I see that Mike Wooding has published details of his newly bolted route down Rat Hole, Gaping Gill in the latest Descent.

I accompanied Mike on a trip down Rat Hole in July, and I can strongly recommend the route to anyone who enjoys SRT. It's one of the best routes in the Dales. The positions are superb; the rock scenery is what you would expect for the Gaping Gill main shaft complex; all the rebelays are located at decent ledges, and all the deviations are sensible. It features a pendulum manoeuvre on a fixed rope over the full depth of the GG rift; an excellent 50m pitch descent of the Mousehole shaft, and an interesting descent through the roof of the Main Chamber. Although it cannot match the daylight scenery of the top pitch of Dihedral, IMHO its other features make it a better route.

I would be interested to hear of other people's opinions.

Hi Langcliffe

We visitied Rat Hole yesterday(Sunday 09th October) , fantastic place, awesome route with some very exciting positions.

However, I imagine that yesterday was considerably wetter than July.

The bottom of the mousehole shaft was a complete malestrom, and the final pitch was "quite moist"

Even with the new shiny fixed hangers - in normal conditions i would advise only the most competent to visit as it wouldn't have taken long for hypothermia to set in if you got stuck near/in the water. (And there was a lot of water down there)

We encountered a little problem on the Moushole shaft - if you clip the 1st deviation you end up bang in the middle of the shaft when you arrive at the level of the second deviation - being unabale to touch the walls meant lateral thinking and lassoing to get a pendulum going. On the way out we worked out that the 1st deviation is helpful but not absoultly necessary, and if left out by the 1st man down he arrives at the 2nd deviation next to the opposite wall so a large pendulm can easily be acheived (and the rope above didn't rub for us)

We entered by Rat Hole itself dry & fairly straight forward and we came out of Rat Hole Sink - extremely aqueous, the stream was backing up in quite a scary fashion as soon as you lay in it .


Beardy

We visitied Rat Hole yesterday(Sunday 09th October) , fantastic place, awesome route with some very exciting positions.

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I'm delighted others are starting to experience the pleasures!

The bottom of the mousehole shaft was a complete malestrom, and the final pitch was "quite moist"

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The hydrology is quite complicated. The water on the ledge includes spray from Rat Hole and all the Mousehole Inlet water (you can visit Mousehole Inlet by traversing round to the right after the fixed line pendulum). The original (1986) route swung onto a ledge about 30m down, but then one gets involved with the Hamster Aven water. But you're right, it's better for dry conditions. The view looking down from the top of the Rat Hole big pitch must have been impressive for you. That really is a maelstrom.

Even with the new shiny fixed hangers - in normal conditions i would advise only the most competent to visit as it wouldn't have taken long for hypothermia to set in if you got stuck near/in the water. (And there was a lot of water down there)

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Yes - one doesn't really want more than two or three people in that sort of place. Hanging around could get very chilly.

we came out of Rat Hole Sink - extremely aqueous

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I can imagine - I've only emerged from Rat Hole Sink in very dry conditions. The exit isn't quite as roomy as it appears at first sight...

"If you aren't 'ard, you shouldn't 'ave come" !!!

I couldn't agree more

cheers
Beardy

Read about that last weekend and it sounds fantastic. i love the sound of the pendulum! how do you work it? I've never done one but would assume you tie onto the pednulum rope and get a belayer behind you to pull you back if it goes wrong? Then you could just pull the second man across too and getting back would be straight forwards? i assume the in situ rope wont rub anywhere and is not going to be in danger of getting knackered with people swinging on it? how far is the pendulum anyway?

It sounds like atough trip so i'm going to have to wait till im a bit fitter to go, but is there any crawling involved- not big on crawling right now!?

tt.

tubby two said:

i love the sound of the pendulum! how do you work it?

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The pendulum is along a rift, and you need only to swing for about four metres - it's just that it is a bit too wide to easily bridge in the middle section. If you're the first across, you clip your chest croll onto it, and kick yourself off and shout "Geronimo!". Because the leader is fixing a traverse rope, he can easily pull himself back to the stance and try again if he fails the first time. Those following simply pull themselves in on the traverse line.

Mike Wooding placed the pendulum rope very, very carefully. It's attached to a P-bolt, it won't rub, and there's a knot at the bottom to cater for those with no teeth left on their crolls.