Albert Hall ? Beyond Not for the Faint Hearted

[Cave Mapper]

Albert Hall ? Beyond Not for the Faint Hearted

Albert Hall is a sizable chamber (10m x 5m x 3m) at the furthest accessible point in Dow Cave. It is not easy to find and possibly very few people have ever been there.

Dow Cave

For those who don?t know it, Dow Cave is a major resurgence cave in the Yorkshire Dales, explored by generations of adventurous fell walkers with hand torches. The famous artist William Turner visited it in 1816. His sketches are now with The Tate Gallery.

  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-dow-cave-looking-down-d11309

The ?easy? cave gives over 400m of walking and stooping along a very impressive passage with various boulder obstacles along the way. It is a straightforward beginners caving trip, or a good adventure for the intrepid non-caver.

Here?s a map of this part of the cave:

  http://cavemaps.org/surveys/cpc/full/CPC%20J6-6%20Dow%20Cave%20(Pt%201%20Ent%20to%20Hobsons).png

For the more experienced caver, the infamous Dowbergill Passage links into this section and according to the ?Not for the Faint Hearted? book, gives:

    ?one of the finest through trips in Yorkshire? ? not to missed.

The easy part Dow Cave ends at the rather unstable and scary looking First Boulder Choke. A sign here announces:

    ?EXTREME DANGER KEEP OUT?

Another nearby says

    ?DANGER. THIS CHOKE IS VERY UNSTABLE?

Here's a photo:

  http://www.mudinmyhair.co.uk/Dow%20Cave_files/photo%20jpgs/009%20Hobsons%20dig%20PR%20c84%20big.jpg

The Caseker Gill Extension

For those in-the-know there is a ?relatively? safe route through the choke known as ?Hobson?s Choice?. It starts on the right hand side with a low wet section (which floods to the roof in wet weather) and then zig-zags upwards through the huge boulder pile

Beyond the First Boulder Choke is the Caseker Gill Extension, which also features in Not for the Faint Hearted. It provides a superb sporting trip with waterfalls and cascades to climb and huge calcite formations to admire.

The definitive, up-to-date survey of Dow Cave including the Caseker Gill extension is here:

  http://www.mudinmyhair.co.uk/survey_files/Plan%20big.jpg
  http://www.mudinmyhair.co.uk/survey_files/elev%20a%20big%20gb.jpg
  http://www.mudinmyhair.co.uk/survey_files/elev%20b%20big.jpg

The description in NFTFH starts with the warning:

    ?..the Hobson?s Choice Boulder Choke is loose and may become impassable in wet weather.?

It ends with:

    ?.. the roomy streamway ends at another large, unstable boulder choke (the Second Boulder Choke)?.

Albert Hall

Albert Hall lies beyond the Second Boulder Choke, beyond Not for the Faint Hearted.

It is described in Northern Caves Volume One, which includes the following warning:

    ?The whole of the Second Choke area cannot be considered safe under any circumstances?

However, one should not always be put off by these things ? you can always turn back if you don?t like the look of something.

Trip Reports

For years I avoided going through Hobson?s Choice (the First Choke). The dire warning in Northern Caves was enough of a deterrent:

    ?Hobson?s Choice is a climb up through delicately poised boulders and is best left alone?

However, friends eventually persuaded me that it was ?not too bad really? and that the trip beyond was well worth doing.

Trip 1

A solo trip, quite a few years ago now. I climbed tentatively up through the Hobson?s Choice boulders (?not too bad really?) and was indeed impressed with the quality of the cave beyond ? three waterfalls to climb, plus cascades, big chambers and formations. I reached what I thought was the final chamber (now identified as ?The Cellar?). There wasn't any obvious way on from here, just various low, wet, dead-end crawls heading into loose boulders.

Trip 2

With two companions this time, we again got to The Cellar, but this time, after systematically probing all the possible leads, I found the way on! Unfortunately, neither of my companions wanted to follow, and with time running short, I was forced to retreat - just as things were getting interesting. After a tight section, I had found my way into a low scaffolded section that led to a vertical scaffolded climb up through the boulders. I turned round at the base of the climb.

Trip 3 (2014)

This was a two-man trip, I had done my research and had gathered all the available information on how to get to Albert Hall. Optimism was high. Unfortunately, I?d forgotten how tight it was beyond The Cellar (too tight for my companion). I?d also forgotten the route.

