Trips & Reports
Matt wrote...
Really good fun cave :-) with a scary traverse pitch-trasverse-pitch one-rope wonder over an almost bottomless hole. Such a nice view from the bottom of the big pitch when we finally got there though. And completely exhausing to prussik up again. I am being a bit rubbish writing this report a month and a half after the trip, so can't remember anything else. Doh!!!
Natasha wrote...
good cave tho would have been more fun if we hadn't had to wait at any point -very very wet and very very cold!
Gary wrote...
Superb trip! Just goes to show what a little forward planning can do! We managed to get all 10 tackle sacks packed the night before so managed to get away at a decent time. Team one (my team) doing the centre route set off half an hour early as we were rigging the common entrance, all the way to the common bottom. We met the second team on our way out of the bottom section then exited out of Adamsons... read more
Stephen wrote...
All Hail Gary the god of organisation. Everything went well for a great trip easy trip up to the cave and asside from gary parking miles from where we did and forcing us to play on the large ammounts of ice which festoond the roadside for a bit we got changed in brilliant sunshine (warmest change yet). Found the cave with only a little searching and found it allready rigged and rearing to go. Decended and split... read more
Adrian wrote...
Rigging Adamsons was a tad amusing, ran out of rope before I reached the top of the first climb. Then comes the 'amusing' ladder, three parts each about a metre long, held together by string (well, ok 5mm cord). How glad was I when I clipped into a bolt at the top of that. The rest was not bad, didn't like the look of the duck the group doing the BT route would have done.
12 photos by Gary...
Beth wrote...
we actually found the cave for once without 2 hours of wandering around in circles. it was a fun cave if a little short. would have been more hardcore if we had taken enough rope to do traverse at the end, but generally a fun trip
Gary wrote...
Enjoyable trip, but a lot shorter than the rigging guide makes it look! Everything went well up until the last traverse/pitch where either i didn't rigg it from the right place or the rope was shoter than it said cos it didn't reach the bottom! Never mind though, we could see it, close enough. We did go off down to the static sump instead though, so it wasn't all bad.
Holly wrote...
Once again the cavers of York graced the most wonderful place that is mud hall - a paradise of beauty and harmony in the middle of lots of rock. Slightly (ok very) upset that my Octopus had vanished but I made a landrover instead. It does look more like a splodge but a lot of love went into it all the same.
Dom's "rock of gibralter" (doorstop) survived the test of time though, obviously cavers appreciate his "art".
Nikki made an... read more
Gary wrote...
Always a supurb trip. Great cave with lots of variaty and challanging in many places for all. The whole group did really well. Bit of faff at the car with Steve managing to bring one size 13 wellie and one size 6 (how?) meant we had to go back to Bernies to hire him some. Took us a fair while to get to the bottom, not helped by two other groups in front of us. Coming out was super efficiant... read more
Matt wrote...
A supurb cave, and a really long trip (must have been underground for nearly 7 hours!) Thankfully the water level on the ducks wasn't too high and we managed to get through keeping upper body dry. Was fairly challenging, especially one of the early pitches where getting to the top of the rope meant hanging on the traverse line by cowstails (though no-one else had a problem with it... so perhaps it was just me) A little... read more
Stephen wrote...
Great cave with loads of different pitches some of which are quite challenging (If you tried hard enough it would be possible to get strung up on four seperate ropes on the same pitch). The wellie was a simple mistake that anyone could have made... They were the same height ok.. well theres no excuse sorry guys. it would probably be a good idea next time to allow more time for callout as we were quite efficient... read more
Adrian wrote...
Speed and efficiency saved the day and stopped us getting stuck behind the queues that must have inevitably formed. Seemed as though world & dog was down long churn. It appears that I need to put on more weight however, as I'm not fat enough to undo stuck crabs. Still, all out in time for soup at bernies. Then back to YSS for CHECC über drinking session. My head is still recovering... And do... read more
Dominic wrote...
Lots of fun! Althought became very conscious of the fact all I had was a rope! BTW, I was lazy and only did Alum, and didn't exchange! Got very cold for my laziness!
Dom
Holly wrote...
And the moral of Dom's story is "thou wilt not be lazy on a caving trip or thou wilst feeleth the cold"
A nice trip, got to look at lots of pretty green scenery rather than just rock for a change! and although there were lots of people in longchurn they were all nice + let us push past them! Hurray for lovely cavers! The first exchange trip I have ever done which has actually worked - yay!
And Dave did... read more
Matt wrote...
Unfortunately due to two lamp failures, we didn't get very far into these caves, and the majority of our time was exploratory up until then, which meant we had to wait in Ingleton Pub for over two hours til the Lancaster Hole people were done... over a nice pint :-) which ain't so bad! The first pitch down into the cave entrance hole (rigged from a tree) was good, and initailly quite scary, as being in broad daylight you... read more
Matt wrote...
