Trips & Reports

SNOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!

Didn't think it was possible to break a trip, but I managed it. Took us a while to find the cave due to Ollie taking a bearing from the wrong point on the map, got into SRT kits and realised I had a stop and none of us had much of an idea how to use one. Figured we'd give it a go anyway, it couldn't be that difficult. Got onto the first pitch, attatched the stop,... read more

Equipment problem... DO NOT TRUST CHUCK's GPS. It took us to Lancashire.

Equipment problem...TEATOWEL FAILURE

Equipment solution: LANDROVER ROOFRACK STRAPS CAN BE USED AS CHEST TAPE IF SOME IDIOT FORGETS THEIRS. Great fun trip with multiple pretties. Really wish I had a neofleece though, as climbing various waterfalls gets kind of cold after a while. Coming down waterfalls is fun though... just wedge yourself in the mouth until the water's flowing over your shoulders, then release yourself to be shot down the fall. Caving with a faulty light is fun, but can be frustrating.

Re Faulty Light: A little bit of initiative would have led to one of the 3 working lights on Josh's head being moved to the misbehaving helmet.

RE: Working Light. Moving working light to Chris would have taken common sense, & none of the people on this trip had that. RE: Idiot Forgetting Chest Tape. Who was that then??? :p

Well at least I had the common sence to bring another spare light with me. If only someone had the common sence to bring batteries for it that would've been great. Fun trip, I only did the upstream, but that made it more than worthwhile!

Re, more light nonsense... Didn't two of the three lights on Josh's head also contain batteries that could have been used in conjunction with any spare dive lights that had been brought? Once more, common sense (and good leadership even?) dictates that they could (and indeed should) have been used rather than Chris relying on erractic lighting.

Large Pot, according to the guy at Inglesport who has been involved in digging there, is a magnificent trip! Unfortunately we only got to see the top end of it! Easy to find, follow the road up from parking at Masongill, through the gate, and where the road turns right, continue into the field straight ahead. Follow the wall up, and on the right after about 100m are the twin shakeholes of Large Pot (with the metal lid) and... read more

See report for 'Large Pot' from the same day :)

We went out to find something a bit different and defiantly found it! Probably the most spectacular formations I've ever seen in the UK. From start to end, the cave passages were covered with Helictites, more than I've ever seen before! Not especially hard caving, but very rewarding. A long stream way with lots of crab walking terminating in a large waterfall (link to another cave?). The straw chamber we found at the top end of the stream was just amazing,... read more

Spent New Year's underground this year... 'twas great fun, and should provide some great photos of champagne at midnight. Even found some crazy cave ninja down there... Learnt a few lessons, though, which I'll stick down here so as not to forget them. * Don't take too much stuff. On a normal caving trip a group of five people take two (maybe three) tacklesacks of gear. This is mostly rope and metalwork to allow you to actually get... read more

I thought that taking way too much stuff to put us in luxury at camp was part of the plan from the start? Also, there wasn't really much we could do about predicting when people would be coming out of the cave - people generally come out at any time between about 1pm and 11pm, so there was no way of going down at a time when people wouldn't be coming up, especially the notoriously busy Bar Pot. And I... read more

I agree pretty much completely with Chris and had written a seemingly identical list of lessons learnt at work yesterday ready to post! I don't really see the point in putting it here now. The crucial point is basically everyone should pack lightly and bring small items, not the large, awkward (and cold?) club sleeping bags. Whilst we did take some large unnecessary items, it was fun to have them. James descending with the stereo loud was great! The champagne... read more

Quality trip... lots of string and rebelays. Arrived at the container to realise no-one had a key, and so it was time to do a grand tour of York, waking various cavers to find a key. Luckily, second attempt proved fruitful (sorry for breaking in, Dom!) Due tothis and various other reasons, didnt get to the cave head 'til 2, at which point I realised we had no official call out. Pete assured me that Bridget knew where we were,... read more

A not overly-difficult SRT trip, with lots of string and one relatively short crawl in the middle, though the pitches are quite long with lots of rebelays and deviations and hence not suitable for beginners. The constant worrying of people that doing anything but a bone dry cave if it has rained within the past month proved unfounded, I put in the deviations on the last pitch but it really wasn't very wet at all. Though I really musn't forget... read more

Quality trip... once we found the entrance. First bit of scrot for me,crawling through tight muddy spaces. A little worrying to find foam on the roof of the lower passages... Got a little lost on the way back, but found anamazing chamber with the ceiling covered in pencil sized stalactites. Peter's insane light came in handy illuminating that! My first bit of cave rigging (A bowline and stopper at the top of the second pitch), and the first cave I've derigged... read more

Somehow the cave finding strategy of "walk up Easegill valley and go down the first entrance you see with a lid on it" worked. We had been underground 10 minutes by the time I was convinced that we were actually in the right cave, but Chuck was convinced we had got the right one within about 30 seconds as it matched the description so closely - it was "tall and winding". A fairly efficient trip followed until the very last line... read more

What a jolly jape! :) After lots of faffing about about who was in which car, where everyone's gear was going, a trip to Hitch and Hike to take lights back and a quick look at gear, and finally we ended up at Edale station. We looked longingly at the pub as we walked past but carried on. Headed up the path along the side of a stream. The wind was stupidly gusty and strong. Being buffeted by the wind caused lots... read more

