Water Levels

[zaphod79]

Meant to be going to Sunset, Hardrawkin and Great Douk this weekend.  Any one hazard an educated prediction of water levels for Sunday. 

Im guessing high!  But are they doable

Thanks

Zaphod

 

[langcliffe]

Meant to be going to Sunset, Hardrawkin and Great Douk this weekend.  Any one hazard an educated prediction of water levels for Sunday. 

There are just a few millimetres forecast for the area between now and Sunday, so water levels should be high but reasonable. All three should be doable, but it would be worth taking a handful of deviations for Hardrawkin. Also re-check the forecast before you go, as any heavy rain will run straight off and I wouldn't want to be underground when it happens.

 

[Pitlamp]

I was stood next to GG about 90 minutes ago (around 3-30 p.m.) and the water's already a long way down. It's actually been a beautiful afternoon, even if these was a lazy wind.

 

[ianball11]

Can I ask what's the order of water path on West side of Penyghent?

does the water off the hill go into the caves before resurging into the Ribble?  and any ideas how long that takes if it does?

What I'm asking is if the water off the hills goes into the caves before the river and is there a delay between high water in the caves manifesting in the river height?

Ian B.

 

[kay]

Any predictions for Ribblehead Cave on Sunday? (Ribblehead Cave itself, that is, rather than the caves on the other side of the road at Ribblehead)

 

[Fulk]

Could be a dangerous game, predicting cave safety; many years ago on a beautiful sunny day, but with a forecast for heavy rain coming in by mid-day (-ish ? from memory) someone (a competent caver) asked me if I thought that it would be safe to do a through trip in Simpson?s Pot with a small groups of people who?d done a modest amount of caving. I said ?Yes?, but did say that the forecast was really bad (however unlikely it appeared at the time that it would rain) and pointed out that you can see flood debris in the roof of Kingsdale Master Cave, and that it would be best to get a move on and do the trip before the rain arrived . . . which it did!

Fast forward to ca. 3 or 4 pm, when the phone rings; ?Could you go to Kingsdale Master Cave, where a party is trapped??
Sure enough, it was the same party, who seemed a bit pissed off with me ?can?t think why!

They?d reached the Master Cave to find it a torrent, and the leader decided that he?d traverse along the ledges and get himself out to raise the alarm, while the rest of the party sat it out above the water.

Anyway, when we calmed down and discuused the matter rationally, it appears that the team, instead of going off caving, went first to Ingleton to faff and have breakfast; more faffing ensued in the cave, as they had only one rope ? which was 300 ft long ? for all the little pitches in Simpson?s. The leader did, eventually, acknowledge that if they?d gone straight there and had a smooth, efficient trip they would have beaten the rain.

 

[paul]

Could be a dangerous game, predicting cave safety; many years ago on a beautiful sunny day, but with a forecast for heavy rain coming in by mid-day (-ish ? from memory) someone (a competent caver) asked me if I thought that it would be safe to do a through trip in Simpson?s Pot with a small groups of people who?d done a modest amount of caving. I said ?Yes?, but did say that the forecast was really bad (however unlikely it appeared at the time that it would rain) and pointed out that you can see flood debris in the roof of Kingsdale Master Cave, and that it would be best to get a move on and do the trip before the rain arrived . . . which it did!

Fast forward to ca. 3 or 4 pm, when the phone rings; ?Could you go to Kingsdale Master Cave, where a party is trapped??
Sure enough, it was the same party, who seemed a bit pissed off with me ?can?t think why!

They?d reached the Master Cave to find it a torrent, and the leader decided that he?d traverse along the ledges and get himself out to raise the alarm, while the rest of the party sat it out above the water.

Anyway, when we calmed down and discuused the matter rationally, it appears that the team, instead of going off caving, went first to Ingleton to faff and have breakfast; more faffing ensued in the cave, as they had only one rope ? which was 300 ft long ? for all the little pitches in Simpson?s. The leader did, eventually, acknowledge that if they?d gone straight there and had a smooth, efficient trip they would have beaten the rain.

As you said, a dangerous game. And I'm sure we've all done it.

You are still betting against finishing the trip before the expected flooding occurs.

A dangerous bet indeed if instead of faffing, etc., the party had entered the cave on time but there was another unexpected reason for delay while underground such as infury or ilness or equipment dailure or ...

 

[kay]

Could be a dangerous game, predicting cave safety;

OK - can I re-phrase my question?

Does anyone with knowledge of Ribblehead Cave have any idea of how quickly it responds to water, how quickly levels go down, what I should look out for, eg "definitely don't go in if water is flowing out of Batty Wife"? NC says entrance impassable with high water levels. I'm trying to supplement my reading of weather forecasts with local knowledge!