Pen-y-Ghent Pot - 28th April - YSS Forums - Yorkshire Subterranean Society

Pen-y-Ghent Pot - 28th April 29 Apr 2012 09:21 #7279

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dweare
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Pen-y-Ghent Pot – 28th April

Had this trip been on any other day in either the week before or the week after, it almost certainly would have been rained off. Fortunately, and somewhat out of the blue, the forecast was very good for Saturday and, with little rainfall the previous day, levels should have fallen sufficiently to allow us to get to the bottom. The trip was on.

The hut was full of people who’d already dropped out of their 3 Peaks walk (by 9am!) I suppose it was fairly windy, but you have to ask yourself what people are expecting if they’ve already dropped out before finishing Pen-y-Ghent!

Over an excellent second breakfast, cooked by James, Julie and Nigel, Nigel suggested parking at Dale Head as we had to hand in our permit over there anyway, and the 3 Peaks people were talking of awful traffic and queues around Horton due to a cycling event.

We set off and were about to deliver the permit when we actually read it and discovered the tear-off slip and the requirement to hand it in no longer seem to exist. Well done to whoever managed to negotiate this! Back down the road to Dale Head and we parked up, felt the wind, and promptly turned the car around to give us some vague protection! After we’d donned gloves, balaclavas and anything else we could find, we set off and, after a brief look at Churn Milk Hole and its neighbouring sink, we marched on along the Pennine Way, through the gate and, frustratingly, back down the other side of the hill we’d just walked up … thanks for the exercise Nige!

The entrance was soon found and Brian disappeared eagerly, taking the biggest tackle bag with him … things were really looking up for me

. He turned the wrong way on reaching the canal, so I ended up in front, but unfortunately with the wrong tackle bag!

I’d warned everyone in advance that there was a fair chance that we were going to get pretty wet on the first pitch with today’s water levels, but that I reckoned the others would probably be alright. In the event we were pleased to find a nice, person-sized space between the two waterfalls going down the pitch. We stayed fairly dry! “Easy” Passage was, as usual, not “easy”, but we were soon along it, and down the next 3 pitches to emerge in the huge and impressive rift.

The various pitches / climbs slowly passed by and at the top of the 8th Pitch, James & Julie sensibly decided that the cold had got the better of them and it was time to turn around and head out. The rest of us carried on and quickly came to Myers’ Leap. After a few minutes’ cleaning out the spits, we were at the bottom. We’d now run out of rope, but my memory was that the only pitch left was Niagara and you bypass that anyway. Unfortunately I managed to forget about the climb / pitch above Niagara and we were left, as often seems to be the case in multiple-short-pitch caves, to a combination of footloops, chest tapes and slings. Nigel took one look at the assorted obstacle course and decided it was time to admire the chamber from above!

Now down to two, Brian and I dropped down the rift by the side of Niagara and made the desperate dash back underneath the water to emerge in a large rift chamber. From here on there was a lot of foam in evidence and plenty of annoying, uneven floor. The sump, with foam everywhere, was a disappointing end to a fine pot.

We had a pretty uneventful exit and emerged to a beautiful, sun-lit Pen-y-Ghent exactly 7 hours after going underground. During the slog back up the hill and down the other side (thanks Nige!) we mused on how much fitter we’d need to be to manage the 3 Peaks and the 3 Pots.

Party: Brian, Nigel, Julie, James & Damian
Time: 7 hours

The following user(s) said Thank You: nsteel, iball