Here is a very incomplete list of some of the trips the Eldon have been up to recently.
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- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 4078
Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Dave Gledhill (EPC), Sam Pemberton (EPC), Pete Pollard (EPC), Faye Hartley
Four of us met at the Inglesport cafe in the morning for the usual debate about what we were going to do. The options were Boggarts Roaring Holes, the Marilyn entrance to Gaping Gill, Long Churn - Alum or a bit of a tour of Kingsdale. Asking around a few people in the cafe no-one seemed to know much about Marilyn but we'd got a vague idea that it didn't flood badly so went for that. Parked in Clapham where we met Faye who's friends hadn't turned up and walked to Bar Pot. Marilyn is nearby and the lid is certainly an impressive piece of metal fabrication. We rigged the top and headed down the entrance pitch - a simple short hang down to a ledge. The next pitch is a bit constricted (similar to The Narrows in Nettle Pot) but short and goes past a couple of rebelays/deviations to land at the start of a short crawl. At the end of the crawl is the head of Niagara pitch. This has a slightly loose top but is fine with care. Niagara pitch dropped us in above pitch three of Disapointment Pot and we followed the stream down past the final three pitches. From the bottom of Disapointment Pot we followed the water down to Hensler's Master Cave. Without exactly meaning to we followed the water downstream and through a very unusual coffin-shaped passage to arrive at the foot of the ladder that leads to the Far Country. Our directions now sent us back to where we had arrived in the Master Cave and slightly upstream to find the passage leading to Hensler's High Aven. From here we entered Mud Hensler's Passage with its two easy ducks and on to Mud Hall. I'd not been to Mud Hall before and it's an impressive sight. A load of lights were coming towards us on the far side of Mud Hall which helped to give scale to the place. We followed the traverse lines around to the the far side of Mud Hall and followed the route on to the bottom of Main Chamber with it's impressive waterfall. Pete enjoyed a run through the water before we continued on to traverse underneath the big pitch in Bar Pot. From here some interesting wet crawling along New Henslers Passage leads back to Hensler's Master Cave and the bottom of Disapointment Pot. The de-rigging was all straightforward and we exited at about 18:00. No rain in the evening so the walk down through Trow Gill was quite pleasant.
A very varied trip and an excellent way to see a large part of the Gaping Gill system.
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 3782
Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Jon Pemberton (EPC), Sam Pemberton (EPC)
The Pembertons' enthusiasm for Carlswark Cavern and the Dynamite Series in particular made me think that I was missing out on something important so an evening trip to Stoney Dale was planned. Unfortunately the Flower Pot entrance which used to offer a quick way into the Dynamite Series has recently suffered 'deterioration' so we went in the Gin Entrance and soon found ourselves at the entrance to the Dynamite Series. The Dynamite Series proper is guarded by a short squeeze under a low arch with water in the bottom. Bailing stuff is lying around but although water levels were reasonably high (water was flowing down Dynamite Passage) we didn't need it on this occasion. A bit of crawling and squeezing leads through Midnight Chamber and into Prospect Chamber with two ways on: a nice climb up the right-hand wall leads to Fall Chamber and eventually the bottom of Flower Pot whilst a low passage in the floor is the start of Porth Crawl. Sam and Jon had previously decided that helmets off works best in here and who was I to argue on this occasion. Shuffling helmets along in front worked fine and in fact Porth Crawl's not too bad - looks more difficult than it is in some ways and it's very short. Once through that a short thrutch/climb up a rift leads to Clog Passage with all it's shotholes in the walls. All very interesting! Through here and then a bit more squeezing and crawling leads to the end of the Dynamite Series (Final Aven).
Jon had been here before and was keen to have a proper look at Buckley's dig/Picnic Passage etc. We had Martin Milner's sketch survey of the passage beyond the end of the Dynamite Series and ticked things off as we went. Buckley's dig starts at a hole under one of the walls in Final Aven at the end of the Dynamite Series followed by flat out crawling in mud. We passed Straw Inlet and continued in Picnic Passage past a number of small cross-rifts and chambers to arrive at a small chamber containing loose fill with a hole going up through it into a small aven above. Conscious that we still wanted to make the detour to have a look at the bottom of Flower Pot we turned around at this point and made our way back through Buckley's Dig, Clog Passage and Porth Crawl. In Prospect Chamber we climbed up and more crawling leads into a rift. A shuffle under a hanging boulder at the end and climb up through a hole in the roof led into Fall Chamber. This hanging boulder and the choke above that leads into Fall Chamber needs a lot of care. Fall Chamber is a nice place and certainly one of my favourite bits of Carlswark. From here a nice climb and another crawl leads into a final small chamber with a crawl leading off. At the end of this crawl is the bottom of the blue barrels of the Flower Pot entrance. It's obvious that nobody's going to be exiting that way anytime soon as the top of the bottom barrels are well-squashed but plans are afoot to sort it out.
