Day Trips – Page 21 – Kendal Caving Club

11 October 2023

By Tom C In Day Trips

Notts II

James, Maz, Pete, Rhod, Tom

Planned as an SRT trip up and over the bottom sump of Notts II to visit Notts III, we made our way down to find the streamway pretty powerful, which was surprising given there’d been no rain for a couple of days. Shows how much fell last week.

After a couple struggled down the water spout climb into the bottom chamber, we decided to sack it off given the job of getting the rest of the crew safely back up it on the way out, and instead had a long wander upstream to see the classic delights of Curry Inlet.

On the way out, James and Rhod were dispatched to the flood bypass route for some muddy squeezing while the rest of us met them at the other side, and made our way out to a nippy night.

9 October 2023

By Tom C In Day Trips

Dow Cave

Andy, Damian, John, Nick

The recently formed Seniors team had a day out at Dow Cave.

It was a good afternoon trip. Water had been very high recently – foam spotted everywhere.

4 October 2023

By Tom C In Day Trips

Yordas

Maz, Scott, Tom

What a damp evening. The initial plans for Aquamole were scrapped and we’d planned to visit Heron instead. However, on the walk up the rain set in really heavy and didn’t look like it was stopping so we decided to turn back and head to Yordas for a play instead. We headed in the middle entrance, Maz had a try of his new foot ascender on the short pitches then we headed to the traverse to rig and have a general SRT practise

13 September 2023

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Skirwith Cave

Tom, Sophie, Darren, Steve, Maz, James, Ray (sort of)

Unfortunately I’m not really qualified to document this trip as I only got about 100m into it. But it did happen!

6 September 2023

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Rumbling Hole

Darren, Tim K, Tim D, Steve, Ray

Rumbling is always a great trip and this was no exception. Every pitch has something of interest.

Darren (our fearless leader for this trip) arrived early and got a head start on the rigging. The Tims followed shortly after, with Steve & Ray bringing up the rear. As seems normal this year, the midges were out in force at the entrance, so it was good to finally leave the surface. A bit of a scramble through the undergrowth at the top and it’s soon down to the famous hanging rebelay. Great fun! And all in daylight above a rather large drop. It’s always worth spending some time on the entrance pitch as there are a few things to see, including the waterfall over to one side and the traverse to the Dead Bobbin Series to the other.

At the bottom of the main hang is a nice descending traverse to a final drop to the floor (still all in daylight). Then it’s underground along an awkward little passage to the remaining pitches. Some have awkward take-offs, others have tight sections, others have both. Tim D decided to turn back before the final couple of pitches as he and I had been there not long ago. The rest of us were soon at the bottom, anticipating the long journey out.

Actually, the outward journey didn’t take long. Once back at the cars, Darren treated us to a nice cool beer. Cheers Darren, who also took most of the photos.

30 August 2023

By Tom C In Day Trips

Wretched Rabbit

Chris D, Jason, James, Maz, Ray, Scott, Tom

With Wretched Rabbit being newly reopened courtesy of the RRCPC, we were keen to get back into this little classic and decided on a round trip.

After negotiating the entrance climbs, we plunged down the dig into Spiral Staircase, made our way down the grotty bypass and onwards to Holbeck Junction. Quarter of an hour of scrambling down the main drain saw us at Stop Pot, veering into the flood bypass to Four Ways Chamber, before making our way back out via Wretched Rabbit Passage. Minimal drama, good exercise and a nice turnout!

23 August 2023

By Tom C In Day Trips

Jingling Pot

Darren, Chris D, John, Miranda, James, Maz, Tom

Multi-route rigging, with the big hang, the pretty big hang and the Lateral Cleft all being rigged. The teams went their separate ways, and while Darren yo-yo’d up and down the big hang to practise for expedition, people made their way down and back up.

A bag was sent for a flying lesson down the hole in the floor of Lateral Cleft which may or may not still be down there…

16 August 2023

By Tom C In Day Trips

Shuttleworth Pot / Witches II

Ray, Tim K, Tim D, Sophie, Tom

This one never gets old. The midges were out in full force tonight forcing us underground as quickly as possible. A smooth descent down the Diver’s Pitch dropped us into Witches II, a quick look at the House of the Rising Sump before heading through to Painters Alley for the eye candy.

9 August 2023

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Lost Johns

Tim D, Tim K, Steve, Pete, Bob, Ray

A classic Dome-Centipede exchange, with Tim D rigging Centipede, followed by Bob & Tim K, and Ray rigging Dome, followed by Steve & Pete. All went smoothly and according to plan on the way in. Water levels were surprisingly low, not that it matters once you get past the entrance series. Team Centipede were at Dome Junction first, as would be expected, but they didn’t have to wait too long. Everyone did the full exchange, with Tim K derigging Dome and Ray derigging Centipede.

On Centipede, Steve went first, with Pete in the middle. Getting back to the cars, Ray was most surprised to find a Steve, but not a Pete. There was really only 1 possibility – Quicksand Passage! Obviously Pete must have zigged on the way out, when he should have zagged. There was nothing else for it – someone had to go back in to find him. Unfortunately, as Steve was already changed, it had to be yours truly. Thankfully, Pete was easily found and shown the correct passage.

Meanwhile, things weren’t going quite as planned on Dome. Bob had somehow managed to get lost while trying to locate the short prussic up to the window near the bottom of Dome pitch. The result was that the Tims had to partially derig the pitch and lower the rope to Bob. Bob was also a bit cream crackered for the rest of the exit, not having done much caving this year due to his broken shoulder.

Another great Wednesday evening trip!

2 August 2023

By Tom C In Day Trips

Lancaster Hole

Originally planned as a Wilf Taylor’s trip, this had to be switched to just the top of Wilf Taylor’s with the water levels. A smooth descent from all (a big trip for our newer SRTer Maz, and Jason’s first real test of his new BMS micro rack) saw us down into Bridge Chamber and on our way down to Montague.

Great sightseeing as usual along the route to Wilf Taylor’s and Waterfall, with pauses to admire the formations before heading up to the upstream sump of Wilf Taylor’s and a look at the slightly spooky amount of flow in Waterfall Passage.

On the way back we took detours to look out from the top of Fall Pot and a quick glance at the Colonnades, before an efficient prussik back out of the entrance.

Category: Day Trips