Very very very very wet and cold!!! At the end of the tourist bit was a 20-30 metre 'swim' which was just about walkable if you are tall, but meant ice cold water up to the chin. Made swimming in the North Sea seem warm, and left me speechless, shivering, grumpy (sorry to everyone) and on the verge of turning back, for the first half of the downward journey. However, once I had warmed up and stopped... read more
Holly wrote...
This was a very fun trip!! It was quite awesome to see the nice pretty bits in the show cave (+ scare the tourists on the way back!) and after a southerscales weekend was nice to get clean again with a bit of a swim. + once past the swim I got warm again fairly quickly by stomping. And I led the way for quite a bit, all very exciting + adventurous. Very pretty cave, nice streamway + a random... read more
Adrian wrote...
When wearing a wet suit it's warmer to stay in the water.
Nicola wrote...
Don't wear wellies one size too big for you, you will NOT come out with both of them! And wear a wetsuit, its bloody cold!!!
Dominic wrote...
High scummines levels as a result of the dead sheep...
Deborah wrote...
Which was very recently dead and had obviously bounced when it hit the floor. Somewhat inefficient trip due to the presence of 6 Leeds cavers who were the reason for my scummyness vote of 5! SPOOOOOON GUARRRRRD!
Matt wrote...
The trip was cut a bit short cos we couldn't find it, but we did get a nice two hour tour of the local hills. Once there, it became obvious that it was going to be wet! Tatham Wife gave me my first test of a pitch where getting to the pitch edge meant wedging myself over a rather large drop (with cowstails in of course)... terrifying, and thank you to Beth for encouraging me onwards. However,... read more
Nicola wrote...
Don't go caving with a hangover, and i mean REALLY BAD hangover, its not so fun! especially since gary lies and tells you the next hill is the top...for about 5 hills! then we had fun wandering in the mist for a while, good for clearing my head! fun once we found it, must go back and finish it sometime when feeling less ill :)
Holly wrote...
For future reference. The cave is not JUST past the gate as the guidebook makes up but in fact about a mile past the gate (+ very obviously next to the path)
We OF COURSE found the cave no trouble, I just write this for future cavers....
Gary wrote...
Rowten is one of my favourit pot holes! Rigging went smoothly and I really enjoyed the trip, partyly cos I hadn't done any serious caving over the summer and was gald to get back underground. There was loads of water in the streamway and we couldn't even get past the waterfall down to look at the sump. Never the less, we all stayed dry... that is until we got back to the surface. Dom was de-rigging as I was first... read more
Deborah wrote...
Cracking trip until emerging into very scummy weather. The waterfall at the bottom was very impressive.
Natasha wrote...
surprisingly efficient and competent considering we had the wrong ropes and no rigging guide (we had packed for another cave). All in all a frighteningly civilised trip, nice and sunny then pub garden afterwards. A dream.
David wrote...
It's taken me three years to find out the Wheatsheaf has a beer garden!!?! Ah well, better late than never I suppose... Oh yes, Rowten, err... same as ever really, just with more foot jammers and considerably more LandRovers.
Gary wrote...
This was more of an exploration trip to see what interest the moors offer. Small but it was nice to see almost totaly unseen formations. Ade was going mad with flash guns and bulbs, almost blinding everyone but hopefully the pictures will be worth it. I was dieing of hay-fever at this point which spoilt the day a bit, but a good and very intesting trip non-the-less. With any luck we should be able to get more permits for the... read more
Gary wrote...
Apart from twisting my ankle on the way up the hill and being nakered before I even got in the entrance, this was a really good trip. The first section was bloody hard going with lots of tight winding passage. Then came the duck... great fun! Gover and Andy were very unsure about the duck but I couldn't see what the fuss was about! Depends if you like the water or not I suppose. An all, round good trip but... read more
Andrew wrote...
I believe this cave is listed as grade IV and is definately worthy of it. I think the only reason Gover and I made it through the duck was the knowledge that the Hobbster had done it a few years back (although reportedly with much swearing and whinging)! Once through the duck I was totally psyched- rock on. I've heard people say that the further reaches of disappointment are bland and this simply is'nt true. This is a top cave... read more
Deborah wrote...
Much faff was involved, particularly because i'd just bought a new safety link and cows tails. Then we got underground and found the route already rigged. 2 pitches down we came across the school party responsible exiting...school party in an SRT cave - what's going on? Much sitting at the top of that pitch before the group behind us went past as they (wrongly) thought they could free climb the next pitch. So we sacked it off and spent further... read more
Gary wrote...
This is a cave I've wanted to do for ages and never had the chance till today. A great trip in a great and classic Yorkshire cave. It was a lot shorter than I expected but still a great deal of fun. We had to wait for a while at the top as two other guys had just beaten us to the entrance, never mind, it was a nice sunny day! Ade and I went off exploring Roweten Cave while... read more
Dominic wrote...
Christian derigged for his first time, and he did the high traverse! He is insane! Also I think this was the Rowten with the "blue bastard", long may it rest in the land of broken tacklesacks! Dom