Our first SRT weekend trip to Yorkshire...

After our long journey up the very busy M6 we finally arrived at the Marton Arms for a well needed pint, we met up with our leaders Mark and Jess and a few other cavers, Mark had already sank a few so we had some catching up to do! After a chin wag and sinking a few drinks ourselves we decided to head to the YSS where we would be stopping. We carefully crept in trying not to wake anyone, which didn’t last long after crawling into our bunks Tony decided to make as much noise as possible by dropping his phone after the first, second and third trip to the bathroom. With our alarms waking us in the morning, we met the women who we were sharing a room with, which we apologised profusely for our drunken bumps in the early hours of the night before.

 Day 1:

Saturday Myself, Mark, Jess and Tony started our day with a full English at Inglesports, which seems to be the traditional way to start a caving trip. After a satisfactory filling we headed towards Bullpot farm, Red Rose caving and potholing club and had a steady walk over the moor to county pot entrance, we got our srt kits on and climbed down the entrance shaft of the cave. We walked through a very narrow winding passage, me being super careful because it was a brand new srt kit and I didn’t want to scratch it – which didn’t last long clanging it through the tight canyon. We then came to the first pitch, with Mark in front he started rigging and made the decent look effortless, I was to follow. Despite the large breakfast I had earlier shovelled into my mouth, turns out the descent wouldn’t be so easy for me. With a mixture of an old, thick rope and a new descender, Jess watched as I did my checks, I dangled over the first pitch, yet I still failed to move. They all thought it quite comical, a feather could of gotten to the bottom quicker, all 7 and a half stone of me was going nowhere fast! After a few meters Mark was able to grab my feet to pull me down, which still wasn’t an easy descent.. I got to the bottom eventually, just not as graceful as I thought! With one more pitch to do, we carried on through the cave. Mark climbed up Poetic Justice seemingly effortlessly, I gave it a shot but failed, then Tony went for it. I could just see his wellies disappear up the chimney, with a few grunts that followed he made it to the top too. Mark rigged a line and me and Jess climbed up to join them and then we did the crawl to the final pitch, which proved just as difficult for me as the first! We got as far as Eureka Junction in the main drain, past the Wretched Rabbit passage and then headed back. Thankfully, me being the weight I am – going back up the rope was far more pleasant! All in good time, Mark took some photographs and then we headed for the surface. The day ended the same as it had began, stuffing our faces only this time with a curry, Chloe and her partner Mark had joined us for the feast, ready for tomorrows adventure.

 Day 2:

Sunday we awoke to a bit of drama, Chloe and Mark were already outside and told us a vehicle had got stuck on the far car park. I was expecting a car in a pot hole, what I wasn't expecting is a Mitsubishi 4x4 camper van to have completely nose dived into ditch with just the back wheels and boot popping out! Unsure how the owners did manage to get out in the end, seeing the pictures on Chloe's phone, getting the vehicle in must have been an special achievement in itself! After having a giggle at someone else's misfortune, myself and the group headed to Inglesports, you guessed it – for breakfast! The group gained another 2 cavers, Keith and Kay who were already there tucking in! We ordered, ate and pondered around Inglesport. Me and Tony treated ourselves to new under suits, which we tested out later that day. We all collected outside, and headed for our cars to make the trip to Alum Pot. Mark and Jess went ahead to get permission from the farm nearby so we could park on their land. Once we all parked up, we started to get ready and put our kit on, me being the first to be dressed, I was so eager to do this trip! There was a lot of equipment to carry between us, so we all got together and took a bag each. They weren't light! I must have looked like a little donkey, with an srt bag on my back and a rope bag on my front to balance myself out, we made the 15 minute walk to the cave. When we got there we split into 2 groups. Our leader Mark, Keith and Tony stayed at the head of Alum Pot, Keith wanted to get some video footage of Mark doing the 80m pitch – the brave man! Tony stayed behind with them to help. That left our other leader Jess, myself, Kay, Chloe and Mark to head towards the entrance up the hill via Dolly Tubs. We got into the cave, paddling through the passages and dunking into pools of water before reaching the Cheese Press in Long Churn, where Jess and Kay both insisted I give it a go as it was my first visit. So, I awkwardly lifted myself into the tight squeeze, only to find out it wasn't as tight as I had imagined, I slid through it like a knife through butter – this is where my slight, petite build did me justice, making up for my poor descent efforts the previous day on the rope! I joined the others round the corner as they bypassed this route, we then put our srt kits on ready for the first pitch. Kay headed off first followed by Jess to do the rigging, whilst myself, Chloe and Mark waited patiently. I was very nervous about this pitch, I knew it was the highest one Id done so far being 15m in length. By then Mark, Keith and Tony had caught us up, I felt better knowing Mark would be talking me through it as Jess was already at the bottom of the pitch. Both leaders have filled me with confidence on previous trips and I feel safer knowing I'm with them. There aren't many people who I can say that I trust my life in their hands, but Mark and Jess are 2 of them and I feel I'm progressing as a caver through their help and support. I got to the top of the pitch accompanied by Mark, I hooked in my cows tails and took the rope I’d be descending on. I threaded in my descender, tested it by leaning back and locked off. Mark was slapping my hands, telling me to take my hands off the rope and to trust the kit, which is easier said than done being a newbie and dangling over a drop. I did as he said and leaned back, he then instructed me to take the lock off and make sure its clear where I'm going, thankfully it was kinder rope than yesterday, I travelled down it far more easier. I got to the bottom of the pitch where Jess was waiting for me and took over. I hooked my cows tails in once again and did the final pitch with confidence, got my feet on solid ground and shouted the all clear “Rope free!” I turned around and I was not prepared for what was in front of me, I was stood on the balcony pitch looking down into Alum Pot. The pictures on Google do not do it justice, it was breath taking! I was stood in sheer amazement, In ore of the view. We descended once again, this time passing a re-belay where I got a little stuck because my foot loop was shorter than my cows tails. But Jess was to the rescue, she lent me her hand ascender and I was free to move further down the rope. I got as far as the bridge, Tony, Mark and Kay went on to the bottom of Alum Pot, the rest of us started to move back towards the balcony and they caught us back up again after their deeper exploration. We travelled back through the cave, hauling the bags still, only this time they were full of water and wet rope. After climbing the 2 pitches, myself, Tony, Chloe and Mark were free and safe to carry on through the cave to reach the surface, I came out of the entrance with wellies full of water and huge grin on my face with what I had just seen. I already can't wait to go back and explore another entrance, I can’t put into words how I felt about this trip, but proud is perhaps the most fitting.

