ARCHIVES 2002

DATE.	CAVE VISITED & AREA.
17/11/02	Devis Hole Mine, Swaledale &Arkengarthdale, digging trip.
27/10/02	Dales digging trip.
12/09/02	Boulby Pot Ash Mine Visit.
26/08/02	Smallcleugh Mine into Rampsgill Mine.
03/06/02	Bradford PC, Gaping Gill Winch Meet.
06/05/02	Marble Steps, Ireby Fell.
08/04/02	Out Sleets Beck Pot, Penyghent Gill.
06/04/02	New Cave.
03/04/02	Cow Pot, Lancaster Hole, Ease Gill.
01/04/02	New Cave.
25/03/02	Ibbeth Peril Cave, Dentdale.
04/03/02	Boxhead Pot, Leck Fell.
03/03/02	New Cave.
25/02/02	Lost John's Cave, Leck Fell.
04/02/02	Brownley Hill Mine, Nenthead.
28/01/02	Bull Pot, Kingsdale.

Tony took a well earned rest from digging in the Dales to join Ste and I, for a ride up to Gaping Gill.

We arrived a little after 8 o'clock, but this wasn't early enough to beat some fellow cavers who passed by as we got changed.

Having no ropes to carry made us feel very fit and we soon caught and passed the cavers that had passed us, and then proceeded to pass even more before we reached the B.P.C camp.

Even after overtaking some many people on the way up we were still No's 39,40 and 41 down that morning.

Tony was the first down followed by Ste, as I waited for my turn a young girl and her little brother who were in the queue behind me, questioned me about how safe the winch was, and whether it was scary, I tried my best to tell them that they had nothing to worry about, but none of them looked very convinced.

Then it was my turn, the winch gave me a sadistic grin and let the brake off fast which made me drop very fast for a few foot.

I saw very little on the way down as my hadn't adjusted to the light, I could see my knees passing the chamber sides with inches to spare.

At the bottom Tony was being mobbed by tourists wanting to have their pictures taken with a 'real' caver, while Ste was looking around the lit chamber at all the features you don't normally see.

We the headed into South Passage and onto Sand Cavern, then it was back to the Main Chamber and climbed up into the Old East Passage, once we were overlooking Mud Hall we turned back and spent some time photographing some of the once fine formation.

Then it was back to the Main Chamber, where the queue to get out was starting to get long, as we didn't have the gear or the knowledge of the Gaping Gill system decided to head out.

Back on the surface it was starting to rain quite heavily but this wasn't deterring the now very large queue of tourists waiting to go down or the stream of ill prepared people we passed in Clapham Woods.

Having taken the week off work to do some wallpapering, Tony managed to get a pass out for the day with Ste and I.

Ste picked us up at 06:45 in his new toy (Land Rover 90), and we headed for the dales.

Ste's 90 easily passed the deep ruts on the Turbary Road, and we parked up near the stile.

Having saved a bit of walking time (who likes walking up hills) by driving up the Turbary Road, we were soon changed and making our way the short distance up to the entrance.

Ste rigged the first pitch from the Gully descending straight down the steep slope in to the Main Chamber, from there we headed in to the North -West Rift and Ste's main lamp promptly failed, I took over the rigging from Ste and descended Stink Pot down to the start of the Intestines, Ste soon shouted me back, I was going the wrong way, we were descending via the Ninety.

Rigging the Ninety became a nightmare, I managed to the 'y' hang right on the third attempt which was a bad sign for someone who makes there living working on the ropes!

Luckily the last two pitch's were rigged with no problems and we soon descended and started our way back up.

Tony also had a small nightmare on the Ninety, this time trying to get off, after a lot of grunts, groans and swearing he managed it.

Tony and I also found the Gully hard going as it was a mixture of climbing, walking and prusiking, where as Ste claimed it was easy and that we were just soft.

Been a Bank holiday Monday we expected to find the fells mobbed with cavers and walkers, but much to our surprise there was no one around, not even a car parked by the reservoir at the top of Masongill Fell Lane.

It was another fine day in the Dales (shock horror!!), so we made the best of it and headed for Out Sleets Beck, our last trip there a few years ago was abandoned due to high water levels.

At the entrance the water levels were low an the dam in good condition, so we headed in.

