Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

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Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and various members of the YSS

I'd heard a fair bit about Lost Johns Pot over the years but never got myself organised for a trip. There had been a lot of rain the Dales but the Cathedral - Done route down to Shale Cavern in Lost Johns doesn't take much water once you're out of the initial streamway so that sounded like a good choice. In we went and the streamway was obviously high but there was still plenty of airspace in the low bits so we carried on to where a rising traverse on good ledges leads to the start of Cathedral - Dome. Straight on in the streamway at this point leads to Monastery route which would have been far too wet today. Soon arrived at a short pitch and then some nice caving leads to the top of Vestry Pitch. Soon after a bolted traverse marks the start of Cathedral Pitch which has a deviation to clear a rub point. From the bottom of the pitch another bit of caving off the rope leads to the top of Dome Pitch and a straight hang leads to Shale Cavern where the water continues into a sump. There was an impressive amount of water coming down the Monastery route and it was best viewed from a distance. Very impressive place to be on a wet day! Set off out up the rope and all straightforward until took a wrong turn in the streamway on the way out and had to double-back to find the route back to the entrance. Exited to find the rain had stopped, fields almost flooded and the sky brightening up.

A very good, quick trip which has plenty of straightforward, enjoyable vertical caving. All the passages are clean-washed and it's excellent to view the water thundering down out of the roof in Shale Cavern. There are still other routes that I'd like to do in Lost Johns including the classic Lost Johns - Boxhead exchange which needs dry conditions. The Cathedral - Dome / Centipede exchange trip also looks good.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4348

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and various members of the Masson Caving Group

I'd travelled up to Yorkshire a day before the rest of the Eldon and was hoping to get into Lost Johns; a cave I'd not been in before. In Inglesport in the morning it seemed like most cavers in the cafe were going to be in Lost Johns so we needed something different to avoid the likely queues. There had been a fair bit of rain over the last couple of days so we had to pick our cave. The Twilight Zone route in Notts Pot sounded like a good dryish SRT trip and we went for that. The other three blokes I was with had all done this route before but I'd never been in Notts Pot so it was a good opportunity to see a new cave. We drove up to Leck Fell and got changed in cold rain. Walked over to the entrance, a large shakehole about fifteen minutes walk from the Leck Fell parking, and abseiled in. The first pitch is quite short and is split by a rebelay on a good ledge. This landed us in the bottom of the shakehole and an obvious passage leads off under the wall. After a short crawl there's an easy handline climb down leading to the Main Chamber. This is where various routes go off and the Twilight Zone route follows an easy rising traverse which leads to a pitch-head after a short distance. Abseiling down the pitch past a deviation leads to a swing into the side of the shaft where there's a connection with a parallel shaft. Possible to abseil past this rebelay but look out for some tat which helps the rigger pull himself over to the bolts. Rebelay here and abseil down partway before another swing into a window leads to more straightforward abseiling to reach the Lower Streamway. From here a gently rising traverse leads to a cramped pitch-head with three bolts to rig from. Another swing partway down allowed us to gain a ledge system and another rising traverse. This leads to a neat pitch-head and pitch down in a very impressive chamber with loads of water falling out of the roof. A deviation half way down kept us clear of most of the water. At the bottom of this pitch a final short pitch leads to the two final sumps. On the way out I heard a shout from above and saw something fly past. Arriving at the top of the pitch I met another group on one of the traverses and apparently someone's head torch had come past me after coming off a helmet. The rest of the trip out was uneventful although there was definitely more water on the handline climb on the way out.

The Twilight Zone route in Notts Pot is an excellent SRT trip which has some entertaining traverses and pitches. Plenty of good technical SRT and you're on rope almost all of the time.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4014

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.