15/09/2012
Present Andy H, Paul L, Geoff B, Paul Whittaker (myself)
Where do I start! At Bernie's as usual , we met up and had the usual coffee's and sandwiches and embarked onto a pull through trip going down Simpson pot and emerging at the roadside at valley entrance in Kingsdale sounds great!
After a short drive we kitted up at the side of the road and Andy and myself set off into valley entrance to rig a ladder to enable us to get back into the high level passage on our way out. Pull through trips mean that you go in one entrance and you take the ropes with you and make your way through the cave to come out of another lower entrance. This process means that once you have pulled the first rope through of the first pitch it means you may not get back up it and you are committed to going through.
Simpson Pot is a small entrance on a plateau three hundred and sixty seven feet above valley entrance above the rocky slope on the west side of Kingsdale, the passage winds its way towards the east and drops down to below road level into a big stream where various other pot holes and inlets converge this section is Kingsdale master cave. You then have to climb up to a high level passage via a rope or ladder that we previously rigged and emerge into a plastic pipe in the side of the hill exit to the plastic pipe entrance beside the road. So it is downhill caving and no long walk to the car sounds easy right!
After rigging valley entrance we set off up the hill and located the entrance. We started working our way through hands and knees crawling sections and eventually came to some small pitches. These pitches were negotiated easily and I got to see how the rigging for pull through trips was done as this was my first proper pull through. We wound our way through the cave passage which was mostly hands and kneels crawling at this stage and eventually came up to the famous Bobs pit . This 30-40 foot pit is one that does not lead anywhere and is famous for people descending down it and pulling the rope through only to find there is no way on except an exceptionally tight fissure and is a favourite for rescues.
The way on is to traverse across to top of this circular pit , Paul managed this with no problem then I made my way over the pit . I put one foot on the left side one on the right and the next thing I know my left foot slipped into the pit and immediately Paul and Andy grabbed an arm each I hadn't totally fallen but I was wedged in with one leg pushing against the wall and the other half of my body slipping into a 40 foot black hole! I glanced at Paul who was barely able to hold me with one arm and glanced at Andy who had two hands pulling my arm. I chose Andy! I transferred my weight to Andy's arms and will be forever indebted ! He hauled me back to the edge and we decided that perhaps roping it would be a better option. It was for me a very real near miss . Had I fallen down that hole I would have probably survived but there would be some broken limbs and the prospect of a long wait to be rescued I was a bit shaken by this and I knew I had used one of my "caving credits" up . As this was a pull through trip we had no way of getting back out except to carry on and complete the trough trip. I had to forget about it and concentrate on getting on with the task in hand.
We made our way down the passage and it soon got bigger we negotiated several pitches nothing to spectacular and we were heading towards Slit pot. To get to this we made our way through winding fissures and found ourselves in a deep pool the way on was through a duck in the side wall called the Blasted crawl. I went through head first on my hands and knees only to find the floor drops a lot deeper than my arms and the rope bag was jamming behind me through the duck made my head submerge, I scrabbled around to free the bag off and dragged my legs through and managed to stand up in the waist deep water at the other side of the duck next time I will go through feet first!
The passages wound on and we came to a narrow fissure and then climbed down into a circular chamber with a big narrow vertical slit which has a 100 foot drop at the other side into Swinstoe great aven. So this was the last pitch and after that it would be a crawl along east passage stream way then into the master cave and up the ladder and out valley entrance simple! Well here we go!Firstly I will explain a little about more this pitch it consists of a vertical slot that in some areas it is just about wide enough to squeeze through if your not too chunky. There is a possibility to climb over the top of this but this could be hazardous also immediately through the slot is 100 foot straight down with a water fall flowing through the slot.
Paul climbed up the slot and hooked on with cows tails to some P bolts and started to rig the pitch and I fed out the 50 meter rope at this point we fed the rope through the slot and Paul clipped his descender onto the rope squeezed his body through the slot and set off down so far so good.
As he went down he realised the rope had not gone down to the floor and had somehow got jammed in a rock crevice probably due to the water falling and the rope that was supposed to take him down to the floor was now trapped fifteen foot above Paul this meant that he could not go down and could also not got up as he was not using ascending gear due to this being a simple pull through trip!Although I had volunteered to take hand and chest jammer we did have equipment to get back up.
We heard the shouts and thought ok we will give him a couple of minuets to see if the rope will come free and we were trying to work out what to do. Five minutes later we heard a shout " my lights gone out". Shit...... Now we had a situation and we had to act. Paul was stuck on a rope under a water fall we could barely see him and had only one way we could go and that was to continue through the slit into swinstoe great aven and through valley entrance. Paul would not survive long under a waterfall without hypothermia setting in so we had to move and act quickly.