From here we climbed back down into Fall Chamber, through the Dynamite Series and out the Gin entrance.
Excllent evening trip being tight, very muddy and tricky despite not being a long way on the survey.
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 3644
Report by Jon Pemberton
Cavers: Jon Pemberton (EPC), James Wood (EPC)
Another night of fun for James and myself was on the cards and after our failed attempt to reach picnic passage last time we decided to have another go at Porth Crawl. On the previous trip we were also joined by Sammy Pemberton (EPC) but shortly after calling “Shotgun” once James had gone through Porth Crawl Sam got stuck and panicked resulting in me unwilling to carry on.
Anyway back to the story…
After quickly kitting up we slung a ladder down Flower Pot and gained quick ‘easy’ access into the Dynamite series dropping into Falls Chamber. Plodding along we reached the first flat out which seemed tighter than usual or maybe our hearts weren’t set on fun-times crawling. At the end of the crawl we climbed 3m down into prospect chamber and dived head first into the second flat out. James went first having already accomplished the “horrible” crawl so after a climb over the blind shaft the helmet came off and through he went as I shortly followed. Basically Porth Crawl explained; you pop through a small (one arm forward, one at your side) hole Big enough to turn 90% and take your helmet of. Now you have to go completely on one side best approached facing the right hand wall and just push your way through! With no hand or foot holes to assist. When reaching the end with sense of accomplishment the helmets went back on and we started the tight climb up the rift towards clog passage. I would honestly consider this to be more awkward than Porth Crawl (steep and tight!) at the top is a crawl leading on which sharply turn right. A left turn leads shortly to a spoil filled tube. Right follows on to mine development along a prominent vein with loads of blast marks coming in from every direction. A short climb leads up to a boulder choke with roots running through which surely must be close to surface. Straight on leads to a few side passages one a very tight rift leading to a small chamber where water can be heard trickling away although it was way too tight for James or myself to dare look!! We eventually reached the final aven which we weren’t expecting at all with at least four very large pieces of digging equipment just left sitting there. We then dropped down into Buckley’s dig and the start of Picnic passage flat out muddy crawling until we reached a large cross rift that we could stand up in (Straw Inlet) James decided to go for a look so after a short break to catch our breath. When returning back, James said, “It’s too tight and I can’t be arsed to be honest!” So we hastily decided to retreat rather than use up the rest of our energy flat out crawling to the end of the dig knowing that we’d have to come back the same way! The exit was eventful where we had a few situations of our usual laid back approach to caving where we normally sit in random places and talk about random rubbish, this time it was in Porth Crawl my face touching his boots and James deciding to throw his helmet down the hole at the end of Porth Crawl!
Overall very worthwhile trip to see a different side of Carlswalk. If anyone plans to go in the near future give James & myself a shout and we’d be more than happy to go again just to reach the end of the dig.
