With so many people in attendance, I am sure everyone will have thier own versions of this trip. But this mine.
After picking Dan up at the train station we went to where we thought the meeting point was at Cowan bridge. After waiting around for a while and no one turned up, we went up the hill presuming correctly that everyone was either already there or parked at Easegill.
Setting off across the fell I was not sure I could find the cave from this side having only ever approached it from the Easegill side, however to both of our surprises we found the cave quickly. In and down the pitches we met Stu who suggested we looked at a few of the passages above the sump in the downstream end of the cave.
So we did, we abbed down and climbed up into the exercise yard. It did not seem to go anywhere so we followed a side passage outlet. (Zig Zag passage) After a while it degenerated until we came to an obstruction. I squeezed past this after removing some bits of gear then Dan squeezed through. Well that was until he broke the squeeze with his far a**e lol.
After a bit more thrutchy passage we reached a rope going up which meant I had to back track through the absent squeeze to get my gear. At the top of a pitch was a nice traverse over a deep pool 40 feet below (lake chamber - an air bell continuation of the upstream sump). We traveled along the exposed traverse, missing a rope going up for a later date and chose to explore a walking passage leading off. After a short while through a boulder choke, another pitch led up to an aven approx 50ft high. Unfortunately it did not go anywhere (yet) and was full of mud.
Returning to the main passage we met the main force of the YSS group and after spending an hour or so testing my new light, while taking photos of the fantastic formations we headed out.
Good trip.
Alex (Lionel) & Dan J
The YSS have some of the finest facilities in the Yorkshire Dales for groups looking for accommodation around the 3 peaks and prime caving area
