Trips & Reports 2008

A rather faffy start, it has to be said, the morning starting with a message from Ade at 8 saying “Running late, alarm failed to go off” (although it was later revealed that he may have woken up & turned the alarm of in his dozy state…!) followed by Ade & Tash arriving from the container with the rope packed the previous day. The problem was, they’d missed my note in the container to say we still needed metalwork &... read more

A first class trip to a pothole that not many people have done before! One of the '50 hardest' and for good reason! The shakehole is quite tricky to find but the map in '50 Hardest' is pretty accurate. Follow the vague path up from the car park at the Cold Cotes junction on the Ingleton-Clapham backroad, until just past the limestone outcrops near the top of the hill. Bear left off the path and locate the HUGEMONGOUS... read more

Chuck had been going on all weekend about how he wanted to do Mandale Mine and how pretty the pools at the bottom were. Really, they were. He really wanted to do Mandale Mine. So while the majority of the others made a hungover trip to the pub/tea-shop, a group of hardcore cavers dutifully piled into the car and went with Chuck to see what all the fuss was about. We went in, we got very wet. The route that... read more

Coming down, it was pretty good, though I did have to guess how to do a knot pass at one point, and the cave was really pleasant. What ruined me was going up Maskhill, I did not like that bit at all. It was scummy, awkward and prolonged. But, we did make some speedy progress so it wasn't bad in that aspect. And to be fair, going the other way looked like it could have been really quite good. A... read more

What can i say, it was a great trip really enjoyed coming down oxlow was simple and easy. however at one stage i thought we lost Ade lol. The main cave opening where Maskhill Mine meets Oxlow Cavern was wet, raining on the inside. Once the Maskhill team made it down to us they went on their way out Oxlow which was far the easier way out. I wana say thank you to Ade for allowing me to help him and... read more

I laugh at people who say efficient trips can't happen! The Maskhill -> Oxlow team was underground by 9 having packed ropes the previous day and we were out having rigged and derigged by 1pm! We had plenty of time to head back to the TSG to wash rope, have a shower and then head to the pub for a lazy afternoon before the meal! I love efficiency! :)

I went to bed on the Friday content in the knowledge I was off to do a bimble in Peak the following morning to sooth my rapidly approaching hangover. Five hours later and I was woken by Chuck's dulcet tones informing me I was off to Bagshawe instead. Naturally I just rolled over to try to go back to sleep. I little later I was awake again and struggling to get up. Still half drunk I made it downstairs and... read more

SNOW!!! And lots of it! A very pretty drive through the dales, changing in thick snow, followed by many snowball fights on the way up to the cave (including some vicious throws from Chuck which I still need to get revenge for..). While Chuck was rigging, I considered throwing snow at him but didn’t want to be the cause of him falling to his death so instead me and Anna made snow angels and then a snowman – we named... read more

A really good fun trip. The weather was stunning - cold and clear with snow on the ground. The change offers a fantastic view, especially with all the snow. Aquamole offered a good combination of ropework and easy but interesting crawling. The Aven is spectacular and well worth seeing. Lots of fun! I'm sure Matt will offer more details... On the way back, Tom, Alex and I went ahead leaving Mark and Matt to derig. We... read more

Well, first off, this is the first trip report I've written so if it's a load of shite, just bear with me. Anyways, the caving: Very little faff was had getting our stuff out of the container, though foolishly I grabbed an undersuit with a hole in the ass, again. The journey there was efficient, and we were at Bernies and eating breakfast before we knew it. Max then grabbed the last Rack from the shop, leaving me with no option... read more

This was a great trip that definitely exceeded my expectations. Despite the freezing cold rope-packing session in the morning, the change on Leck Fell was surprisingly mild despite the snow cover! We located the entrance fairly easily and after a look around various ways down, Gover found that the correct way is down the far side from the stile to reach the rock bridge. The first pitch was a bit muddy & cold, but soon after we were down the second pitch... read more

Great Cave once we got in. the initial descent was muddy but got better as you drop over the lip and descent another 20m. great cave with beautiful features. ACE!!!!!!!!!!!