 To top the weekend off, we had the long drive down the M6 back towards Dudley HQ shortly after having a coffee with our club mates. With a Motown cd quietly playing in the back ground we headed through the winding Yorkshire roads towards a more populated civilisation – the dreaded M6. I don't think we had been on the M6 15 minutes, when flashing blues pulled us over onto the hard shoulder. The police officer approached the side of the car where I was passenger, I wound down the window. He had said the reason he had pulled us was because the vehicle was registered to a female owner and the concern was a male was driving. I pointed to the rear of the car and said “Officer, this is my car. We’ve had a weekend in Yorkshire caving and my legs have had it, so Tony has kindly offered to drive us home”. He looked at us and in the back of my car, I think he felt sorry for us, we did look a little worse for wear! – We possibly smelt a little too. He checked our details and said we were braver than him for caving, we could of chatted his ear off about our events that day, but we both kept quiet so he could continue his day. He waved us off and we continued our journey home.

Tony on the first pitch in County Pot

Liz on the 2nd pitch County Pot

Alum Pot

Trip Report: Liz Leavesley

Photos: Mark Burkey

Present Saturday: Liz, Tony, Mark & Jess

Present Sunday: Mark, Jess, Chloe, Mark Burgess, Keith, Kay, Liz & Tony

That Sinking Feeling once again

On the Monday, the return trip to Top Sink to retrieve the ropes did not seem anywhere near as attractive as it did when we thought of it on the Saturday. Luckily we had managed to attract another member to our little group for this final trip of the long weekend. Jane, from UKCaving, offered to come along and be our model for the pitch shot.

As the three Dudley cavers slouched along through the boggy ground on the long trip to Top Sink, Jane was skipping along happily praising the lovely scenery.  With trepidation we approached the entrance – even without tons of kit the rifts would be hard going. Jane however still didn’t seem worried, and it soon became clear that at the various ‘pinch points’ in the rift where we three had to crawl and thrutch, being rather smaller she was waltzing  through upright, swinging her arms!

Once we reached Walrus Pot I went down first and set off along the second rift to de-rig Penknife pitch while Brendan started setting up lighting at the foot of the pot. After he got so cold in Long Churn, we had thought ahead, and he was wearing a waterproof jacket, which despite being wet through, did make a difference to body temperature.

When I got back to the bottom of the pot with the second rope, the photo shoot was nearly finished, with Jane on the rope, Mark hanging over the top of the pitch with his camera and Brendan jumping in and out of the waterfall with various flash guns and bulbs.

I viewed the climb back up with trepidation – the bottom half of the pitch would all be through water and I wished I’d remembered my pantin. However, it didn’t prove to be as bad as I feared; in fact Brendan and I both agreed that the water was quite refreshing!

The ‘crabwalk’ back to the entrance was not at all refreshing, but Jane ran through the rift with a bag and camera box and then came back for more!

A windy walk back to the van and a nice cup of tea at Jane’s was a good end to an excellent long weekend in Yorkshire.

Walrus Pot

Present: Jess Burkey, Mark Burkey, Brendan Marris & Jane Allen

Joining the dots for an Easegill through trip

After a tiring trip on the Saturday, we were all quite achy when we set off once again to Bull Pot Farm on Sunday, with the aim of completing the last leg of our through trip route-finding; Lancaster Hole to Wretched Rabbit. It was a beautiful morning, with sun in the sky and snow on the hills.

Taking some lessons from the amount of kit we carried the day before, we left two SRT kits tied to the end of the rope at the foot of Lancaster Hole and left the tripods in the van! The route finding went well and we made good progress.

We stopped for a quick photo at Bob’s Boss and Painter’s Palette, then passed Fall Pot, Montague East and West and Stake Pot, following descriptions we had printed out.

The highlight of today’s trip was a section of passage called The Minarets; a beautifully shaped and decorated tunnel where we stopped and took a few photos. Brendan however found that his camera lens had developed condensation on the inside from its dunking the day before, so again his photographic plans were foiled.