After three abortive attempts, I eventually rediscovered the correct route, by which time my companion?s resolve had weakened and he announced: ?I?ll wait here, you go on?. To be fair, he probably wouldn't have fitted through first squeeze.

So alone again, I made my way through to the scaffolded section. It was all much tighter and more awkward than I remembered. It struck me that if anyone had an accident here, rescue would be a nightmare, or even impossible. The scaffolding looked very old and rusty. I knew that Albert Hall had been discovered in 1986 (28 years ago) and I didn't know whether anyone had been there since.

I pushed on.

I climbed up the vertical scaffolded shaft where I?d turned back previously. It was tight - a vertical squeeze through scaffolding!! At the top, I transitioned from a vertical to a horizontal body position; there was no spare space. The scaffolding ended, I was now surrounded by unsupported boulders. I could see a waterfall through a gap ahead. Water levels were quite high and the water was thundering down, the sound reverberating around the loose Rocks.

I studied the boulders carefully, trying to work out what was supporting the ceiling. It wasn't at all clear. I wondered whether anyone had been here since 1986.

I wanted to go on. The gap in front was big enough to get through.

I wanted to rise to the challenge.

I wanted to get to the end of the cave.

I wanted to see Albert Hall.

I studied the boulders again. I looked at the size of the gap. Could I get through without touching the sides? I looked at the thundering waterfall beyond. Was it beckoning me through? Was it warning me off? Was it telling me that this was a dangerous place, that I should back off, that I should save it for another day.

Time was slipping by, my companion would be getting cold, wondering where I was, impatient to head out and seek the warmth of a pub.
So I decided that I needed to do some more research. I decided that before I went any further, I needed to know whether anyone else had been this way recently. I needed to find someone who could tell me that ?it?s not too bad really?.

 

References:

  Northern Caves Volume 1 (1988)

  Not for the Faint Hearted (2006)

  http://CaveMaps.org/cavePages/Great%20Whernside__Dow-Providence.htm ? Lots of surveys of various ages, with references to relevant journals, notably CPC journals for Dow Cave

  http://www.mudinmyhair.co.uk/Dowsurveys.html ? Comprehensive up-to-date surveys of Dow Cave

  http://www.mudinmyhair.co.uk/Dow%20Cave%20notes.html ? Dow cave notes by Steve Warren

Flood Risk

The crawls around the Second Choke are prone to sudden and very high levels of flooding after rain.

The start of Hobson's Choice floods to the roof in wet weather.

The 'easy' cave is relatively safe in wet weather. For many years it was considered totally safe in any weather, but then in 2008 11 students and two adult leaders had to be rescued after becoming trapped by fast flowing water.

The Route through the Second Choke

From the chamber above The Cellar, the way forward is in the RH corner. Enter a small passage. A flat-out crawl above a floor slot connects with The Cellar. A route from the bottom of the slot also connects with The Cellar. The way on is down the slot, straight on, then left through a squeeze, which leads to a second squeeze and a low scaffolded crawl. At the end of this, climb up the tight scaffolded aven into an area of loose boulders. Go carefully through a gap between boulders to rejoin the stream. Northern Caves Vol 1 describes the final section of the route to Albert Hall:

'Crawl in stream for 20m through unstable blocks with unsporting squeezes including the notorious Legbreaker and ascent out of water takes one into Albert Hall'.

 

[JasonC]

So.... did you get there ??

 

[CB]

My first caving trip in 1969 with a school group was through Hobson's choice.  We went as far as the first waterfall climb.  Just shows how stable things must have been in those antidiluvean days.

 

[Alex]

I did that trip recently, I was there a couple of months back, there was an old ammo box in curtain chamber there that sort of exploded open when we took a peek inside. We left it in-situ in-case someone wants there many years old stuff back!

Here's our trip report... Note credit should go to Dan not me:

Sat 15th Nov 2014
Daniel J, Alex R and Chris Shaman

After a rather wet Friday (but dry forecast for Saturday) it was decided that we would go to do the Providence-Dow through trip, something I was reluctant to do having done the trip several times before. On meeting Alex and Chis, Alex suggested that we have a proper look at the Caskergill extensions and the old mine workings in Dow cave instead. I wasn?t expecting much, but myself nor Chris had never done them so off we set.

