Topic

Following the excitement of the trip(s) on Saturday, only one member of those team(s) was up for caving on the Sunday.
Hopefully we'll get reports from members of the team(s) in due course.
Hagg Gill was the meets list trip. We were a little dubious due to the heavy rain overnight. With little chance of rain during the day, we decided it was worth a look as any flood would be receding.
It took about an hour to drive to Deep Dale from the hut.
Having changed by the parking spot, we headed up the hill. The parking spot we had used was the larger one, which made for a slightly longer walk.
We found the cave quickly, and Lukas being the first to be ready rigged the entrance (only) pitch.
The description says there is a tight section below the scaffolding. This was not a problem with a short deviation, but a rebelay reduced the rope rub.
As there was no more SRT, we left most of our SRT kits at the bottom of the pitch.
Following the CNCC route description, we headed upstream and soon started to see some splendid calcite formations. Helictites coated the walls and you had to crawl in places to avoid damaging them.
After a couple of interesting climbs, we got to Straw Gallery. The roof was covered in straws some of which were over 1m long. Declan, a new member who has done mainly mine exploration, asked if all Yorkshire caves are like this.
We returned to the entrance pitch and headed downstream and into another streamway. We followed this to the downstream sump and then started heading upstream. This started with some deep pools and awkward climbs.
I cut my hand on one of the climbs and decided it was best for me to head out. Ros, who was struggling with some of the climbs, came with me. We ascended the pitch and waited for the others on the surface.
The arrived about 45 minutes later. Apparently the passage gets narrower and muddier upstream with some interesting traversing.
A good trip, but not one for a large group.

Team: Lukas, Ros, Declan & Dave.
Time: 3 to 4 hours.