Trips & Reports 2011

Neither Mark or I had been to OFD 3 before so we were both looking forward to an exciting trip after hearing stories of crazy traverses, pole bridges and awkward climbs. Martin had offered to be our guide with the hope to capture a few good photos along the way and having caved with him before I knew we were in good hands. The walk up to top entrance was definitely an incentive to get underground, wet, poor visibility and the... read more

The description is a bit misleading in terms of locating the entrance, you can easily end up at Llygad Llwchwr 2. After parking on the side of the road climb over the stile and walk straight. To your left there is another gate and stile which you need to go through. This takes you past a shake hole on your left (this is the entrance to LL2). Carry on straight until you hit a path and follow it and the... read more

On our way to Llygad Llwchwr we got chatting to a fellow caver who recommended popping into Llygad Llwchwr 2. This is a relatively new find and has plenty of formations to impress. After our trip in LL we made our way down to the entrance which is located at the bottom of a shake hole. Covered by some corrugated sheets is a short climb down into the stream, nicely supported by scaffold poles. There is no route finding issues here... read more

Getting up at 6:45am is surely one of the most unpleasant things you could possibly do on a Sunday morning, especially if it’s the first weekend of your well-deserved Christmas holidays. When the alarm rang on that 18th December, I was cursing the person – oh, it was me – who had set the alarm on such an early hour. But then I remembered the reason why: caving with two of my closest friends from ULSA, Kristian and John (who... read more

After a fair bit of faff with a hire car, we eventually made it to Kingsdale at about midday. We had a rather fresh change in the snow, before making our way to Valley Entrance to rig the ladder at pitch head into the West Kingsdale Master Cave necessary for the way out. John went first, followed shortly by Kristian, while Sophie and I waited outside for what should have been a 15 minute job. 45 minutes later, noises were... read more

Rigging took absolutely ages! When it came to lowering down ladder 7 and ladder 8, the weight was almost taking me off my feet. But it did look pretty impressive. I expected it to be fairly hard to climb a 60 m ladder, but it was much much worse than I was expecting! I have a huge amount of respect for people who did this for all their trips. It was an awesome sight to see ladders stretching out of sight... read more

Only hardcore 2 because I bailed on the ladders after my hands turned to ice and decided to prussick up the lifeline. I've no idea how people did caves like Alum and Juniper in the 20's and didnt freeze to death

Would wooden ladders have been more comfortable? The Bradford lot were pretty impressed!

Get's a 3 for scummyness because it was so cold!

Good effort Mark!! Sounds awesome!

Alum didn't disappoint as always! Going down Long Churn & Dolly Tubs was good fun, with a few moments to keep it interesting as always (watch those edges next time Laura :p) I only made it about 15m up the ladder (in the waterfall), before my arms got tired, so I decided to use the rope instead, rather than destroy myself any further (maximum credit to Mark, who made it the whole way up). After bailing, I found I actually struggled on... read more

Also there was Tom on this trip - but I don't know his last name. Eldon still smells quite nasty at the bottom.

We need the change and faff ratings back for trips, this one gets a 4 for change, not the worst, but very unpleasant.

I've incorporated Change into Scum, it wouldn't have any otherwise.

One word to sum it up: terrifying! I'm not a big fan of near-death experiences. However, I did enjoy all the way in, because it's just such an impressive setting and you're constantly on the ropes. It was brilliant to try out my shiny new gear whilst doing some more complicated SRT stuff. Perhaps after having 'digested' a bit the shocker of this weekend, I might like to try it again - but only in much better weather conditions! This... read more

The three of us YUCPC guys headed down the eyehole route after SUSS (I think it was, Tom, Chris, little Peachy and two more freshers?!) expecting a quick-ish trip. I was treating the trip as some good experience for Sophie and a bit of classic Kingsdale fun. Things started to get amusing when Walmsers said ‘ Caitlin, I don’t think I remember how to use my gear’. I wasn’t too sure what to say to him at that point,... read more

Also, kind words, Sophie :)

An interesting trip. We originally went to do Lancaster, but soon found it wasn't really an option since YSS were doing a novice training day there (conveniently coinciding with CHECC...good planning!). Instead we went to pop down County, thinking that given the intermittent rain that Manchester Bypass would be a sensible choice. Easegill Beck had no water flowing as we walked up from Link, and the rain eased as we reached the entrance. It was still nice to get underground though.... read more

This was the second time in the space of a few months that I'd witnessed a flood pulse in County Pot. Slightly less scary given that I knew more-or-less what to expect, and that we would be able to exit safely (even if it meant waiting a while for water levels to retreat), but nevertheless a sobering experience. Given the amount of water on the way down to Spout Hall, I mentioned to Mark that we may find it a bit... read more

Dropped into the main drain at Stake Pot; back up at Fall Pot. Splashy splashy! :)

Knotlow wasn't the same the second time through, no idea why

was it coz of the finger?

I really enjoyed my first trip with some of the YUCPC lot! And am very pleased that they are really fun and friendly. Also, I was surprised about our group's efficiency: meeting early, leaving almost on time, and not too much of faffing and waiting around :p Alex let me de-rig the last pitch on the way back, which I really appreciated, and he's a good teacher. Thanks again! I've never been to a mine before, only natural caves, and... read more

We planned to do the round trip the other way round, but turn back at the windpipe and just explore. The dificult bit was finding where in the crabwalk to climb up, heres some advice: The guidbook says the climb up is 40m into the crabwalk, we found this was a lot futher, the first chance to climb up is probably at least 100m in. There are loads of options to climb up, the rift can be climbed pretty much anywhere.... read more