giants? again!!

Stu

Active member
ok...on a public forum i'm going to admit that after nearly four years of caving in derbyshire ...i've never bottomed giants! there i've said it. done the round trip endless times along with all the little bits between entrance and eating house. at said house passages seem to dissapear every which way. well i've been reading descriptions of the route above the streamway... something about a tube/climb up to an obvious traverse. well last time i was down i thought i'd poke my head up to recce it. so picture if you will... eating house, back to maggins... bear left for 10 metres in wide rift. look up right, very muddy near vertical tube. slither up and me no likey!! it seemed to be something very different. could someone confirm what should be happening after the eating house. description of route and survey get very confusing. cheers.
 

dunc

New member
I've been to the bottom once and unfortunately can't remember exactly what it was like from the eating house... If my memory is working well :? - as you enter EH and past the Maggins climb and bear left along the passage and I seem to recall a sharp left bend (junction?) and then at some point after that is a low smooth tube down on the right which pops out in the roof of the streamway and the start of the traverse..

I'm sure someone will correct me and provide a better description than that! :roll:
Dunc
 

SamT

Moderator
Yeah - its a bit of a rabbit warren - go past the climb up into maggins rift, stay left - then there is a bit of a maze of crawls - choose the most worn/clean one staying at about hands and knees. There are a few muddy tubes/rifts with buckets and digging debris so ignore these. I think most of the crawls all end up at the same place. which is in a rift with the stream below. stay high in the rift - this is the "bad step" traverse. Its usually got a rope on it and P bolts. off the end of this is Geology pot. Nice Pitch. then back out the bottom left to rejoin the streamway - Few slippy climbs down some nice cascades - Watch the deep pool!! :LOL: .
Dont have an accident here - your a very very long way from home in a stretcher. There is one cascade with a rope down it. Corkscrew cascade - you'll know why if you see it in High water in which case it can be tricky to ascend. there are p bolts for a y hang further out if the water is high. you dont want to be down here for too long if the weather is iffy. Check out some of the flood debris near the roof.

Under a duck - which is a simple curtain - but again could soon be a proper duck/dive if in flood then down bit further and your in the magnificent East Canal - with its ominous sump :D .

If you think that basically the Eating House is about halfway down/back. So allow twice the time to Bottom it as you would for the round trip. 8)
 

bubba

Administrator
It's a great trip to the East Canal - even the Dales crews seem to like this one :)

Agree about being cautious in high water below Geology. Some of the climbs would get very difficult on the way back if the water was high. I've been in once when the Far Curtain had changed from 3 inches of airspace to a full duck so take it easy.
 

dunc

New member
It's a great trip to the East Canal - even the Dales crews seem to like this one
I'm a Dales caver but I do agree on that one, good trip to East Canal and even the round trip is good on its own :) I'd done the round trip before but a short while after it reopened from foot and mouth we did the East Canal trip - even a peakophobe admitted it was quite good and more like a northern cave!

Dunc
 

Stu

Active member
top trip. wet and cold. the section past eating house almost warrants a wet suit
 
J

Jonathan T

Guest
stu said:
top trip. wet and cold. the section past eating house almost warrants a wet suit

Almost! Almost! Froze my knackers off!
 
T

Titch98

Guest
Since I am such a nice chap ( :? ), I have added a little map here for all those of you who have never been to the East Canal and thinking of going. It isn't to scale and it has been drawn from memory, so if anyone finds any inconsistencies with it, please let everyone know!!!

:D

Giants_1.jpg

Giants_2.jpg
 
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