Mistral Hole to Gour Hall - 1st Nov 2009

Sunday November 1st 2009

Members present: Caitlin Brumby,  Chad B,  Luke Gardiner,  Mark Sims,  Matt Rowlings,  Mike Rippon,  Sam Lawrence

A great any-weather first or second trip, providing people don't mind mud! Navigation was pretty easy just using surveys & descriptions from t'interweb.

A bit of random direction-taking took us straight to the gate to the Ease Gill beck bacnk which was a bit interesting to cross...certainly more water than I've seen there before. Now they've changed the entrance and replaced the planks there was a bit of confusion as to which was the right hole, but after finding Link we knew where we were.

The entrance was a bit steeper than I remembered, but after that it was smooth going all the way through...a bit too smooth at one point when I found myself sliding pretty quickly towards a hole in the floor! I think we were all a bit underwhelmed by the "impressive" formations, but the mud made up for that :) Gour(?) hall didn't seem to have much calcite in, but there was lots of liquidy mud and a rather impressive statue!

2.5 hours underground in the end, taking it fairly easy. Crossing back over the beck was a bit easier on the return as all the water had disappeared! Certainly a better alternative to Carlswark!