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The President had mentioned a desire to come out of retirement for his (third) final trip, this time to see Glasfurd's Passage in Gavel Pot.
Ros was also keen for a gentle trip before the Christmas party. In the event we were joined by Lukas & four ex-DUSA (now YSS) members.
Having packed the bag (no need for numbered tags today), we started to search for kit that the President could borrow as he had left all his at home. 
Eventually with kit borrowed from various club members and hired from the club, we headed over to Leck Fell, changed and wandered off into the murk.
When we got to about 30m from the shakehole, Maria spotted the fence appearing from the mist.
I put a handline on the slipperiest section of the path, this rigging was modified by Ros & Maria as it was putting too much strain on the tree.
I offered the chance to rig to the youngsters, but they were reluctant, so I rigged the entrance pitch. I was later told by one of them that they did not recognise any of the knots I had used (Bowline, Cavers' Butterfly & Bowline on the Bight).
The water was thundering down the pot near the bottom of the entrance pitch but fortunately we would be going the other way.
Maria rigged the traverse line to the second pitch and the handline for the third pitch.
We left our SRT kits with a couple of bats at the bottom third pitch and headed down to the stream.
While the stream was higher than I had seen it before it was not an issue, though we did get a little wet in the section where you have to crawl.
We paused at the junction with the well decorated passage on the right before heading down stream to the corner and the climb up into Glasfurd's Passage.
We pushed through several snug sections admiring the calcite formations on the way. When we were calcited out or could not find a sensible way on, we turned round and started heading out.
While ascending the third pitch, the safety kit bag that I was carrying started to vibrate. At the top of the pitch I opened the bag to find out what was happening and discovered that the President's carrot had been turned on and was reacting to the scaffolding on the pitch.
We passed a group from Cambridge University near the bottom of the first pitch before escaping onto the still misty moor.
The President was intending to use his carrot (metal detector) to locate some more bolts on the daylight entrance pitch for Gavel but decided against it. I had pointed out the stake we used as a deviation when we rigged it in the summer. This still gives a bad rub point and is not suitable as a rebelay.

Team: Maria, Erika, Ros, Berat, Ben, Nigel, Lukas & Dave.
Time: About 3 hours.

Other teams were in:
Marble Steps: Phil, Martin, Stu & Klaudia.
Gaping Gill: James, Ade, Dave, Matt & Andy.
Farmers' Chocolates: Keith, Alan & Paul.

The trips were followed (not too closely) by the annual party (thanks to Fiona for starting & organising the Christmas decorations).
Along with the excess of food brought by the participants we had a couple of quizzes (thanks to Nigel and Alan) and a squeeze contest.
Unfortunately Caver Ted did not fare too well with the party and had to retire to a secluded place to recover. He is now quite comfortable.

 

Marble Steps Pot   6th December 2025 So with a lot of people caving on the day we split into several groups.We decided upon sticking with Marble Steps despite the forecast we figured the upper sections of the cave would be fine,  hearing that the Gulley route would likely be mainly rigged we bagged rope for the Sidewinder Route and headed off in a fancy electric car on our journey to Masongill lane.We were soon changed, although my timing coincided with a blustery squall hitting me while semi naked as the others had dawdled and jumped back into the warmth of the vehicle for the 5 minutes it took to blow over. Indeed our intel about the rigging was correct so we could achieve an exchange of sorts, with 2 dropping the Gulley and I rigged the Sidewinder. Once met up we did the start of Stink Pot and along to the Ninety (feet? But feels more!) this was already rigged and having a PVC suit on I bobbed down -  getting a good soaking and immediately went straight back up the rope, deciding it wasn’t wise for everyone to get drenched as we would get no further that day. We had a swap around of routes and exited the cave, with Phil derigging one section out of the main Chamber (which is by passable so hadn’t been left rigged) as I derigged the sidewinder.A very pleasant little trip and back to the hut for Tea and biscuits. Those alongKlaudia, Martin J, Phil H & Stu W.