Trips & Reports

IIRC, Main Streamway, Far Sump, Wigwam Aven, Treasury Sump Easy trip as Imo was still tired from the Moose Trap the day before. Followed by a long wait at the top of Titan watching Zebedee.

A great trip! Particularly the part where we left at 9 after a lovely lie in :-) Apart for the slightly tight bit in the entrance (only for tall people!) pool sink is a really easy, nice entrance. 4 short pitches as a pull through so nice and quick, with wiggly streamway in between. From the bottom of that we went into county via ignorance is bliss. Someone has put a rope down where you climb up into the streamway roof... read more

Lancaster hole is my second trip in the Easgill system and certainly less confusing that the County pot side. This was Angela’s first trip! Cat was leading. Lancaster hole SRT was fairly straightforward; Cat rigged all of this and then it was off to the Colonnades first (I think those on the process of cleaning this section appreciate people who go here while they are clean i.e. not after going into slug world), after Wales week it was nice to... read more

I’d finally convinced Angela to come on her first caving trip!! She’d done some training in the sports hall but was yet to go down a real cave, so I wanted this trip to be relatively short and easy, yet inspiring and slightly challenging…. It had to be Easegill! As I was going to be leading, I decided to repeat the route Chuck, Tom and I had done a few weeks previous. This involved going in Lancaster to practice a bit... read more

failed major well not that major we decided when w got to swcc that we weren't doing the full trip and we would just potter round ofd2 instead of going down to the no doubt flooded main steamway saw wedding cake??????????????????? gnome passage where we actually saw a gnome!!!!! ask for photo proof selebrious streamway possibly spelt differently. wetwetwet oh and the trident but missed the damn judge who was just sitting round the corner not like he moved very far. oh yes and me... read more

o o o i went on this one. ramdom garden you have to walk through random bits of concrete here and there amazing toast rack the streamway: streamy and wahay the bolder cavern:boldery the climb up from the streamway, hardish but easier when you know where to put your feet but silly when you watch monkeys climb up after you some pretty glistening bits that look like cave writings pi chamber and the wonderous but dangerous climb down, not too dangerous though traverse that is safe with cows... read more

main report in wales 2009 logbook but massively pretty cave muddy part: christened willy wonkas chocolate river squeezy part: bolder choke of aduous and uncomfortableness aka happy happy times(ben) THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KINGS (big booming voice): with a crown of stalagtites round the top and a stool for a giant made of calcite. The unknown squeezy part past hall of the mountain kings: unknown the friendly pair of bats

We spent about 6 hours looking for the entrance, including randomly digging in a depression that had been filled by a mud slide (edit first we looked in the wrong valley though). It turns out the entrance is about 6 meters to the right from where the river sinks and was camoflaged in leaf litter (the enterance is a chipboard and steel hatch with a square cut in the centre). Once inside there is a stooping height... read more

After a sensible early night and a prompt start we found ourselves in the impressive entrance to Peak Cavern. Leaving the showcave behind us we slid down a wooden chute and followed a passage to a sandy crawl, followed a wet seriese of arches before a semi-stomp brought us down a ladder to the main streamway. An easy passage led us to Squaw's junction where we explored a strange jacusi crawl. From here we crawled around for a bit and... read more

"Set an alarm for about 7.30am so we can get up for about 8am" Most people would read this statement to mean getting out of bed for 8am, with a thirty minute lucid lie in. Chuck isn't most people and at 7.30am he was at the end of my bed badgering me to get up. In protest I slept in until 8.30. I assume Chuck realised the error because he brought me tea. When I did get up I found... read more

After not deciding on a plan on Friday night we thought we'd play it by ear on Saturday morning before choosing our trip. Unfortunately Chad and Blakey's ear didn't leave their beds until 11.30!!! And that was after one burst of the fire alarm (thanks Martyn!) and a loud game of bashing pots and pans. Blakey even tried to sneak back to bed when we weren't looking. By twelve we were formulating plans and rejecting them again. By one we had... read more

A really good trip. Didn't really know what to expect from Notts II but it turned out to be a very pleasant streamway with lots of pretty stuff upstream and in some of the inlets. Our wonderful efficiency meant we were leaving bernies at about 11, and once we'd convinced ourselves to get out of the car (it was windy and cold) and get changed (me using Cat's lab's nitrile gloves) it was only a short walk to the cave.... read more

