Topic

Being the dinner weekend we thought the best thing to do was walk up to Gaping gill in terrible weather ! initially a sizeable group was interested and we arranged an exchange trip between small mammal pot and wades entrance and bags were duly packed , somehow the numbers dwindled at the thought of the walk until there were only 5 of us so thoughts of an exchange were abandoned !.The Rain luckily took a break as we changed in Clapham but soon returned on the way up, We looked at small mammal pot but it already had some mammals in situ so we carried on to wades entrance !, I rigged the first pitch with its slightly snug start and soon we were weaving and crawling our way along passages towards the next pitch , there was a bit of water about and the odd shower but nothing too bad, Ade rapidly rigged the next few pitches and soon we were at the top of the last and biggest pitches , I took over rigging at this point and a handy natural thread starts the short traverse to a Y hang rigged from the roof !,A short way down there’s a bolt for a rebelay to help keep you away from the fair amount of water which was dropping down this pitch followed by 2 deviations !,The first deviation looked difficult to reach but a short swing into the flow of water and a good push just got me to the insitu cord and I grabbed it first time !,The next was a fair bit easier . The bottom of the pitch was a bit showery and I scrambled out of the way and called rope free !, soon the rest of the team arrived and also the team from small mammal pot lighting up the area which would have made a great picture with someone appearing in the frame from up the pitch but alas cameras weren’t ready, Soon we were scooting through the crawls and we could hear the roar of water ahead , the balcony overlooking GG chamber was a good view point as more water than iv ever seen there was pounding into the chamber ! , We climbed down and approached the falls in what I can only describe as like being in a car wash ! the noise and spray was a great experience but unfortunately the spray plays havoc with phone cameras !. There was that much water that no daylight was visible from the surface .Soon we retraced our steps de rigged and made our soggy way back to Clapham !. Changing in pouring rain was as enjoyable as ever and back to the YSS for party time !I really enjoyed this trip as it was the second trip I ever did in Yorkshire many years ago the day after Hurnel Moss , all on spit anchors and hadn’t done it since , certainly a bit easier these days but still a great adventure !Thoroughly wet Team !Ade, Andy, James, Matt and DW!