There seemed to be a lot of awkward climbs up and down, some with bits of muddy rope to help us. The longest of these had a long, muddy rope downwards which led to an even muddier rope upwards where I managed to get my cowstail caught on a knot and had to be rescued by Mark.

Eventually we were into passage that the boys recognized from previous trips and they romped off into the distance, leaving me to stumble my way over greasy boulders. After pointing out to them delicately and with hardly any swear words that I couldn’t learn the route if all I was looking at was my feet, they let me go ahead and soon I too recognized the way we were going.

Taking a shortcut to Wretched Rabbit we climbed out of the now far too familiar entrance. All the snow had gone and we were even out in time to join some local friends for dinner at a nearby pub. 

Bob's Boss (Photo Brendan Marris)

The Minarets (Photo Mark Burkey)

Present: Jess Burkey, Mark Burkey, Brendan Marris

New Toys, Tears and Tantrums in Easegill

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With a long weekend in Yorkshire on the cards, we had two objectives – to link up the parts of the Easegill through trip and for Brendan to try out his new flashguns and electronic controller, which promised to revolutionize photoshoots.

The plan was to go in via Top Sink and either work our way through to County Pot, which Brendan assured us would be pre-rigged, or go back out of Top Sink to retrieve the ropes. Mark and Brendan were hoping to take photos at Easter Grotto, a beautifully decorated part of the cave.  We got changed in bright sunshine and joked about avoiding sunburn by getting underground.

None of us had ever been into Top Sink but it was easy to find. A rusty scaffolded entrance led shortly into a narrow ‘crabwalk’ type rift which at points proved a bit too snug for any of us to stay upright. We had with us two ropes, three SRT kits, two camera boxes and a bag full of tripods and other accessories, and found this rift hard going to say the least! We were relieved to reach the first pitch, Walrus Pot, where there was only room for one at a time to put on their SRT kits.

Once down the pitch we found ourselves back in the same kind of rift. Struggling with all our baggage, our spirits fell as we contemplated either returning the same way or coming out of County Pot and doing the long walk overland (plus the two rifts) at the end of the trip to get the ropes. I came up with the idea of having an ‘easy Monday trip’ - leaving the ropes in situ until then, using it as an ideal excuse for a pitch photo while we retrieved the ropes, and this suggestion was happily accepted.

Once we were down Penknife pitch we made good progress following the various descriptions which we had printed out. With no major problems we arrived at Easter Grotto, which has a roof absolutely covered with straws, and many strange ‘wasps nest’ formations. The boys opened their camera boxes. Disaster! Brendan’s camera box was full of water, and all his new flashguns were swimming. With one of the objectives of our trip foiled already, we still had to see if we could find our way through to County Pot.

We investigated a flat out crawl leading to the Palace, but decided against it as we were not sure how tight it would get, and the seams on Mark’s oversuit had already decided to part company. He spent the rest of the trip trying to hold the front of his suit together as it had come apart where I had taken the zip out. Deciding to take the route through the Assembly Hall, we eventually made our way via Stop Pot to the stream way, which we then followed.

En route to County Pot, Brendan pointed out the turning off to Wretched Rabbit. “Good job we’re not going that way with all this kit!” he said. “County Pot will be a lot easier”.  Well it didn’t seem overly easy, and when we finally arrived at the foot of the pitch, Brendan looked like he was ready to give up. “It’s not rigged!’ he exclaimed, ‘There’s no rope!”  He stared up the pitch, waving his arms around as if he expected a rope to miraculously appear from above, but to no avail.

With no choice now, we had to retrace our steps and go out of Wretched Rabbit. Wriggling through the tight passages and up the various climbs, we passed bags and boxes from one to another until at last the end was in sight. As I approached the entrance opening I was surprised how light it was outside, considering the time of day. Little did we expect to find snow falling!

A long, slow walk back to the van was alleviated by a few snowballs but it was three tired, hungry, cold cavers that eventually got back to the Bradford hut for a late dinner. 

Easter Grotto

Easter Grotto

Present: Jess Burkey, Mark Burkey, Brendan Marris

Brendan feels a bit Blue in Long Churn

After a rather manic couple of weeks at work our boss asked if we fancied a couple of extra days off to make a long weekend. Jess and I contacted Brendan and so a plan was hatched to finish off our route finding in Ease Gill of the main routes. After a bit of faff Friday morning we eventually left late and arrived at Inglesport gone 11am.

As we hadn’t managed a lot of sleep in the last week, and we had some new toys to play with, it was decided we would just start the weekend off gently with a trip into Long Churn to have a play with the new flash guns and bulbs.

This culminated in a shot being taken from the top of Dr. Bannisters hand basin.

Looking down from the top we needed a little more reflection coming off the walls and Brendan began using his boot as a bucket to throw the water. After one successful go he slipped and nearly fell so I told him I would continue. Filling a welly I went to toss the boot full over the wall , slipped and tossed the whole lot over Brendan’s head. His response was to curse me loudly, turn, slip and fall in to the pool behind him! 

Once we had all stopped laughing, Jess climbed up onto the water chute so that I could get the shot, while Brendan waded into the pool with flash bulbs. One shot led to another, as these things do, and a few bulbs went off prematurely, so by the time I was fairly happy with the camera angle and lighting, Brendan had been in and out of the pool so many times his teeth were chattering.

With a bigger trip on the cards for the next day, we were quite happy to leave the water behind and set off to the Bradford hut to eat and relax.

