Sell Gill Holes - 18/7/08
Party: Ian Walker, Hannah Bunyan, Ralph Leech, Damian Weare
Time: 1.5 hrs
A quick Wet-Dry exchange in fairly wet conditions. The first time down the Wet Route for some and an enjoyable evening bimble for all.
Brown Hill Pot – 21/7/08
Party: Mike Skegg, Damian Weare Time: 5hrs
I have a history of loosing my caving partners in Brown Hill and on two previous atempts have only ever made it as far as the start of the Galerie Pas Mur. Needless to say I was very pleased when Skeggy agreed to be my next victim! Perfect Dales weather with outstanding visibility meant a very pleasant, grade 0 change and in no time I was busy running around all the shakeholes trying desperately to find Floyd’s Entrance. After 10 minutes or so I realised you can only see the “obvious” oil drum from one side of the shakehole. Skeggy tried all the usual excuses but I was having none of it and we set off. A rifty, thrutchy entrance section leads via an S-bend crawl to the 1st pitch. Putting on an SRT kit in a very tight rift beyond the 1st P-bolt, I began to wonder if it mightn’t have been better to have worn it from the start … with hindsight, it wouldn’t have been! The next few minutes should have involved a couple of quick abseils, but Skeggy inexplicably decided to make his trip harder by dropping half his kit down a rift … an hour later he’d retrieved it!
The Galerie Pas Mur is a nice section of boulder hopping mixed with traversing and leads to an interesting, reasonably well-decorated crawl/traverse before emerging at the Puits Ian Plant. The first 20m ia dry and leads to a damp 20m hang – nice pitch but less spectacular than the books imply. For me the real gem came next .. a lovely section of cascading streamway interspersed with shallow pots. The first pitch then leads immediately to a frothy sump pool.
The return journey was enlivened by Skeggy’s regular moans. Thanks to Skeggy for putting up with me … I’ve finally done Brown Hill!!
Hensler’s Pot – 22/7/08
Party: Mike Skegg, Sam Clifford, Damian Weare Time: 4½ hours
Ever since I started doing P-bolt topos, I knew that Hensler’s would be the tricky one to get finished. We’d been down before about a year after it was first connected to Hensler’s High Aven in Gaping Gill. I remember being very glad then that it was an exchange trip so wouldn’t have to go back out via Hensler’s. I also remember that Jim, who had the misfortune of coming out of Hensler’s, looked really dead when he finally reached the surface. I knew I needed a reasonable team and, finally, I seemed to have one. Both Sam and Skeggy generally do as they’re told and neither put up too much of a fight about going, so we set off. Sometimes I think it’s a good idea to expect the worst on a trip because it invariablt ends up being much better in reality. This was no exception.
Hensler’s is an involved series of crawls, rifts and tight pitch heads with a few damp bits thrown in for good measure. Nowhere is it really awkward but equally nowhere is it anything approaching easy. The result is a really interesting variety with a superb final pitch down Hensler’s High Aven.
A recommended trip for those who don’t like it too easy!!
Meregill Hole – 23/7/08
Party: Mike Skegg, Sam Clifford, Fiona Weare, Damian Weare Time: 4hrs
What can I say? It’s Meregill. Down to the bottom and back up again. Fiona, with one leg, made it half way. Retired to the not-so-new-look Inglesport Café to be served the same cake by the same staff from the same menu … just as it should be!!!
Swinsto Hole – 24/7/08
Party: Sam Clifford, Damian Weare Time: 2hrs
A quick pull-thru partly because Sam had never been to Swinsto and partly because the rest of the team seemed to want a gentle morning at the school. The only interesting bit was when the rope nearly failed to pull down on the top half of the big pitch. It serves me right for using almost new Mammut (which I have found twists incredibly for its first few months’ use). Sam adds that he would like it to be known that he prusiked up the Valley Entrance Pitch more quickly than me. Well done, Sam!
The Rathole – 25/7/08
Party: Mike Skegg, Damian Weare Time: 2 hrs
The Rathole is a superbly technical and engaging entrance to Gaping Gill, beginning in Fell Beck just upstream of Dihedral. An initial fairly tight crawl leads to a short pitch which leads directly onto the main Rathole Pitch. Under normal conditions it is extremely wet, so I’ve reserved all my previous visits for near drought! Today it was WET … in fact my description would be .. abseil until you’re about the drown, then go another 10m and you’ll find a P-Bolt somewhere behind your head!
Back out and down the hill in time to meet Rich for some rigging training.
Out Sleets Beck Pot – 26/7/08
Party: Stu Weston, Lee Langdon, Lisa Wootton, Chris Tate, Richard Rae, Mike Skegg, Fiona Weare, Damian Weare Time: 3 hrs
This was meant to be a trip to Magnetometer but the farmer wasn’t in and we didn’t feel we could leave our cars randomly in his farm yard. I suggested Out Sleets Beck as an alternative, as it was only a few minutes up the road and only Fiona and I had been before. A bit of a crawl and some stream passage leads to a superb pitch. This is followed by another quick wet crawl containing a couple of fish, a second pitch and a short section of typical Dales’ streamway. Then the fun begins … a deep, wet canal section with a squeeze in the middle for good measure. All passed through, some with more moans than others, and we bobbed on down to the end of the nice bit before about-turning, leaving Lisa and Lee to derig.
A bit short, but a nice trip nonetheless.
Illusion Pot – 26/7/08
Party: Stu Weston, Damian Weare Time: 1.5 hrs
Somehow it came up in conversation back at The School than I’d never been to Illusion. Stu almost immediately volunteered to accompany me then and there. Ice-creams en-route meant a very pleasant start to the trip and we quickly found Illusion … nowhere near where I had previously looked for it. The duck was dry and leads almost immediately into some large, dry passage quite reminiscent of S. Wales. A bit of a climb down at the far end of this leads to some pretty good formations. Back in time for a couple of pints in the sun at the Helwith before the midges forced a retreat inside. Thanks to Stu for showing me around .. a nice evening trip.
Bull Pot & Jingling Pot
Party: Richard Rae, Damian Weare Time: 2 hrs & 1 hr
After Rich’s Friday evening session rigging the fence and then chair legs at The School, it was time for him to progress to greater things. The superb weather nearly forced a retreat, but we eventually forced ourselves into our furry suits and walked up the hill to Bull Pot. In no time Rich was hanging off his own knots for the first time and we were sat at the base of the entrance pitch enjoying the cool air. Rich continued to make excellent progress down Bull Pot, making light work of the 4th pitch traverse (with a tight and bomb-proof traverse line for good measure). He placed the wide deviation with ease and we were soon heading for the surface once more, with me taking a back seat while Rich derigged his own handywork.
A few minutes of sweltering in the sun and we decided it was time to find some cool air again. The far side of Jingling Pot was obviously the answer, as Rich had never been down that route and I wanted to see how he took to leaning on his cowstails in a fairly exposed position! The ropes repacked, we quickly dropped to the bottom with Rich expertly getting the right length for the rebelay mid-way down the big shaft. Once again, I about turned and left him to the derigging.
A hot walk back down the hill to find the car’s temperature gauge reading 26 degrees. A quick detour via Ingleton for some ice-cream saw us back at The School in good time for a shower and some food before Fiona returned from Easegill.
Well done, Rich … you are now a fully-fledged SRT rigger!
