Category: Day Trips

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Great Douk & High Douk

Pete, John Martin (2nd KCC trip), Sophie H, Billy, Chris G, Klaudia, Vikki & Ray

On the drive over to the Dales, we had hoped that the planned Hardrawkin trip would be able to go ahead. But the darkening clouds as we headed along the A65 were sowing serious doubt. By the time we got to the Hill Inn we had more or less given up on the idea. Then the heavens opened and all doubt was removed. Plan B it was.

The obvious plan B was a quick pootle around Great Douk. Not quite the excitement of the Hardrawkin pitches, but everyone seemed happy enough with the downgrade. A miserable change and even more miserable walk led us to the impressive Great Douk shakehole, where the waterfall climb up into the entrance of the cave was pretty wet. So much so that several chose to use the dry traverse along the ledge.

We had a leisurely trip through the cave, poking up various inlets along the way. One, in particular, seems to go a long way, climbing steadily, but doesn’t seem to be shown on any survey I’ve seen. Back in the main passage, progress got lower and lower as usual until we eventually popped out of the top entrance – is this Middle Washfold?

The weather had improved a bit and our spirits were high, so off we set in search of High Douk for even more fun. We did a much better job of finding it than last time. Going in at the downstream end, next to Hardrawkin, a short section involving a bit of crawling and thrutching soon breaks surface again at a collapse before plunging into the depths (well a few feet underground at least) again. I think I’d be tempted just to use this 2nd entrance in future. Having said that, I imagine I thought exactly the same last time I was there.

High Douk is a lovely little cave, much under-rated in my opinion. Progress is easy enough, although there are a few sections where calcite curtains force one to get down on hands and knees in the water. There is no shortage of calcite and moonmilk. If you’re not convinced, just look up occasionally. The passage is usually fairly narrow, but does reach lofty heights in places. Alas, there is no through trip to be had and a collapsed area is eventually reached. I imagine this is quite close to the surface. Perhaps there was a navigable through trip at one time. But not for us, so we turned around, feeling very satisfied with our evening’s work.

Could we have done Hardrawkin? I imagine we probably could, although it may have been miserable. It’s largely irrelevant as it just isn’t worth taking the chance.

By Jason Clements In Day Trips

Gavel Pot clean-up

Ray, Maz, Jason

Having visited ‘Echo Chamber’, the new discovery off Glasfurd’s Passage in Gavel, I wanted to install a cleaning station (a bowl, spray bottles and sponges).  Why?  Well, to get to the new chamber, with its fabulous white stal, you have to crawl through a short section of gloopy mud, so that if you do accidently touch something and leave a muddy smear (as I had done!) it’s impossible to clean it off, as every part of your kit is just as dirty.  And Gavel is KCC’s adopted cave, so it seemed fitting for us to do it.

We arrived at lunchtime to an uncharacteristically sunny Leck Fell (but still windy), and soon set off.  Maz wanted some rigging practice, so we were treated to a rigging masterclass from Ray for the entrance eyehole pitch.  When we got to the second pitch, the diggers’ rope was still in place.  Should we ignore it and rig our own?  Nah, sod it… It was a slow descent – I guessed the original 10mm rope had increased to 12mm from the embedded mud.  Never mind, we were down soon enough, and on to Glasfurd’s.

We were soon through the gloop, and I arranged the cleaning material and removed the mud I’d left the previous visit – conscience satisfied.  Meanwhile, the others had been exploring to the end of the chamber, but not content with that, set to restoring some more stalagmites to a more pristine state.  The club can be proud of them!

We eventually dragged ourselves away from the virtuous work, had a wallow in the stream to get rid of some of the muck, went down to admire the exposed traverse to pitch 3, then returned the way we’d come.  A good trip, with a bit of a difference!

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By David L In Day Trips

Goblin route – Sell Gill

Sell gill – Goblin route

Tall/short/long David, Billy and Sophie

A beautiful calm, blue sky day was the scene for an extracurricular Saturday trip to Sell Gill and the Goblin route. Upon arriving in the valley we were greeted with a sea of cars in the surrounding fields and some very amateur attempts at traffic management, unfortunately we had chosen the same day as a 3 peaks running race (why anyone would choose to voluntarily run around the hills, especially in this weather is beyond me) which meant a delayed arrival at the layby at New Houses after fighting though the traffic.

Once there, suites were donned, snacks were packed, ropes were distributed, teeth were brushed!? and bags were shouldered and we set off up the hill in the glorious sunshine. The choice of trip was down to a fortuitous spell of dry weather which goblin route requires for a pleasant experience and on approaching the stream, with the flow of a Gnat’s widdle, we knew it was going to be a good day.