Upper Long Churn (Photo Brendan Marris)

Upper Long Churn (Photo Brendan Marris)

Upper Long Churn (Photo Mark Burkey)

Dr. Bannisters Hand Basin (Photo Mark Burkey)

Present: Mark Burkey, Jess Burkey, Brendan Marris

County Pot to Wretched Rabbit - Easegill Trip

The non-SRT plan for Sunday was a County Pot to Wretched Rabbit through trip. This would allow us to sort out the navigation around this area of the cave and open up longer trips and through trips in the future. We met up in the Clapham carpark at 10am, the later start being a relief after the previous day. We then headed off to Bullpot Farm, where we changed and headed off for our separate trips. The plan was for a through trip, but rigged with ladders so if we failed to find our way through we could return the way we went in. A 40 minute walk over the fell took us to the entrance to County Pot where we descended and we soon found ourselves at the top of the first pitch. This was already rigged for SRT, we rigged our ladder as we would need to return if we could not find our way through. After rigging the ladder for a possible return we abseiled down and then reached the climb down into Broadway, from here we headed right into Showerbath passage and then headed downstream to eventually emerge in Spout Hall, another landmark I had remembered. From here we headed downstream with a short section of crawling in the stream to emerge in a wider taller passage with Poetic Justice cunningly hidden on the right. This provided half an hour of entertainment as one by one we fought our way up it. Once all past this obstacle we followed the bedding plane crawl to reach the top of the next pitch. This was rigged already for SRT and again we rigged our ladder just in case we failed to complete our planned route. Again we abseiled down and we found ourselves in a good sized passage. We headed downstream and quickly at a point where we recognised Wretched Rabbit coming in from the right, we now knew we could complete the through trip and felt a little happier. A short section of crawling brought us down to Eureka Junction where we decided to briefly split up. Chloe and Lucy headed to Stop Pot while Mike and Brendan returned the short distance to derig the second ladder. The derigging was completed quickly and the ladder and lifeline packed in the bag, which was dropped off at the end of Wretched Rabbit. We then headed to meet the girls just emerging from the Stop Pot choke. Time now dictated that we make our exit and so we headed up the unrelenting rifty Wretched Rabbit Passage. The tackle bag proved to be a bit of a pain, but was shared around and within no time we were at the bottom of the roped climbs. These were all climbed quickly and we emerged into brilliant sunshine a couple of hundred metres upstream of County Pot. All that remained was for Mike and Brendan to whizz down the first section of County Pot to de-rig the ladder and then head back to Bullpot Farm.

Present: Chloe Burney, Mike Bonner, Lucy Collins and Brendan Marris.

Gaping Gill Winch Meet - Flood Pot to Bar Pot and an explore

We had arranged an early start as we knew the winch became very busy as the day went on, so everyone except Loz had driven up to Yorkshire the night before. Loz managed to surprise us all by arriving no less than 10 minutes early at the Yorkshire Ramblers Club where we were staying. We consolidated into 2 cars and parked at the Clapham car park to start the long walk up the hill. Upon reaching the top of the hill we split into 2 groups. Brendan, Mike, and Lucy queued for the
winch while Loz, Marc, Mark and myself were abseiling into Wade's (Flood) entrance. However first I had to find somewhere to get changed as I didn't fancy stripping off in the amphitheater filled with public waiting for the winch, so I was naturally drawn to the cover of the Bradford beer tent!
Our SRT group headed back down the hill a short way and popped into Wade's entrance. The first pitch was a simple descent down a rift with a single re-belay which caused no issues for anyone. This was followed by a fair amount of awkward passage to get to the top of the very short second pitch which again caused no problems. A short crawl over a bedding plane led to the third pitch followed by a climb down a cascade using a handline.
I headed down the forth and final pitch, passing a re-belay without issue, only to find a hanging re-belay where we had expected to find a deviation. I had led the descent with Mark behind me so I could talk him through anything tricky as it was only his second SRT trip. However as I was so preoccupied with getting myself unclipped from my cows-tails after threading my stop onto the new rope, that I managed to make the rookie mistake of abseiling down the wrong side of the
loop of rope! Mark obviously learned valuable lessons from my example, as I had to do some interesting acrobatics with my legs flailing in the air to get my body over the correct side of the rope, much to Mark's amusement! Fortunately nobody else made the same mistake as me and we were all soon stood firmly on the bottom of the pitch. We had arranged to meet the winch group at the bottom of the main chamber so headed off down the crawls only to meet them half way through coming towards us. We decided to investigate Sand Caverns followed by Mud Pot and the Northwest Extension. The mud in this area was so thick that not only did it pull our wellies off, it made a good attempt at pulling poor Lucy's leg off! After having fun in the mud, we popped up to Stream Passage as this was originally one of our
possible exit routes, and we took the opportunity to rinse off some of the mud in the waterfall.
We then went to the main chamber where we took some time just looking in awe at the huge shaft above us. Once seeing the winch, Marc and I immediately decided it looked like fun, leaving just Loz and Marc to SRT back out. They had picked to go back out of Bar Pot so we escorted them to the foot of the pitch and even arranged a chaperone called Sally to assist with the navigation. Brendan, Marc, Mike, Lucy and myself headed back to the main chamber to join a rather long queue for the winch. Mike and I filled a little of the time by handing out hot Ribena to the public huddled in plastic ponchos like we were running a soup kitchen for the homeless. Mark and Loz had made the ascent much faster than we could get up the winch and were waiting to greet us as we came out of the top. The walk back down the hill seemed very short in comparison to the way up in the morning, and we were back at the bunkhouse having hot showers and food before we knew it!

