Tag: Dales

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Bull Pot Kingsdale

James, Pete, Maz, Paddy, Ray

More often than not in recent years, we seem to have limited club trips to the first 3 pitches of Bull Pot, either due to water levels or to make the trip more novice-friendly. With a crack team and with water levels very low, however, we were determined to get to the bottom this time. Originally, 8 people had signed up, so I packed tackle for the main pitches, as well as variants of the 1st and 3rd. In the end, 3 had failed to make it (mostly due to work commitments), leaving us with 5. We still took all the tackle, intending to rig the variants.

After a very pleasant and leisurely change, we set off up the hill. The others obliged me by taking the sweeping path out to the right, making the walk up slightly easier. A plan was hatched whereby I would rig the main pitches, while Paddy would rig the variants. So I set off down the 1st (also with tackle for the 2nd & 3rd), closely followed by James with tackle for the 4th & 5th. The idea was for us to race on ahead and see how far we could get before being caught by the others.

Meanwhile, Paddy (who had never been in Bull Pot before) set about rigging the Monolith variant of the 1st pitch, followed by Pete, who had done this variant before. It’s a great little alternative and Paddy seemed suitably impressed. He rigged straight down to the ground from the final y-hang – a perfectly reasonable thing to do. It’s possible to stop a bit higher up and join the traverse line to the 2nd pitch, but why would you? Well, because just around the corner, literally a few feet away, you have to climb back up to the traverse line anyway.

James and I made short work of pitches 2 & 3, rigged (as usual) with a single rope and dropping down the slot. The 4th was bone dry – not even a single drop of water. I set about rigging the traverse at the top, only to discover that I no longer have the flexibility to get my foot onto a necessary step to reach the final y-hang. Hmmm. After some, presumably comical, shenanigans I managed to get there. James was very diplomatic. We used the 1st deviation, more out of habit than anything else. Thankfully there was no need for the 2nd.

Further up, the “wisdom” of leaving poor Paddy, who had never been in Bull Pot before, to rig the 3rd pitch alternative was exposed as the pure idiocy it undoubtedly was. Of course, he assumed the slot was part of the 2nd pitch, so shot straight down it, as you would. My fault entirely for not considering this obvious outcome. Oh well – pointlessly carrying some unused rope down a cave never hurt anyone.

James and I could now hear the others behind us, so sped on to the final pitch. I must have gone a bit low to reach the start of the initial traverse as the first anchor seemed a bit close to the pitch head – well, slightly over it really. Only when I looked back at a higher level did I see the actual 1st anchor. Oh well, too late to go back now. The initial traverse is quite constricted, which makes things particularly awkward with my reduced flexibility. Thankfully things improved a bit after the drop onto the lower traverse line. Soon, both James and I were at the bottom.

James had a bit of a poke around to see if the passage carried on, but didn’t get very far. Unusual for him. I was sure I’d have to physically pull him out of some hole or other. Perhaps he’s learned something from Hazel Grove Cave a few weeks ago.

Soon, Paddy dropped in to join us. Then Pete. Nice one! Maz decided the initial traverse on the last pitch was a bit snug for him. Fair enough. He did incredibly well to get down the 4th for the first time.

Then there was nothing left but to set off out. I went first. Getting back across the 2 traverses on the last pitch seemed much easier on the way out and I soon joined Maz and we made our way out together. Paddy derigged the bottom 2 pitches. Apparently he had some fun on the “first” anchor of the bottom pitch being as it was too close to the actual pitch for comfort. Sorry again Paddy. Not to worry – his skills were more than up to rigging a little closed safety system. Nice.

At the front, I went up the 4th pitch first as Maz wanted someone at the head when he got there. We then made our way out, via the standard 1st pitch, without too much drama, picking up the unused 3rd pitch alternative bag on the way. James was close behind, but separated from us to derig the Monolith variant on the 1st pitch. Special mention must go to Pete. Not only did he get to the bottom, but he also derigged the top 3 pitches.

All in all, a very successful trip. Thanks all for making it a great evening.

