JB
Member
Juniper Gulf
Yorkshire Dales
Monday 24 October 2005
JB & SamT (Eldon Pothole Club)
SamT (of this parish) and I discovered that we both had a Monday off work and a daytrip to the Dales was discussed. The organisation was mostly conducted by text message:
‘Diccan, GG, Juniper Gulf. Which 1?'
‘Good-looking list caves that. Decide Mon morning.'
Monday morning arrived and it had been raining. Lots. 63mm of rain in the last 7 days in Clapham. Around 25 mm on the Sunday/Monday and the Dales were awash. Sam had a vague idea that Juniper Gulf shouldn't cause too many difficulties in the wet so we settled on that. Everything got packed and we headed out of Sheffield. The stepping-stones at Gargrave were well submerged under a fast-flowing sludgy river. We arrived at Crummackdale late morning. It was still raining and all around were bounding resurgences and big white frothy streams. We even swapped our trusty warmbacs for yellow gimp-suits. Neither of us had been to The Allotment before and it would be dishonest of me to say that we headed straight for the target. In fact, we later agreed that without the GPS the cave would have eluded us even longer. We arrived at the small valley containing the entrance shaft at half past one.
Looking down the rift we were glad of the alternative dry way in. I opened the batting, rigging the first 12m pitch down onto a sloping ledge above the stream. Just as feet were about to get uncomfortably wet a traverse took us over some jammed blocks and downstream leading to a short, slightly constricted pitch down into the streambed. From here, we traversed above the stream into what has been described as a “gloomy and watered shaftâ€. This Monday it was particularly gloomy and watered with a waterfall spraying down the left hand wall. We both zipped up and headed on towards a nice 15m pitch back down to the stream.
Sam took pole position as we traversed along, crawling above the water, straddling the rift on hands and knees. This section is pretty awkward and would be a particularly bad place to fall. Next comes ‘The Bad Step'. Here, the passage widens and a swing off a flake landed us on a sloping shelf. There are bolts if you want them. Sam breezed past that and headed for the superb 25m third pitch. Constricted at the top, the shaft bells out nicely to leave you hanging in the middle of the wide rift. Bit of a knot pass to focus the mind here and we landed on superb ledges in the rift. Up to this point we hadn't considered the water too much. You know there's a load below and you're getting thorough soakings along the way but at this point the Big Pitch started to make itself known. Taking over the rigging I took us along ledges and into a healthy shower where a spike protects a short drop down onto a big ledge. Cascading down out of the roof was a torrent of water falling 90m vertically to the bottom. I set off traversing round the right-hand side and dropped down over the lip. I remember the descent as the noise, the wind, the water and the bolts. I don't think either of us looked around once as we descended past a rebelay and down a further 45 metres to the bottom of the shaft. The bottom was a mash-up of noise, falling water and wind. Sam arrived and we stood in conditions that had something of the hurricane about them. Standing with our backs to the pitch-head there was a set of rapids coming in from the right and a waterfall hammering down in front of us. They joined and disappeared into a swirling hole in the floor. Every bit of the shaft seemed to vibrate. After a minute at the bottom we raced off for another battering on the rope.
Once at the top of the big pitch we both relaxed and got on with de-rigging, packing bags and transporting rope; the bread-and-butter stuff. We exited three and a half hours after starting. Like Des Marshall says in ‘Selected Caves…' Juniper Gulf really is a magnificent SRT trip. Made particularly memorable by a healthy amount of water.
JB
Yorkshire Dales
Monday 24 October 2005
JB & SamT (Eldon Pothole Club)
SamT (of this parish) and I discovered that we both had a Monday off work and a daytrip to the Dales was discussed. The organisation was mostly conducted by text message:
‘Diccan, GG, Juniper Gulf. Which 1?'
‘Good-looking list caves that. Decide Mon morning.'
Monday morning arrived and it had been raining. Lots. 63mm of rain in the last 7 days in Clapham. Around 25 mm on the Sunday/Monday and the Dales were awash. Sam had a vague idea that Juniper Gulf shouldn't cause too many difficulties in the wet so we settled on that. Everything got packed and we headed out of Sheffield. The stepping-stones at Gargrave were well submerged under a fast-flowing sludgy river. We arrived at Crummackdale late morning. It was still raining and all around were bounding resurgences and big white frothy streams. We even swapped our trusty warmbacs for yellow gimp-suits. Neither of us had been to The Allotment before and it would be dishonest of me to say that we headed straight for the target. In fact, we later agreed that without the GPS the cave would have eluded us even longer. We arrived at the small valley containing the entrance shaft at half past one.
Looking down the rift we were glad of the alternative dry way in. I opened the batting, rigging the first 12m pitch down onto a sloping ledge above the stream. Just as feet were about to get uncomfortably wet a traverse took us over some jammed blocks and downstream leading to a short, slightly constricted pitch down into the streambed. From here, we traversed above the stream into what has been described as a “gloomy and watered shaftâ€. This Monday it was particularly gloomy and watered with a waterfall spraying down the left hand wall. We both zipped up and headed on towards a nice 15m pitch back down to the stream.
Sam took pole position as we traversed along, crawling above the water, straddling the rift on hands and knees. This section is pretty awkward and would be a particularly bad place to fall. Next comes ‘The Bad Step'. Here, the passage widens and a swing off a flake landed us on a sloping shelf. There are bolts if you want them. Sam breezed past that and headed for the superb 25m third pitch. Constricted at the top, the shaft bells out nicely to leave you hanging in the middle of the wide rift. Bit of a knot pass to focus the mind here and we landed on superb ledges in the rift. Up to this point we hadn't considered the water too much. You know there's a load below and you're getting thorough soakings along the way but at this point the Big Pitch started to make itself known. Taking over the rigging I took us along ledges and into a healthy shower where a spike protects a short drop down onto a big ledge. Cascading down out of the roof was a torrent of water falling 90m vertically to the bottom. I set off traversing round the right-hand side and dropped down over the lip. I remember the descent as the noise, the wind, the water and the bolts. I don't think either of us looked around once as we descended past a rebelay and down a further 45 metres to the bottom of the shaft. The bottom was a mash-up of noise, falling water and wind. Sam arrived and we stood in conditions that had something of the hurricane about them. Standing with our backs to the pitch-head there was a set of rapids coming in from the right and a waterfall hammering down in front of us. They joined and disappeared into a swirling hole in the floor. Every bit of the shaft seemed to vibrate. After a minute at the bottom we raced off for another battering on the rope.
Once at the top of the big pitch we both relaxed and got on with de-rigging, packing bags and transporting rope; the bread-and-butter stuff. We exited three and a half hours after starting. Like Des Marshall says in ‘Selected Caves…' Juniper Gulf really is a magnificent SRT trip. Made particularly memorable by a healthy amount of water.
JB