Trip Report: Chloe Burney

Present: Brendan Marris, Lucy Collins, Mike Bonner, Loz Appleby, Marc Carney, Mark Burgess and Chloe Burney.

Video Highlights of the Caving Year

Here's the video I cobbled together and showed at the meeting on 18th December.  It's now been uploaded to YouTube so if you missed it or fancy taking another look, here's your chance.

I always enjoy putting these compilations together and looking back over caving the year brings back loads of great memories.

Thanks to all of the people who have assisted in this production. There are 15 of you and some of you are real stars. I must say a special thanks to Brendan, Jess and Mark for their help and encouragement, and an extra special thanks to Loz for risking life and limb to add that special bit of drama to the production.

How not to get lost in Notts II

It is that time of year that the clocks go backwards. This give you the opportunity to stay in bed for an extra hour enjoy the relaxation and emerge feeling refreshed. We however were camping in Yorkshire in a storm at the end of October, we were treated to an extra hour of being cold and miserable lying awake listening to the wind and rain lashing against the tents. We emerged from tents, packed away and headed to Ingleton to meet up with those who had gone home to the comfort of warm beds. We again split up after the tea drinking, a Swistow through trip for the dangly folks and a trip into Notts II for those of the wandering about persuasion. We parked, changed and headed down the very impressive 200ft dug shaft to go for our explore of Notts II. We first headed downstream to the sump before heading upstream and spent a good while taking photos in the main stream and Curry Inlet. With people getting very cold stood around taking photos we headed out stopping off to take photos of the very impressive column in the top of the keyhole passage. This required tip toeing on muddy ledges high up and was completed by Mark and Jess, before we headed out.

Mike in Curry Inlet - Notts II - photo Mark Burkey

Jess in the Main Streamway - Notts II - photo Mark Burkey

Mike in the Main Streamway - photo Brendan Marris

Mike in the Main Streamway - photo Brendan Marris

Lucy in the Main Streamway - photo Brendan Marris

Jess in the keyhole above the Main Streamway - photo Mark Burkey

On the way out Mark led the way up the climb followed by Mike, Lucy, Jess and then Brendan. Half way up the scaffolded shaft I was surprised to see a light below me, I shouted down assuming there must be another group in the cave, and was surprised when Lucy called up saying she had got lost in the dug shaft and both Jess and myself had passed her unknown.

Present: Mark Burkey, Jess Burkey, Mike Bonner, Lucy Collins and Brendan Marris

Triumphant Telford Trio Pulling Through in Swinsto Hole

Buoyed from the activities in Jingling and Aquamole Pots the three of us decided to attempt the classic Swinsto Pull through trip to complete a full weekend of caving in the majesty of the Yorkshire Dales.

This is a committing trip which involves going into the Kingsdale Master Cave and rigging a short pitch from the stream bed which would be required to get out of the system later and then heading onto the top of the hill and following the stream through the system to the bottom. Unlike most SRT trips though the intent is for the entire group to ascend each pitch and then pull the ropes down behind us thus removing any possibility of escape back up to the top but also removing the need to retrace our steps and de-rig the cave.

We discussed the plans over breakfast in Ingleton and came up with a simple plan: we all head into Valley Entrance and make sure that the exit was clear before heading up to the top; then Tony and Rob would alternate rigging each pitch and I would follow at the rear de-rigging and setting the pull-throughs to recover the ropes.

We went into the master cave and headed to the pitch head but along the way we followed the newly dug passage for nearly 200m in error so had to back track which added an extra bit onto our anticipated time. Tony rigged the rope and Rob and I descended an in-situ rope whilst he was rigging and headed to the exit from Swinsto Main Aven to make sure there was enough airspace above the water to enable us to get out at the bottom.

We moved back out of the cave noting that it would take us 20 min to exit the system from the pitch head on our way back. We got to the entrance and I called in our call-out details and then Rob lead us into the system and we were off. The plan was simple one rope carrier would rig the pitch and the next rope carrier would be second down and head straight off to rig the next pitch whilst I de-rigged and pulled through and helped load the rope bag so that when we arrived at the next pitch it would be rigged and we would carry on alternating between Tony and Rob rigging and then route finding (downhill and follow the water) to the next pitch.

Most of the pitches had a lot of water cascading down them and the background noise from all the water was a continuous thunderous roar that reminded us were playing in an system sculpted by the power of that water. There are 9 pitches down from the top so including the exit pitch they each rigged 5 pitches by themselves. This was an outstanding effort on their parts and they proved to be vital assets on a trip like this. We all walked out from the Valley Entrance with big grins having completed a Yorkshire classic.

It is worth noting that both Tony and Rob only began caving in March 2014 and they only started having a go at SRT in May, but through practising on the mill and getting involved in club trips they are now in a position where they are looking at doing some self-guided SRT trips in the future as full members of DCC. Having only started caving myself in January 2014 but with a background in climbing and mountaineering DCC has provided us with the support to develop us all to become competent cavers in our own right. I have to mention this so other cavers reading this realise that we all felt safe and operating within our abilities during this trip, despite our relative novice status. But more importantly if any new cavers or people considering having a go at caving are reading this then get to a good club like DCC and get involved. SRT opens up a whole new range of systems that may only be accessed via ropes.