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 Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Rowten Pot

John, Will, Ray

This was a quick trip following my favourite route: In through the Eyehole, descend the main pitch from the 1st y-hang in the bottomless rift, swing over onto the wall for a few of the rebelays on the normal Gully route, all finished off via the Flyover.

Both John and I had done Rowten many times (although this precise route was new to John), but it was a bit of a step up for Will. Having done a few of the West Kingsdale potholes, he was suitably impressed by their “big brother”.

We were down at the bottom in no time. Will couldn’t be persuaded to dive the sump, which is just as well as he started by looking at the upstream sump. Neither John nor I had any intention of diving any sumps!

Will did an excellent job of derigging. All was going very well indeed until I started to prussic the entrance pitch. The tackle bag I was carrying became tangled round the rope, so I hauled it up and started passing it around to free it. Unfortunately, being a bit depleted these days, I ran out of energy & strength halfway through this manoeuvre and let the bag drop. This was enough to break the donkey’s d1ck attaching it to me and it fell back down the pitch. We had 2 bits of good fortune here: (1) it landed on the ledge without rolling off down the main pitch, (2) I was only 6 or 7m up, so could easily pop down to collect it.

Will finished off the derigging in no time and we exited to glorious sunshine. Will tells me the whole trip took 3 hours, 20 minutes from car to sump and back. Not bad for a couple of old duffers… and a young tiger.

Photos by Will.

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Cracker – Boxhead Exchange

Scott, Ami, James, Dave & Ray

Luckily we had enough takers, so the exchange was on… otherwise we would have had to make do with an in and out of either entrance.

It had previously been decided that Scott would rig It’s A Cracker and I would rig Boxhead, so all that remained on getting to the rough area of the caves was to decide who was going in each entrance. Ami decided to join Scott, while Dave & James opted for joining me in Boxhead.

So off we set for our respective holes. Well, the Boxhead team did, but it turns out that neither Scott nor Ami had been to Cracker before, so had no idea in which direction to set. A quick detour to show them the way and we were all finally ready to get underground.

Rigging Boxhead went largely according to plan. The only issue was that I was unable to get a swing going to reach the 2nd deviation on the big pitch. I wasn’t within reach of any walls, so just hung there pathetically for far too long before I could manage to get enough movement to just about touch a wall with my feet. Mental note: next time get a swing going at the first deviation before descending to the 2nd.

We followed the Kendal Flyover route, largely because it’s much more fun than going straight down. Dave and James were hot on my heels the whole way, so obviously weren’t struggling in any way. At the ledge where the crawl goes off towards the Tate Galleries, I asked if D&J wanted to have a poke around Cresta Run, Epiglottis Grotto etc… but there didn’t seem to be any enthusiasm. I trace this to their last visit when they went through the initial crawl and then turned left into Venus dig, which must have been a bit of a disappointment. There is better stuff – honest!

So we just rigged the last drop and carried on down to the bottom to wait for team Cracker. We were just about to pop trough to the bottom of the main Boxhead shaft for a look around when we heard voices and then saw a light above. Scott and Ami obviously weren’t hanging around. Good effort, given that neither of them had been there before.

They soon joined us at the bottom and we finally had that poke around. No-one could be persuaded into having a look at The Tube. Maybe next time.

Dave volunteered to derig Boxhead – he must have really enjoyed it on the way down. Ami followed him. Scott opted for going out Cracker, followed by me, with James derigging. The plan was for James and I to share the derigging, but I was so knackered on reaching the top of the bottom pitch that Scott decided I was best just making my way out slowly. And, believe me, it was slow… and pathetic. I guess it may be a while before I’m back on top of my game.

James did a sterling job derigging. Dave must have done likewise in Boxhead as they were out in super quick time and had to wait quite a while for us – largely down to my lack of fitness/strength I suspect.

I think Boxhead – Cracker is the perfect evening SRT exchange and this particular trip didn’t disappoint. Thanks all!