Quick thinking Geoff suggested we rig our other rope and I decend and free off the rope Paul was hanging on and I would continue down to the floor.
We quickly got the rope out of the bag and removed the knots put it back in the bag and rigged a Y hang that went parallel to Paul's ropes and we set about trying to feed myself through the narrow slit due to me having a chest jammer as well as descender it was difficult to find a way through the slot I was just at the point of squeezing through when I heard another shout from Paul and heroically he managed to fix his light and climb up 15 feet just using his descender and fingernails then freed off the rope and got down whilst being under a waterfall! At this point I got back in from the slot clipped into the P hangers with my cows tails and unclipped the spare rope I was going to use for our rescue attempt. The rope was bagged and it was time for Andy to get through the slot. He clipped his descender onto the rope after a couple of attempts we found the widest bit of the slot and we pushed him through, he slid through and descended into the aven.
After rigging valley entrance we set off up the hill and located the entrance. We started working our way through hands and knees crawling sections and eventually came to some small pitches. These pitches were negotiated easily and I got to see how the rigging for pull through trips was done as this was my first proper pull through. We wound our way through the cave passage which was mostly hands and kneels crawling at this stage and eventually came up to the famous Bobs pit . This 30-40 foot pit is one that does not lead anywhere and is famous for people descending down it and pulling the rope through only to find there is no way on except an exceptionally tight fissure and is a favourite for rescues.
The way on is to traverse across to top of this circular pit , Paul managed this with no problem then I made my way over the pit . I put one foot on the left side one on the right and the next thing I know my left foot slipped into the pit and immediately Paul and Andy grabbed an arm each I hadn't totally fallen but I was wedged in with one leg pushing against the wall and the other half of my body slipping into a 40 foot black hole! I glanced at Paul who was barely able to hold me with one arm and glanced at Andy who had two hands pulling my arm. I chose Andy! I transferred my weight to Andy's arms and will be forever indebted ! He hauled me back to the edge and we decided that perhaps roping it would be a better option. It was for me a very real near miss . Had I fallen down that hole I would have probably survived but there would be some broken limbs and the prospect of a long wait to be rescued I was a bit shaken by this and I knew I had used one of my "caving credits" up . As this was a pull through trip we had no way of getting back out except to carry on and complete the trough trip. I had to forget about it and concentrate on getting on with the task in hand.
We made our way down the passage and it soon got bigger we negotiated several pitches nothing to spectacular and we were heading towards Slit pot. To get to this we made our way through winding fissures and found ourselves in a deep pool the way on was through a duck in the side wall called the Blasted crawl. I went through head first on my hands and knees only to find the floor drops a lot deeper than my arms and the rope bag was jamming behind me through the duck made my head submerge, I scrabbled around to free the bag off and dragged my legs through and managed to stand up in the waist deep water at the other side of the duck next time I will go through feet first!
The passages wound on and we came to a narrow fissure and then climbed down into a circular chamber with a big narrow vertical slit which has a 100 foot drop at the other side into Swinstoe great aven. So this was the last pitch and after that it would be a crawl along east passage stream way then into the master cave and up the ladder and out valley entrance simple! Well here we go!Firstly I will explain a little about more this pitch it consists of a vertical slot that in some areas it is just about wide enough to squeeze through if your not too chunky. There is a possibility to climb over the top of this but this could be hazardous also immediately through the slot is 100 foot straight down with a water fall flowing through the slot.
Paul climbed up the slot and hooked on with cows tails to some P bolts and started to rig the pitch and I fed out the 50 meter rope at this point we fed the rope through the slot and Paul clipped his descender onto the rope squeezed his body through the slot and set off down so far so good.
As he went down he realised the rope had not gone down to the floor and had somehow got jammed in a rock crevice probably due to the water falling and the rope that was supposed to take him down to the floor was now trapped fifteen foot above Paul this meant that he could not go down and could also not got up as he was not using ascending gear due to this being a simple pull through trip!Although I had volunteered to take hand and chest jammer we did have equipment to get back up.
We heard the shouts and thought ok we will give him a couple of minuets to see if the rope will come free and we were trying to work out what to do. Five minutes later we heard a shout " my lights gone out". Shit...... Now we had a situation and we had to act. Paul was stuck on a rope under a water fall we could barely see him and had only one way we could go and that was to continue through the slit into swinstoe great aven and through valley entrance. Paul would not survive long under a waterfall without hypothermia setting in so we had to move and act quickly.
