cap n chris
Well-known member
Andy Sparrow and Chris B: (my second trip here, not having returned after the first hairy visit YEARS AGO, probably circa 1998!: Andy said he hadn't been here for maybe 6-7 years too!).
Originally it was planned for Ken P, Mike W and Andy P to join in with this trip but a variety of plausible and genuinely convincing reasons ("can't find my wooden leg", "World Cup Final" and "crumbly biscuits") were given to explain why it ended up just being me and Andy who remained. We met at 10:40am and drove in so-so weather to the layby. Had a quick recce of the entrance to be sure the water was low - it was not visible, thankfully; this cave floods catastrophically and rapidly since the catchment is huge (by Mendip standards) and the cave entrance is fed by the long (very long) road which runs downhill, the tarmac providing pretty nearly instant run-off in the event of heavy weather, making for a flood pulse possibility. In flood conditions the entrance can sump and the bottom 80'-100' of Atlas pitch will become submerged!
Anyway, the weather was OK and the forecast was for improving conditions so it was green for go.... warm up:
We both did a bit of Melanie's standard pre-caving warm-up, considering it perhaps as a possibility for a work-out video (only joking).
Andy arrives at the bottom of the entrance pitch abseil: thus begins about 30mins of awkward narrow sharp nastiness culminating in a descent of Perseverance Pot (infamous for the arduous return). I rigged off the scaffold bar and two spits for a good hang down PP - it is sufficiently narrow to warrant rigging your descender from a cowstail to make for easier downward progress/control.
Andy's nice brand new warmbac in tatters and we've barely begun... at the bottom of PP we ditch one kit bag (no longer required) and drop down into Cowsh Crawl - thankfully clean-washed from floods (plenty of flood debris was witnessed throughout the trip) and with the floor now scoured out lower than in the past, making inward progress OK (still a bit of an awkward opposition climb move to ascend on the return however). This quickly opens into Bridge Rift. The limestone here is a light shade (oolitic?) and very grabby underfoot so climbing is solid but worth checking for poised/tipping boulders nonetheless. A climb up a rift on the right hand side brings us into Butt's Chamber where despite the low rater conditions there was still a quite healthy showerbath keeping all the loose rocks and boulders clean-washed. An easy scramble/climb up on the left with a hands and knees crawl through a smooth-floored muddy tube brings us into Marble Chamber and the squeeze into Marble Streamway....
The squeeze followed by...
Marble Streamway (so-called due to the veining of the limestone by calcite).
MS meanders nicely around many corners, descending to the main event.... Atlas Pot... where the stream passage opens out impressively into a huge dark void and the stream gushes out into the abyss; a careful climb up and around to the left hand side brings us to a small level stance where we can sort out some kit, needing to rig a traverse line out for an exposed manoeuvre to the left where I spanner in a couple of spits for the next descent. The lower of the spits are crap, the better ones being high up - high up is something I have difficulty with being a shortarse but a good hand hold and a bold lean sees me able to reach them. Soon that's rigged and we descend amid the noise of the waterfall as it cascades down the 80' or so to the bottom of the vast chasm - this is an impressive place and it's good to be back equipped with proper kit allowing me to get more out of this now that heights don't daunt me as much as they once did (I would have been weeping by this stage on my last visit! - actually, I wouldn't even have done the traverse to the pitch head last time
).
We descend and have a shuftie down Slither Pot where the mud on the walls hints at the floodable nature of this part of the Pot; an old bit of tat gets cut free and we consult about where to place P-anchors for a good hang and how to go about protecting the bolt placer as they drill (it's going to be a bit awkward but should be do-able).
BTW it's worth pointing out that a second reason for visiting was to recce for the forthcoming P-anchor placements which are imminent - probably being placed in August/September.
We then return up the pitch....
Andy follows me up to the level stance...
And then de-rigs the exposed traverse/pitch head...
We rebag the rope and sort out some hangers as Andy then prepares to climb over to Lateral Pitch to check out the spits and also rig a second descent; however, after a few minutes he returns with the news that the spit is knackered/stripped so the hanger can't be placed. We then have a conflab about where/how to place P-hangers and use the rope to descend a short distance for a better view across the rock faces to chat about a good new route. Having considered a variety of choices we have pretty much set on a good new approach for a lovely new hang down the dry route to the bottom of Atlas Pot from this approach. We then return up Marble Streamway but take a detour to go and furtle around in the "only visited 2-3 times" bit where Andy used to dig years ago with Mr. Ellis - a necky climb over a bottomless void (down which the rocks can be heard bouncing all the way to the bottom, taking quite a long time!...) up through a hole with good footholds brings us up towards the route "The Round Trip" where Andy explains what would be required to tackle this rarely attempted circuit. It will probably remain rarely attempted.
We then return and regain the bag before taking the bypass to the squeeze which brings us out into Marble Chamber; through the hands and knees crawl and down Butt's Chamber into Bridge Chamber and then through Cowsh Crawl and the bottom of Perseverence Pot. PP has a reputation; I am happy to be able to report that I found it straightforward and posing no problems at all. What a relief.
We derig the spits and bag up the remaining rope and then make our way out of the cave - probably the hardest part of the journey so far since the walls are sharp and grabby and the rift is narrow and unforgiving - although all pretty straightforward it does endure for a long while and probably requires about 20mins of effort faffing around with kit bags hanging off cowstails for the narrow climbs and steep, low crawls. Out and back at the car for 2:30pm.
Hmm. In retrospect this is a lovely cave; OK so it's a daunting and requires effort and care but it's a rewarding challenge and when bolted should provide some top SRT in a fantastic chamber - SRT with a big waterfall!... what more could you want?