Photos by Dave & Ray

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Hardrawkin Pot

Scott, Jasmine, Maz & Ray

A chilly evening saw 4 of us gather at the layby just up from the Hill Inn, unsure if Hardrawkin would be possible given recent rainfall. Although it had been dry all day, there had been significant rainfall over previous days and river levels were still very high. So we walked up the hill with a half-plan to divert to High Douk, Great Douk etc. if nececessary.

Arriving at the entrance, the water level entering the cave seemed surprisingly low… and cold, so in we went. Also surprisingly, no-one but me had ever been to Hardrawkin before. This didn’t deter Scott, who bravely led us into the unknown.

The few little climbs down at the entrance were as slippy as ever, requiring a bit of care to avoid an embarrassing tumble before even leaving the surface. The entrance passage, as far as the 1st pitch, was a good workout, forcing constant changing from walking to crawling or stooping at regular intervals. This was my 1st caving trip for around 5 months due to various joint-related issues, so I found progress along this passage to be particularly hard work.

Eventually we made it to the pitch and Scott set to rigging. Maz found a great natural backup, but it was quite a way back from the pitch head. I found myself wondering if Scott had brought a sufficient excess of rope. Time would tell.

The pitch head rigging was dispensed in quick time and Scott set off down. Despite the apparently low water levels entering the cave, the pitch did seem quite wet, so I hoped Scott would engage at least 2 deviations… which he did. There seemed to be quite a delay before the eventual “rope free” call from the bottom. At least Scott had made it down, but why the delay?

Jasmine was next to descend. The head of this 1st pitch is always a bit awkward as the y-hang is quite a way out over the pitch, making it difficult to pull enough slack through your descender to avoid hanging in your cowstail as you swing out. But Jasmine made it look easy, bridging up the walls for a bit of extra height. Nice one. Down she went, passing the deviations easily enough. Again, there was quite a delay before the rope was declared to be free. Hmmm.

Maz was up next. Not being a natural SRTer by his own admission, he appeared to be somewhat unconvinced about the sense of this particular endeavour. How would he get onto the rope? It’s not as bad as it looks, I encouraged. How would he get back off it on the way up? It’s much easier on ascent, I lied. He didn’t look entirely convinced, but carried on anyway. Sure enough, he did manage to get onto the rope and set off down. The deviations didn’t seem to pose too much of a problem. Once again, though, there was something of a delay before I heard “rope free”.

Setting off down myself, I could hear Scott shouting something as I neared the bottom. Eventually it became clear that he hadn’t, after all, brought a sufficient excess of rope! The workaround was to disengage from the rope while clinging to the wall a few metres up the pitch. As I was last down, we had to be careful that the rope didn’t ping back up the pitch as soon as my weight came off it. So Scott was on hand to tie a bit of tat to it to ensure that we at least had a fighting chance of being able to exit the cave.

We were all thoroughly soaked after descending this pitch, and the various shenanigans securing our exit strategy, so were glad to get moving down the cascades leading to the 2nd pitch. I always enjoy these cascades and the water levels made them particularly “enjoyable” on this occasion.

Somehow, Scott had previously found time to part-rig the 2nd pitch, so completing the job didn’t take long. Again, the take-off is a bit awkward, requiring quite a swing out from a ledge down to which you have to first climb. Again, Jasmine made this look easy. Maz made a pretty good job of it too and we were all soon at the bottom looking at the sump and contemplating our ascent.

Scott announced that he didn’t mind derigging. Ordinarily, I would have insisted that it was only fair that I derig. On this occasion, however, I sheepishly agreed and set off up the 2nd pitch in case either Jasmine or Maz needed some encouragement at the top.

The key at the top of both pitches is to not prussick too high. Doing so means that you don’t have enough slack to swing off the pitch, without your chest jammer pulling you back out. It was rather entertaining to watch Jasmine learning this lesson in real time. She prussicked slightly too high and attached cowstails. Then, swinging onto the ledge, found herself teetering on the edge, chest jammer pulling her back out and desperately gripping the upper rope to stop it. To be fair, she came up with the perfectly good solution of swinging back out onto the pitch and down prussicking a bit. This would have been ok. However, in the end, she simply moved her upper jammer over onto the upper rope, which she could then hang on to remove her chest jammer from the lower rope, while still stood on the ledge.

