Small Mammal Pot

[testgerbil]

Hi all, just looking for a bit of advice. The CNCC rigging topo for Small Mammal Pot suggests you can easily descend this pitch and reach the bottom of Bar Pot entrance pitch; however, a number of trip reports suggests that route finding, and the caving, is much more difficult than the topo suggests.

Is the topo (and cncc guide) oversimplified, or do the trip reports include some more gnarly bits?

 

[topcat]

First time in it took me a while to find the way on. Trend down and R to a calcited climb. Tight and flat out in the bedding plane quickly eases. Going L to a pit leads to the top of the greasy slab in Bar.
Going R in the crawl leads to a second pitch , tight vertical squeeze after you come off the rope then some caving to the big ledge above Bar's last pitch.

I never do the first pitch of Bar now. Small Mammal or Stile Pot / Small Mammal gives more and better caving.

 

[alanw]

At the bottom of the pitch, if you tend too much to the left and discover scaffolding, you've found the bottom of Stile Pot (tight, a bit of a drop just at the entrance, but otherwise no tackle required to descend. Note that I've been down twice, but never up).

There's a bit of a tricky climb up at one point. Last time I was there a chockstone had appeared which made it much easier for those not 6 foot plus tall.

At the top of this climb there is a flat out bedding. Heading right through this will take you to the top of the second pitch of Small Mammal (which takes you through to Whitehall). For Bar Pot head straight ahead through the bedding. You will cross a shallow trench at an angle. Keep going straight ahead. This is particularly important on the return journey. On meeting the trench heading towards Small Mammal, there is a temptation to follow the trench to the right. This closes down and results in stuckage.

At the end of the bedding, there is a short climb down into a pit, then a climb up to reach the top of the Greasy Slab. On the return, at the top of the GS, turn down to the right.

Some interesting links:
Small Mammal Pot - An Alternative to the Bar Pot Trade Route
The history of Stile Pot
Small Mammal Pot Project Log

 

[testgerbil]

Really helpful - thanks both!

 

[CNCC]

Hi testgerbil

Our route description of Gaping Gill does indeed mention Small Mammal in the Bar Pot description, as well as in the outward routes section, but only very briefly. This is mainly because the author of the Gaping Gill route description had not visited Small Mammal enough to confidently write any more about it... the same is true for Stile Pot. Therefore, the link Alanw has posted (particularly for the Braemoor guide) in combination with Topcat's guidance will probably be your best bet here and should get you through.

Note: Our rigging topos are not really meant to be used for horizontal navigation, they are just unscaled pictorial representations.

If you have a good memory (or even if you fancy taking a small notepad and pencil), and you feel inclined to help us elaborate on the route from Small Mammal to the top of the Greasy Slab in Bar Pot with a short additional paragraph, we'd be delighted to hear from you (pr@cncc.org.uk) and we can add it to our guide for others to use in the future

A general reminder that we welcome new route descriptions for any caves where we currently lack one:

Send Us a Route Description

If you've got a route description you'd like to share, please send it in and we'll get it onto the site.

cncc.org.uk

Have a great trip!

 

[Ian Ball]

Have a look at the fabulous LUSS survey and accompanying description, still one of the best.

I don't think it's really noted here, but just to say from the bottom of Small Mammal Pot you must go straight on and then drop into Flowstone Chamber on your right and climb up through the obvious continuation but go to the flat out but easy squeeze( lots of scratches) After the squeeze it's one side of the chamber for the climb down to the head of the Flowstone Chamber pitch or continue across the chamber to the other side to pop out at the base of the Bar Pot entrance pitch.

In my opinion, since the opening up of Small Mammal the Bar Pot entrance pitch has become redundant ;-)
If you take the rope lengths from the Braemoor site you won't be carrying spare.

 

[MJenkinson]

I recommend the Braemoor guide as alanw shared - the full route is a great little trip, though as a relatively larger caver there are 2 bits that are a bit thrutchy; the calcited bedding plan (you have to do this to get to Bar Pot) and then a drop down into a rift on the full small mammal trip (you don't ahve to do this if you are going to bar pot).

The final pitch on the full SM route is pretty cool.

 

[afraidofthedank]

There is a bit of route finding. I led a trip in there recently having only been in there once before about 3 years ago. I had no idea of the route to the bottom of bar pot, and there was a lot of “no idea where I am” moments, but we still made it to main chamber in under 2hrs. Hopefully that gives you some frame of reference!

 

[Ian Ball]

Pendant award!

Small Mammal Pot drops into Small Mammal House. If you are following the Bar Pot Alternative trip then so a grand day out you will have.

 

[topcat]

Definitely combine with SE Aven rather than the boring big Bar Pot drop. I don't know why it took me so long to do the SE Aven route but that's the only way to go IMHO.

 

[alanw]

Just a note to say that the BPC winch meet is coming up soon. Lots of entrances will be rigged. Visiting Cavers are welcome to use our ropes, see https://www.bpc-cave.org.uk/wp/gg-winch-meet/ for the full details.

In the past, all of Small Mammal (I know, because I once de-rigged it) and SE Aven (I remember there was once hilarity due to confusion during de-rigging between that and the traverse line around the bottom of SE Pot where Flood Entrance drops in), though I can make no guarantees about this coming year.

I'll be camping up there for the full three weeks, including mid-weeks: 1st weekend (13th May) is "prelim", getting everything up the hill and setting up. 2nd weekend is "Members", when rigging of entrances will begin in earnest. We open to the public on the 3rd weekend, then close at lunchtime on the following Friday for "de-tackle". Perhaps I'll see some of you up there?

See also last year's announcement: https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?threads/bpc-winch-meet.29483/ and note that there will be no access to the main chamber during prelim or de-tackle due to the risk of falling objects.

 

[alanw]

An update, after bitter experience on Monday.

Quoting John Gardner's description of The Bar Pot Alternative:
At the base of this is a feet-first clamber over an upright boulder to a 3 m drop into a section of small rift passage, which quickly flattens out into a muddy bedding.
There is a way down after the 3m drop. This is tight and awkward into a small muddy chamber with a tight way out leading immediately to a T junction. The left way on has a row of stones signalling "no entry". To the right is a muddy slope with bootprints.

Do not go this way! Does anyone know where it leads?

The way on is in the bedding plane on your left looking at the hole.

 

[langcliffe]

An update, after bitter experience on Monday.

Quoting John Gardner's description of The Bar Pot Alternative:
At the base of this is a feet-first clamber over an upright boulder to a 3 m drop into a section of small rift passage, which quickly flattens out into a muddy bedding.
There is a way down after the 3m drop. This is tight and awkward into a small muddy chamber with a tight way out leading immediately to a T junction. The left way on has a row of stones signalling "no entry". To the right is a muddy slope with bootprints.

Do not go this way! Does anyone know where it leads?

The way on is in the bedding plane on your left looking at the hole.

If you are where I think you are, it goes to a low sump.