Sleets Gill was on our club meets list for this weekend, which we've obviously had to cancel due to the amount of rain we have had/will have. Now I know it needs 'a period of settled weather' before safely attempting it - but it made me wonder just how much? Three dry days? A whole week...

A reference to a new system in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesia <here> - scant detail about the caves, but more about echidnas, which are cool too... "The team also revealed a treasure trove of underground species, including blind spiders, blind harvestman, and a whip scorpion, all new to...

On last night's (18/10/23) trip, I managed to leave a small yellow Lyon 'bits' bag somewhere between Bandstand chamber and the top of Slab climb. If anyone happens to find it, please pick it up and let me know, as it may be a little while before I can make a return visit. Contains a pantin...

Having enjoyed a good trip down there last night, I have to ask 'why?' - why is it called that, I mean? I've had a quick Google, and watched Joe Mellor's excellent video on its discovery, but am none the wiser. And while we're at it, why 'Ann Summer's passage'? It's a fun passage but not in...

Leafing through NC1, I came across this cave, which looks interesting, if rather wet. There's a good survey on Cavemaps, but other than that I can't find anything about it. Has anyone any knowledge of it? Is it ridiculously wet? What about access? Thanks in anticipation....

I know there's a depth of battery knowledge on the forum, so this should be an easy question: I have a set of 4 AA NiMH batteries (IKEA's 'Ladda 2450') and both my caving light and the charging unit take all 4, so that's easy, I always charge the full set together. Today, some Christmas lights...

I spotted these two pictures (drawings in pastels) in a local auction, and punted a tenner on them.  Not entirely to my surprise, no-one else was interested, so I am now their proud possessor. They are both signed by "M Clarke" - one 2005, the other 2007, and one has a label indicating it was...

We're thinking about this for next weekend.  NC2 gives tackle details for ladders, but it would be nice to do it on SRT if possible. I understand there are no anchors (at least no CNCC-approved ones), but is it feasible rigged from naturals? Any advice appreciated - thanks!

... no, I couldn't believe it either.  But someone has indeed been poetically inspired - by Goatchurch. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09ztzl9 My favourite bit was after a respectful moment of silence followed an underground poetry reading, the presenter said "right, shall we go to the pub...

(how appropriate) After having derigged the final pitch in Lost John's, I was struggling to get up the cascades against the force of the water. Long story short - the tacklesack was swept away, and down the pitch :( (at least it wasn't me) It's red, owned by KCC, contains a 30m rope and...

Here's a thing.... if you look at Google street view in the Horton vicinity, you see... nothing.  Just the blackness of the abyss - eg...

I bought this rack some time ago (8 years?) - a hardly-used bargain on ebay. As you can see, it's showing some signs of wear - so I wondered, how much wear can the bars take before it's no longer safe to use? As you might deduce, I cave less than most of the users of this forum! Opinions...

I was looking at an old diary (Easter 1976) where it says "... to Upper Winskill".  I have only a vague memory of this, but think this was the home of a local club at the time. Does anyone know if this is right, and if so, which one? Thanks...

- no it's not, but what is it? I just happened to notice a curious linear feature when looking at the satellite view in Google near Ingleton https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.1313781,-2.4378853,1795m/data=!3m1!1e3 It starts near Cold Cotes and continues east and south-east, roughly following...

I went to Aygill last night with a group who hadn't done it before.  I also hadn't been for some time and turned to the first cave entrance we found - with considerable amounts of scaff and shuttering around it. Realising this didn't look right, I went about 100m further on the stream bed and...

This all happened some time ago, but hasn?t been reported online.  I did a fair amount of caving as a youth, but had had a 20-year break and hadn?t been back in the game all that long. I arrived at Braida Garth early due to an unusual lack of caravans and milk lorries on the A65.  Oh, I?ve got a...

A few weeks ago, Tim kindly showed us round a bit of Mistral I hadn't seen before, but he didn't know what it was called. I've tried to figure it out from the Red Rose site, but it's hard as the routes are mainly described going the other way. From Mistral entrance we went through the Hobbit...

Along with several others I attended a course organised by Dan Irving of the CNCC at the YSS climbing wall on Saturday. As someone whose SRT competence can be described as 'developing' I found this hugely useful, and I think it's fair to say that others did too, however experienced they were. ...

One of the programmes in Radio 4's Listening Project series.  It's been on before, but worth a listen if you've not heard it before -only 5 minutes long http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04pvp8t Rachel is eloquent about the attractions of caving :)

In that tiny chamber-supposedly-on-the-way-to-Gour-chamber-but-is-just-too-bloody-awkward-to-get-out-of, an Alp Design chest harness. Let me know if it's yours....