Pitches in Yorkshire that exceed 50m

scurve

Member
I went down the highly impressive Jockey Hole yesterday and it made me ponder the question of how many pitches in Yorkshire surpass the completely arbitrary depth of 50m.

These are the Yorkshire caves that I can think of, which (I think) contain pitches of 50m or more:

Jockey Hole
Nick Pot
Gaping Gill, Main Shaft
Jib Tunnel/Dihedral
Rat Hole
Hurnel Moss
Long Kin West
Long Kin East
Growling
Black Shiver
Gingling
Death?s Head Hole
Juniper Gulf
Boxhead
Brown Hill Pot
Alum Pot
Big Meanie

Admittedly, some of these - such as Puits Iain Plant in Brown Hill Pot - are very broken and hardly really count. Can anyone think of any others?
 

langcliffe

Well-known member
According to Northern Caves (1975) the Eyehole entrance to Rowten Pot provides a direct  67 metre pitch.
 

JoshW

Well-known member
Looking through the CNCC rigging guides how about
Hunt pot
Diccan (if you?re willing to get very wet and rig straight down)
Cow pot

This is looking at where near enough straight pitches need 60+m of rope. Some might be a smidge under.
 

langcliffe

Well-known member
JoshW said:
Looking through the CNCC rigging guides how about
Hunt pot
Diccan (if you?re willing to get very wet and rig straight down)
Cow pot

According to NC, Hunt requires 45 m of ladder, Diccan (P3) 38 m, and Cow Pot 46 m.
 

langcliffe

Well-known member
TheBitterEnd said:
scurve said:
I mean the actual distance from the top of the pitch to the bottom, regardless of rebelays and deviations.

In that case I'm not sure the NC test really applies - https://cncc.org.uk/cave/hunt-pot

I also seem to remember rigging Shrapnel on one rope from top to bottom although it wasn't necessary to do it that way.

For Hunt Pot, I added the two ladder lengths (27 m and 18 m) required for the entrance pitch.

Taking the ladder length tends to give an overestimate, as one often has a metre of ladder coming over the edge.

Shrapnel Pot, though, is a good call.
 

mikem

Well-known member
NC ladder test is however a better guide than the rope lengths, as you lose a surprising amount at each knot & traverse.

Shrapnel Pot, Broken Pitch given as 46m.

Surely Diccan top pitch(es) would add up to 46m as well...
 

Beardy

Member
Rift Pot (allotment)?
Rift Pot (marble steps - Route 66)?
Vulcan Pot ?
Voldermort Hole (Oliver Lloyd Aven)?
Spectacle Pot (Dodds)?
Broken Finger Pot ?
 

mikem

Well-known member
NC ladders - top of the (named) pots:

Gaping Gill, Main Shaft 110m
Jib Tunnel/Dihedral 104m
Nick Pot/Vulcan 101m
Rat Hole 98m
Long Kin West 91 (& 55m)
Black Shiver 82m
Growling 78m
Nick Pot big pitch 76m
Alum Pot 73m
Boxhead c.70m
Long Kin East 70m
Jockey Hole main 67m (or side tunnel 61m)
Rowten Pot 67m
Death?s Head Hole 64m
Juniper Gulf 24 + 61m (alt 27 + 53 depending where you want to measure it from)
Gingling 6 + 61m
Hurnel Moss 61m
*Rift (Allotment) main 61m
Brown Hill Pot 51m
*Spectacle Pot 50m
Shrapnel Pot 46 + 14m (with a 3.6m climb between, which pretty much makes it up to 50m)

Big Meanie "only" 49m

+ used where additional pitch could be included, or identified as separate
* Beardy's latest additions (although Marble Steps Rift, Voldemort & Broken Finger pitches not in NC or CNCC)
c. approx from rigging guide as Boxhead not in NC
 

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
mikem said:
Gaping Gill, Main Shaft 110m

There's no 'clean' hang that far though: the long pitch on the main shaft route is only about 90m (because you can do it on a 90m rope). If you go straight down from the surface you will hit the ledge first; the SRT down the main shaft route traverses a few metres into the main rift before dropping down and only just missing the ledge (by a metre or two). There is no clean hang, I think, from the surface to the floor. Plus I think 110m is an overestimate anyway OR possibly a measurement from the lowest point of the entrance doline rim; I think the shaft is supposed to be 98m. I've not done Dihedral but on that basis I'd assume that is also less than 104m.

From previous reading, I think Nick Pot is supposed to be the biggest.
 

JJM

Member
Aquamole
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