I visited the downstream sump on the 22nd April 2024 and the end of the passage was the flat-out gravelly crawl you described. On the 7th April 2023 I was there and think it was larger muddy passage then. Hopefully that can narrow down the dates a bit.

I've only rigged this one by completing the traverse to Gavel then heading back down the slope from that side. It's not a dignified approach to the pitch head but slightly less exposed I think

Some potential ones, depending on exactly what they're looking for - Cow Pot direct - Short Drop - Gavel Traverse - 2nd pitch in Southerscales is an interesting rig - Corky's Pot (Vindication Pitch) - Rat Hole

Thanks Ian, I look forward to my next trip and having a better look around.

If there is a sufficient natural, I think I'd agree with Ian. It'll be interesting to go back with what's been said here and take another look at it. Thanks everyone for at least confirming I didn't miss something obvious!

I took my first trip down Aygill Caverns today, and spent a while thinking about the rigging for the second pitch (Cascade Pitch), which has left me wondering if I missed something. The CNCC Topo shows a natural first belay down to a y-hang between a CNCC fixed anchor and another natural...

I think the other one was the second pitch

That's doesn't count; it's just the fashion for surface-dwelling ropes 🤣

Incidentally, I've been down Pip today and the ropes from the 3rd (or perhaps 4th) pitch downwards all look to have been replaced quite recently. The first couple looked older but there were no signs of significant wear.

I spotted that the readings on that day seemed off - if Speleodex is showing "No Data" it's because something has caused me to doubt the (usually) zero reading and so I've removed the entry. The gauge itself on that day wasn't showing anything for most of its metrics (wind, humidity, etc) so I...

No - it's hanging in the BPC SRT practice room

I suspect the reason it's been left rigged is to support Ease Gill traverses without a pre-rig, as I'd imagine if it were for project work Mistral would be a more convenient entrance for most areas

Looks like the gauge is back in operation given the current temperature!

Thanks all for your responses. I've updated the Speleodex tracker for the last few days to avoid suggesting there's been no rainfall over the period - I'll try and keep this up to date until the gauge is live again.

Does anyone know who owns the rain gauge at Bullpot Farm (https://www.weatherlink.com/embeddablePage/show/59bc883a86f247e7a1c454482089e750/summary)? It seems it might have stopped recording data as there's been no rain recorded for the last week.

It's certainly fine by me

I wanted to keep a more medium-term view of the readings on the gauge at Bull Pot Farm, so I've started recording them. The latest ones are posted at https://speleodex.co.uk/ease-gill-rain, hopefully this can be of use to some others too

Didn't see this when down Swinsto today - there was no other rope on split pitch except for the in situ deviations (hopefully this means you've managed to retrieve it!)

I made a very stupid mistake today. What should've been a clean and straightforward trip down Simpson Pot very nearly turned into a rescue callout. The trip started very enjoyably, and we made good progress until Carol Pot (the first pitch after the Blasted Hole). We had passed the tackle bags...

Perhaps Platty Tubes?