Pippikn Pot

Present: Bob, Paul W (Author)

I had mentioned to Bob at the clubs Christmas party last November over several beers that I would like to push myself a little bit further and do some of the more committing trips and I suggested Pippikin as I thought it is a system he knows well and had done many times. Also last month he gave taster trip of the lower system by entering Mistral and going throughout the system up to Gour Hall taking in all the other passages and impressive chambers on the way and was a system I want to get to know better.

Well on this trip it was our intention to go in through the top entrance of Pippikin Pot and out through Mistral hole which is in the east wall of Easegill.

I arrived at a very quiet Bernie's with Just Bob and myself and the usual grumpy table there , the debate today was about nuclear power and the fact that we don't make anything in Britain any more!

Bob started telling me what to expect with this trip and explained that the tight bits are a sequence of squeezes at the top and “if you can get through those the rest of it will be no problem” he also said that it is a clean and dry comfortable cave, when I told him I was a bit apprehensive about it he told me he “gets a bit nervous” also. I wasn't sure if this was a good or bad thing!

I had been told by many people I would get through so now was as good a time as any and with that we loaded up the car and drove up to Leck Fell house . Bob found the farmer and asked permission to access the cave and the kind farmer generously let us both get changed in a barn which was very welcome as there was quite a bit of snow on the ground.

All too soon we were ready and made the walk acrross the fields and started to look for the entrance to Pippikin pot.

As soon as you get into the entrance of the pothole you immediately descend a ten meter pitch and then at the bottom I head bobs voice shout to me to crawl through a horizontal gap that tuned into a round hole that slopes down hill. As I slid down this steep rock tube it opened out into a small chamber where there is no floor I looked over at Bob sat on a single scaffolding pole that was placed across the top of the 4-5 meter deep hole I placed one hand on the pole to prevent me falling down the hole and Bob explained the next step.

Our way on was on through a vertical slot in the wall on my right hand side. It was time to remove the SRT kit so I could be sure I would get through as I did not relish getting stuck so soon. Bob went through first while I passed him our SRT kits then it was my turn,control your breathing, keep high, relax and let your body flow through and don't worry about getting stuck or you will get stuck I kept telling myself! and that was me through the first squeeze.

Much of the rest of the way down was pretty similar consisting of a sequence of pitches and squeezes separated by nice passage. There was one section called Stemple rift tha was another 2-3 meters long vertical slot that you had post yourself through like a rolled up newspaper then once you come out of the other end you emerge in a chamber head first with the floor 3 meters below you . To aid you on your way there is a short horizontal acro prop positioned about a meter below the slot which enables you to get your self sorted out and climb back down to the floor. The cave started to get bigger at from here and we entered a chamber with some fine formations then worked our way into a winding rift that the stream flows along. At the top section of this passage was a narrow zigzag bend the passage dropped but to get into it required somehow getting over the top of the narrow bit and dropping down just where the passage bends around the corner. A thin person would probably be able to slide through and it did look possible for me to squeeze through so I had a go. My legs stomach and lower torso got through no problem but my chest? no chance. I was wedged in by chest with my legs dangling in thin air desperately trying to push myself back up the rift but I could not get and grip to free my self off. Bob managed to stand underneath me and I put my foot on his shoulder and pushed myself up and along the rift to where it widened and then slid down the into the stream bed . This bit of the cave could be extremely difficult to get back up if your like me short! Luckily we were not planning on going out this way.

After following the stream winding its way down the rift passage for twenty minutes or so I started to recognise where we were from our last trip. The passage lowered and to our left there was a wide bedding plane that when we crawled along came to a big pile of boulders we climbed up the boulders and emerged into the impressive Hall of Ten chamber. Yes I got through Pippikin!

After a brief rest we made our way though the chambers and passages of Dusty Junction and the Hobbit then followed the draft toward the crumbles then turn right and a crawl back up into Mistral Hole.

The walk back to the car was tiring enough for me today and I can imagine that before Mistral hole was opened Pippikin Pot would have been a serious and committing undertaking. I would like to have a go at going out of it one day but I think I need to work on my climbing and fitness a bit first and grow a few inches .. maybe!

