Easegill - Pool Sink

Present : Fay, Dan, Paul (myself)

After a morning coffee at Bernie's we headed up to Bull Pot farm kitted up and set off on the long trek to Pool Sink. After lots of tramping through sodden peat and heather bogs we headed uphill following the stream bed and Pool Sink came into view.

Parked up in the lane near Bullpot Farm

The entrance was a crouching height vertical slit in the left side of the gully when facing upwards.This crouching soon lowers into a hands and knees crawl with some tight and twisty ninety degree bends that me and dan struggled wrestling our rope bags down. After about five minutes of this crawl the passage opened up and we could stand up and make our way down the winding passage toward the start of the first pitch .

I rigged the first pitch and one by one down we went. We came up to a T junction and the way to the right went to magpie chamber and the way to the left continued downwards into vast Easegill system. We made our way left along a stream passage and we came to a traverse that needed to be negotiated so we set about rigging the rope over a rather deep looking rift whilst the water was crashing down into the gully below . I stood with one foot either side of the gully and reached down and placed a mallion with a quivering hand on the last P hanger, toes the rope to it then we progressed trough the tall vertical passage. Eventually we came to another pitch and Dan rigged it and down we went again . We made our way to another traverse however Dan had discovered he had lost all the mallions somewhere on the way down the last pitch! We mustered as many krabs between us as we could and we just had enough to be able to make the traverse and rig the last pitch. We descended the last pitch and entered the so called "Green and smelly passage". This passage does wiff a bit!

Dan rigging the 3rd pitch

Now Easegill is a massive system with passages seemingly shooting off in all directions and a good knowledge of this system is advisable to avoid getting lost. After making out way along this passage we came up to a T junction it was decided we would take the right hand route ,as we made our way on we came to another junction . I carefully placed a few strategic piles of rocks to help us navigate our way back as I did not relish the thought of getting lost in this system! We needn't have worried though, as we decided to make our way into the next chamber and turn around and head back, we walked into the next chamber only to find ourselves back in the Green and smelly passage where we started. This worked out perfectly and was a good time to start making our way back out. We started ascending the pitches and Dan de-rigged as we went we advanced along the traverse then in the pools at the bottom of the pitches we searched for the missing mallions after a few minutes splashing around we found them!

We made our way back to the T junction at the foot of the first pitch and dumped the bags we then headed up the right passage to have a look at Magpie chamber.

Formations in Magpie Chamber

This chamber is entered by an opening on the left hand side about fifty meters from the T junction. It is a fairly straight forward passage to negotiate and as you progress a pure white flowstone becomes visible on your left hand side. When you look upwards and emerge into a large chamber you can see some fantastic black and white stalactites and curtain formations . If you get the chance to go here it is well worth the effort. After taking some pictures we set off back to the bottom of the first pitch. After collecting the rope bags and sorting ourselves out we prussiked our way back out of the first pitch and once at the top de-rigged and stuffed the wet ropes into the bags and headed upwards to the dreaded entrance crawl! We climbed our way up into the tunnel and dragged the rope bags up and shuffled our way along the winding tube for around five minuets then we emerged back into daylight and made the long walk back to Bullpot Farm.

Overall the trip is a good one I thoroughly enjoyed it, from my own point of view I need to learn and find my way around the system to enable me to get more out of it but this will take time. Would I go back there again? Ohh yess!

Paul

Whitewell Pot, Whitewell Cave, & Hell Hole

For the first trip of 2012, me (Dan), Fay, Bob, Paul W, and Nick were off to the Forest of Bowland to investigate the various holes in the ground around Whitewell. I had never been Whitewell Pot, or the others, and at the clubhouse the Thursday before there had been a few mutters of derision upon finding out the trip was to Whitewell Pot. However, seeing as it is only 10 minutes away from my house I was enthusiastic about it, and was looking forward to the trip!

We met at the top of the hill in between Cow Ark and Whitewell and dutifully parked in the layby prescribed in the permit, where the views are absolutely magnificent. After quickly getting all my gear on in the -1 degree cold, I realised my first error of the day - NO SRT KIT!  I'd remembered the rope, but unfortunately I had nothing to go down them on...

Top of the hill, amazing views over Forest of Bowland

Thankfully Fay was my saviour, she had brought a 20ft ladder, we thought I might have a bit of a problem getting down Hell Hole, but Whitewell Pot would be fine. We set off down the road and made our way over a gate on the right of the road and trudged across a boggy field towards a copse where Fay and Bob (having been before) said we would find Hell Hole.

