unknown hole in chapel-le-dale

[JoshW]

Hi All,

Whilst wandering around chapel-le-dale area towards Sunset hole we found a small grotty hole in the ground that i crawled and contorted myself around, sacking off my SRT kit as I was going through.

It's half way between middle washfold caves (great douk top entrance) and the stile that goes over to knacker trapper. Has anyone got any ideas what it's called.

cavemaps.org doesn't have it.

I probably went 30m in, twisting and turning, before reaching a stream coming from left to right in a low bedding plane.

 

[kay]

P97a looks like it's in the right place: "abrupt turn to R into a smaller section with small inlet entering from the L. Passage gradually decreases in size and becomes too tight just after a sideways crawl over a small rocky bridge" (Northern Caves) but I think you'd have told us about "Large rocky sink at end of steep gully adjacent to wall running all the way up the fell. Easy climb down leads to chamber and section of rift passage..."

 

[Alex]

Yes sounds like P97a is the place. It don't get much better trust me and I can see why it's graded 4 in the new Northern caves. After the stream crossing the passage you reach more deep water and from here it gets "fun". A long duck follows for about 10m before it relents in a bit of standing height passage. From there its all low passage in and out with more ducks of the water for at least 100m. There is quite a difficult bedrock squeeze on route, which when coming back through sees you sliding through into deep water. Eventually even I got bored of the constant mainly flat our crawling in water and mud and never actually bothered going right to the end (I was on my own as my mates had given up ages ago). Redeeming features....? It had a few formations further in, but they were just a pain in the arse (literally).

 

[PaulW]

Whilst wandering around chapel-le-dale area towards Sunset hole we found a small grotty hole in the ground that i crawled and contorted myself around, sacking off my SRT kit as I was going through.
.

At least you've learnt to take your SRT kit off before trying to get through the small stuff now   

 

[JoshW]

Thanks all, P97a is almost certainly it. Might take a return trip just for the giggles

 

[Pie Muncher]

Yes sounds like P97a is the place.

Out of interest, when did you make this trip Alex?

 

[Alex]

Don't recall exactly, it was after an aborted knacker trapper trip as the entrance had slumped some what and was moving, it was cold and wet, probably sometime around the beginning of this year.

P.s. Knacker was still passable but no-one else wanted to follow, the entrance now has a rather tight squeeze that I don't recall beforehand and the boulders like to wobble.