Lost John's Cave Dome Route

Sunday November 9th 2025

Members present: Abbie Heathcote,  Alfie Exall,  Elliot Rushton,  Tyler Hudson,  Will Barlow

After an enthusiastic start to the weekend (Notts Pot on Friday, Nick Pot’s ‘Traverse in the Gods’ on Saturday), Will and I decided we may as well commit to a full weekend of big trips. Strategising on the sofa at NPC the night before, we both agreed that Sunday had a real Lost Johns vibe about it… couldn’t really tell you why, that was just the vibe. After consulting Alfie, Will told me that a Lost Johns trip (Dome Route) could go ahead the next day, needless to say we were delighted.

I had been to Lost Johns twice previously, but had taken the Centipede Route both times, rather than Dome. I was very excited to try it out, especially as I’d been told it was more technical, and was now a lot more confident with SRT than on my previous visits (particularly my first, when I was but a scared little fresher).

‘Twas myself, Will, Alfie, Tyler and Elliot in the car, and we had a very vibey drive up to Leck Fell - incidentally where every trip was taking place that day (with others going to Notts, Notts II and Shuttleworth). We parked up and spotted a lone Walrus in his car, a bit too poorly for caving, we chatted as we got changed into our gear. It was spitting rain, but not enough that any of us were concerned.

Waving goodbye to Max, we began the delightfully short walk to the cave entrance, and one by one dropped down into the cave. Every time I do that climb, I look a bit less silly, which I think is good progress. And! My light actually worked at the beginning of the trip, which meant half the faff of the last time I visited Lost Johns.

I adore the traverses at the beginning of the trip, while I’ve not quite got Rosie’s skill for it yet, I’m definitely a lot stronger than I was and had a lovely time walking the familiar entrance route. Just a short distance later, our route diverged from what I knew and we began the first pitch of Dome Route - Will was rigging, followed by Tyler then Elliot, with Alfie and I having a very vibey time at the back. The first and second pitch (Vestry) were without incident, so we quickly persevered.

The approach to Cathedral pitch was really good fun, and the pitch head provides a lovely view of the chamber below. Me and Alfie chatted a lot as the first three descended. One of the freshers absolutely finessed a ‘middy-c’ (mid-rope changeover) as they navigated the deviation, I was very impressed (knowing I would have been a lot more overwhelmed if I was in that position this time last year). Middy-c complete, Alfie bypassed me to keep a presidential eye on the situation, but had to do little except descend next, I then swiftly followed.

Then came Dome pitch and Dome junction, nothing too significant other than to say that they were good fun! Candle and Shistol came next, again nothing too significant to note - the lower pitches were not very wet on our descent.

All that was on my mind was knowing that we would soon be approaching the Battle-axe traverse, which I had really enjoyed on my previous visit to Lost Johns with Will. We assessed the situation and agreed to rig and go ahead with the traverse, but would approach Valhalla with caution. The bottom of Valhalla had been quite vicious last time, with Final pitch definitely out of the question. We could hear the water as we traversed; we switched up the order, with Will leading, then me, Elliot, Tyler and Alfie at the back. I gave what advice I could on the traverse, probably not loads of use as I’m quite little and our freshers are quite tall, even so I did my best to be useful and communicate what Will could see with the guys behind me. At the end of the formidable traverse, Will and I discussed what to do about Valhalla.

In the end, Will decided to descend and then come back to let me know how it was looking (if the water was too intense, we wouldn’t descend). I told some stories from old trip reports to the others while I waited for Will to reappear, he soon did (he’s a very speedy prussicker) and gave me an update. It wasn’t looking too bad, but perhaps today wasn’t the day for it - I called to Alfie to begin traversing back to the start, and the rest of us followed while Will derigged Battle-axe.

This is where things get quite exciting for me, as I was about to de-rig the remainder of the ropes, my first time de-rigging! A little bit daunting, but I had Alfie as my de-rigging buddy so it was fairly chill.

It was a lot wetter on the ascent up Candle and Shistol than I remembered it being on the descent, and I got absolutely drenched as I climbed up to the approach. Alfie found this funny, though was a bit apologetic and assured me that I’d soon warm up, and I did, so no harm.

Alfie was very patient and talked me through just about every possible aspect of de-rigging, to help me feel as confident as possible. I did my best, probably a lot slower than most de-rigging by others, but everything went to plan and Alfie assured me that I wasn’t actually being that slow. I felt a bit better when we’d gotten up a few pitches and could still hear the other three guys just ahead of us. At this point we swapped bags so that I had the empty one.

Then came the short rope that indicated the beginning of Dome pitch - an absolute delight!

A short ascent, just a few metres - Alfie tried to rope run it anyway. You then reach a single bolt (which keeps the rope nicely in place) before swinging out to begin prussicking up to the deviation. The swing reminded me a bit of coming out of the Rowten traverse, but I tried to push that memory aside and focus on the task at hand. Standing on the ledge beside the bolt, I got my jammers in the new rope before derigging behind me, packing the rope as I went. I pulled through as much rope as I could to minimise the swing, and then went for it! Maybe this is a sign that I’m growing as a caver (or just that I’m treasuring these experiences more after the long, caveless, injury recovery period), but I absolutely loved this swing.