Andy also reckons that Atlas Pot is bigger than GG main chamber. I agreed.
Originally it was planned for Ken P, Mike W and Andy P to join in with this trip but a variety of plausible and genuinely convincing reasons ("can't find my wooden leg", "World Cup Final" and "crumbly biscuits") were given to explain why it ended up just being me and Andy who remained. We met at 10:40am and drove in so-so weather to the layby. Had a quick recce of the entrance to be sure the water was low - it was not visible, thankfully; this cave floods catastrophically and rapidly since the catchment is huge (by Mendip standards) and the cave entrance is fed by the long (very long) road which runs downhill, the tarmac providing pretty nearly instant run-off in the event of heavy weather, making for a flood pulse possibility. In flood conditions the entrance can sump and the bottom 80'-100' of Atlas pitch will become submerged!
Anyway, the weather was OK and the forecast was for improving conditions so it was green for go.... warm up:
We both did a bit of Melanie's standard pre-caving warm-up, considering it perhaps as a possibility for a work-out video (only joking).
Andy arrives at the bottom of the entrance pitch abseil: thus begins about 30mins of awkward narrow sharp nastiness culminating in a descent of Perseverance Pot (infamous for the arduous return). I rigged off the scaffold bar and two spits for a good hang down PP - it is sufficiently narrow to warrant rigging your descender from a cowstail to make for easier downward progress/control.
Andy's nice brand new warmbac in tatters and we've barely begun... at the bottom of PP we ditch one kit bag (no longer required) and drop down into Cowsh Crawl - thankfully clean-washed from floods (plenty of flood debris was witnessed throughout the trip) and with the floor now scoured out lower than in the past, making inward progress OK (still a bit of an awkward opposition climb move to ascend on the return however). This quickly opens into Bridge Rift. The limestone here is a light shade (oolitic?) and very grabby underfoot so climbing is solid but worth checking for poised/tipping boulders nonetheless. A climb up a rift on the right hand side brings us into Butt's Chamber where despite the low rater conditions there was still a quite healthy showerbath keeping all the loose rocks and boulders clean-washed. An easy scramble/climb up on the left with a hands and knees crawl through a smooth-floored muddy tube brings us into Marble Chamber and the squeeze into Marble Streamway....
The squeeze followed by...
Marble Streamway (so-called due to the veining of the limestone by calcite).
MS meanders nicely around many corners, descending to the main event.... Atlas Pot... where the stream passage opens out impressively into a huge dark void and the stream gushes out into the abyss; a careful climb up and around to the left hand side brings us to a small level stance where we can sort out some kit, needing to rig a traverse line out for an exposed manoeuvre to the left where I spanner in a couple of spits for the next descent. The lower of the spits are crap, the better ones being high up - high up is something I have difficulty with being a shortarse but a good hand hold and a bold lean sees me able to reach them. Soon that's rigged and we descend amid the noise of the waterfall as it cascades down the 80' or so to the bottom of the vast chasm - this is an impressive place and it's good to be back equipped with proper kit allowing me to get more out of this now that heights don't daunt me as much as they once did (I would have been weeping by this stage on my last visit! - actually, I wouldn't even have done the traverse to the pitch head last time
). We descend and have a shuftie down Slither Pot where the mud on the walls hints at the floodable nature of this part of the Pot; an old bit of tat gets cut free and we consult about where to place P-anchors for a good hang and how to go about protecting the bolt placer as they drill (it's going to be a bit awkward but should be do-able).
BTW it's worth pointing out that a second reason for visiting was to recce for the forthcoming P-anchor placements which are imminent - probably being placed in August/September.
We then return up the pitch....
Andy follows me up to the level stance...
And then de-rigs the exposed traverse/pitch head...
We rebag the rope and sort out some hangers as Andy then prepares to climb over to Lateral Pitch to check out the spits and also rig a second descent; however, after a few minutes he returns with the news that the spit is knackered/stripped so the hanger can't be placed. We then have a conflab about where/how to place P-hangers and use the rope to descend a short distance for a better view across the rock faces to chat about a good new route. Having considered a variety of choices we have pretty much set on a good new approach for a lovely new hang down the dry route to the bottom of Atlas Pot from this approach. We then return up Marble Streamway but take a detour to go and furtle around in the "only visited 2-3 times" bit where Andy used to dig years ago with Mr. Ellis - a necky climb over a bottomless void (down which the rocks can be heard bouncing all the way to the bottom, taking quite a long time!...) up through a hole with good footholds brings us up towards the route "The Round Trip" where Andy explains what would be required to tackle this rarely attempted circuit. It will probably remain rarely attempted.
We then return and regain the bag before taking the bypass to the squeeze which brings us out into Marble Chamber; through the hands and knees crawl and down Butt's Chamber into Bridge Chamber and then through Cowsh Crawl and the bottom of Perseverence Pot. PP has a reputation; I am happy to be able to report that I found it straightforward and posing no problems at all. What a relief.
We derig the spits and bag up the remaining rope and then make our way out of the cave - probably the hardest part of the journey so far since the walls are sharp and grabby and the rift is narrow and unforgiving - although all pretty straightforward it does endure for a long while and probably requires about 20mins of effort faffing around with kit bags hanging off cowstails for the narrow climbs and steep, low crawls. Out and back at the car for 2:30pm.
Hmm. In retrospect this is a lovely cave; OK so it's a daunting and requires effort and care but it's a rewarding challenge and when bolted should provide some top SRT in a fantastic chamber - SRT with a big waterfall!... what more could you want?
Andy also reckons that Atlas Pot is bigger than GG main chamber. I agreed.