Quick thinking Geoff suggested we rig our other rope and I decend and free off the rope Paul was hanging on and I would continue down to the floor.
We quickly got the rope out of the bag and removed the knots put it back in the bag and rigged a Y hang that went parallel to Paul's ropes and we set about trying to feed myself through the narrow slit due to me having a chest jammer as well as descender it was difficult to find a way through the slot I was just at the point of squeezing through when I heard another shout from Paul and heroically he managed to fix his light and climb up 15 feet just using his descender and fingernails then freed off the rope and got down whilst being under a waterfall! At this point I got back in from the slot clipped into the P hangers with my cows tails and unclipped the spare rope I was going to use for our rescue attempt. The rope was bagged and it was time for Andy to get through the slot. He clipped his descender onto the rope after a couple of attempts we found the widest bit of the slot and we pushed him through, he slid through and descended into the aven.
Now it was Geoff's turn,we reached through the slit for the rope and he clipped on his descender we tried and tried to feed him through the slit but we could not get his arse to pass through it was impossible, he tried climbing up higher and higher and tried feeding himself through the slit , no joy, we tried repeatedly vertically, horizontally, his muscular arse would not go through! Armed with only cows tails and a descender he climbed up above the slot using the dodgy looking fixed rope about 40 foot above the floor I was stood on over the other side would be approximately 120 foot to the floor. The fixed ropes there had one length of knotted rope with another length of straight rope he managed to get his descender on the fixed rope and lower himself down to the other side of the slit. He clipped onto some P hangers with his cows tails and removed the descender from the fixed rope and clipped it onto our rope. All his weight was on his cows tails and he had to pull up his own.
Now I was on my own at the top of the aven. I had no one to help me squeeze through the slit or help me to get out should I get stuck so I had no option, no way back I had to get through. I reached through the slit and grabbed the rope, double checked I got the right rope clipped on the descender and climbed up about six foot up the slit. I knew the widest part of the slit and fed my legs in horizontally through the slit with my torso stuck in the gap. My legs were dangling out of the side into the abyss and I could feel the chest jammer digging into my sternum. I had no option now I had to go through if I hesitated I could get stuck and be in serious shit, just relax and stay calm I thought and I breathed out relaxed my body and let it slide through I was through the slit and did not hang around getting to the bottom.
This one pitch probably took us one maybe two hours and was not over when we got to the bottom. We pulled on the other side of the rope to retrieve it but it was not budging! I clipped on my ascender and put my body weight on the rope plus all the other boys were dangling off this rope, that was a total of four fully grown soggy cavers dangling off the rope and still it would not release. The decision was made rather quickly to just leave the rope we didn't need it to finish the trip and someone doing the pull through trip in future can unjam it from the top.
We rounded up our gear and bagged it all up and made our way to the bottom of Swinstoe Great aven Paul asked what way to we want to go? I just wanted to get the fuck out of there and Geoff immediately pointed to the east passage, having myself done the alternative philosophers crawl over a year ago I had no desire to do it today pulling two rope sacks that had no drain holes and filled up with water making progress extremely strenuous. So we made our way through the boulders and we knew after five to ten minutes we would be at the master cave. The rope sacks were probably holding around thirty litres of water and would not float down the east passage as the water was not deep enough , the passage was hands and knees crawling height and progress was hard work I soon came out to the familiar banks of the main stream way where Geoff and myself waited for Paul and Andy.
Once we all assembled and in good spirits we make the walk through the river along the master cave and got to the sump and the last obstacle of the day the thirty foot electron ladder climb back out . I made the stupid decision to climb this ladder with the rope sack on my back I got half way up and my arms just could not hold me all my strength was gone! I got back down and Andy and Paul had got up and rigged our remaining rope as I had decided SRT would be safer and easier to haul up the bags. I tied the bags to the end of the SRT rope and tried to place then where they would not fill up with water,easier than it sounds! Then I prussiked up the rope and into the high level passage. We de-rigged and packed the ladders and now it was a ten minute trudge through the rest of the cave this was done as quick as we could and we passed carrot passage then through the knee high filled pools then we could taste the familiar fresh air that you sense when coming out from a cave. Minutes later we stooped through the low arch into the entrance chamber and there was the shaft of light from the outside word. We pulled our sorry bodies out of the grey plastic tube and only had one thing on our minds Marton Arms!
