Given the weather forecast , Turbary Pot was abandoned, with Matt suggesting Cow Pot. This was met with some muttering about having to come out via Cow Pot, plus warnings about an “awkward tube”. Not fancying the Valley Entrance trip, and displaying a lack of foresight, I joined the Cow Pot team.
A quick drive and change at Bull Pot Farm and we were off. The walk to the cave was luckily shorter than remembered. Matt got straight on with rigging the Jurassic Parkesque main entrance, a nice fun pitch which led to the top of the infamous awkward tube.
I jumped in immediately after Matt, without bothering to look where I was going. Halfway down I was struck by the fear that I was about to wedge myself somewhere permanently. I retreated, prompting loud complaints from the rest of the group about how I could clearly fit through that. Second attempt, I slid down with ease. Mick followed quickly, making it look easy, despite an SRT harness rammed with gear.
A short but awkward pitch followed, where I immediately went straight into the tightest possible line. Matt luckily suggested that I climb a bit higher, which opened up nicely.
Some stooping and crawling followed through pleasantly watery passage. I was delighted to report a complete absence of ducks. We reached the pitch head and split into teams:
Team A (Matt, me, Klaudia, and Oggy) down the “bum-tickling” main route (Stu’s words), and Team B (Mick, Stu, and Robin) down the “sneaky route”.
The main route was excellent: a fun swing into a deviation and a beautifully free-hanging rebelay. Team A thoroughly enjoyed itself and regrouped at the bottom to wait for Team B, who eventually arrived having found an adventurous route not on the rigging guide, describing an abseil through an “awkward tight rift”, which Mick had to breathe out on to rig. They assured us we’d be absolutely fine. This was, in hindsight, an outright lie.
Off into Easegill we went. Stu and I opted to prusik the rope while the others scrambled. I mocked Stu for faffing with his Pantin because “it’s only a little pitch” and told him to hurry up. I then put my own Pantin on the minute he was on the rope.
We wandered through some lovely walking passage towards the Colonnades and reached the properly pretty bits, new to a few of us, before deciding it was time to head out. At this point, someone suggested swapping routes. Against my better judgement, and wildly overestimating myself, I agreed to go up the sneaky route, on the condition someone went ahead to “help”.
Up a few rebelays I was having a great time prusiking. I spotted the tight section, saw Oggy already through it, and thought that doesn’t look too bad. What followed was a textbook display of competence. I flew through the squeeze effortlessly. No issues at all.
I definitely did not get very stuck for about fifteen minutes, shouting loudly, swearing louder, and crying even more.
I'm told there was a bit of an epic on the other route, but I couldn't hear this over the horror film like screaming.
Matt came through next, clearly appreciating the live demonstration of how not to do it. Klaudia then absolutely blitzed through, derigging everything with a massive grin and restoring some dignity to YSS women.
One more pitch and we were back at the main traverse. A bit more crawling, then back to the awkward little pitch, which had turned into a waterfall. Ascending it was a brief but intense waterboarding experience. Back up the awkward tube and, determined not to embarrass myself any further, I made it through without issue.
Amazingly, it was still light when we reached the surface.
Team: Matt, Klaudia, Oggy, Stu, Mick, Robin & Ellie
Time: About 6 hours