Maz made very short work of the 2nd pitch head, stopping prussicking with enough slack that he could swing onto the ledge and stand there easily to transfer onto the upper rope. Nice one!

Climbing back up the cascades provided just the right amount of fun. I then set off up the 1st pitch and was very happy to reach the top, for 2 reasons: (i) I was absolutely soaked, and (ii) I was absolutely knackered, not having done much exercise at all for 5 months (unless eating biscuits and cake counts).

Jasmine had clearly learned her lesson from the previous pitch and stopped prussicking a bit earlier this time. She took some time to think through her strategy for getting off the rope and then executed it very well. Maz’s exit from the pitch was perhaps a little less graceful, but some combined tactics did the trick.

Scott was soon up and had the pitch derigged in no time. We all remarked that the entrance passage seemed much longer on the way out and seemed to have a lot more crawling. Maz, in particular, had good reason to think this as he was dragging all the tackle – good effort. It was a very chilly walk back down to the road and cars covered in a nice layer of ice.

I like to think we all learned something from this trip: Scott learned that 40<45, Jasmine learned not to prussick too high, Maz learned not to trust me and I learned that eating biscuits and cakes doesn’t count as exercise. Thanks all for another great evening, even if it was a bit more moist than we would have liked.

By Pete B In Day Trips

Aygill Caverns

Steve, James, Ami, Pete

 

Four intrepid(ish) explorers met up at Bull Pot Farm on a lovely clear night. A little stargazing before kitting up and setting off to find the entrance. We soon found ourselves heading up river, passing a hole on the way that had enough water going into it to suggest things might get on the damp side later.

The entrance located it seemed wise to just get on with it, not least because at least in there we’d warm up. The description on the CNCC site fails to mention how easy it is to crawl right past the first climb up, which we duly did. This mistake was soon noticed and rectified. There was just enough room at the top of the climb to get ourselves back in order and head off into more crawling. Before long we where down pitch number 1. Onwards and downwards we went, the crawling gave way to being able to stand up – albeit in a rather snug rift. I made a miscalculation here and was facing the wrong way which definitely made it tighter than I liked, One day I’ll remember which way I bend best I expect.

The second pitch lands next to the streamway and on some beautiful marble. James wasn’t wrong when he said it was like what you might find in a high end kitchen.  The stream was flowing nicely and after a quick recce by Steve, and some admiration of the water whizzing past we decided that our best option was to head upstream a bit. This we did and stayed drier than I expected, although wellies were filled. All too soon we reached a point where the way on was going to involve a low wet crawl and it was time to turn around.

A brief photo stop on the way back and we headed for the surface. Thanks Steve for organising this one, which definitely merits a return trip (if you missed it this time you should come).

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Notts Pot: Adamson’s – Centre Route exchange

Tom, Maz, Sophie, Dave, Claire, Ami & Ray

A great turnout on a miserable evening. Summer is well and truly over. At least we’re not quite into winter yet… but it feels like it won’t be long.

Tom, Ami & Claire set off as an advance party to make a start on rigging the first few pitches, while the rest of us took our time getting changed out of our nice warm, dry clothes. Sophie was particularly keen to cower in the car for as long as possible.

Eventually we set off on the long trog up the hill. On reaching the cave, we were most confused to find that, not only was the 1st pitch not rigged, but there was no sign of the other 3. Where could they be? Climbing back out of the shakehole for a better view of the fell, we must have looked like 4 meerkats, standing on the rim looking in different directions. Not content to sit and wait… and being considerably younger than me… Dave set off across the fell to track them down. Very noble, but how did he know in which direction to go? It turned out he didn’t, as the others reappeared way off in the distance from a completely different direction. They must have walked pretty much to Ireby Fell.

All reunited, and after virtually no p1ss-taking at all, Tom set off rigging the first few pitches to 3-Ways Chamber, where the 2 exchange parties would separate. Tom rigged down Centre, followed by Sophie, Ami & Maz. I rigged Adamson’s, followed by Dave & Claire.