We realised we were in the wrong cave after we got down the entrance shaft and it didn't even slightly match the description! Never mind - on we went into the unknown haveing no idea where we were or what was round the next corner. Quite an interesting little cave really, lots of scrotty crawling and LOTS of mud. We were determined that there must be a second entrance (we later found out that was ture) and spent some time... read more

It gets a faff factor of 5 for us going down the wrong cave. But a great find. Layby pot is more reminiscent of Moors caving. A very scrotty crawly cave, involving lots of mud and continuous crawling on belly with elbows. Navigationally, not too hard. At the bottom of the entrance ladder (CARE... keep away from the bottom while people are ascending/descending) there is an obvious way on (the correct way) and a narrow... read more

The only good thing about this muddy pit was the exit. Which was fun. But stank. Oh - and I got to dance infront of walkers in my babygrow/trainers combo.

MUD!!!! And proper brown smelly mud, not the soft clay stuff!!!

I've wanted to go to Lancaster to try out photography for ages and finally got a chance. We didn’t' have as much time as I would have liked but got some great shots of the colonnades and the graveyard series. Took ages to get down the entrance as there were already 3 other ropes there and the main y-hang was a crazy collection of knots! I eventually rigged a different router on the other side of the chamber. It’s worth... read more

I loved the mud!

This was pretty good… After leaving the the bunk house we hit our first problem. The Station Inn was still shut and we hadn't planned a proper route. Nevermind, we would just walk to the Hill Inn and think about it there. So off we marched into the cold mist, being splattered by light spots of rain. Within an hour we arrived at the pub, but to find it too was shut. Nevermind, further down the road was White Scar,... read more

Possibly the most efficient Rowten trip ever (well team 1 was anyway)! We were in and out in less than 3 hours, all the way to the bottom. Admittedly we weren't de-rigging but even so, a super fast trip. Plenty of time to sit in Bernies for tea and cake! Not as much water down the man pitch as I would have expected considering the recent wet weather, although none of us fancied getting passed the waterfall at the bottom!

really fun trip, rope rope rope which was a change from the summer and the few trips ive done this term. Everyone told me its definitely a good trip and i'm inclined to agree!! middle pitch in the middle of the chamber pretty cool, looking at the waterfall, and the traverses not actually that scary - hurrah!!

We may not have got to the bottom due to the huge amount of water going down but this was still fun, even despite my inclination to make spaghetti out of the rope on the y hang. The waterfall was very impressive (standing at the bottom of the pitch looking up was awe inspiring, I think not having a roof made it less fun than a cave though) but the day was cold and damp and the change was more... read more

A bit of a disaster. Descent of the entrance was fine. The way on is down a nasty scrotty chute at the far end of the entrance. I went down (an in-situ handline provides assistance for the upward trip). Neil attempted to come down but got injured in a nasty place. John then came down, by which time we decided Neil could not go on. I climbed out, had to drag John out, and the we... read more

Quite an efficient trip (for a change!). Already two groups of three down the cave when we got there and so sat about on surface in the gorge which had become a wind tunnel. Had a quick look at Goblin Route and saw shed loads of water going down it. Three blokes from Red Rose came out quite soon and Ollie rigged the entrance. We met the other group of three (some rope-access group on a day out) coming up the... read more

Wet! I don't think I can remember seeing sooooo much water in the dales. Sat at the bottom of jingling it sounded like there was a waterfall coming down it, and far from being bone dry as normal, it was positively damp! Inglebrough looked really cool with snow on it, but I doubt the summit came out of the cloud all day. Hail not fun either!

Note to self... make sure to double check the size of oversuit borrowed from stores before setting out. Hail + Suit that barely covers knees or elbows == aggravating. Great cave: tight bits and pretty dry throughout. Dead sheeps at the bottom. Went down the bit that's been dug to try and reach aquamole at the bottom, reached the bottom and shouted up that it was tiny down here, but was quickly joined by both Ade... read more

Crazy amount of water going down Bell pitch. When it got over my head we thought it best to sack off the cave and go for cake. We'd already met another group on the way out who'd said it was too wet to continue. Never mind though, it was some good SRT practice for the freshers at least and everyone seemed to enjoy the bit we did.

Nothing much to add to the other report: but gave it quite a good fun rating simply for standing in the wet singing some nice fun songs with Max & Charlie: this is what caving should be about: none of this hard work or "exercise" (:o) stuff, just a happy joy joy sing-a-long! :) (Ed: 7/3/07. I think I was high when I wrote this as it sounds crazy reading it back to myself. Sorry all)

Hey! we only got back from the trip an hour ago! You computer geeks are all a bit keen for my liking! Note for future P8 trips - this cave has a lot more water in it in November than in say August when I am sure I didn't get wet at all. This time we ALL got very wet :)

Pretty uneventful trip down the dry route. There were a couple of other groups down there - one behind us (MUSC, including Debs Last) and one in front - but we didn't spend too much time waiting behind people and the pitches were relatively warm and dry places to wait anyway. Went down the streamway for a bit but didn't bother trying to go right to the end as the water level was relatively high. We turned round when the... read more