Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 5048

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Chris Schofield (EPC)

Chris and I set off from Sheffield early on Saturday morning and spotted Gingling Pot in Mike Cooper's book 'Not for the Faint Hearted' whilst having breakfast at McDonalds in Keighley. The book describes Gingling Hole as "the indisputable caving gem on Fountains Fell offering a truly grand day out with something to please everyone." Since neither of us had caved on Fountains Fell before this sounded perfect. We had decided to do the Big Pitch route and after stepping out of the car we looked closely at the pitches. According to the book we needed almost 190 metres of rope which was rather more than I hoped we would need to carry between the two of us. In fact we ended up with about 210 metres of 10mm plus associated hardware (P-bolts haven't reached this part of Yorkshire). I had a few long ropes in the back of the car but Gingling Hole needs lots of short ones and one big one. Half an hour later I had one less long rope and more short ones. Unfortunately we didn't have anything handy to melt the ends so many of our ropes had frayed and rapidly fraying ends as they went into the bags which was nice! We trudged slowly over to the cave entrance towing our two 'pigs' behind us.

Fortunately the walk to Gingling Hole is 25 minutes on the flat and when we were in the right sort of area Chris climbed onto his tackle bag to get a better view. We found the entrance, rigged the 9m entrance pitch with a bit of (frayed) rope and abseiled down into a chamber with a sloping floor. From here a drop through a slot in the bottom (called the Letterbox) landed us in a small streamway with sections of canal. This led to the top of the second pitch which was already rigged with a rope of unknown vintage. There are some good footholds here so we handlined down the in-situ rope to land in a small chamber below. Since the pitch was rigged we ditched the second pitch rope that we had brought and carried on following the water down a narrow twisting rift which leads to the top of the third pitch. This was similarly rigged and so we traversed out and abseiled down, dumping another rope. An awkward downwards squeeze in a narrow rift led to the fourth pitch which overlooks Stalactite Chamber and a nice 10m pitch lands in the bottom of the chamber. We were having a great time having rigged precisely nothing and finding the caving very enjoyable. From here the route on is through a small slot in the bottom of the chamber and into a low bedding which leads to the well-decorated Fools Paradise. This is a lovely and well-preserved section of walking and stooping passage with straws, columns, large stalactites and flowstone curtains. We found the fifth and sixth pitches rigged and eventually arrived at the 'Ammered Ole'. We had opted for the 'Big Pitch' route to the bottom which meant abseiling down the 'Ammered 'Ole pitch' which is very tight at the top. In fact our 'Big Pitch' bag wouldn't fit through here so the end of the rope had to be dropped down for Chris to pull it down and re-pack the bag...kept him warm anyway whilst I wrestled with the pitch head. At the bottom there's the 5m 'Little Pitch' and before long we were at the top of the 62m 'Big Pitch'. There was no rope on here so we rigged our own and I set off down. The pitch needs a couple of deviations and despite a very good look I couldn't find the lower one so came back up to the pitch head without having descended the full length of the pitch.

By now we had rope and hardware liberally strewn throughout the cave (and virtually none of it in use) and set off back up to collect it. This we did with much swearing but were soon on the surface having enjoyed a superb trip.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4473

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and Chris Schofield (EPC)

We fancied a decent vertical trip and I'd only been to Rowter Hole once years ago so suggested going back there to have a proper look round. Was Chris' first time in the cave so we went for that. I could vaguely remember where the entrance was so after paying the £2 trespass fee we walked towards the entrance. Not straight towards the entrance though as we were in the wrong field. Realised that I'd got it wrong and then walked more directly towards the entrance. Rigged the shaft and descended. At the bottom we dropped down the second pitch to where the water sinks in gravel and came back out then went up the ~10m handline climb into the upper levels. Nice bit of cave right on the mineral vein and had a good poke about up there. Some nice ginging, antique rope and found a wierd bit where there's seemingly a draught but no hole where it could come from. Back down the handline and then out the shaft to the surface. All very enjoyable and the prussik up the shaft was a good bit of exercise.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4252

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and Jim Lister (EPC& TSG)

The original plan was to transport some wire mesh and a mattock into Buxton Water Aven and to do some bolting that would allow us to safely get dive kit out of the way of any boulders that might fall from above. The original plan soon became the 'ex-plan' when I realised that I hadn't brought a hand driver that a 8mm Spit could be screwed directly onto. After several cups of tea in the chapel we entered the cave around 1:00 p.m. and made our way to the downstream end of Buxton Water Sump. I dived the mattock through whilst Jim wrestled with several square metres of industrial-strength chicken wire. Eventually we met in Buxton Water Aven and started digging some footholds up the slope to a ledge out of the way of any falling rocks. A detailed plan was hatched regarding how the industrial-strength chicken wire was going to be used to keep the sump exit open and we dived out in very poor visibility. Back to the chapel for lots more tea.