Pasture Gill Pot - tree id

[Karstic]

Lovely trip down Pasture Gill pot today - magnificent cave - well rewarded for a bit of wet.
On the surface we wondered where it comes out and which trees the roots belong to (and what was the source of the rather deathlike smell to the water beyond Tadpole).

The only survey I can find is in NC1. I overlaid this with the entrance using the north arrow and scale bar- I don’t place much trust in this two point method of referencing but Forest Passage does overlap with the surface gill which seems plausible, and from this we can identify the likely trees. Interestingly (if right) most of the cave does not follow the surface gill as we had assumed and the final sump is 80m away from the river.

Does anyone know of any better surveying that shows the surface relative to the cave?

(Ps. Any tips for rigging the entrance? We couldn’t spot any bolts but made do)

 

[Lankyman]

Interesting that your survey overlay puts the final chamber close to the cake stand by the track past the farm. I don't suppose it's worth excavating a through route though.

 

[skippy]

(Ps. Any tips for rigging the entrance? We couldn’t spot any bolts but made do)

Last time we were in there(this time last year), we rigged the ent pitch using slings from the tree. Now the fencing has been replaced, the posts can be used for back up.

 

[Chris Curry]

I get pretty much the same result overlaying the NC1 survey, but the overlay on page 455 of Tony Waltham's Cave & Karst of the Yorkshire Dales Vol 2 puts Forest Passage slightly off to the west of the surface stream and the 7th pitch directly under it. I am a little dubious about some of the survey overlay maps in C&K though, so I wouldn't rely on it too heavily.

The exploration and survey appear to have been a effort by @harrylong and co. in 1967 - his chapter in C&K also includes an elevation which is interesting. The survey was apparently published by the BSA so may be in any one of bulletins 73-77 ('67 was a prolific year for BSA publications!) which I unfortunately don't have to hand - they're in the Green Close library so will look at the weekend unless anyone has access to them before then?

Assuming @Karstic and I have the overlay right, it seems pretty certain that it is this tree (Grid SD 90490 79146) responsible for the roots in Forest Passage. It appears to be a sycamore from the satellite view... I could probably id the tree species from the roots if you got any photos?

 

[skippy]

Not the best photo..but this is one of the bigger roots in Forest passage.