Trog
New member
After about an hour of misscommunication by text message, Sue and I eventually met up in Clapham with a plan. Christmas Pot seemed appropriate for the time of year. It took us about an hour to reach the entrance shakehole, easily identified by its proximity to Christmas Cracker, the only fenced off hole in the area. The first pitch was a succession of short drops interspersed by rebelays, mostly off single hangers, with a fine Y hang for the final drop. The limestone in this bit of cave was particularly full of fossils, so we duly ooed and aahed at the various creatures.
The route to the second pitch was a maze of tight bits, ups and downs in amongst fallen blocks. Not difficult, but as neither of us had done the cave before it was reassuring to be able to follow the polish.
The second pitch started off through a small hole but quickly opened out into a bigger chamber, with a single bolt rebelay round the corner for a final drop into Grange Rigg pot, between the fourth and fifth pitches.
The formations in this area were fantastic. Loads of helictites and massive 'wedding cake' flowstone pretties. We explored down the fifth pitch of Grange Rigg (freeclimbable) and upstream as far as Anemolite crawl (on the way to the fourth pitch). By now we had used up our flapjack reserves and decided to head out. Derigging was fine until we reached the last but one rebelay before the surface. Water that had trickled down the rope had frozen making it difficult to get jammers to jam.
For anyone else planning a trip to Christmas Pot during the festive season, we used a 45 and 35m rope and had plenty of spare on each pitch. The two pitches we did are P hangered. We climbed the fifth pitch of Grange Rigg but did not get as far as the last pitch so don't know if this is P hangered.
If anyone fancies joining us for an exchange trip between Grange Rigg and Chrismas Pot do get in touch.
Merry Christmas everone!
The route to the second pitch was a maze of tight bits, ups and downs in amongst fallen blocks. Not difficult, but as neither of us had done the cave before it was reassuring to be able to follow the polish.
The second pitch started off through a small hole but quickly opened out into a bigger chamber, with a single bolt rebelay round the corner for a final drop into Grange Rigg pot, between the fourth and fifth pitches.
The formations in this area were fantastic. Loads of helictites and massive 'wedding cake' flowstone pretties. We explored down the fifth pitch of Grange Rigg (freeclimbable) and upstream as far as Anemolite crawl (on the way to the fourth pitch). By now we had used up our flapjack reserves and decided to head out. Derigging was fine until we reached the last but one rebelay before the surface. Water that had trickled down the rope had frozen making it difficult to get jammers to jam.
For anyone else planning a trip to Christmas Pot during the festive season, we used a 45 and 35m rope and had plenty of spare on each pitch. The two pitches we did are P hangered. We climbed the fifth pitch of Grange Rigg but did not get as far as the last pitch so don't know if this is P hangered.
If anyone fancies joining us for an exchange trip between Grange Rigg and Chrismas Pot do get in touch.
Merry Christmas everone!
