Sell Gill Holes

ianball11

Active member
The Goblin/Wet Entrance of Sell Gill, how wet is wet? Is it a case of no go in winter?

I've been through the dry and waterless entrance a few times and the waterfall that comes out the bottom of presumably the other entrance is amazing so I imagine it cold be quite wet further up.

Also how worth it is the crawl at the bottom of the cavern? it looks wet and horrble and I've always wimped out.

Ian B.
 
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andymorgan

Guest
I don't know about the Wetness of the pitches. I would recommend the crawl at the bottom, it is the only 'proper' bit of cave at Sell Gill Holes! If I recall correctly, I has a short pleasant duck and a further crawl which enters a chamber. Then a further pitch which has been found recently, that I did not go down.
 

Brains

Well-known member
Most of the wetness can be avoided with carefull rigging and deviations, using the Goblin Shaft route, so only a bit of wet gets you. I would imagine that in high water the Goblin Shaft could become fully active.
Winter? Yes, Full flood or expected full flood, no - go the dry way and enjoy the spectacle...
 
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andymorgan

Guest
The duck wasn't really a duck, as I manged to keep most of my body out of the water, apart from my underside. That was in summer though...
 

dunc

New member
The Goblin/Wet Entrance of Sell Gill, how wet is wet? Is it a case of no go in winter?
Its ok in winter. I've done the wet route in what I would call wet weather. How wet is wet - hard to define - use your own judgement is best advice!

As for wet route - you could do it direct and follow the water all the way down, but thats not advisable unless its dry! Taking the usual route the top part has the potential to be wet, but then you swing off into drier stuff before rejoining the water lower down - which is where you could get wet again - although I do recall seeing something about an alternative route near the bottom which kept you away from the water (London Bridge, 8mm anchors?).
 
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Gerald Wiley

Guest
whereabouts is the crawl andy? I've never noticed it, but then I've never really looked either
 
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andymorgan

Guest
It is on the left of the main chamber, if you have the wet and dry routes behind you.
Not really worth going back to, to be honest. I don't really want to do Sell Gill Holes again.
 
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MSD

Guest
The most dangerous bit of the wet way is from the entrance to the top of the pitch. There is a real possibility of being washed away and the entrance itself can be incredibly slippery.

If you can safely get to the head of the pitch you can probably get down. If it looks dodgy, don't even set foot in the entrance!
 

potholer

New member
Even the dry way can get wet. My 2nd or 3rd ever caving trip, some time in the late 70s, I was one of ~10 kids going down (on ladders) with a few adults. There were some other people going down the wet way (on rope, I think).
While we were down there must have been a serious downpour, and the pitches were very wet on ascent - the ladders seemed to be surrounded by solid water, but it was probably ony really heavy spray. However, there was enough to make ascent scary and breathing tricky at times, and it would have been difficult or impossible for lightweight kids without serious pull-assistance from above.
It had rained so heavily that water was running down the Pennine Way track and pouring into the dry entrance. Some hurried damming stopped that and diverted the water down the wet way (by that time, the party on the wet route were already out and helping with the damming), but I vaguely remember someone later saying that some water had been [re-]emerging from a hole in the wall somewhere near the last pitch, though I've looked since and can't quite think where.
Of course, with SRT, such flooding in the 'dry' route would likely not be so much of a problem for people getting out, though the entrance pitch could be a bit sporting, and I think it's a pretty rare occurence.

I do remember the wet way as being slippy even in dry-ish weather. With the pitch only being a short way in, is it possible to leave a line from surface in case of higher water?
 

Stu

Active member
potholer said:
I do remember the wet way as being slippy even in dry-ish weather. With the pitch only being a short way in, is it possible to leave a line from surface in case of higher water?

Yes... thank Geebus!

Got caught out by snow melt water on the wet route once. Luckily I'd placed the rope from the surface. On the way in I'd noticed a metal bar on the floor. Didn't give it much notice really. When faced by a wall of water on the return, the bar became a very handy prop with which to stand on. The prediciment was: prussik up the rope, less likely to slip, but slip and end up in the water... certain drowning. Or just use the rope as a handline. No drowning but a slip would have led to other injuries. Waiting wasn't an option as I had a hot date that night!!
 
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