Pool Sink -to Stop Pot

Sunday June 13th 2021

Members present: Adrian Turner,  Jacob Podesta,  Nicholas Stylianou,  Paulina Poterlowicz,  Rosie Marshall

After making poor life decisions and not getting enough sleep I just about managed to get up in time to shoddily scrawl a handwritten description before leaving at 8am for a smooth drive to the Dales. Slightly smarter life decisions meant the rope was already packed and we got underground at an acceptable midday. Despite its name on this oddly dry day there was no ‘pool’ to be found outside the cave- lies. Upon entering a very awkward and bendy crawl commenced before opening into a little 1 metre(ish) drop and a more human sized passage. Soon enough the first pitch was reached, this has a short traverse line leading to a Y hang. Next, I was supposed to look for another bolt to rig a rebelay. Here a problem occurred. I found a deviation but perplexingly no bolt, hmm…. Annoying but the pitch was reasonable even without it. A short walk down the streamway led to another traverse starting of a natural and providing a nice handline for the two big holes in the ground. With that passed another Y hang followed. This is where the objectively best part of the day occurred- a very very speedy shiny shiny new rope!!! Following this another Y hang then a short downwards inclining walk. Approaching the last pitch, it was decided Rosie would rig, and with the help of the knowledgeable Ade a rapid and successful Y hang was formed. (Now we should have really rigged a traverse here, but it was so dry we just rigged the pull through route instead- much simpler).

With the last pitch done harnesses where ditched and more walking commenced. The navigation was surprisingly successful. Some mild confusion occurred when the description mentioned a ‘huge obstructing block which can be crawled under in the water’ in reality you’re really crawling either side of it. Both options come out in the same chamber though the left is more appealing. After more streamway we eventually found Holbeck junction and after throwing ourselves up it and walking some more across streamway and boulders we made it to stop pot! Success.

With some time spare we decided to try find the connection to Top sink for future trips which involved backtracking to Holbeck junction and following the streamway up. Some more confusion occurred when the description very vaguely specified a climb without saying which one but we eventually found the ‘fine passage’ mentioned- which was indeed very fine and honestly made the walk worth it by itself. Now this is where our plan came to a bit of a fail. We found the climb we believed to be correct but couldn’t find the route above this? After some flailing and crawling we decided it was probably time to go back- very sad.

Backtracking to the pitches was speedy and simply. Rosie vanished up the pitches first and this was the last I saw of her till we left the cave, followed by Ade then Nick. Jacob was on derig and I flopped around ‘helping’. Of course, with such an efficient start and surprisingly correctish navigating things were going well…too well. After ascending the third pitch and traverse Jacob and I started making our way to find the last pitch, so we walked and walked…and walked and suddenly I was walking on very slippery rocks…hmm definitely not recognisable? We turned back and took a side passage finding Nick and Ade, well if they are here, we must be going the right way…. right? After a pretty awkward climb (in which all three of us climbed above and over Ade who was stuck in a tight predicament) we realised…this is definitely not the way…oops. At this point we turned back, explored a few side passaged none of which were correct before backtracking to the main bit of stream. This is where I realised…. the reason we were confused was that every one of us managed to independently miss the very obvious rope unobtrusively in the corner…. well…. After zooming up the last pitch we made it back up the awkward crawl and into the sunlight (and a very confused Rosie wondering why we took so long). What followed was a speedy walk back to the car with occasional stops as Nick decided to lay down every 5 minutes claiming he was dying and couldn’t go on (spoiler- he made it).