Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

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Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Simon Hodgson (potential new member), other non-EPC novices

I was running a novice trip anyway on this Saturday and since Simon was new to caving and wanted a novice trip I invited him along. We met at the Woodbine cafe in Hope and had a look at the weather forecast and a chat about water levels. Water levels had dropped from very high levels the week before but heavy showers were forecast for later in the afternoon. With that in mind we decided that the Giants entrance series would be a good choice. This would allow us to monitor water levels in the cave and exit would always be possible if necessary. After getting kitted up at the Giants car park we headed to the cave to find the stream with a good amount of water for the season. We headed in looking at various cave features on the way and soon were down at Garlands Pot. I lowered the team down Garlands and we went for a brief look down the Crabwalk. We turned around at Chert Hall and Simon and the rest of the team came back up Garlands Pot on a ladder. From there we headed back up to Base Camp Chamber and Simon and I went up the upper stream passage to visit the downstream end of Sump 1. After climbing into the roof we traversed in the roof of the upper stream passage to the P-bolts at the end where I lowered Simon back down to Base Camp Chamber. On the way out we made the short detour to visit the upstream end of Sump 1 before exiting.

A good trip. Simon got his trip underground and it was good to see him moving well through the cave. I hope that he will continue his association with the Eldon.

Simon Hodgson on the ladder at Garlands Pot.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 3644

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and Phil Baker (Masson Caving Group)

We chose Grange Rigg Pot after reading the description in Mike Cooper's excellent book 'Not for the Faint-Hearted'. However, the weather forecast was for mid-afternoon rain so we had to get a move on. By late morning we were striding up through Trow Gill and up towards the entrance to Bar Pot. The Gaping Gill winch meet was on and we could see a small village of BPC tents scattered around the top of GG. The diagram that Mike provides in his book saw us to the entrance to Grange Rigg without any problems and we got kitted up. Standing at the entrance, where two surface streams join to tumble underground we decided that Grange Rigg was probably a cave where the lower reaches could flood dramatically. With this in mind we wanted to be out by 3 O'Clock and set ourselves a turn-around time accordingly. Two hours in, allow three hours out and we wouldn't get stuck! We dropped into the comfortable sized entrance and followed the stream down to a traverse and the top of the first pitch. This 14m pitch is a clear hang down a fine shaft and lands in the streamway at the bottom. A narrow passage leads down to the head of the second pitch (3m) and a short crawl leads to the third pitch (5m). This is descended in two parts with a ledge halfway down and the top of the pitch is particularly awkward. We spent a lot of time looking for a way down the fourth pitch (11m). It turns out that there are three options for the fourth pitch and we explored all these and more before finally descending the correct one on 8mm Spits. From the bottom of the fourth a low crawl leads to some egg-timer shaped passage. By the time we reached here our two hours were up and we turned around. Everything was fine on the way out and we were greeted by fairly persistent rain on the surface. Shame not to have reached the bottom of this one but plan to return on a drier day. An exchange trip between Grange Rigg Pot and Christmas Pot would be excellent.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 3565

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC) and Phil Baker (Masson Caving Group)

We arrived at the parking opposite Braida Garth in Kingsdale at lunchtime to find dry and settled weather. Phil had done Rowten years before but I'd never been in there so was particularly looking forward to this trip. We crossed the wall and headed uphill to find the very impressive Rowten entrance shaft. I rigged the first few drops to land on the rock bridge that spans the huge shaft. An easy traverse along a muddy ledge leads to another pitch head, a rebelay and then a short descent leads to a swing into a rift beneath the muddy ledge. Here a straight drop can be rigged from opposite walls of the rift allowing a spectacular descent to huge boulders jammed across the shaft. Impressive place this! One of the biggest open shafts in the country and it has a distinctly Jurassic Park feel about it. Phil took over the rigging here and a pitch head at the left hand end of the boulders leads to a tricky swing into a cross-rift. Here some easy traversing on good ledges leads to the final drop into the streamway at the bottom. We had a quick trip to have a look at the Rowten sumps before heading out up the rope. Despite not doing many big SRT trips recently, the journey out of Rowten didn't feel too bad. I suspect that's because the vertical sections are broken up by short sections of traversing which allow a bit of time to recover. The trip took three hours in total and we emerged to fine afternoon sunshine. We stayed the evening at the YSS hut, Helwith Bridge which provided excellent and reasonably priced accommodation.