Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 3533

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Dan Hibberts (EPC), Col Walsh (Masson Caving Group)

After substantial alterations were made to the top of the 12m rift climb beyond the Bag o' Worms on the previous trip the intention of this trip was to go in and stabilise it all. More scaff, planks, clips and other equipment was carried in and ferried carefully up the 12m climb and into the chamber at the top. Whilst Dan and Col made a start on installing some scaffolding in the top of the rift I went to fetch equipment from the end of the cave. Good progress was made with the scaffolding and eventually a sound frame was built to support the two side walls and roof above the exit from the climb. Whilst this part of Hungerhill still needs to be treated with care the situation at the top of the 12m rift climb is undoubtedly better than before.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 3532

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Dan Hibberts (EPC), Sam Townsend (EPC)

The aim of this trip was to give some support to the loose rock near the top of the 12m rift climb on the far side of the Bag o' Worms. At the top of the climb is a boulder choke and after a number of trips through this choke by various Eldon members over the previous couple of months we were keen to stabilise the boulders here for the future. One of the most worrying spots was just as you entered the chamber at the top where the route lay underneath two large and one small boulder that seemed poised to fall if disturbed. A large upright slab on the left side (looking down from the top) also seemed to be resting on these and there was some concern that if we moved the three in the middle of the choke this large slab would fall into the hole blocking the exit. A sizeable quantity of scaff bars, clips, planks and other equipment was carried in to join the other stuff that was already in the cave and we transported the kit up to the chamber above the 12m rift climb. After a bit of digging another scaff bar was needed so I went down to the Bag o' Worms to retrieve that. A loud bang shortly after signified some major alterations in progress and it sounded as though things had taken a turn for the worst when Dan and Sam let me know that they had sealed themselves in. At this stage there was nothing I could do except turn my light off and wait. Fortunately we could communicate quite easily by shouting and the amount of rock heading south made me think that spirits were still high. After a quick look up underneath the bottom of the choke I retreated back to the Bag o' Worms whilst Dan and Sam took steps to free themselves. During this period there were some large bangs as sizeable pieces of spar and limestone came down the rift. Another shout from Dan that things weren't going well gave some cause for concern but we weren't expected out until midnight so there was plenty of time for them to dig themselves out. More rock hammered down the rift until eventually a hole big enough to climb through was created and Dan and Sam made their way carefully down out of the choke. The three boulders that we had been climbing underneath on previous trips had been dropped to the floor of the chamber and digging forwards by Dan and Sam into the slope above had essentially created a new wider and easier way in to the chamber. It seemed sensible to give all this some time to settle so we exited back up Deep Space and out of the cave.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4288

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Pete Pollard (EPC), Jase Rider (EPC)

The Dales had been dry during the previous week and the forecast for the day was promising with rain supposedly arriving in the evening. Three of us drove up to the Dales early on Saturday morning and met at 10:00 a.m. in the Inglesport cafe for a caver's breakfast. There was light rain floating around and lots of low cloud. It didn't look as though anything drastic was going to happen but the weather didn't look as promising as I'd hoped. Radio 4 had chosen this particular Saturday morning to broadcast an interview with Les Hewitt (he of the Sleets Gill rescue), which struck me as particularly insensitive given that we planned to be in the main drain later that day and it was raining. We drove to the parking at Braida Garth and squeezed in amongst the minibuses offloading their cargo into Valley Entrance. The rope and hardware got packed into three bags and we walked over to Braida Garth to ask permission. On the way we stuck our heads into the old NCC hut which is more-or-less derelict now. The old hut book is still there and Jase found an entry that he had written years ago as well as entries by John Taylor and Tony Revell. A short walk up the hill, found the entrance to King Pot and set off down the entrance climb. This leads to a small chamber with a P-bolt and Pete rigged a handline down the Rope Pitch. This led to the top of the First (Perfect) Pitch - a nice hang from double P-bolts in a pleasant circular shaft. From the bottom of this pitch a bit of a scramble leads to an easy traverse (with in-situ rope) and then a short, tight, blasted crawl. This emerges in a chamber and the top of the second pitch is at the far end. From here the rigging is all on Spits and the second pitch has a double-bolt rebelay on a small ledge. A bit of scrambling and crawling leads to a strenuous crawl-traverse. This is very awkward with a largish bag but fortunately doesn't last for very long. By this time we were down to two bags of rope, hardware and SRT kits which were a bit too fat for this kind of thrutching. Three smaller bags would have been better here. After that we dropped into Queensway and made our way downstream to eventually arrive at Emma's Pitch. This is a nice pitch down a rift and leads to a narrow winding passage (Festina Lente). At the end of this is a good-sized boulder choke. A devious route through this leads to King Henry Hall which is a very impressive chamber. Bloodaxe Pitch is at the far end of the hall and drops into another large chamber. Victoria Pitch follows quickly on and we set off crawling down towards Elizabeth Pitch. This is a tremendous pitch with a big limestone bar to protect the rigger who balances on top of a narrow rock spike just out from the pitch head whilst trying not to drop bolts and hangers. The pitch itself is a bit wet (especially near the bottom) and soon leads on to Jane's Pitch which isn't really much of a pitch. It's a short wall of rock that you climb up over and down the other side. Once past this the crawling starts and we headed downstream past some largish inlets. Soon we arrived at the impressive main drain and headed downstream to the final sump. Because of the weather we opted not to find the Grasshopper series so that will have to wait for another trip when the weather is a bit more settled. After a quick change of batteries we set off back out. De-rigging went without any problems and we exited the cave after eight hours underground.

We followed the description in Mike Cooper's book 'Not for the Faint Hearted' and found it to be excellent. King Pot is a brilliant trip which reminded me of Pen y Ghent Pot except King Pot has more caving between the pitches.