All was well until we reached the second pitch and found that neither of the two rope we had left were long enough, (as normal, trying to do a S.R.T trip using info from Northern Caves is never easy) but with a bit of inventive rigging we managed a wet descent in to Cascade Pot.

From here it was into the low crawl, which contained some very white undernourished fish.

The third pitch involved some more inventive rigging for another wet descent, the rope ending a good two foot short of the bottom.

Next came the canal which was neck deep and produced some high pitched screams from both of us, then it was in to what Northern Caves describes as a awkward, tight squeeze, but becomes a very awkward, tight cold squeeze when your wearing a full S.R.T kit.

The return through the squeeze proved just as awkward and tight but a lot warmer, but we were soon cold again after a good drenching on the way up the third and second pitches.

The day started with Ste knocking me out of bed, I had forgot to put my alarm clock forward!

To my surprise the sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, could this really be happening on a day we had planned to go caving?

It was still sunny when we arrived at Bull Pot farm, we without shivering or getting wet for once and made the short walk to Cow Pot.

I rigged the first pitch and we were soon heading through the constriction and crawling down the passage.

We decided on descending the Devious or Gully (depending on which guide books you have) as we had not descended this way before.

From the bottom of the pitch we scrambled through the blocks down in to the Main Drain and had a wander around, before heading out.

Back on the surface Ste pointed out that the patched hole in the arse of my oversuit was no longer patched, so it was of to Ingleton to buy a new one.

We left home with the intention of doing Notts Pot, but as normal it all went to sh**.

We parked up by the shooting hut, got changed and then headed for the ruined wall.

A heavy mist lay over the fell, reducing visibility down to 10 to 15m, after walking for 15mins a short discussion highlighted the fact that neither of us had bothered to read the bit of the guide book that tells you were the pot entrance is.

We soon headed of in the wrong direction, but after a little more walking, a sudden gap in the mist revealed to large shake holes, one with a large pipe protruding.

We racked our brains but couldn't think where we were, but we decided to check it out anyway.

Not knowing where I was, I never saw the 'p' hangers just below the bottom of the pipe, so the next hanger I reached was the deviation by the ledge.

I rigged a rebelay, and landed on a unstable boulder floor, a quick look over the next pitch told me that the 37m rope in my bag was not going to be long enough.

By this time Ste had landed next to me with the news that he had worked out where we were, and that it wasn't the best place to be in wet weather.

The rain was pouring down as we left home, although there was plenty of flooded fields to be seen on the way the water level in the rivers and streams we passed looked quite low.

It was still pouring down when we got to Leck Fell, so we changed as quick as we could.

The stream running into Lost John's was also low, so we proceeded without concern.

For one reason or another we had never bottomed Lost John's during our previous visits, so this was going to be the day, we had made sure we had packed enough rope.

Ste quickly rigged Hammer, Mud and Centipede, then I rigged Candle and Shistol, before proceeding to rig the Battleaxe Traverse.

I rigged a 'y' hang at the top of Valhalla ( ignoring the single 'p' hanger, that was another few meters further along the traverse) and descended rigging the deviation on the way.

As I neared the bottom it became obvious that know matter how hard I tried I was going to get wet, and proceeded to get two good soakings before I touched the bottom.

Once Ste was down we agreed that water conditions had worsened since we had entered and decided not to descend the final pitch, but to make our way out fast.

Ste said that since I rigged the pitch badly I could ascend the pitch last so I could hold him out of the water on the way up.

Once Ste was up I ascended while trying to keep out the water for as long as possible, however after only a few meters I was under the waterfall and spent quite some under it.

We quickly made our way up the rest of the pitch's to find the stream had risen quite dramatically, the water was knee deep and pushing us back.

Back on the surface, things had totally changed, rivers had burst there banks and roads were now flooded and closed.

Another hour might have found us sitting out a flood instead of having a breakfast at Bernie's.

Due to a hectic Christmas and new year, this was the first trip of 2002 for Ste and I.

As normal it had been pissing down for a few days previous to our trip, leaving water levels high all over the dales.

We were the only people around when we parked up, a cold wind and the fret of rain made us change fast.

The rain eventually started just as I had finished rigging the entrance pitch, so we quickly descended, avoiding the sheep carcass which was lying just where the rope landed.