Maricabo

[Speleotron]

I was thinking of going to Maricabo in Easgill at some point and was wondering if anyone had any information about it? Is it hard? How do you get there? Can it be done in wet weather? ALso is it true that you're only supposed to go there once?

Cheers

 

[dunc]

The entrance is down at/near stream level so might not be accessible in wet weather, although I may be wrong, best check with someone that knows better as I'm not sure how bad the stream gets at Oxbow Corner.

As for info, the fine book that is NFTFH describes it under the Cow Pot entry. There is some info on the  RRCPC Ease Gill guide

 

[smollett]

I would treat it with a bit of caution. You actually only need to be in the main drain for a very short time if you take the high level route and descend at oxbow corner but if levels rise while you are up there then you may have to sit it out and wait for the water to drop. NC3 describes the way leading off the main drain in the wrong spot. NFTFH gives an accurate description.
As for only going once, I have been a couple of times and see no reason why you shouldn't as long as you are careful. Obviously not a trip for novices or the clumsy. Good spot for a camera. It is an easyish trip but you may have to dig some shingle out of the low bits if you want to go as far as the apple barrel.

 

[Alex]

Fancy a trip there at some point Dunc?

 

[dunc]

Of course I do. Been meaning to go for years, just out of the way and never got round to it!

 

[Speleotron]

Thanks for the info, doesnt look like I'l be doing it this weekend its a bit wet, I'l have to get down there when we next have settled weather. How come it gets in NFTFH? Is it a hard trip[ or is it mentioned in passing? I'l be careful round the pretties, sounds like a good idea to have a wash in the streamway to avoid carrying any mud in.

 

[Alex]

From what I read it involves crawling in mud so I don't think a wash beforehand would help.

 

[dunc]

How come it gets in NFTFH? Is it a hard trip[ or is it mentioned in passing?

Not having been I couldn't say how hard it is, from the description it sounds like fairly mixed going.
As for NFTFH, it is part of the Cow Pot/Aardvark trip - that on its own to the main stream and back only takes about 3 hours and provides a short trip with a couple of challenges thrown in. So I'm guessing to make it a "worthy" full day trip they needed something additional to aim for, Maracaibo probably fitted the bill.

 

[CatM]

Hey Jonny,
Nikki and Gover have been to Maracaibo, so it'd be worth chatting to them.
From what I gather its not a difficult trip as such, but you do need to be super careful. I think they say to only go once because it's almost impossible to avoid breaking things.  :s
Also if you're planning to go anywhere in Easegill (especially if you don't know the way) then its always worth looking at the surveys and reading the rrcpc descriptions first

 

[Speleotron]

Heck if its that hard not to break things I might not go, I'm confident at not breaking stuff but if its almost un-avoidable I'd rather not see it than see it and damage it, maybe you can go a certain distance along it before it gets too hard to avoid the pretties then I'd turn back.

Thanks for the info do we have the RRCPC guide in the container?

 

[CatM]

All the info is here:
http://www.rrcpc.org.uk/easegill/index.htm

(The Braemoor descriptions are also very good (although I don't think any of them mention Maracaibo.) http://braemoor.co.uk/caving/directory.shtml)

I'm just going on second hand (and therefore possibly incorrect/incomplete) information... speak to the Govers and see what they say about it.

 

[Richard]

Can't advise you about how wet the entrance is any more than to say read the NFTFH description.  I think it is possible for the main drain to back up the bottom section trapping you in, and much of it is low crawling so you wouldn't want to be there when it happens.

As for breaking stuff: not much risk of that, its just you do spend a lot of time crawling close to / between nice formations and there is going to be an inevitable amount of splashing / rubbing.  We turned back shortly before the apple barrel because there is a spot where you have to climb up near some nice curtain and crawl across the top.  If tired you could easily slip sideways into the nice stuff.

Worth going there.  unless perhaps you want to take more photos I can't see any great reason to go back.

Maracaibo is not hard at all, if you don't go via Aardvark country.

 

[barrabus]

Click below for discussion on locating the Maracaibo inlet.

http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,9710.msg127275.html#msg127275

 

[shinwell]

I'd actually say that there's a relatively high risk of breaking things in Maracaibo: a lot of the passage is fairly small and the formations are in very close proximity to cavers.  It needs great care.

I wouldn't say it's a good place to go in the wet.  Apart from the access through the main drain, there is a very low section half way along (which may need excavating), and it doesn't seem like it would take much for that to sump off.

One other thing to bear in mind is that it takes quite a long time to get to the very end of Maracaibo.  After a point, the formations completely disappear, and you're left in a sort of bacon-slicer rift which continues for quite some way.

 

[Andy]

Went there last year with Nikki and Richard. Good trip but I think we all agreed we probably wouldn't go back as the risk of breaking stuff seemed to be quite high.