Trips & Reports 2009

This was Matt and Chad's epic 'Team am' trip 8) This was the most faff free trip ever – ropes packed at 1 am followed by sleep, up at 7 am, into the cave at 8 am, back for noon, time for breakfast then I was off for another trip! Great fun :) Quite a nice little cave, we took our time; felt no need to rush. Three relatively short pitches, the first time I’ve abseiled off a tree... read more

This trip was not technically an exchange as there was no team "exchanged" with in the middle, but hey, technicalities. We entered Pippikin with one rope and pulled it through, and exited via Mistral (although at the time we were not convinced it was Mistral). Our description ended at the Hall of Ten so the outward journey involved following a draught. Not at any point did anything look like the description we had half memorised. And Andy couldn't recognise the inside... read more

This was a really good fun trip. I'm not even sure why I agreed to it (maybe the promise of half an hours kiting first?) because Will of MUSC/Red Rose fame had scared me the previous night by telling me that the president of Newcastle Uni CC was the same size as me and had to be rescued, and contrary to popular belief it wasn't a good cave for small cavers. Once we got the hang of how to go through... read more

great cave tried to write big thing about it but timed out so -don't forget map -3rd turning on right missing confusion corner -great 2nd cave go from bull pot farm through the gate and up the hill on the metaled road to the top through the field for a while till you get to a sharp drop where the river used to flow at the bottm should be stones, go through the makeshift style in the barbed wire on the left, follow the... read more

Chuck had been told he had to back to Lancaster after failing to find the colonnades the day before, so off he trotted with Tom and I in tow. We didn’t have a description so Chuck and I were navigating just with the aid of the survey. After successfully finding the colonnades, the route took us down Kaths Way and Bill Taylors passage, then left up some steps to the comically short ladder (but much needed – the passageway it leads... read more

Despite the fact that we didn’t complete the trip as intended it was still quite enjoyable. Ade, Tom and I went down Big Meanie and Andy G and Lauren went down Death’s Head. Unfortunately for the other team we couldn’t find the connection to Death's Head. This was despite an extensive search (although you could say that it was not extensive enough!) through every muddy horrible passage we could find – and my word it was muddy at the bottom... read more

We went down deaths head hole. We waited 2 hours. We went out. Despite the odds I was in a really good mood and enjoyed the day lots. Yay caving.

Getting into the cave was such a relief to get out of the driving icy wind. Rigging such a big open shaft was pretty cool, I enjoyed it. Didn't much like all the loose rocks and crap which completely covered every inch of floor though. Sitting down in a cave for 2 hours is pretty cold, but it was quite fun. It’s amazing what you convince yourself you've seen and heard. Once it hit 4 o'clock we headed right out. We... read more

First Cave we descended on a coldish day, but i was amazed when i got down as to how warm it was, due to it being my first cave. chuck and me got to the bottom and waited for a bit for everyone else to get down. once all assembled we went up slug world that was pretty, then we proceeded to return to the main chamber and took the other passage on the pretence of finding the colonaids, i say... read more

Doing Easegill with Gover is awesome – he knows the place like the back of his hand, which allows for some serious stomping and keeps faff to a minimum. There was a bit of a delay at the top of easegill aven when there was a slight doubt as to the way on at the bottom. I was already half way through a crawl when I was told to wait, so since I was already lying down decided to have... read more

I loved this cave! As Matt G said after the trip,it has character! The first pitch is awesome, being suspended from trees over a 50m drop- could understand why Matt was swearing as he rigged it! The dead sheep were grim, though Matt and Anna did manage to play frizbee around them! Tom went down some of the newly dug part at the bottom, and worried us slightly when he didn't reply after shouting him! (he did reply eventually lol). I... read more

I loved this trip, wandering down along the course of the stream, past loads of cool looking rocks doing some interesting bits of SRT is exactly what I like about trips. Though the cave was quite short, it did have a very entertaining bit to it at the end, where we found a bit of a swim, in which mark decided to fully submerge himself (even though the rest of us could go through on our fronts and still have... read more

The duck in the streamway is definitely not worth it, especially with no ropes to do the last pitch! To clarify the comment about submerging, I went for the "I'm wearing PVC so if I'm quick I can stay dry approach", but was a little over-enthusiastic, resulting in complete submersion :S ah well, live & learn!

Another epic caving trip with the YUCPC, this time down Sell Gill (Goblin) – the wet route, and it was brilliant! The team had Ade our rigger, Mark, Chad, George and Alex who did a spot of derigging. The trip was very efficient from start to finish, no faffing whatsoever. We even saved a stricken sheep from getting tied up in string on the walk to the cave! The descent started out with a free climb (with the help of a... read more

This trip started efficiently with me forgetting to photocopy the descriptions the night before and therefore to run up the road to fetch them from Imogene leading to a late arrival at the container. This did not matter too much as Andy and Imogene had already arrived and were sorting out gear allowing us to leave at a sensible time of 8:40ish. On the road and things were looking good until we realised that we had forgotten one of the... read more

There had been attempts to be organised… Chuck went round to Kev, Imo and Andy’s the night before to get some descriptions. Whiskey was then consumed and Chuck forgot to take home and photocopy said descriptions (coincidence? :p) So after a slightly delayed start in the morning, we’d just about got out of York when Andy thought we’d better ring Chuck to make sure he’d packed both tackle sacks.. turned out he hadn’t so as he didn’t have a key, we... read more

Wow! What an epic caving trip down Bar Pot to see Gaping Gill with ‘Team Rhythm’ (Matt, Kev, Mike, Lucy and Chad). Matt G, our leader and rigging machine seemed to admire his rigging more than the cave lol! :p That entrance to Bar Pot was tight, I thought I was stuck at one point but after much wriggling and cursing I was through, Kev said that all us fresher’s made the common newbie mistake of trying pass the pitch... read more

Immense trip, great fun. Walk up in blazing sunshine, efficiency throughout the cave, main chamber in sunlight (kind of), banana sandwiches. It was the stuff of dreams. I forgot how much I loved this place and can't wait to get back for a more intensive explore.

'They see only their own shadows or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave' - Plato Why you'd be standing outside the container at 7:15 AM on a Saturday morning I don't know, but if you had been you would have seen 'Team Rhythm' (Me, Mike, Matt, Chad and Kev) looking damp and excited in the darkness. I'm terrified of the idea of potholing, yet that's what I'd signed myself up... read more

My first cave! Didn't know what to expect, the drive up throught the dales was beautiful, it seemed like the weather was tryng to convince me to stay above ground. However when it was time for the changeover it msut have realised I serious about going underground because it clouded over and became windy and cold. The walk up the hill warmed us up and soon I was staring down into the entrance trying to imagine what was below. After... read more

This was a good trip. We started off late as we had no need to get going early, we left York after 9, headed south and cooked ourselves a breakfast. After chatting to some stragglers at the TSG we headed (late afternoon) to the cave. The change was nippy, but not too bad, and the walk to the cave was brisk. We noted the 2nd (or 3rd?) entrance in the field before our entrance. Andy stuck his head in but... read more

I was quite excited at the prospect of this trip, having missed out on the first visit to Long Churn but hearing from the others about how much fun it was! It was a great start… Ade said he’d be round to pick me up just before 9am, however at 9.15 there was still no sign of him and when I called to find out where he was I got a response of “oh shit” as I’d actually just woken... read more