My performance was less than slick, getting hung up on cowstails (twice) and having to be freed from a jammed tackle sack by Claire (at least twice). The initial rising traverse is interesting to rig, with only 1 intermediate anchor on a 15m rope. The 15m rope I took was only just long enough to reach the final anchor. After that, there is an interesting climb up some steel stemples, leading to a short pitch down to the start of the big pitch. The big pitch was fun, although I missed an anchor just a few metres down from the top. This led to a slight bit of rope rub, so Claire rigged a rebelay on her way down. Nearing the bottom, the Centre Route party could be heard below. On the final drop, I narrowly missed dropping directly onto Sophie’s head. She moved just in time.

The exchange timing worked out perfectly. Tom and Maz had a brief foray down into the Lower Streamway, but the rest of us struggled to muster the enthusiasm, preferring to sit and chat instead.

Eventually it was time to start the long journey upward. Everyone exchanged, apart from Maz, who preferred to brush up on his technique on a familiar route. Ami led out Adamson’s, followed by Tom, with Sophie derigging. I led out Centre, followed by Maz and Dave, with Claire derigging.

Maz did very well on the ascent, given that, by his own admission, he is not a natural vertical caver. He has certainly come a long way since his first SRT trip in Bull Pot Kingsdale! One thing that really struck me on the way out was how good the rigging was. Nice one Tom! I’ll have to step up my own game.

Derigging both routes seemed to go well as there was virtually no waiting around on the surface. All 7 cavers emerged in quick succession, one after the other. This was another great trip and it felt like a real team effort, with various people rigging, derigging and carrying tackle. Proof positive that KCC is currently in a really good place.

By Ray McGarry In Day Trips

Marble Steps

Sophie, Scott, Ami, Maz, Ray

It was far too nice an evening to go underground… but Marble Steps beckoned and we couldn’t resist. Before venturing underground, it was generally agreed that the lip of the MS shakehole would make a great wild camping spot. Great views down into the valley. Just beware if you get up in the middle of the night!

Sophie set off rigging down the Gully Route, the top of which (as usual) was pre-rigged with a manky old bit of rope. Still, beggars can’t be choosers and we all dutifully attached or held onto it as if our lives didn’t depend on it. At the top of the big drop, we split into 2 parties, with Scott rigging Sidewinder, followed by Ami, and Sophie rigging Gully, followed by Maz and Ray.

I always like it when the 2 parties almost converge again in the Upper Main Chamber. It gives a particularly impressive view of those on Sidewinder. Scott and Ami looked suitably impressive. Sophie had some fun rigging the final drop down into the Lower Main Chamber, but squeaking was kept to within acceptable levels. Maz did a particularly good job of passing this most annoying of obstacles – I mean the difficult pitch head, not Sophie. Ami had some fun passing the lower of the deviations on the final drop of Sidewinder. All good learning opportunities.

Before long, we all met up again in the Lower Main Chamber, which was as far as we were going on this occasion. A brief chat and we were all on our way out again. Everyone exchanged, apart from Maz, who preferred to go back out Gully Route.

Sophie derigged Sidewinder, which all went according to plan until a jammed krab on the final traverse back onto the Gully Route near the surface. Banging it with a rock didn’t help. It certainly didn’t from my perspective as it was my krab. Scott hanging on it didn’t help. Use of a maillon screwed up tight against the gate did eventually help. Phew!

Ami deserves a special mention for derigging Gully Route. She is at the very start of her rigging/derigging career, but you wouldn’t have known. I’m guessing she’ll be an expert rigger before long.

Winner of this trip’s “How to make life difficult for yourself” award goes to Scott, who tried to prussick out carrying half of a tree.

As good as the trip was… and it was VERY good… the best bit was actually finding an open pub after. It took a few attempts, but the Snooty Fox in Kirkby Lonsdale came up trumps. The evening was rounded off nicely with an eclectic collection of drinks.

Photos by Sophie.