Trip Report: Andy Kempster

Members Present: Andy Kempster, Rob Campbell and Tony Ferrun.

Friggin' with the Riggin' in Jingling Pot and Aquamole Pot

As there were four takers for an SRT weekend we decided that it would be an ideal opportunity to introduce the aspirant SRT leaders to the idea of rigging. This was discussed over breakfast in Ingleton and we formulated a plan: I would oversee Tony and Carl would do the same with Rob. We set up a mini exchange route in Jingling Hole as this pot is often used as an SRT training Pot as it has everything that could be expected in most caves; traverses, pitches in tight passages, deviations, rebelays aplenty and a large free ascent / descent in an open aven.

We had a knot tying refresher session and after nearly 3 hours we decided it was time to come out and repack our bags for a trip into Aquamole. I left a voicemail with our call out time and when we got to the entrance we noticed there was already a group inside so I sent a text with a later call out as we would inevitably meet each other at some stage.

Tony lead off down the main shaft and rigged 80 metres of rope which was a superb consolidation of the skills he had learnt that morning.

Rob took over to rig the next 80 metres which included rigging a wide Y hang and then stepping off into a 50 metre drop down into the final aven. Rob rigged the deviation from this with ease and it was only when they both got to the bottom of the pitch that they realised how high that pitch actually was. I decided not to follow them to the bottom as it would just add extra time to our trip and I had done it before twice. Carl watched the others from the pitch head and decided that he was too tired to contemplate the inevitable ascent that has to follow a descent of this length and so to the best of my knowledge only three DCC members have been to the bottom of Aquamole Pot.

We all mucked in de-rigging and hauling rope bags back to the top and then walked off down the hill in darkness, tired but content with a full day caving in two great Pots in the Kingsdale Valley.

Trip Report: Andy Kempster

Members Present: Andy Kempster, Carl Knott, Rob Campbell and Tony Ferrun.

Illusion Pot - Yorkshire Weekend

Ten of Dudley Caving Club's finest met up at 8:30 in Inglesport to start the weekend as any should, with breakfasts washed down with copious amounts of tea. After a quick fondle of gear and shiny metal bits we split into two groups, those going for a little dangle and those going for a little wander. Being in the wanderers team we headed off to Kingsdale, parked and changed for the walk to Illusion Pot. This cave was billed as being easy to find and easy to navigate, so without any preparation we set off in pursuit of what we had heard was a mighty fine cave. Our lack of preparation showed and we walked a couple of hundred metres more than what we needed to on the approach, but were soon headed down the concrete rings that formed the first part of the entrance. Some easy caving followed that took us to the duck, which Mark duly investigated, although he promised we could get through we were having non of it and spent the next 30 minutes bailing like mad. With the water dropped six inches we could make our way through comfortably and were soon through into the main cave. We spent some time in the cave exploring all routes that we could find, ending in a finely decorated passage in one direction and in the other arriving at a traverse and climb down to the sump (as recommended by Helen - many thanks for that little treat!) After about four hours in the cave we were getting a little chilled and so we made our exit in time for cake and tea in the cafe. Those staying in Yorkshire spent the evening in the New Inn at Clapham.

Mike and Lucy in the Missile Silo - Illusion Pot

Lucy in Illusion Pot

Lucy in Illusion Pot

A fine cave requiring no tackle apart for some protection on the traverse that leads directly to the sump.

The Video

Present: Keith Edwards, Mike Bonner, Lucy Collins, Mark Burkey, Jess Burkey and Brendan Marris

Dudley CC Yorkshire Meet Friday & Saturday

We started the weekend off with myself, Carl and Brendan meeting up at the YSS on friday before heading off for a quick through trip from Yordas Pot to come out through Yordas Cave with Carl leading the way. We then headed off to do Heron Pot where we swiftly made our way down the pitches to take a look around the fossil passage at the bottom. I did the crawl to the surface before a quick about turn to join the others to de-rig. Back at the surface though I could only remember that I'd exited at the base of a tree following the water out and couldn't find the other entrance from the surface!

Carl rigging the Yordas Pot entrance

Mark descends Yordas Pot

Mark in Yordas Cave

Carl and Mark at the Heron Pot top entrance

Present: (Yordas & Heron Pot) Mark Burkey, Brendan Marris & Carl Knot

Saturday
On Saturday we were joined by Tony, Rob, Loz and Andy K for another through trip, this time Browgill to Calf Holes. Loz had a play with her shiny new gear whilst the others had fun navigating the hidden connection.
We then set off in search of the new and old entrances to Dismal Hill Cave. First we headed down the rifts of the Old entrance to the tight flat out crawl where Loz was the only one skinny enough to get in the tight bedding plane to have a poke around so we all headed to the surface to try the other entrance, but not before Andy K had a moment when the ledge he was climbing gave way!
All back to the surface safe and sound we rigged the ladder in the new entrance and headed down to play. We found traverse lines going in both directions and after a good play we unfortunately failed to find the connecting passage to Old Ing. It was only after reaching the surface did we realise we had assumed we were heading down stream for the connection but we should have in fact been pushing in the other direction ;) Doh!