I absolutely loved this cave! Outstanding in so many ways. No ropes meant a super efficient trip; we’d finished breakfast by around 11 and were soon heading off to Leck Fell. It took a bit of time for us to get out the car and brave the cold but a swift change later and we were on the way to the entrance, which thankfully wasn’t too far of a walk. The entrance shaft is impressive in itself and is truly... read more

Really enjoyed Notts pot! Notts pot is often described as the most complex vertical maze in Britain, due to several routes to choose from. On this adventure Matt G led Alex, Mike, George and I through the centre route to the bottom of the cave, the bottom section being for me the best part of the cave system. Finding the cave was an adventure in its self, we were told it was about half a mile from the road with George... read more

This trip was completely amazing, and easily one of my top 2 trips so far. We set off first out of the teams (in the Mike-mobile) with the ultimate team for assaulting this monster cave, consisting of myself, Matt G, Chad, George and Mike, and were the first to arrive at Bernies. The standard giant Yorkshire pud breakfast was had then we gathered ropes, chose a route and set off to find the cave. Finding the cave was a bit tricky... read more

started from york in the car wonderful sunshine, got across the other side of the dales and was not so wonderful, some could even tell it was going to be foggy when we got out; don't know how. long walk up hill and through bog with a full tummy of bernies and a brand new metal waterbottle; which was to be christened. we arrived at a concrete hole which was to be our entrance and exit, and decided who was going where.... read more

The faff rating started low for this trip with Chuck arriving at my house at about 7:40. Sadly I couldn't match Chuck's efficiency & spent the next 15 minutes sorting my gear out, but we did manage to be ar the container before 8. The biggest surprise of the day came next when Ade arrived before (yes, before!) 8 as well! All 10 of us were there within about 10 minutes and by half past we had the ropes packed... read more

I rigged my first cave, woohooo! :D Some efficient packing and the usual race to Bernies (while I practiced my rigging across the back of Chuck’s car) meant that even after a leisurely breakfast and a fair amount of shopping, we were parked and getting changed by around midday. As there were 10 of us we split into teams and went down all 3 routes. Chuck, George and Luke went down Bubbles, Ade, Mark and Anna down Shadow. I was with... read more

It was alright.

A great cave, looking at the entrance I felt nervouse and didn't think I'd be able to do it (mainly because I didnt think I'd actually fit) but on getting down there it wasn't so bad. Some cool pitches followed, with a dramatic 'car wash' cavern at the end, well worth the squeeze. Several areas of nice formations, especially in the first half, check out (but dont touch) the 'helping hand' on the way up one of the pitches. Most... read more

Good cave with plenty of variation. The entrance and later passages were tight, but not that tight. Lugging a heavy tackle sack through them was a complete pain. Not a cave for the serious pie eaters, but most people would probably be able to get through with a bit of perseverance. Beware the wait at the bottom of the last pitch. It goes into a very wet and draughty area with very little shelter. I'd definitely... read more

Absolutely awesome days caving in Vesper pot. The cave entrance was a head first on the side crawl through a tight hole, this wasn’t too bad as gravity was on our side. There was plenty of crawling (hand, knees, sideways) and squatting, some parts were quite awkward. I might as well have just gone though a juice blender! Some really nice formations started to pop up the closer we got to the first pitch, made me feel like I was... read more

This was a really beautiful cave, nice pitches and crawls. We did an Ireby Fell exchange lol! Team 1 went down the traditional route and team 2 down Shadow route. Although, as we were spending time checking out the was level situation Mark ended up going down and up Ding – Dong and Bell and Chuck and I went down and up Ding – Dong before deciding that we would rig the shadow route. The good thing about this excursion... read more

Our original plan of Out Sleet Beck Pot was overthrown by the concern of some slight drizzle during the day, and being scared by the sound of a dam holding back the river at the entrance, however, as the weather had been dry for several days, and the worst that was expected was a bit of drizzle, we though great day for Diccan... a cave that I have never actually done despite yearly trips to the Long Churn System. ... read more