Quaking Pot - 02 Jun 2007

Saturday June 2nd 2007

Members present: Andrew Gilmartin,  Charlie Dixon,  Debbie Flowers,  Kevin Francis

So, the entrance isn't where Selected Caves said it is. Walk up the path with Ingleborough infront of you until you reach a kind of drainage line going through the path. Directly to the left at right angles to the path it looks like a track goes off, ignore it. The path to the cave is not actually that worn and you want to walk diagonally left, slightly away from Ingleborough top. You reach an area where there are two large (though not massive) shakeholes on either side of the path. The one we went down (admittedly omitting the first pitch) is an obvious hole which you can scramble down and into. There is a small amount of water coming down from the overhanging rocks above. If you do use this route, don't bother taking the top rope.

The first pitch (we went down) does have some pretty mega rope rub, and is initially rigged from above the pitch, the rope being reached by a dangle and flail method. I suggest in future we either take a rope protector or use some kind of wire as suggested on the rigging guide. I really wouldn't fancy rolling up a ladder at the top of that pitch though. There was a spit we missed a little to the left of the take off, round the corner, but we didn't use it due to the length of the rope we had. This may have fixed the rub problem.

The second pitch (we did) has an awkward take off too, but the key is just finding the spits. This pitch and the pitch after could be rigged with the same rope, if you took one that was long enough (we used a 19m and a 37m I think)

I did quite enjoy this cave, but I think the hours walk to it in the baking sun had it's effect (lame excuses I know) and I was pretty tired by the time we reached the fourth pitch, and was more than happy to turn round before the "fun" of attempting the crux. We had made much quicker time than we had expected, though probably hadn't travelled a great distance. Minutes seem to last hours in there!