Category: Uncategorised

By James Benson In Uncategorised

Aygill Caverns

Present; James, Sophie, Billy, Amy, and Jasmine 

After a quick walk in the opposite from usual caving direction we managed to find the entrance hole by the side of the (dry!) Aygill beck. Thus followed a bit of head scratching we found our way through to the first pitch. Although this section can be free-climbed, we opted to rig it for safety. The way on was through a rift in the floor to a narrow, squeezy passage that had caused a significant tangle on a previous trip, but this time we moved through smoothly, perhaps things are getting easier?

As the cave progressed, the environment became increasingly wet and fun. Reaching the cascading sections required careful bridging and scrambling down slick, steep walls. The navigation became more complex downstream where several routes intersect, requiring frequent reference to the survey description. Doing a complete 180-degree turn near the Sand Junction we eventually approached the sump. This involved a challenging “‘orrible bit”—a low crawl where the water level rose nearly to the roof, contrasting my earlier optimistic assessment that the trip would be a relatively dry one.

Demonstrating great bravery, Jasmine dived into the sump pool. Fortunately, she had the foresight to wear a wetsuit, wisely hedging her bets against my assessment of the conditions. Completely saturated but satisfied with reaching the sump, we began our return journey. The only interruption to this was near the entrance pitch by two resident bats that took exception to our presence. The bats became loud and screechy, flying directly at the team’s faces and prompting a hasty exit from the cave

Aygil Caverns is a high-quality system with much more to offer. The trip served as a good recce for future objectives, in already eyeing the Middle, Left hand, Red Rose and Precambian Series for next trip.

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 Sophie C In Uncategorised

Kendal Scrambling Club – Jack’s Rake

Ami, Yolanda, Kate, Will, Paddy, Pete, Dave, Sophie 

It was such a beautiful nearly-mid-summer day that we decided to break with tradition and stay overground for a scramble. After some debate we settled on Jack’s Rake, a classic Lake District trip. It was a beautiful, if somewhat sweaty, walk up to Stickle Tarn and the foot of the Rake. Cutting an impressive diagonal slash across

Pavey Ark, Jack’s Rake can look daunting form the bottom but it is a pleasant little route and the eight of us, and one dog quickly shinned up to the top of the fell for a rest and some cake. The it was a quick canter down the gully to the pub for a well deserved pint. 

Photos by Will, Dave and Paddy 

 
By Scott In Day Trips, Uncategorised

Hagg Gill Pot

This Sunday four of us converged on Wharfedale, a distant and exotic land (though less so for Jason). Some last minute changes to the lift share plan saw Tom “I Bagsy The Window Seat In Case I Need To Chuck Up Out Of The Window” Calpin take on driving duties for the tortuous roads of Langstrothdale, allowing me to finish my coffee en route. Jason waited politely while I tried unsuccessfully to find a farmer, any farmer, to ask permission from, and then gave up after a token glimpse of a grumpy looking bloke in a tractor. Yolanda arrived in her trademark indestructible Yaris, and we all got changed.
The entrance to Hagg Gill is in a shallow dry valley, slightly uphill of a prominent barn. A scaffolded shaft drops a few feet to a ledge, then a brief constriction allows a hang into a spacious chamber. When we were all down the entrance pitch we went exploring upstream, soon finding the famed helictites which festoon the walls of the narrow streamway. Stay low, or risk further damage! We climbed up and over a boulder choke, then followed more pleasant streamway to a breakdown chamber with a short squeeze on the right. Above this is a handline climb to a high grotto of delicate straws, one of which is about 4 feet long.
After a few photos, we retraced our steps back to the foot of the entrance pitch, and then went downstream. The stream drops through two chambers to a junction with another streamway. Left leads to a fine sump, complete with froth, diving weights and a dug attempt at a roof bypass.
The way on is to the right, upstream. A couple of sporting cascades lead to a fork. Right seemed to lead to digs, grovelling and general misery, while Tom reported that left looked tight and low. According to the description, this improves after a while, leading to further helictites and plenty more passage to explore. We thought that we’d better leave something for a future trip (cough), so turned around at this point, still relatively dry.
Back up the entrance shaft, with the constriction providing some fun along the way, and then we were out to daylight. We finished with a quick romp through Langstroth Cave, since it was fairly close. Yolanda and Jason tackled the wet crawl to the lower exit, while Tom provided a kind of boudoir ambience with the red light on his headlamp. A bold plan was hatched to get to Seasons Bakery in Ingleton before closing time but alas, too late! No free cream cakes this time.
All in all, Hagg Gill is an entertaining place for a few hours on a dry day, with some great stream passage and formations to ‘oooh’ over. Let’s get it back on the meets list some time soon.

(photos courtesy of Jason)

By Jason Clements In Uncategorised

Boxhead > Notts II

Ray, Sophie, Darren, Chris D, Tim D, Bob, Jason

[Written up 26/10/25  from some brief notes made at the time]

This was the Christmas meet, and I hadn’t done Boxhead before, so what could be better than a 3-counties through-trip to work up an appetite for pudding?

Ray rigged, down to near (but not at) the bottom of the shaft to the Kendall flyover.  It’s a big pitch, but the rigging isn’t too complex.  Tim and Bob turned back to de-rig, bless them!  There was a longish crawl, followed by the Cresta run, a slightly awkward slippery crawl/traverse over a rift.  Then some more mixed going – fortunately Ray knew the way as there were many side-routes.  At one point, as I was trailing behind somewhat, I failed to notice the way on was a climb up over boulders, and got stuck trying to get underneath, in thick mud [2025 update – I only did the same f***ing thing again!]. Darren had to come back to set me right.  Further on, there’s a handline-assisted chimney climb which is quite strenuous. [2025 update – 3 years later I couldn’t manage this at all and resorted to prussiking up the old hawser-laid tat].  Soon after that we came to the junction with the Lyall cavern route (Helictite rift is straight on) and up to the link with Notts II.  You have to go up as far as possible before dropping down into it.  I managed to get stuck again by not ensuring my SRT bag went down before me [2025 update – one lesson learnt!]  It was a fast trip as everyone else was fitter than me.  About 3½ hours underground for me, probably less for the others!