Carl Looking down the waterfall at the top of Calf Holes

Andy Kempster in Brow Gill

Rob Campbell in Calf Holes

Tony Ferran in Calf Holes

Present: (Browgill to Calf Holes and Dismal Hill Cave) Loz Appleby, Carl Knot, Mark Burkey, Andy Kempster, Brendan Marris, Tony Ferran and Rob Campbell

White Scar - Paddling about in Yorkshire

After a fun couple of days doing Alumn Pot on the Friday and Swinsto pull through on Saturday, it was time to head off for breakfast at Inglesport before our White Scar trip.
After a mile or so I noticed a grinding noise which was getting louder by the minute and finally went bang. In the side mirror I just got a chance to see bits flying every which way before I registered that it was most likely the brake pads going to pieces!
Gently I coaxed the van to Ingleton and decided there wasn't much I could do about it till later so enjoyed a hearty breakfast before making my way up and down the steep hills to White Scar trying to use engine braking and gentle application of the hand brake.
At the cave we split in to three groups with Ben, Carl and Grant forming the first team, Bartek, Paulina, Chloe, and Brendan in the second and Keith, myself, Heather, Becca and Ian in the last.
White Scar has a very unusual raised scaffold floor in its show cave and gives a true feeling of being in a 'wild' cave rather than just a walk about. Before heading in we took a detour to take in 'Battlefield Cavern' before heading to the lakes.
Keith took a little video on the way in and after a real soaking I lead us in to the boulder choke only to miss the way through. Keith shortly arrived and after a quick poke around spotted the climb up. On the way in we went through the Big Bertha duck and after another soaking were soon heading down some pleasant stream passage with the occasional boulder climb. We reached a slippery climb up to a pretty straw chamber where Keith joined me via a climb assisted by an ancient looking piece of tat. Then Becca decided to have a go. Keith has somewhat longer legs than Becca, so a move he had made look easy for Becca was impossible and she found herself dangling on the end of the rope until Keith reached down and lifted her up to the muddy ledge. After this again it was easy stream passage till we met the lads at a ledge where they were having fun and games jumping in a deep pool. Passing this the cave changes character and a fine scalloped ceiling drops to almost meet the water where a few hundred meters is easier swam than crawled and the occasional duck just adds to the fun. On the way to the sump we passed Brendan's party on their return. After a quick peek at the uninviting but free diveable sump we again paused to take a little video before retracing our footsteps. On the return we went for the awkward climb out rather than the duck and were soon back in the sunshine.
After a cuppa and cake in the cafe we all said our goodbyes and headed off.
Without brakes I made short work of the journey home, in fact there was no stopping me!

Present: Ben Marklew, Grant Wilkes, Carl Knott, Heather Simpson, Bartek and Paulina Biela, Becca Kirkpatrick, Ian Millward, Chloe Burney, Keith Edwards, Brendan Marris and Mark Burkey

Maskhill Mine

Mon 8th August 2011

After having done our rope access course Jess said she wanted to do some rigging. As I wanted a bit of a challenge I suggested Maskhill Mine.
Jess and I have done this as an exchange, but fortunately Jess has the memory of a goldfish and couldn’t remember the trip and agreed.
As I pulled out rope after rope out of the stores, & others in the club began commenting on the amount of kit, the look on her face changed a little as she realised what she’d let herself in for.

Equipped with over 300m of rope, dozens of maillons and karabiners all stuffed in to 4 well packed kit bags, we set off up the hill only to walk straight past the entrance which was surrounded with overgrown nettles and proceeded to spend the next half an hour cursing and saying ‘well I know it’s round here somewhere!’

Eventually we stumbled across it, and in fairness you did have to be right on top to see it.

With the first 80m of rope Jess jumped in and did a sterling job of rigging to the Jumbles. I followed with the other 3 bags, managing to drop them right in the middle of  Y hangs at least twice and realised just how much like I proper caver I was becoming, expletives pouring forth as I wrestled bags back into position. 
Switching at Trebuchet Corner I continued the rigging through to pool chamber without event.
De-rigging went fine for the first couple of bags of rope, once we got back to the top of Jumbles I could tell Jess was starting to feel it by the way she was often questioning my heritage. The fact that every 10 meters up the entrance pitches I could hear her struggling to free the bags which kept snagging possibly didn’t help!
All in all a great trip and an achievement for two people to do, but I think I’ll possibly take another couple of cavers next time ;)

Don't know why Jess was complaining, I was carrying the camera!

Present Mark & Jess

Ireby Fell

A long weekend trip to Yorkshire for some, and a shorter one for others over the Easter Weekend. We confronted all of our worst fears, going north, caving on rope and worst of all camping. Friday was started in Bernies with obligatory breakfast before the drive to Masongill and the walk up the hill to Ireby Fell. A little faffing and short nap was taken in the shakehole before the descent down Ding, Dong, Bell, Pussy and Well pitches all rigged by Rachel, left the final rope descent to the lower streamway and the horizontal section of the cave. While in the cave Richard sussed out the connections to Ireby II for a future visit to complete the round trip.
Following the trip we headed off to the campsite, while Keith left a trail of dust behind his car as he sped off in the opposite direction to the M6. Saturday was a short trip into Marble Steps and then a walk along the top of Kingsdale to Large Pot, Swinsto, Simpsons, Rowten and Jingling pots. 