Mistral - Pippikin

Mistral Hole Easegill Present Bob, Fay, Emma, Dan, Paul Whittaker (Author)

Well due to continuing heavy rainfall this was not the trip we had planned. Instead it was one of those that was decided over a coffee at Bernie's and the consensus was a look around Mistral.
 I was keen to get more knowledge of this vast system on Easegill so we wasted no time and took the familiar route over towards Easegill and at over 100km of passage, makes this the site of one of the largest if not THE largest cave system in Europe.
We kitted up outside Bullpot farm and made the trek over the fell then started looking along the east wall of Easegill we soon located the walled off entrance to Mistral and climbed down the entrance shaft then started the crawl along the dug out fissure. The passage has a few ninety degree bends and then after a few minuets we climbed over a few rocks and into a chamber where we could stand up. There were passages that went immediately to the left and one that headed over to the right, the right hand passage heads towards the Crumbles entrance series. We wanted to go to the left passage and get further into the system . This left hand passage is a hands and knees crawl for a short distance and soon opens up into a nice chamber named The Hobbit. There were seemingly numerous passages to take but as ever Bob knew the way and we had another tunnel to crawl along. After a while the tunnel opened out into a nice chamber known as dusty junction. This was identifiable by some piles of stones arranged in the middle of the floor this is also the junction that has the connection to Link pot. Bob led the way along some large tunnels that tuned into big impressive and very muddy chambers the first one was named The Hall Of Ten we had a quick look around the boulders on the floor to the Pippikin stream way but more of this later. We made our way on through into another big chamber with a thick gooey mud floor and some very interesting and anatomically peculiar man made mud sculptures, don't ask! Now our next destination was to Gour Hall so after negotiating the thickest mud floor I have ever had to tread to the top end of the chamber a tunnel heading off to the right was revealed. This passage was a mixture of hand and knees crawling with some flat out sections and a couple of minor squeezes however the passage soon gets bigger and opens up into a fine chamber with some impressive stalagmite bosses that have been taped off .We followed the chamber towards the left and then following a nicely decorated passage soon opened up into a beautifully decorated chamber called Gour Hall. We took in the sights and admired the stunning gour pools at the bottom of the chamber the static pools were filled right to the edges and looked like horizon swimming pools with the reflections of the stalactites mirrored in the surface of the water. I wish I could show you a picture but this was probably the only trip I didn't have my camera! To say I was gutted is understating it, still its another excuse to go back someday! After Dan and Fay had a look at one of the many on going digging projects we made our way back to the Hall of Ten and started wriggling through the boulders in the floor to the Pippikin stream way . Going through the boulders required a little contortion but you soon reached a small chamber with a stream flowing along the floor. We made our way upstream for a few meters and had to climb upwards and crawl along the top of the narrow fissure with your legs and arms straddling the stream twenty feet below. I didn't like this bit as I was covered in mud and struggling for grip and I had visions of sliding down into the rift below flashing through my head, this was partly bought about by Jack Pickup in Bernie's telling us about a recent rescue in Pippikin where a girl exhausted slid into a rift and got jammed in there! She did however get herself out by the time the rescue team got there. This passage seemed exactly as Jack described but we soon reached a right hand passage that lead into another the top of another rift with a bigger stream flowing, the noise of crashing water getting louder. The rift had a rectangular rock forming a small bridge half way down the rift,Bob being a proficient climber had no problem getting down I was a little more tentative , I got a foot on the bridge and tried to chimney the rest of the way down but just ended up holding onto the bridge and letting go. It was not as bad as it first looked when I originally stared over the edge! Dan and Emma made their way down using a little improvised acrobatics. We followed the passage downstream and went past the roaring water from the Cigalere inlet passage then after following the passage further we arrived at some boulders stacked with an obvious exit in the roof. We climbed back out of the boulders and arrived back into the big muddy chamber at the far side of the Hall of Ten. We started to make our way back and Dan and Emma decided to test there route finding skills and between us we managed to get back to the recognisable Dusty Junction and we then negotiated the crawls and passages then we got to the chamber called The Hobbit and from there we could feel the fresh air that you sense when you get close to the entrance. Another short crawl and we came to the small chamber at the end of the entrance crawls .Emma suggested we go right and I agreed, this section is a bit narrow in places but I could feel the cool fresh air blowing past me and we just carried on for a little further then we emerged into the entrance shaft and day light. This was my first time down this part of the vast three counties system and it is a fine section of the system with some great passages ,big chambers and fine formations. I still feel I don't know my way around it, but it is something I will just have to learn section by section. Overall this is a great cave is a definite one to do again.