Down the first short handline into the lethally slippy streambed and down some lovely interesting winding stream way, very quickly coming to the first pitch. Due to the usually aqueous nature of the cave the traverse follows a funny route around a mini dry oxbow bend above the waterfall and then drops straight down, today into zero spray.  Some fun rigging, swinging off the pitch and stuffing myself through the letterbox crawl (slither) and getting myself wedged with my rig stuck where you don’t want a rig to be stuck, you are then in a parallel dry shaft.

Billy and Sophie made a much more stylish effort of the letterbox and we were ready for the last few bigger drops to the bottom. Those descended, whilst enjoying the view, and a few pictures snapped, we were in the main chamber wandering down to the streamway again. Sophie and Billy headed through the crawl along the stream for a while and reported some nice formations. We had seen the tail end of a uni group heading back up the dry route and assumed they must have just had an early start but it turns out they had camped in the chamber overnight! Good on them.

Back up we went, Billy taking on the derigging very efficiently and Sophie flying off ahead. Just as we were starting to climb out the stream another group of 3 were just starting, good timing! After a while bathing in the sun, we followed after a CNCC course down the first pitch of the dry route for Sophie to get some practice in perfecting her rigging.

A really nice day out on a brilliant little route, will definitely be returning, hopefully for an exchange!

Happy cavers – 3

Goblins spotted – 0         Maybe next time

 

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Yordas

Scott, Tom, Klaudia, Sophie H, Billy, Paddy, Long Dave, John Martin (1st KCC trip), Ray

Conditions seemed perfect after a number of dry days and with glorious evening sunshine, so we set off in high spirits to pretty much rig every route possible. I rigged Middle Entrance and the full Chapter House traverse/pitch. Scott rigged the Top Entrance and Paddy set up a Tyrolean-style guide line for anyone wanting to take the direct route down Chapter House. As far as I know, only Tom (and Paddy himself) were crazy enough to use Paddy’s setup. Although there had been no rain for a few days, there was still a reasonable quantity of water in the cave.

After everyone’s first descent, all but me went back up for another go – I was going back with Vikki the day after anyway, so didn’t want too much of a good thing. One good thing about me returning was that Chapter House and Middle Entrance didn’t have to be derigged. By the time everyone had had their fill and were back at the cars, it was still before 9pm, so the Marton Arms beckoned for a debrief. Top evening.

Now… back to Yordas for me…

Photos by Long Dave, Sophie H and Billy

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Lost Johns, Monastery-Dome exchange (nearly)

John, Steve, Maz, James, Paddy, Dougle Dave, Klaudia (3rd KCC trip), Ray

We were all looking forward to the planned Monastery-Dome exchange… right up until a cloudburst a few hours before the trip. The Monastery half of the trip didn’t seem quite so appealing after that. But we still had a Dome-Centipede exchange as a fallback, so decided to still head up onto Leck Fell and just see what water levels were like. They were high! But not so high that we couldn’t get in. After some debate, we decided that we could safely get as far as the New Roof Traverse and (more than likely) get back out, even if water levels rose slightly. Dome-Centipede was on! Conveniently, the first 2 pitches of Monastery require almost exactly the same tackle as all the Centipede pitches down to Dome Junction, so all we had to do was leave the 2nd Monastery bag in the car and dump the final rope for the Sink Chamber pitch on Dome route. Simples.

The entrance passage was sporting, but at least we were going downstream… on the way in at least. It was a welcome relief to climb out of the water onto the New Roof Traverse. It was also very clear that Monastery wasn’t an option. At the first hole, we went our separate ways. John, Klaudia, Steve & James set off for Centipede with John rigging. Dave started rigging Dome, followed by Paddy and Maz (against Maz’s own better judgement), with me bringing up the rear. Dave made quick work of Vestry & Cathedral pitches, then Paddy took over rigging duties for Dome and the final Dome Junction pitch.

We had some fun and games on Dome Pitch with the rope not being quite long enough. I’ve come across the same issue in other caves recently. I think the basic problem is that rigging styles have changed. The newer rigging style seems to use more rope and typically involves an extra loop. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with this. Is it safer or more convenient in some way? I don’t know. But it does use more rope. In most cases this isn’t a problem as the rope lengths quoted on CNCC rigging topos are typically rounded up. But, in some cases, it does lead to issues and Dome pitch is one of those cases. So Paddy and Dave found themselves trapped in the window unable to get down the next drop. I believe Paddy used some old shoelaces (or something along those lines) to get down, but that clearly wasn’t going to please everyone. So we did some quick shuffling at the pitch head for me to pass Maz, then I could quickly replace the new style rigging with my very traditional style and free up a couple of metres of rope. Job done and we were on our way again.

