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2022-03-25 Illusion x Dale Head x Churns-Diccan exchange 29 Mar 2022 16:03 #20686
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Topic Author
- Ales Hrabec
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It has been two years since the pandemic kept me away from the Dales. But finally all the stars aligned and on Friday evening we gathered at YSS.
Illusion Pot
The first trip of the weekend was to Illusion Pot, which Stuart and me visited together exactly ten years ago on the memorable Olympic opening night when we successfully bailed the sump for two hours. Upon our arrival to Kingsdale, the weather was absolutely amazing and we headed straight to the entrance in the slowly dimming daylight. The journey to the duck was straightforward. Stuart did bail out a few buckets out of the duck to make it more comfortable. We passed it ‘relatively’ dry and emerged in the wonderful dry passage which we explored in both directions. We particularly admired the Yorkshire finest sump before we headed back out to the Helwith Bridge Inn. To our disappointment, only one beer was permitted, which, on the other hand, gave us more strength for the next day.Participants: Lisa W, Stu W, Ales H, Phil H, Rich R
Dale Head Pot
After a long debate about our black book trip, we opted for Dale Head pot despite Beardy’s skepticism promising us a dead sheep in the entrance call. After finding Lisa’s box, we finally left the school after the initial fuff. Lisa kindly volunteered to rig the cave meaning that she would be the one to push the dead animal through the entrance crawl. To our relief, nothing was encountered and we all shuffled through the daunting entrance crawl. After that, the cave finally started to open up and we hit the series of spectacular pitches with some interesting re-belay positions. Just on top of the big shaft, Stuart decided to call it a day and turned around while 4 of us carried on. The next obstacle on the way was Borehole consisting of a narrow, slightly S-bended crawl. This was the final stage for Lisa. Phil flew through without any friction followed by Rich. I changed my mind many times but eventually I did emerge on the other side of the crawl. Sadly, Rich and Phil buggered off so after a short struggle on the next climb, I also turned around. At least Phil and Rich carried the YSS flag successfully all the way to the final duck, where they also called it a day. The way out was rather cold and strenuous but the entrance crawl was surprisingly reasonable. All in all, a great day in a spectacular cave.
Participants: Lisa W, Stu W, Ales H, Phil H, Rich R
Diccan – Long Churns exchange
The Saturday left some scars on our fitness state, I must say. Since we had quite a few people interested in sporty caving, we decided to go for Diccan – Long Churn exchange trip. Before setting off, I joined Beardy for some surface mapping and photography and a quick (and epic) descend to Bunny hole cave. The timing between the two parties worked almost perfectly. Our team (Phil, Alistair, Ales, Emma) arrived to Alumn Pot exactly at the time when the sun hit the main shaft, which turned out to be really spectacular and pleasant.Participants: Lisa W, Stu W, Ales H, Phil H, Rich R, Emma R, Alistair G, Oscar, Ben All in all, a great weekend with great company.
Illusion Pot
The first trip of the weekend was to Illusion Pot, which Stuart and me visited together exactly ten years ago on the memorable Olympic opening night when we successfully bailed the sump for two hours. Upon our arrival to Kingsdale, the weather was absolutely amazing and we headed straight to the entrance in the slowly dimming daylight. The journey to the duck was straightforward. Stuart did bail out a few buckets out of the duck to make it more comfortable. We passed it ‘relatively’ dry and emerged in the wonderful dry passage which we explored in both directions. We particularly admired the Yorkshire finest sump before we headed back out to the Helwith Bridge Inn. To our disappointment, only one beer was permitted, which, on the other hand, gave us more strength for the next day.Participants: Lisa W, Stu W, Ales H, Phil H, Rich R
Dale Head Pot
After a long debate about our black book trip, we opted for Dale Head pot despite Beardy’s skepticism promising us a dead sheep in the entrance call. After finding Lisa’s box, we finally left the school after the initial fuff. Lisa kindly volunteered to rig the cave meaning that she would be the one to push the dead animal through the entrance crawl. To our relief, nothing was encountered and we all shuffled through the daunting entrance crawl. After that, the cave finally started to open up and we hit the series of spectacular pitches with some interesting re-belay positions. Just on top of the big shaft, Stuart decided to call it a day and turned around while 4 of us carried on. The next obstacle on the way was Borehole consisting of a narrow, slightly S-bended crawl. This was the final stage for Lisa. Phil flew through without any friction followed by Rich. I changed my mind many times but eventually I did emerge on the other side of the crawl. Sadly, Rich and Phil buggered off so after a short struggle on the next climb, I also turned around. At least Phil and Rich carried the YSS flag successfully all the way to the final duck, where they also called it a day. The way out was rather cold and strenuous but the entrance crawl was surprisingly reasonable. All in all, a great day in a spectacular cave.
Participants: Lisa W, Stu W, Ales H, Phil H, Rich R
Diccan – Long Churns exchange
The Saturday left some scars on our fitness state, I must say. Since we had quite a few people interested in sporty caving, we decided to go for Diccan – Long Churn exchange trip. Before setting off, I joined Beardy for some surface mapping and photography and a quick (and epic) descend to Bunny hole cave. The timing between the two parties worked almost perfectly. Our team (Phil, Alistair, Ales, Emma) arrived to Alumn Pot exactly at the time when the sun hit the main shaft, which turned out to be really spectacular and pleasant.Participants: Lisa W, Stu W, Ales H, Phil H, Rich R, Emma R, Alistair G, Oscar, Ben All in all, a great weekend with great company.
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