Possibly Silly Yorkshire Weather question
- Thread starter ianball11
- Start date
Chris J
Active member
It has been very very wet in the Dales over the last few days - however we went down Juniper when it was almost in flood and could easily do everything except the last pitch. - On every other pitch you can traverse and stay above the water.
If it stops raining for a day or two then go for it as i've done Juniper on a previous occasion when it was also wet and that time we did get down the big pitch.
If it stops raining for a day or two then go for it as i've done Juniper on a previous occasion when it was also wet and that time we did get down the big pitch.
SamT
Moderator
Juniper is fine in the wet. Loud - but fine.
I did it in near speight conditions, we used the 'wet weather' entrance pitches. but you can stay out of the water most of the way.
The final pitch is pretty intimidating, deafening with little chance of comunication - so make sure all your party are fully competant on the SRT as you dont want to be faffing about. It may also be worth sending a couple at a time down and up. You really wouldn't want to be waiting around whilst people ascend. We stopped about 1 minute at the bottom of the pitch and felt like we'd been lashed by a hurricaine.
There was no way we could have gone any further i.e. down to the sump. Not without a large inflatable raft.
Take care on the scambly bit between the penutimate and last pitch. I nearly came a cropper de-rigging due to the amount of spray making climbing a bit difficult.
I did it in near speight conditions, we used the 'wet weather' entrance pitches. but you can stay out of the water most of the way.
The final pitch is pretty intimidating, deafening with little chance of comunication - so make sure all your party are fully competant on the SRT as you dont want to be faffing about. It may also be worth sending a couple at a time down and up. You really wouldn't want to be waiting around whilst people ascend. We stopped about 1 minute at the bottom of the pitch and felt like we'd been lashed by a hurricaine.
There was no way we could have gone any further i.e. down to the sump. Not without a large inflatable raft.
Take care on the scambly bit between the penutimate and last pitch. I nearly came a cropper de-rigging due to the amount of spray making climbing a bit difficult.
langcliffe
Well-known member
SamT said:
I did it once when the penultimate pitch was impassable.
Chris J
Active member
langcliffe said:
Yep last pitch would have been impassable when we went on Saturday - 21mm.
Couldn't actually get to last pitch as where you have to climb up over a boulder just prior to the pitch a massive waterfall was coming down!!
Also what are speight conditions - something to do with Alan Speight? Perhaps spate conditions.
JB
Member
I was with Sam in October 2005. Trip report here has info about the amount of rain we had:
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,1510.0.html
The usual disclaimers apply. You can buy me a drink if we ever meet as thanks! If you get stuck in there don't worry about it
Does writing in green cause problems for people who are colour blind?
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,1510.0.html
The usual disclaimers apply. You can buy me a drink if we ever meet as thanks! If you get stuck in there don't worry about it
Does writing in green cause problems for people who are colour blind?
Peter Burgess
New member
There seem to be a number of posts with blanks in. Is someone writing stuff in green?
cave junky
New member
A few definitions of the word spate from
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=spate
Ally
1. a sudden, almost overwhelming, outpouring: a spate of angry words.
2. British. a. a flood or inundation.
b. a river flooding its banks.
c. a sudden or heavy rainstorm.
A sudden flood, rush, or outpouring: "It issues a spate of words from the loudspeakers and the politicians" (Virginia Woolf).
Chiefly British
A flash flood.
A freshet resulting from a downpour of rain or melting of snow.
A sudden heavy fall of rain.
noun
1. (often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must have cost plenty" [syn: batch]
2. a sudden forceful flow [syn: rush]
3. the occurrence of a water flow resulting from sudden rain or melting snow [syn: freshet]
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=spate
Ally
1. a sudden, almost overwhelming, outpouring: a spate of angry words.
2. British. a. a flood or inundation.
b. a river flooding its banks.
c. a sudden or heavy rainstorm.
A sudden flood, rush, or outpouring: "It issues a spate of words from the loudspeakers and the politicians" (Virginia Woolf).
Chiefly British
A flash flood.
A freshet resulting from a downpour of rain or melting of snow.
A sudden heavy fall of rain.
noun
1. (often followed by 'of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "it must have cost plenty" [syn: batch]
2. a sudden forceful flow [syn: rush]
3. the occurrence of a water flow resulting from sudden rain or melting snow [syn: freshet]
How long is a piece of string?ianball11 said:
Apologies if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here but ... the amount of rain the day before is only part of the answer. What is also very relevant is the saturation levels of the ground. At the moment the ground is probably pretty much saturated in The Dales with the result that any rain that falls will run immediately into caves flooding everything. In this situation a small amount of rain can make a big difference. In Summer, you also need to be careful of very dry conditions prior to rain, as the ground is so dry the rain also runs straight over it giving massive run off.
To further complicate things, in my experience a few weeks of 8mm of rain will make for quite wet conditions during Winter but this will be lees marked in Summer. I assume this is due to the lack of surface evaporation in Winter.
SamT
Moderator
spaight/spate "what-evverrr"
[quote author=ChrisJ]Yep last pitch would have been impassable when we went on Saturday - 21mm.
Couldn't actually get to last pitch as where you have to climb up over a boulder just prior to the pitch a massive waterfall was coming down!![/quote]
Im intriged by the above comments.
IIRC - the penultimate pitch was a 30 m ish Bell shaped pitch - with a constricted take off. No problems in flood there - well away from the water.
Bit of a boulder hop on ledges above the stream to arrive atop big spray lashed boulder, where the rest of the last rope can be rigged down a 10foot climb down at the far side - You are then very near the top of the massive final pitch which again is well away from the main waterfalls (there were two when we where there) The normal one on the left (looking out) and a smaller one raining from the inky blackness above - but luckily - its against the back wall.
Very spray lashed though.
I cant imagine them being 'impassible'. Its hard to imagine any more water than we had. Not saying there isnt though.
langcliffe said:
[quote author=ChrisJ]Yep last pitch would have been impassable when we went on Saturday - 21mm.
Couldn't actually get to last pitch as where you have to climb up over a boulder just prior to the pitch a massive waterfall was coming down!![/quote]
Im intriged by the above comments.
IIRC - the penultimate pitch was a 30 m ish Bell shaped pitch - with a constricted take off. No problems in flood there - well away from the water.
Bit of a boulder hop on ledges above the stream to arrive atop big spray lashed boulder, where the rest of the last rope can be rigged down a 10foot climb down at the far side - You are then very near the top of the massive final pitch which again is well away from the main waterfalls (there were two when we where there) The normal one on the left (looking out) and a smaller one raining from the inky blackness above - but luckily - its against the back wall.
Very spray lashed though.
I cant imagine them being 'impassible'. Its hard to imagine any more water than we had. Not saying there isnt though.
langcliffe
Well-known member
SamT said:
The full force of the water hit the rope near the bottom. I was with Mike Wooding at the time.
