Swinsto pull through

cavemanmike

Well-known member
Thinking of taking a bunch of SRT noobies (they have done a srt basic coarse)
Down Swinsto on Sunday the 26th .weather forecast is 17% drizzle on the day.any advice greatly appreciated 👍
 

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
Go to Jingling instead? (and/or Aquamole, both fairly water-resistant, or Toyland in Valley Entrance although that was rather damp the one time I went there so maybe not in the wet). If it's really wet, Jingling is generally OK but there is also Bull Pot of the Witches which is totally waterproof. Lancaster Hole is also _mostly_ waterproof although I did it recently when it was worryingly wet! Two/three pitches is usually plenty, I find, for new SRT cavers...

Obviously none of them are a pull-through - but I'm not sure I'd want to take SRT novices on a pull-through trip with lots of pitches. If nothing else, it could take a very long time! (I'd wouldn't be surprised if you spent at least half an hour per pitch with a group of 4/5 new SRT cavers - it takes a long time to rig and test your descender, and deal with the inevitable faff like loading your cowstails, with new SRTers).

Also weather forecasts more than a day or two ahead is about as much use as my advice on here :p

The YDG page has this thing which (in one of the readouts) shows you the recent rainfall there:

Obviously rainfall amounts will differ (somewhat) between there and other parts of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks area, but it shows it has been very dry here for a couple of weeks now. That would suggest the caves should be quite dry - but also runs the risk that an unexpected thunderstorm would dump all of its water into the caves as it wouldn't soak into the dry ground!
 

andrewmcleod

Well-known member
Having just looked at the forecast, it looks potentially miserable for the next two days (or might be fine) and the 26th is very much a 'we don't really know yet' forecast...
 

aricooperdavis

Moderator
You do need dry settled weather both during the trip and before hand, and the weather does look a bit wet (particularly on Friday), but I don't know the cave well enough to say whether it'll be okay. Rigging it as a pull through makes the pitch heads a bit tricky, perhaps not the easiest SRT trip for novices. You'll need to rig valley entrance before you set off up the hill.

Lots of other threads on here:
 

A_Northerner

Active member
The weather doesn't look prohibitively bad for a Swinsto trip per se, but regardless of the weather it's not an ideal trip for first timers if you're the only experienced member. The split pitch in particular can be tricky, I remember the take-off being a bit awkward when rigged as a pull-through, and with a sharp deviation right near the top to avoid the waterfall.

Communication can be difficult up the pitch due to the double waterfalls, and you might not be able to tell if someone is in trouble. I've been sat cold at the bottom for an hour waiting for a novice who had descended too far past the deviation.
 

Fatman

Member
Simpsons is probably better but beware of KMC streamway. I got caught out once and it was exciting. We pre rigged VE and you could see the bottom, 2 hours later it was waist/chest deep. I would avoid in anything other than good weather considering the experience of the team
 
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