t have the balls to try the swing, this time I was a bit more confident! Or maybe I was trying to prove my worth to the calibre of cavers following me! Once in, I quickly located ‘the spot’ to get the famous entrance pitch photos and snapped away whilst I watched Gareth, Darren and Soph work their way to join me. The clouds opened with a hail storm during this process, Darren being the first to join a dry Gareth and I quickly by an even more soaked and hail battered Sophie. After stripping our SRT kits, I lead the way through the first squeeze immediately in front of you – not the worst squeeze of the trip but clearly had turned people away in the past! It wasn’t long before the four of us had made it to ‘the window’ which is another none accessible opening to system that can be spotted from the sea cliff if you walk further around the bay to the ledge. This is where a lot of people go wrong, they spot the window from the other side of the bay and think it’s the entrance, and then struggle to access it and give up. It’s not actually possible to sea the entrance to Ogof Gofan until your on rope above the rebelay, or if you have a drone and feel brave enough to fly it over the sea. The window chamber is notoriously greasy and care must be taken when traversing from the entrance crawl to the upper ledge. The further into the system you go the more you begin to see formations appearing, in larger quantities and quality as you go also. Another squeeze through the back of a pool means an unavoidable wellie fill next before a very short flat out crawl to the next decorated chamber. A few more smaller decorated chambers and crawling sections and you find yourself slotting into a tight upwards climb. When you step up, the refreshing breeze hits your head and you instantly get the feeling something good is coming up. A little scrambled is required to get out of the tighter top section of the many 2-3m climb, and you emerge in the top of mini crater shaped room with 3 incredible formation in the middle below you, surrounded by a stunning deep blue pool. Everywhere you look the formations just leave you in awe as they display such a variety of colours, shapes, variations not seen elsewhere where, and they’re everywhere! A traverse around the room and you pass through a couple of mites that reminds me of passing through a gateway. To left, the crawling continues down a rocky shaft, which emerges in another chamber with a download climb in the floor, the way on is to the right although I did explore the down climb that goes for maybe 4-5 metres before choking up. A little more crawling over some puddles and you reach the last chamber, which again is very nicely decorated, perhaps a little less wow factor than the previous but still stunning in its own right! Again, a few more little off passages to explore with more formations to admire, but ultimately they choke up and this is the end of the cave. It’s around 120m in length, but the combination of the entrance requirements to get inside, plus the squeezes/crawls, and then the formations and variety of formations, in my opinion makes this well worth the slog down the country to visit. I’ll definitely be back again and I’ll happily lead some future club trips here in coming years.

Once back on the surface, we were lucky to make it back to the vehicles avoiding the rain before heading off to fill the afternoon with wet weather activities and later gathered again at the St Govan’s Inn for a fantastic evening of food, drinks and socialising. An excellent day by all accounts!

(write up by Will, photos by everyone)