I think Alfie must have heard my gleeful cackling from above, as he called to ask if I was okay - “yes! That swing out was just absolutely brilliant! I love caving!” - satisfied with that answer, he laughed and I continued my ascent. As well as my first time de-rigging, this was also my first time taking a deviation out (not in the sports hall), I tried to be as careful and controlled as possible, having learned from stories that my fellow second years had told me about their devo-de-ring efforts. I managed to take out the deviation without any faff or panic, and excitedly told Alfie of my success - “I did it!!!” “Hell yeahhhh”. My excitement didn’t dull at the pitch head, and we continued with the de-rig and rope packing,



The Pulpit deviation on Cathedral pitch was similarly fun to take out, and accompanied by a controlled swing to the left, all good fun! The following pitch head had anchors that were a little challenging to reach (and gave me even more appreciation for Will’s devoted rigging efforts), but Alfie stayed with me and kept a close eye on things to make sure that I was okay. Despite it initially being quite scary, leaning out over the exposed drop, it was actually very exciting and I could really understand the thrill that people get from it. I’m excited to do more on future trips!

Coming out into the traverse was all good, and Alfie showed me the ‘stick your chest jammer in a cowstail’ trick to make the de-rig a little less uncomfortable. I wish I’d known that while we had been waiting to descend earlier, as some of the footholds are in awkward places if you’re my height - either too low so you’re stretching, or uncomfortably high - and had been putting a little too much pressure on my ankle, alas, I shall know for next time.

Funky de-rig, and we came out by the natural anchor. I internally panicked for a minute that I’d gotten the sling stuck behind the rock but thankfully I played it very cool and was able to wiggle it out after a few attempts. We did more rope packing and probably redistributed the bags at this point. I feel like I remember that happening, it could of course be completely untrue, only the cave will know.

Encouraged (if only mildly lied to) by the fact that we were nearly out, we persevered. It was just the Vestry pitch and the first pitch of Dome route to come, ascended without incident.

That was when we heard the water.

Alfie tells me he’s never seen a cave react that strongly to the weather while he was in it - the phrase “it’s about to get a bit spicy” was used, as we prepared to drop into the water below. Every time I’ve passed the LJ entrance before, the water has scarcely been more than a trickle, definitely not something that’s ever concerned me. Now, it was absolutely gushing: a properly fierce current that pushed against us as we fought our way upstream. With two heavy bags this made for an exciting final stretch of the cave, but definitely took more energy than it normally would.

Then, a glorious sight appeared! Will, perched on a rock in the entrance series, shouting to pass him the bags so that we could more easily clamber up the short but demanding climb below. Made trickier by the fact that we couldn't see the floor due to the water.

It turned out that after leading the freshers back safely to the car to keep warm, he had remained in his gear and waited for us in the entrance in case something had gone wrong and we needed him - I jokingly asked one of the freshers later if it was because they were worried I’d killed myself de-rigging, he told me that hadn’t even crossed their minds - total win.

With Will’s help we pushed on and were soon at the exit - it was a relief to no longer be pushing against the current as I walked. I don’t know why I’d been expecting it to be light when we emerged, but it was about 6:45pm and very much dark, cold and still raining (Nuala tells me it had been chucking it down since at least 2pm, explaining the immense LJ streamway.

The three of us got to the car and rapidly started changing, greeting the freshers through the open boot.

That was when Will had a horrible realisation… his worst fear come true, the car would not start due to a dead battery.

A few minutes of keeping warm, terrifying Alfie’s family on a family video call and eating the humble 3 slices of bread that I’d stashed in the car earlier, then the action truly began.

We did all we could but it became quickly apparent that we would need someone to come and give us a jump. Will assured me he had jump cables, we would just need another car to come and bail us out.

I rang Ade first, but he was already in Harrogate.

Rosie next, who had been doing a Notts exchange that day, so hopefully still at the hut.

It turned out that she had just left the hut, and after I relayed the facts, was willing to divert to Leck Fell to help us out (eternally grateful).

Then… “Shit.” … “What is it, Will?”.... “I don’t have my jump cables…”

I hurriedly rang Rosie back, not wanting her to make a wasted journey, asking if she had any in her car, she had no idea (that’s pretty fair, especially with the car rammed with gear).

That’s when Viki (in Rosie’s passenger seat) rang James for us. Our previous call hadn’t gotten through to him, but thankfully Viki’s did.

“Viki’s ringing James…. He’s got jump cables and is on his way!”

“Oh my god, really? You’re both awesome, thank you!”

“No problem, keep us updated!”

-

20 minutes later, James and Nuala arrived, what a wonderful sight! They are both wonderful humans and I’m so thankful they were able to come and help!

We chucked all the gear out of Will’s boot, and helped James to navigate as close to Will’s boot as possible without hitting it/getting stuck in the boggy mess that Leck Fell had turned into.

Eventually the guys were able to jump the car, and Will pulled out onto the road, James followed. A lot of relieved sighs, that 1 hour after emerging from the cave (closer to 2 for the poor freshers) we were headed back to the NPC. I sent Ade, Viki and Rosie a quick message to let them know we were okay and able to drive back to the hut; all were very relieved that we weren’t indefinitely stuck on the Fell!

A return to NPC for hot chocolate, cheese, packing, last minute cleaning jobs and we were off!

Will, Tyler, Elliot and I called in Skipton for much needed food on the way home, while James, Nuala and Alfie headed straight back to York. A little revived by Rehman’s, we resumed the drive, dropped gear at the store and benevolent Will dropped us all off home - I made it back at midnight.

Quite an exciting trip and aftermath to conclude a lovely, only somewhat exhausting, weekend in the Dales!