The drama didn't stop there as we were getting our sodden kit off we did the usual ritual of switching on the mobile phones searching for a signal to notify our loved ones that we are OK I got a signal so did Paul but Geoff couldn't get a signal. We quickly got changed and packed up and drove down the valley towards the Marton Arms as soon as Geoff got a signal the phone call was made to his wife who had already called Cave Rescue as he said he would be back out for 4pm it was 4:30pm. Luckily she managed to call them off and all was well but what a day!
Now I was on my own at the top of the aven. I had no one to help me squeeze through the slit or help me to get out should I get stuck so I had no option, no way back I had to get through. I reached through the slit and grabbed the rope, double checked I got the right rope clipped on the descender and climbed up about six foot up the slit. I knew the widest part of the slit and fed my legs in horizontally through the slit with my torso stuck in the gap. My legs were dangling out of the side into the abyss and I could feel the chest jammer digging into my sternum. I had no option now I had to go through if I hesitated I could get stuck and be in serious shit, just relax and stay calm I thought and I breathed out relaxed my body and let it slide through I was through the slit and did not hang around getting to the bottom.
This one pitch probably took us one maybe two hours and was not over when we got to the bottom. We pulled on the other side of the rope to retrieve it but it was not budging! I clipped on my ascender and put my body weight on the rope plus all the other boys were dangling off this rope, that was a total of four fully grown soggy cavers dangling off the rope and still it would not release. The decision was made rather quickly to just leave the rope we didn't need it to finish the trip and someone doing the pull through trip in future can unjam it from the top.
We rounded up our gear and bagged it all up and made our way to the bottom of Swinstoe Great aven Paul asked what way to we want to go? I just wanted to get the fuck out of there and Geoff immediately pointed to the east passage, having myself done the alternative philosophers crawl over a year ago I had no desire to do it today pulling two rope sacks that had no drain holes and filled up with water making progress extremely strenuous. So we made our way through the boulders and we knew after five to ten minutes we would be at the master cave. The rope sacks were probably holding around thirty litres of water and would not float down the east passage as the water was not deep enough , the passage was hands and knees crawling height and progress was hard work I soon came out to the familiar banks of the main stream way where Geoff and myself waited for Paul and Andy.
Once we all assembled and in good spirits we make the walk through the river along the master cave and got to the sump and the last obstacle of the day the thirty foot electron ladder climb back out . I made the stupid decision to climb this ladder with the rope sack on my back I got half way up and my arms just could not hold me all my strength was gone! I got back down and Andy and Paul had got up and rigged our remaining rope as I had decided SRT would be safer and easier to haul up the bags. I tied the bags to the end of the SRT rope and tried to place then where they would not fill up with water,easier than it sounds! Then I prussiked up the rope and into the high level passage. We de-rigged and packed the ladders and now it was a ten minute trudge through the rest of the cave this was done as quick as we could and we passed carrot passage then through the knee high filled pools then we could taste the familiar fresh air that you sense when coming out from a cave. Minutes later we stooped through the low arch into the entrance chamber and there was the shaft of light from the outside word. We pulled our sorry bodies out of the grey plastic tube and only had one thing on our minds Marton Arms!
The drama didn't stop there as we were getting our sodden kit off we did the usual ritual of switching on the mobile phones searching for a signal to notify our loved ones that we are OK I got a signal so did Paul but Geoff couldn't get a signal. We quickly got changed and packed up and drove down the valley towards the Marton Arms as soon as Geoff got a signal the phone call was made to his wife who had already called Cave Rescue as he said he would be back out for 4pm it was 4:30pm. Luckily she managed to call them off and all was well but what a day!
Paul carried on to Ingleton and dropped Geoff off to meet his wife and then made an about turn and straight to the Marton Arms in what has to be said quite a reflective mood we poured over the events over a pint and concluded yes we made mistakes things went wrong but we overcame and I can only speak for myself but learnt a few things about team work, thinking clearly and realising that panic can only impede what you need to do and we did not panic. You can do a hundred caving trips when nothing goes wrong but you will learn a lot more on the one that does go wrong or the one that you have to adapt to overcome difficult situations. I was pleased with how we overcame but realise it could have been a very different outcome.
I believe these experiences make you who you are and are truly real character building . I don't have a death wish and I want to live a long and full life and it would be easy for me to sit in front of the TV or play computer games getting old and fat but what kind of a life is that! Not for me!
Till the next time...
I believe these experiences make you who you are and are truly real character building . I don't have a death wish and I want to live a long and full life and it would be easy for me to sit in front of the TV or play computer games getting old and fat but what kind of a life is that! Not for me!
Till the next time...