A nice easy walk to the entrance was followed by having a bit of fun trying to avoid all of the water in the entrance series (Alex had a wet suit but I and Chris just our furries). We soon reached the turn off to Dowbergill passage and continued through pleasant stream passage until Hobsons choke. This was passed without incident and didn?t ?appear? particularly loose despite the EXTREME DANGER! signs before it. Appearances can be deceptive though and due care was taken passing through it.

The stream passage on the other side of the choke is wide and high and, after exploring several small inlets and mine workings (though we seem to have missed the Depot chamber mine series), we took the dry route through the triple oxbow and arrived at the 3rd Miners chamber. Here we wandered up a stooping height passage on the left of the miners platform into the Rattle and Sploosh mine workings. These workings appeared to mostly be enlarged natural passage, and if you don?t mind the sight of rotted stemples littering the floor and chimney climbs up overhanging walls of stacked boulders, then a ?fun? little round trip can be had in here. At one point a ladder was seen heading up into a rubble filed shaft and we pondered if this might have originally been a shaft to the surface that had been back-filled. After some ?fun? photos it was off back to the streamway.

Arriving back on the miners platform I noticed a climb into a rift on the otherside. This could be negotiated by snaking between a couple of boulders jammed in the climb and, after another awkward climb up a narrow rift with calcited stemples, transpired to be the way into the Stemple Rift mine series. This was a long, straight, enlarged rift (with excellent ?omming? acoustics!) with several ?interesting? climbs heading up, none of which led anywhere.

Returning to the 3rd miners chamber we continued up the main stream way which at this point became very high and rather fine (we seem to have missed the ?hole in the roof? and ?Clogs way?). A climb up and squeeze between two boulders shortly after the 1st waterfall (very nice on its own), took us to the rather fine roof gardens. These contain some of the nicest formations I?ve come across in the dales and were a very pleasant surprise: a rather large stal (Goliath), various columns, straws and curtains and some curious looking horizontally trending helictites. Definitely need to return with my camera, though of course Alex?s photos will be hard to beat?every one is a winner! ;-)

Climbing back down, we continued up the, at this point excellent, stream passage. Climbing up the next two rather fine cascades brought us to the 2nd boulder choke. This was as far as Alex had been and had not found a way on previously, but he did mention that there appeared to be more on the survey. After a bit of poking around in the choke I came across some old red bang wire that appeared to have been left as a guide! Calling for Alex and Chris to follow we followed the wire through a constricted crawl until some scaffing was reached (Dig A on the survey). This is a well scaffolded dig UP through very loose boulders?massive credit must go the original explorers (Craven?). The dig seemed quite stable but the scaffold seemed to have been there quite some time so who knows? The dig ended back at the streamway, in a part of the choke with more space between the larger boulders. Here a red tape marked route was carefully followed (mostly at stream level?brrrrr) to take us to Albert Hall.

Edit: I am not sure to what red tape Dan was talking about there was a bit washed in at the end, but I was basically following my nose and the water, it was quite difficult finding our way through. Alex

After a bit of poking around we found the dry route to Curtain chamber where, unsurprisingly, there are some very fine curtain formations. There was also an old crowbar and ammunition case, the latter of which I foolishly decided to open and was rewarded with a pressurised blast of foul smelling gasses of who knows what. The case contained some candles, an old tin of fish and some other bits and bobs. A bit more poking around led us to the bitter ends of the cave (stream enters and stream end on survey) and we returned to Albert Hall via the stream.

We made a relatively quick exit from the cave, delayed only by opting to do the delightful Gloop De Loop oxbow on the way out. All in all, a very fine days caving that far surpassed my expectations. Highly recommended!

NB: don?t do if expecting rain as any rise in water levels beyond the 2nd boulder choke would be lethal.

 

[Badlad]

Great stuff.  A really compliments the previous report.  More like this please.

 

[Bottlebank]

Sounds like the emergency kit may need replacing?

 

[Pitlamp]

Agree with Badlad - some very good writing here.

Just a word of warning - and not trying to teach other experienced cavers how to suck eggs - but I know the people who dug that route open and I've heard the stories, in graphic detail, of just how dangerous it is. They eventually gave up because they reached a point where they couldn't make further progress in any sort of reasonable safety (and believe me, they're not soft when it comes to such things).

Really all I'm trying to say is - take great care in there folks, as you might not get a second chance if it all goes wrong.

 

[Pegasus]

Cavemapper - would you please get in touch re getting your rope to you  thank you

If anyone knows Cavemapper and could collect his rope from The Dales and get it to him, please pm me - thanks again, Jane