Echo Pot, Fountains Fell - Warning

[Speleodroid]

During a trip down Echo Pot on Fountains Fell yesterday it was found there had been a massive collapse above the final Boulder Alley pitch which has resulted in the final chamber (and the last 5-6m of the boulder alley pitch) being completely filled in......probably around 40-50 m3 of rock if not more.

The gully at the top of the Boulder Alley pitch is extremely unstable and so great care must be taken here to avoid touching this, and it would be wise to only tackle Boulder Alley pitch one at a time as there is nowhere to hide at the bottom!!

Great care must be exercised here!!!

 

[Pitlamp]

That's interesting - does anyone know when the last time those boulders were observed BEFORE they collapsed? Is it possible to get an idea of when this actually happened?

 

[Speleodroid]

We had several trips in there over 2007/2008, but has been over 3 years since our last trip. I wonder if its a recent thing due to consistent wet weather and high water levels over the last couple months which has undermined the slope above Boulder Alley pitch. I suspect not many folk do echo pot so suspect we'll never get a good idea of when it happened (except, obviously, in the last 3 years...)

 

[Pitlamp]

It may well be related to the abysmal weather over the Christmas / new year period just gone.

The reason I ask though is because I'm interested in the possible relationship between earthquakes and boulder movements in caves. We had part of the roof collapse on us at the end of Malham Cove Rising just after the Ripon earthquake on 3-1-11 for example. If anybody else has been down Echo within the last 3 years it'd be great if you could post a brief message here about the state of these boulders. Thanks.

 

[kayleigh]

Has anyone been to Echo Pot since this warning?
We were considering it so any information would be helpful.

 

[Alex]

I think some in my club tried to get down, maybe we should organise a permit (Not looked does it need one?) and head down some point soon, quite fancy it, except for the Weils disease!