By the time Maz and I had swung through the window and down the final short drop, Paddy and Dave were already down the final pitch and, in fact, John was up it on his way out. I suspect the other party had been waiting for a while – just because Centipede is much faster to rig and descend – but they seemed cheerful enough.

Wasting no time, we all set off out, keen to get the entrance passage over with before the water rose much higher. Everyone did the exchange. Dave derigged Centipede, while James & Steve derigged Dome. The journey out went smoothly enough. Maz was making some very strange noises on Centipede pitch and it looked at one point like his lunch may be making a 2nd appearance, but thankfully that didn’t happen.

Dave and I passed the top pitch of Dome just as Klaudia was popping out, so the 3 of us, and John, who had been waiting round the corner, made our way out together. The sound of the water was rather worrying at this point, but it sounded worse than it was. I suspect the level had risen a bit while we were underground, but not enough to be a danger in any way. Still, Klaudia seemed determined not to go anywhere near the water. I’d give her 10/10 for determination to carry on traversing, long after the roof traverse had actually finished. It was all to no avail, of course, as there’s no avoiding the water eventually.

On reaching the surface, I was most surprised to see Paddy & Maz stood there waiting for us. I expected them to be back at the cars, wearing nice dry clothes. There was some debate about whether we should all wait for Steve & James to finish derigging Dome. It was a very short debate. Steve & James did show up eventually, but by that time we were all nice and toasty. Cheers for derigging guys!

This was Klaudia’s 3rd KCC trip, so she is now eligible for full membership, should she choose to apply for it. I don’t think there will be much opposition. She will be a great addition.

As a postscript, poor Dave suffered a punctured tyre on the way back down Leck Fell Lane. Some of those potholes are definitely getting worse, so let’s be careful people.

 

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Heron Pot

Billy, Sophie H, Klaudia (2nd KCC trip), Tom, Steve, Pete, Ray

A first lead for Billy. Quick progress to the pitches. Billy rigged the lower pitches, while Steve rigged the higher level. Most people explored below the pitches. Billy climbed up into the Old Phreatic Inlet and threw a rope down for lesser mortals Steve, Klaudia and Ray. After this excitement, Sophie & Ray carried on to exit via the very wet bottom entrance. Everyone else retraced their steps back up the pitches and out via the top entrance.

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Calf Holes – Browgill

Sophie H, Billy, Original Sophie, Maz, Jason, Ami, Vikki, Ray

A first lead for Sophie H. Beautiful rigging on the entrance pitch then a leisurely trip through to Browgill. Billy rigged the pitch down into Browgill. It’s really not easy, so he did very well. Only Sophie H followed him down it – everyone else opted for the bypass, which was equipped with a fixed handline. Then it was a return trip back through the cave to exit via Calf Holes. There are rumours that 2 members of the party chose to exit via Browgill, but these rumours can’t be confirmed… nor can it be confirmed that these 2 members managed to get lost on the fell on the walk back.

Photos by Sophie H

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 Tom C In Day Trips

AGM – Dolly Tubs

Charlie (UCET guest), Chris H, James, Paddy, Pete, Tom, Yolanda

What a fine day for 16 KCC to swarm Alum Pot. Standard Inglesport breakfast then up to a sunny Selside, where we slogged up to the pot and split into our teams school-style. 3 trips were on offer – the President’s Team were heading into Long Churn, the acrobatically-inclined were doing Diccan, and the rest were heading down the Dolly Tubs/Bridge route to the bottom. 

The window at the bottom of the Dolly Tubs was looking exceptional this morning, with a fine rising mist and the sunlight slicing the gloom in half. A moment to take in the view, and we were onwards and downwards, with the Greasy Slab and ledge roped up as a YUCPC dangler appeared from the Northwest and pendulumed over to join the route.

As we reached the far side of the bridge and began rigging the underside hang, we heard a commotion behind us and spotted Pete dangling above the 40+m drop on his cowstails, swinging and cursing. He was quickly plucked off and we vowed to get the new Bridge Alternative route sent over to CNCC for addition to the topo. Pete decided at this point to turn back so he could have a proper inspection of his undies and we ploughed on.

Our guest Charlie hadn’t really done many pitches as big as the hang under the Bridge before, but faced his fears and tackled it like a pro. Down the bottom, we had a general mingle with the student team and our own Diccan adventurers, before James, Paddy and Connor started their journey up to de-rig Diccan, and everyone else began snaking their way up the main shaft. At the surface it was delightful to pop out to a stove and a cuppa, with cake and biscuits – how could we have expected any less with our lovely Chair running the day.

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