Rachel and Richard preparing to descend

Brendan - not really in the mood for an SRT trip

 

Present: Brendan Marris, Rachel Dearden, Richard Dearden, and Keith Edwards (not a happy camper)

Yorkshire Caving - Heron Pot

Having taken part in the Peak Cavern trip photographic extravaganza for Jess' birthday, we thought we'd better take a camera to Yorkshire for Mark's birthday caving weekend.
Saturday saw us joining Heather and some friends from Crewe to do an SRT trip in Bull Pot of the Witches - with 15 of us shimmying up and down ropes it became an exercise in logistics as well as ropework! As we were out by half 3, we popped off for a quick through trip from Calf holes to Browgill to finish the day off.
Sunday we set off to find Heron Pot - as recommended by Andy G. Armed with O.S. coordinates but having mislaid the GPS, we nonetheless managed to pinpoint the pot straight away - or so we thought! It fitted the description perfectly so we kitted up and slid in to the first chamber...to find that we way on was a very tight flat out passage. We hummed and hah'd over the fact that Andy said it wasn't a tight cave, and the description didn't mention it either. Climbing back out rather despondantly, we then noticed a very obvious cave entrance only feet away, which we'd been standing with our backs to, doh!
Once we got into the real Heron Pot we really enjoyed the trip - full of formations, interesting passages and not much water. The pitches weren't the most straightforward to rig but by combining Andy's advice with the couple of descriptions we'd taken, Mark managed to rig the pitches quickly and efficiently. We explored the cave down to the start of the through-trip wet crawl, including a climb up to a well-decorated chamber and a look at the upper fossil series, which is accessed up a calcite slope. We decided to give the "long wet crawl" to the valley a miss as we weren't doing the through trip, and returned to the pitches.
At the bottom of the first pitch I managed to swing right into the waterfall as I started prussicking up, which was a real incentive to prussick fast as I spluttered to Mark "Hold the rope! It's not going through my ascender!" It was at this point Mark remembered Andy had mentioned something about a deviation??? Sure enough, half way up there was a p-bolt that wasn't mentioned in either of the descriptions, but would have just kept that rope out of the waterfall :0(
We were back at the car and toasty again just as other cavers were popping out of holes all over the hillside - such is the beauty of Yorkshire!

There were formations throughout the cave, including the famous "pickled onion" formation (above).

The passages were full of calcite curtains and flowstone.

Present: Heron Pot - Mark "the chin" Burkey and Jess "Globetrotter" Harding

Ireby Fell Cavern, Yorkshire Dales

A wet, cold trip in this beautiful cave with a bit of rescue hauling practice by DCC members to assist one of the group who was tired. Exited to a stunning, clear evening with the sun setting. 


 Present: Mike, Em, Paulina, Bartek & 6 members of CPC

Getting stuck in Yorkshire Caves

Yorkshire is so full of caves it seems a pity not to take in as many as possible, so after doing Calf Holes and depositing Donna back at the bunkhouse, we went out to find Roger Kirk Cave, which although not very long, sounds very interesting according to the description. Finding it, though, was a bit of a mission. We found a cave entrance that fitted the description but was a very narrow slot down, and I managed to get totally wedged! After 2 attempts we gave that one up and later worked out I was trying to get into Yoga Cave (no explanation needed). There was an obvious cave entrance further down the hill, and although it didn't fit the description of Roger Kirk Cave, at least we could get into it! So we explored this cave along some lovely meandering pasages, under and over boulders and along a flat-out crawl, to a point where a small chamber seemed to signal the end of the cave...unless the way on was a slot between two rocks...after poking a head through it did look like the cave went on, so I wriggled through the slot, contorted myself back upright and tried to squeeze over a sharp rock - where I stuck fast! I was not a happy bunny at this point and was much happier once I'd relaxed and managed to wriggle back off the rock and through the slot. We found out later that we'd actually been exploring Runscar Caves and that actually is the way on, but I'll leave it to Mel or Keith to go first next time!
Not to be deterred, Mark was still looking for Roger Kirk Cave once we were back above ground, and this time he found it! Like a ferret down a drainpipe he was down into it but I had to drag him back because we were near the call-out time (and I'd had enough caving for one day!), so Roger Kirk will have to wait for another day.
Present: Jess and Mark

Yorkshire caving , May Bank Holiday Weekend

Flushed with enthusiasm after successful rigging for both ladders and SRT, Mark and I went up to Yorkshire with Solihull Mountaineering Club, fully equipped with tackle for whatever caving we could do as well as climbing.
On the Friday we went to Calf Holes - now we'd already tried to get through from Browgill to Calf Holes on 2 occasions, and ended up chin-deep in water both times, unable to find the way on, so this time Mark rigged up an SRT line from Calf Holes and easily found the little contorsion through to Browgill - though Mark really wasn't convinced he'd get through! Having got through easily he then insisted on going through a few more times just to make sure! Once through into Browgill we could see why we'd failed to find this tiny slot, hidden in the roof behind some rocks.
After meeting up with our friends at a bunkhouse, one asked if we'd take her caving as she'd never been, so on the Sunday we visited Calf Holes yet again, this time rigging a ladder for the pitch before entering the cave from the Browgill entrance and exiting up the ladder. Donna seemed to really enjoy poking around in all the corners and we had a lovely trip.
Present: Jess, Mark, Donna