Hell Hole is in a large sink, surrounded by a small wood, very picturesque. The first pitch (14m) looks quite promising upon first viewing, it is large and open and lets in sunlight. Fay put a belay on a tree at the top of the pitch for the ladder for me, and a rope for everyone else. I made my way down to a ledge halfway down on the ladder with a lifeline, but the ladder wouldn't reach all the way so Fay lowered the ladder to me, I tied a knot in the rope, attached the ladder to the knot, and made my way to the bottom.

Fay going of the tree at the top of the first pitch of Hell Hole

Everyone then made their way down to the bottom where we found the next pitch covered in a rusty iron barrel cover. The pitch itself was a tube made of rusty iron barrels. It wasn't completely vertical and definitely free-climbable but we stuck the ladders on anyway just in case. After a short-ish climb down of about 10m, you get to a very tight hole in the floor which is a few meter drop to a small chamber. Then there is another small pitch of 5 or 6 meters, which again is climbable, and you are at the bottom! Nothing to see at the bottom really, apart from a very tight crack which I could have possibly got through, but not knowing if I would be able to turn round once through, I left it and climbed back up.

Me at the last pitch in Hell Hole

After Nick saying "is that  it", we made our way back out, which was largely uneventful apart from Nick getting stuck in the tight hole for a while when climbing back out, but once he took his gear off he just about made it. On the ascent of the last pitch, everyone made there way back up on the rope, and to save time I asked Paul to chuck down his SRT gear. I was last, then halfway up I realised error number 2, I glanced back down and saw I had left Paul's descender on the floor! Luckily Nick was on hand to lob his descender to me, so I promptly slid back down, retrieved the descender, and scurried my way back up the rock face on the rope.

As it was on the way down to Whitewell Pot, we next made our way down the valley to Whitewell Cave. Nothing of interest really, absolutely chock full of boulders, and at the bottom a narrow squeeze which I had a half arsed attempt at, but not knowing where it was going I chickened out as I didn't know if I could turn round and get back out. When I got home I had a look at a couple of descriptions of the cave, and it seems the hole I couldn't be bothered with actually carries on to a few more passageways and chambers. If I would have know this I would have gone through the small squeeze, but as it is, we can go back some other time and have another look.

Entrance to Whitewell Cave

After Whitewell Cave we set off down the road to Whitewell Pot. The entrance is (quite oddly) a big plastic tube covered in shoe mat material with a steel gate on that you need a spanner to open! Luckily Fay had hers with her and and after undoing 8 fiddly little nuts, we climbed down the tube, which someone had quite kindly fixed steel poles in for a ladder.

Fay and Bob undoing the gate on the entrance to Whitewell Pot

After getting to the bottom of the tube, and a bit of a squeeze through a couple of small gaps, you get to the top of the first pitch. There is a handy wedged-in concrete post at the top of this which Bob belayed the ladder off, then made his way down to the first chamber. The next 'pitch' isn't really a pitch, it is an 80ft series of climbs, which although almost constantly vertical, is quite easily climbable. The reason for this is that, unlike in the Dales where the majority of caves are nice and smooth, the limestone has formed extremely rough and sharp, with lots of sharp little handholds and good sized ledges. I really enjoyed this climb, both on the way in and on the way out, and on it's own it made the trip worth while.

Whitewell Pot survey

At the bottom of the climb, you get to a chamber with a crawl off in the corner. This crawl is quite tight, but not very long, with a squeeze under a very low arch at the end which leads on to the rest of the system. Nick and Paul started the crawl but Paul didn't like the look of it halfway down as he said he was feeling like he was going to get stuck, so me Fay and Bob carried on to the next part of the cave. Nothing much else of real not down here, apart from a model head someone has made out of mud, so after 20 minutes of snooping / crawling around in the numerous muddy passages we made our way back out, up the climb and met Nick and Paul up top.

Overall an enjoyable days caving, it was nice to see all the caves in the area mainly because they are local to us, but the nice dark, rough limestone, and enjoyable free climbing in Whitewell Pot made it a worthy day out.

New Trip Reports Blog

Hiya everyone, this blog has been created so we can start doing trip reports, and have them displayed on the new website! I will do them sometimes, and Paul has said he will occasionally do them. It's no fun if one person ends up doing them all the time, but if everyone mucks in it will be a nice thing for the club to have, and they don't have to be amazing, just short descriptions will suffice!

Keep your eyes peeled, I'm hoping to do the first one tomorrow after the trip to Whitewell Pot / Hell Hole.

Dan