- Eyam Dale House Cave - 07/09/2008
- Nickergrove Through Trip and Carlswark Cavern - 07/07/2008
- Gentlewomans to Youds Through Trip - 29/05/2008
- Bagshawe Cavern - 28/02/2008
- Craig a Ffynnon, South Wales - 16/02/2008
- Bradwell Dale and Bagshawe Cavern Clean-Up - 09/02/2008 & 10/02/2008
- Brown Hill Pot, East Kingsdale, Yorkshire - 09/02/2008
- Bagshawe Cavern in Flood - 21/01/2008
- South Gully Route, Eldon Hole - 20/01/2008
- Caplecleugh to Rampgill Through Trip, Nenthead Mines, Cumbria - 19/01/2008
- Full Moon Series, Bagshawe Cavern - 17/01/2008
- Peak Cavern Entrance to Titan Through Trip, Peak/Speedwell - 13/01/2008
- Titan, Far Sump Extension, Peak/Speedwell - 12/01/2008
- Cwmorthin Mine, N. Wales - 06/01/2008
- Croesor-Rhosydd Through Trip, N. Wales - 05/01/2008
- Cathedral - Dome Route, Lost Johns Pot, Yorkshire - 29/12/2007
- Notts Pot, Leck Fell, Yorkshire Dales - 27/12/2007
- Hungerhill Swallet - 20/12/2007
- Hungerhill Swallet - 17/12/2007
- King Pot, East Kingsdale, Yorkshire - 17/11/2007
- Hungerhill Swallet - 30/10/2007
- Winnats Head Cave - Downstream Pitches - 29/10/2007
- New Oxlow Extensions - 18/10/2007
- Lu Blue Sump and the Streaks Pot through trip - 05/10/2007
- Crumble/Beza route, Nettle Pot - 29/09/2007
- Western Highway, Far Sump Extension, Peak/Speedwell - 24/09/2007
- Filthy Five Pitches, Giants Hole - 20/09/2007
- Perryfoot Cave - 18/09/2007
- North Gully route, Eldon Hole - 18/09/2007
- Dr Jackson's, Perryfoot and the Dr Jackson's - Perryfoot Connection - 17/09/2007
- The Ride of the Valkyries, Far Sump Extension, Peak/Speedwell - 14/09/2007
- P8 to downstream sump - 14/09/2007
- Dr Jackson's Cave - 11/09/2007
- Hypothermia Crawl, Rowter Hole - 07/09/2007
- Heron Pot, Kingsdale, Yorkshire - 02/09/2007
- Giants - Oxlow Connection - 30/08/2007
- Swinsto -> Valley Entrance Pull-through, Kingsdale, Yorkshire - 26/08/2007
- Gingling Hole, Fountains Fell, Yorkshire - 25/08/2007
- Rowter Hole - 20/08/2007
- Buxton Water Aven, Peak Cavern - 06/08/2007
- Buxton Water Aven, Peak Cavern - 31/07/2007
- James Hall's Over Engine Mine (J.H.) - 29/07/2007
- Eldon SRT Rescues/Problem Solving Day, Pindale Farm - 28/07/2007
- Dan Yr Ogof, South Wales - 23/06/2007
- Giants Hole - Novice trip - 23/06/2007
- Grange Rigg Pot, Yorkshire - 30/05/2007
- Rowten Pot, Yorkshire - 29/05/2007
- Ireby Fell Extensions, Yorkshire - 26/05/2007
- Oxlow to bottom of Maskhill - 22/05/2007
- Knotlow Climbing Shaft - 16/05/2007
- DCRO Practice, Stoney Middleton - 13/05/2007
- P8 to Sump 4, Derbyshire - 02/05/2007
- Buxton Water Aven, Peak Cavern - 02/01/2007
- Waterways Swallet, Derbyshire - 13/11/2006
- Daren Cilau, S. Wales - 10/11/2006
- Bar Pot -> Gaping Gill Main Chamber, Yorkshire - 09/12/2005
- Tatham Wife Hole, Yorkshire - 08/12/2005
- Juniper Gulf, Yorkshire - 24/10/2005
- Swildon's Hole, Mendip - 19/04/2003
- Crumble and Beza, Nettle Pot - 06/03/2003
- Bagshawe Cavern - 21/01/2003
- Hillocks Mine - 16/01/2003
- Sidetrack Cave - 04/01/2003
- Birks Fell Cave, Wharfedale - 21/09/2002
- Lancaster Hole -> Wretched Rabbit, Lancaster Easegill system - 27/04/2002
- Croesor-Rhosydd - 02/06/2002
- Eldon Training Workshop - 27/01/2002
- Braida Stomp Weekend (Tatham Wife Hole & Lower Long Churn) - 24/11/2001
- Eyam Dale House Cave - 09/08/2001
- James Hall’s Over Engine Mine (J.H.) - 21/01/2001
- Jug Holes - 29/12/2000
- Lancaster Hole - 18/11/2000
- Bar Pot - 18/11/2000
- Ogof Ffynnon Ddu (OFD), South Wales - 24/09/2000
- Little Neath River Cave - 23/09/2000