Trips & Reports 2012

Good fun. A few years since I've been, so I'd removed the crawly/rifty bits from my memory. A bit of a messRT fest for the bottom half, especially with the addition of a knot pass, but at least the y-hang for the last pitch now stays attached to the wall once it's rigged. ... read more

Mike and I arrived in the Peak on Friday evening with the idea of going climbing on Saterday, but we needed some Friday night entertainment and as the TSG was quiet and we just happened to have SRT kits and 300m of rope (my 200 and Mike's 100) in the car we decided to head to Eldon, getting there just as it got dark. For the first exchange Mike rigged East route while I rigged West route (the best of... read more

My last minute decision to come on that trip meant that there was no space in the cars left, so that I had to take the train up to Clapham, where someone was supposed to pick me up and take to the cave. However, when I arrived at destination, I got a call that the car was still miles away, and I phoned up John Holloway whose group had already arrived at Ingleton for breakfast. At last the second car... read more

Did I mention how good binch eating at a random fast food at the station feels after such a long caving day???

Intense.

The trip had been in the planning for a long time, and this was it. The others were off to Heron, but we didn't fancy that. Not one bit. We were going for it. Big time. Toby, as usual, was having a lie in, but I really did fancy the trip so whilst I knew it was cruel, he had to be forced out of bed. He did not look happy. It was pretty foggy as we left the YSS, but... read more

I gave it hard 2 for the rig, it wasn't trivial and provided some decent entertainment.

A really really fun pitch to rig....what is it doing in Yordas?! Ridiculous.

There's 2 things I never remember about this cave: - How wet it is and how much you have to get into that wet. - How long the walk is, it just seems to go on forever. But there's also a lot I do remember: - Face melting SRT which is glorious to rig and de-rig - Amazing passages and chutes - The connection through to Ireby II and the wonders therein Well worth a(nother) return trip!

Agreed. Ireby 2 has everything in it, SRT, horizontal bits, commitment, isolation (for Yorkshire), formations (best ive ever seen but SHHH) its got it all

After a standard serving of shittalk & breakfast at Bernies, me and other members of the York University Crippled Pothole Club assembled and made our way up to the beautiful entrance of Marble Steps. I had been selected to rig the gully route, while Jonny lead the second team down Sidewinder, a decision I was quite pleased with as I hadn't rigged anything since I'd been back from Australia and I was anxious to get my rigging hat back on. The... read more

Perfect cave for someone still getting to grips with SRT. Thanks guys, really enjoyed the trip :)

So good we all went twice apparently! Despite this being my 3rd trip to Sell Gill I don't think I've ever bothered to walk further than 3 metres from the landing of the bottom pitch. My bad. This time we went to see the wet route waterfall, which was pretty huge, Lieke likened it to GG, in terms of power, noise and spray. It was certainly hecking it down. Further downstream there was plenty to climb around on, I was surprised how... read more

There's a dig off from the bottom of the entrance pitch, and it is (just!) about possible to free-climb the entrance pitch if there is a group of slow people in front! ;) There's also a bit of crawling about / exploring to be done between the second and third pitches on the dry route (while waiting for someone on the rope). I did find some chicken bones in there. I don't think it had got in there under its own... read more

At the top of the second pitch on the wet route a handline goes up and connects to a couple of avens and some narrow muddy passage. I explored it but it got a bit too narrow, found a survey of it on cavempas though! :p

I’d been wanting to do this trip for nearly 3 years! For various reasons, planned trips had been put back and put back, but finally we were going to do it – and it didn’t disappoint! :) The only bad part was that I didn’t go fast enough on the zipwire. I only had the option of going first or last. I opted for first but didn’t know how fast it would go and didn’t want to crash into the... read more