YSS

YSS

Yorkshire Subterranean Society

YSS

YSS

Taking in the Three Peaks

YSS

YSS

Purpose built SRT wall

Welcome, Guest
Remember me
This is the area for all the YSS trip reports only please

Topic

Vesper - spectacle pot exchange (02/11/24) 06 Nov 2024 21:00 #21789

  • Topic Author
  • dchadwick
  • Offline
  • Admin
  • Admin
  • Posts: 392
  • Thanks: 75
Brisk walk through Braida Garth farm and up the scar soon saw up on the top looking for the entrance, 
Luckily Ade had put the coordinates on his watch and after a poke around the entrance to vesper was found,
Andy , Lukasz p, Nicola And Lukasz L attacked spectacle pot.
Ade lead and after a pause to remove his croll  
Set off on a sideways squirm followed quickly by James Barradale  with a head first dive into the entrance!
Tight going eventually lead to slightly more roomy passage with some low wet crawls and squeezes!,
5 or 6 quite technical pitches followed the the penultimate requiring a committing  reach across the pitch to reach the bolts rigged by James but we all rigged a pitch on the way in!.
On the last pitch we heard the spectacle pot team rigging the adjacent pitch a short distance away!
The last pitch dropped us onto the great rubble heap below!
We decided to omit the last dodgy looking pitch to the sump!.
Soon we were joined by the spectacle pot team looking much wetter than us and talked about the wet flat out crawl and the crux of the cave splutter crawl which is basically at the bottom of the first pitch and nearly at the surface!
Conversation ensued and Ade and James opted to return through vesper followed by Lukasz P and Nicola W,
I pondered for a while knowing that if I couldn’t pass splutter crawl  it would mean returning through the wet crawls , re rigging and then waiting for the team to re rig vesper to get out !. 
Looking at Andy I decided that the size difference wasn’t that great and hoped that I could make it out!
Fingers crossed we set off , Lukasz, first ,me then Andy who stripped the ropes,
On the first pitch I carefully negotiated a large loose looking flake which decided to peel off just as I passed it resulting in a big boom, 
Luckily no harm done as Andy was well away from the pitch bottom, 
This pitch is known to be loose!
The wet crawls were a little grim but not too bad and progress was soon made to splutter crawl an onion shaped passage just big enough to allow access!
Andy first and Lukasz who had already passed it earlier then me! 
The start in reverse is tricky with an old iron ladder leading to a tricky crawl over a narrow rift  to the crawl proper!
Pushing a tackle bag didn’t make things easier!.
Wriggling maggot like makes progress until a slight narrowing and a dip in the passage is the crux with the wash from the tackle bag flowing back over your face and little room to avoid it made things interesting to say the least!.
Moving in the superman position was the only way forward progress was possible in such a narrow passage and eventually I emerged into a larger passage way with a little relief!.
A few tricky climbs lead the the entry pitch and the rewarding smell of fresh air and a great sensation of doing a grade 5 through trip!.
Well done to all , and thanks to Andy And Lukasz for returning back through Spectacle pot making the through trip possible .well done to  Lukasz P and Nicola who also managed the exchange and thanks to Ade and James for the rigging and a great trip through Vesper !
Time ! I don’t have a clue but prob not that long!. 
Pics don’t include spectacle as Lukasz put my phone on his dry box due to the nature of the passages !
Cheers everyone involved!

Words & pictures by Dave Williams

Attachments:
The following user(s) said Thank You: iball

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Vesper - spectacle pot exchange (02/11/24) 06 Jan 2025 17:24 #21822

  • iball's Avatar
  • iball
  • Offline
  • Platinum Member
  • Platinum Member
  • Posts: 1855
  • Thanks: 331
Great read and great photos!

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • Page:
  • 1

About

There are many club organised caving weekends, with a mixture of easy and difficult caving.  Over the past few years we have given lots of people the opportunity to experience caving with our "Try Caving" events.  These are quite popular and quite a few people have subsequently joined the club. We have YSS members caving most weekends so it is easy for new cavers to tag onto the easier caving trips and find people to help with more training.

Location

Old School House
Austwick Road
Helwith Bridge
North Yorkshire
BD24 0EH

Sorry, this website uses features that your browser doesn’t support. Upgrade to a newer version of Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Edge and you’ll be all set.

Color: "#89a2ae";