rich_p
New member
Another cold and misty morning in Yorkshire, Max420 and I walked across the fell from Bull Pot Farm and arrived at the lid for Lancaster Hole. Max rigged and I dropped down the shaft while he chatted to someone who had arrived on the surface. Turned out the gent was over 70, happy to give out rigging advice and was coming down the shaft next to spend some time in the cave, as he had been doing for decades.
At the bottom were two main directions to choose from, we had decided to just explore and see where we ended up so headed up the smaller of two passages which shrank down to a crawl. This lead to the splendidly decorated Slug World. We went past straws, ribbons, helictites, a large calcite boss and through another crawl to an end chamber where yet more pretties were to be found.
After a good old play with the cameras it was back past the entrance pitch and through the bigger passage to emerge at the top of a boulder pile in Bridge Cavern.
We spent a while poking about the numerous passages leading off and ended up at the Colonnades. Somehow time was nearly up by this point so it was back to the entrance shaft to prusik out. There we were joined by a couple of nice fellas from Red Rose on their way out from a long day deeper in the system.
Eager to see more we were soon back again with the intention of reaching the master cave. This time it was straight to Kath's Way with it's scaf bar holding the entrance open and we tried to apply the vaguely remembered directions. This didn't go precisely as planned (much crawling, possibly the beginning of The Girder Route) but we made it to a big rift. A short scramble down the boulders lead to the top of a pitch which appeared to drop down to the master cave. We hadn't brought rope for any more srt so climbed back up to the other side of the rift into a large passage.
At the end was a large piece of rock with a cavernous space beyond. After shuffling to the edge and peering into the gloom we decided this was definitely Fall Pot. A dual handline dropped down a side rift and took us to the bottom. A glint of water could be made out at the bottom of several different pitches that had to be the master cave. I took the opportunity to get the camera out while Max scouted out a way down.
He found the hole in the bolder pile near the waterfall but it looked a bit dicey. We didn?t know at the time it was free climbable, nor that the borders can be lose due to the flooding that takes place there.
After all the excitement of not getting to Main Drain we decided to go up to the Colonnades to get some shots.
Plenty of the chamber was out of bounds, however on one bank not taped off were a series of muddy holes. I happened to notice one was different, closer inspection revealed it was a small gour pool filled with tiny crystals, blink and you miss it.
A few hours later we climbed out the shaft into a clear night and were treated to an impressive spread of stars. Off home to study the survey again and figure out a bit more, no doubt we?ll be returning again soon.
At the bottom were two main directions to choose from, we had decided to just explore and see where we ended up so headed up the smaller of two passages which shrank down to a crawl. This lead to the splendidly decorated Slug World. We went past straws, ribbons, helictites, a large calcite boss and through another crawl to an end chamber where yet more pretties were to be found.
After a good old play with the cameras it was back past the entrance pitch and through the bigger passage to emerge at the top of a boulder pile in Bridge Cavern.
We spent a while poking about the numerous passages leading off and ended up at the Colonnades. Somehow time was nearly up by this point so it was back to the entrance shaft to prusik out. There we were joined by a couple of nice fellas from Red Rose on their way out from a long day deeper in the system.
Eager to see more we were soon back again with the intention of reaching the master cave. This time it was straight to Kath's Way with it's scaf bar holding the entrance open and we tried to apply the vaguely remembered directions. This didn't go precisely as planned (much crawling, possibly the beginning of The Girder Route) but we made it to a big rift. A short scramble down the boulders lead to the top of a pitch which appeared to drop down to the master cave. We hadn't brought rope for any more srt so climbed back up to the other side of the rift into a large passage.
At the end was a large piece of rock with a cavernous space beyond. After shuffling to the edge and peering into the gloom we decided this was definitely Fall Pot. A dual handline dropped down a side rift and took us to the bottom. A glint of water could be made out at the bottom of several different pitches that had to be the master cave. I took the opportunity to get the camera out while Max scouted out a way down.
He found the hole in the bolder pile near the waterfall but it looked a bit dicey. We didn?t know at the time it was free climbable, nor that the borders can be lose due to the flooding that takes place there.
After all the excitement of not getting to Main Drain we decided to go up to the Colonnades to get some shots.
Plenty of the chamber was out of bounds, however on one bank not taped off were a series of muddy holes. I happened to notice one was different, closer inspection revealed it was a small gour pool filled with tiny crystals, blink and you miss it.
A few hours later we climbed out the shaft into a clear night and were treated to an impressive spread of stars. Off home to study the survey again and figure out a bit more, no doubt we?ll be returning again soon.