Probably one of the most fulfilling trips I have done. This route through Peak is very varied and extremely rewarding. It has all the ingredients of a good cave, stompy streamway, muddy crawls, fantastic (in situ! yay!) pitches, stunning formations and an interesting history. Katie was a fantastic guide who showed immense knowledge of the system and was able to tell us many funny stories relating to each stage of the trip. I would love to go back and do... read more

A huge amount of faff... Trying to organise who was going on what trip with the transport available was a bit of a nightmare and I think it was gone 12 by the time we actually got anything sorted. With some vague directions to "go down a track and its in a field on the left", we headed off in Hayley’s car towards Monyash, where as suspected we discovered that there are many tracks and many fields. Lots of driving... read more

For those that were asking yesterday: "Bull Pot of the Witches was so named, not so much as having been associated with witches but rather to distinguish it from Bull Pot in Kingsdale and its proximity to Witches Cave" From: http://www.rrcpc.org.uk/easegill/text/Early_History.htm

Fairly efficient apart from Gary having the brought the wrong colour wellies so having to go back to Bernies to buy a new pair. Comic relief was provided by Cambridge University. Gaping Ghyll was very impressive! Came out the entrance in the foggy dark and somehow managed to find our way back to the car without getting lost. Impressive instinctive navigation by Gover and Andy G! A great fun trip. But where were the freshers???

The trip got off to a good start, with all four cars leaving the container at 8:30am. I was in Chuck's car and we made it to Outside in easily under an hour and a half. We'd got our breakfasts in front of us as the other groups started to arrive. After all gorging ourselves suitably, we zoomed off to Hitch n Hike to pick up the lights. The speedy departure was only slightly marred by Chuck forgetting... read more

I love Giants. Trip complete with kite flying.

I love Giants, It got me all wet and dirty!!!

Went in at 1pm with 2 freshers (including me), and 3 experienced cavers. Fun, wet (deep wellingtons filling fun), narrow Ss & waterfalls to climb back up & crawl under. We only just got lost but we made the most of it in an extravaganza of waterfalls crawls & traverses (I fell :D). On the way back we had a few hoots moans cackles and other weird noises, collecting the ropes that had been left for us. Got changed in the dark... read more

An excellent day out and fun was had by all (I hope). My car left an hour early so as we could return yesterdays lights ti Hitch n Hike. Due to the obligatory browsing of gear and a quick look the Peak Cavern resurgence we arrived just before the second car in Outdoor Cafe. Doing the trip a second time made it much more enjoyable as we knew our way around and there were less groups down there. Tom... read more

Speaking as someone who actually had fish and chips (Chuck had sausage, as I'm sure photos will show later), I'd have to disagree with Chuck's description of them as "rather good". Chips were okay. Fish was horrible. Good trip though. ;-)

This was a fun trip, less disjointed than the day before, despite us going in as one big group. We knew there was at least one other group in at the same time, but it was considerably less busy than the day before! We started with a small through trip through a nearby mine level, getting the freshers dirty for the first time. Whilst this was going on we met a chap from the Eldon who told us of his recent... read more

A really fun freshers trip! It all started early on when Chuck picked me and Kevin up at 8.20 and forgot about picking up Mark (two weeks on the trot Mark, are you getting the hints? ;)) At the container I suited and booted the freshers and paniced a little because we ran out of gear! We headed to Outside for some breakfast where they successfully fed all of us pretty quickly. For the record arriving too late for breakfast... read more

Another fun trip down Long Churn! Well done to all the new people! You all seemed really enthusiastic and great! What a hardcore lot you all are what with being fine with all the water!

A great intro to caving! This was my first venture into a cave! What a great time I had... Suppose it was already going to be a laugh after what Chuck said in the car (see gossip pages for that classic!... no one need worry about any stiffs). So after arriving in the Dales after a Bernie's breakfast it was onto changing into the caving gear, an interesting experience... I noticed an isolated house close by; I bet they must have... read more

A really successful trip down Long Churn. We were slightly worried about the weather however we decided to make a go of it before the rain came in (keeping a constant eye on what the weather was doing at all times). Dr Bannisters (the entrance chute) was the wettest I've ever seen it and keeping good footing on the way down was a challenge. Water-a-plenty for upper long churn. We speeded through the cheese press with no issues... read more

The following may or may not have happened ;) At ten to 8 Kevin and Andy efficiently rolled up at the Shell garage to pick up Mark. After a slight wait we headed to the container to find Ade already parked up and dozing in his car. After waking him up we packed our ropes whilst Mark helpfully took pictures of us stuffing the 160 odd metres of rope and other gear into the bags. By half eight we'd left the... read more

Overall, an absolutely fantastic trip! Kev's beat me to it so I'll just add a few bits rather than repeating everything he wrote! The day started fairly badly, having not had much sleep, being slightly achy from a day's digging and having a horrible cold, but the smell of damp caving gear increased my enthusiasm no end and off I went to the Shell garage to await my lift from Andy & Kev. 20 mins and a phonecall later they turned... read more

A lazy day in Lancaster in lovely Easegill for a gentle potter about. After quite an efficient start to the day we drove to Bull Pot Farm, passing by lots of flooded rivers and having to negotiate a partly flooded road down to BPF. As a result we decided that Lancaster was our only option really in Easegill, especially when we saw the huge amount of water gushing down Bull Pot of the Witches and the fact we'd only brought... read more