The hardest cave in the U.K.

[gus horsley]

I think I'd go for Langcliffe.  The crawl feels interminable on the way out and the entrance pitch just about finished me off.  Then there's the bloody long hike after...

I'd vote Mossdale as the most intimidating.  And boring....

 

[Simon Beck]

I think I'd go for Langcliffe.  The crawl feels interminable on the way out and the entrance pitch just about finished me off.  Then there's the bloody long hike after...

I'd vote Mossdale as the most intimidating.  And boring....

I think the place deserves a little more than that, especially with regards to your comments in the past which i will quote below.
quote
'I would never put Mossdale under the heading of "adventurous", unless your idea of adventure is doing the most tedious, physical and mind-destroying trip in Britain.  Despite much protection, I had the cuts and bruises for weeks, and it's one of the few caves I would never touch again under any circumstances, even if access was restored.  Come to think of it - what is the access situation now?'

Intimidating yes...but boring, you've never got time to be bored, okay there may be no formations etc...etc who gives a shit though, formations & nice features ain't everything, it exists in another place a darkerside of the sport, something real men aspire to, the forbidding, formidable, dark and forboding, the horror, the hardship, brute strength and ignorance, survival, endurance, a perilous journey, a real goal! something to be proud of, comparing some of the above hardtrips you guys have suggested to the likes of mossdale/langcliffe is like comparing the ascent of mont blanc via the gouter route to the ascent of the eiger via the north face, although nothing in caving could ever be as difficult and dangerous as the north face. This is just my opinion but i've observed that there's a distinct lack of balls! among cavers fullstop these days, no ones got any drive, you're all domesticated pussys happy to draw the line at what they're comfortable with doing and never crossing it(that dosen't go for everyone of course), i'm certainly not fearless or a born hero but! i have ethics and ideals and a conscience and aspire to experience the hardest most dangerous and impossible. It's all SRT this and SRT that these days, hanging around on ropes ain't everything. A hard trip in my eyes; Torturous in nature, very wet and cold, ducks, freedives maybe, long crawls, nasty pitches, some longevity about it and if it rains on the surface you're dead!.

You think your hard, you think you know a hard extreme trip then come to yorkshire this winter and we'll go seek one out together.

 

[SamT]

Shall I start another thread...

My cocks bigger than yours.......

Yawn

 

[Peter Burgess]

My dad's bigger than your dad.  :tease:

 

[Simon Beck]

This as got fuckall to do with big cocks......sam t

 

[jasonbirder]

This is just my opinion but i've observed that there's a distinct lack of balls among cavers full stop these days, no ones got any drive, you're all...pussys...

Classy...really classy

 

[AndyF]

There are two sorts of caving trips, ones that you enjoy doing at the time, and traumas that you enjoy telling stories about afterwards.... I long ago stopped the second sort, I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else. I do it now for the thrill and enjoyment of the actual trip.

There is no way I'm going to crawl in a water filled tube for 6 hours to reach a dead end just so I can stand in the pub and claim to be "ard". Flippin pointless and no fun. Hero points are for bitchy climbers to puff their chests up about. I enjoy a laugh, teamwork, the rare thrill of a discovery, and doing something physical out of the office.

If after a trip you are too tired for the pub, or worse you MISS the pub, you did the wrong trip in my book.

 

[Simon Beck]

It's just the kind of shit i expected out of you lot.
You know when i started this sport the first thing i did was read up on what was the hardest/most dangerous/longest etc... and that's what i aimed for, which is what i'd assumed most would do, it's human nature for christ sakes, it just goes to show how much of a bunch of fucking followers you all are 'If my mates won't do it i won't do it'.

 

[jasonbirder]

Completely off the topic of this thread mind you...but when i got into caving it was because i enjoyed being underground, experiencing a beautiful fragile and alien environment, pushing my own (admittedly very limited) limits making some great mates...having a laugh, having few beers...getting away from the pressures of work and the Mrs and the kids...seeing some beautiful countryside...seeing things most people only dream of...etc etc
I really tip my hat to guys like you Simon that are pushing the limits of whats do-able and would never criticise you for it...but to be told i'm a pussy or have a lack of balls because i'll not be up to your standards is a little bit rich

 

[Peter Burgess]

Any sensible post in this topic is going to be totally subjective.

The two 'hardest' trips I did are not normally so physically challenging.

Pant Mawr Pot on one occasion when I was going down with the flu. It hit me right at the bottom. I was suddenly totally shattered, aching all over, and had to get back to the entrance, up the shaft, and across the moor in sub-zero conditions back to the car. I crashed out back at Ystradfellte, and didn't get up till well into the next day.

Agen Allwedd, a long trip with just two of us, neither of us were completely sure of the way, and underestimated our trip time. Psychologically challenging, thinking we were going to have to back track the long way round, and meet a rescue party on the way! Fortunately we were only 60 mins overdue and managed to find the way round OK. Totally draining at the time, just wanting to get out. There was some pleasure in 'succeeding' at the end of the trip, though.

 

[Simon Beck]

I don't go to the pub afterwards i very rarely go to a pub fullstop and you are been pretty presumptuous for thinking i beat my chest over it, i do these trips to prove to myself and to me they're just cave trips no different than any other. I'm not and i repeat i'm not been bigheaded it just seems the only good way of recruiting people for hard winter trips these days, kick them where it hurts!. Back when i was a climber which is a sport i wished i'd stayed in there were no shortage of folk willing to push the limits of the day and expose themselves to healthy amounts of danger, i've observed very little in this sport period, maybe i'm looking in the wrong place, but i know i'm not, i'm in the centre of it all, it's not the older lot i'm referring to either, i know tonnes of ex-hardmen here in the dales, it's the young lot i'm aiming at!.

 

[Peter Burgess]

It's just the kind of shit i expected out of you lot.

Simon - just chill out.... While you were ranting, I was putting together a sensible response. Most of us have two sides to our nature. If you post a topic on these lines you can expect some silly replies. That's what makes this forum what it is!!!! You have had a good mix of sensible responses. I wouldn't complain, there are other forums where I have stuck up questions or discussion topics, and nobody bothered to write anything at all.

 

[Simon Beck]

Completely off the topic of this thread mind you...but when i got into caving it was because i enjoyed being underground, experiencing a beautiful fragile and alien environment, pushing my own (admittedly very limited) limits making some great mates...having a laugh, having few beers...getting away from the pressures of work and the Mrs and the kids...seeing some beautiful countryside...seeing things most people only dream of...etc etc
I really tip my hat to guys like you Simon that are pushing the limits of whats do-able and would never criticise you for it...but to be told i'm a pussy or have a lack of balls because i'll not be up to your standards is a little bit rich

That's fine jason! but instead of replying to a thread about hard trips, start one about how beautifull the world is then....no offence intended.

 

[SamT]

No - really it is.

 

[Simon Beck]

I'm a punk that's my problem and find myself in these riotous moods longing for public disorder and all, you should ask some members of the cpc about my mood swings which are best conveyed in my random hostile letters to the cpc group emails.

 

[jasonbirder]

:-[ thats me told .... i'm off to start a thread about beautiful, fluffy things

Hardest trip i've personally done is Otter Hole nothing in particular stands out as being that tough on the trip...just the length and the mud weighing you down, dragging you back making every move slippery and tricky...though that probably says more about my competancy and fitness than about the difficulty of the trip...I was completely cream-crackered when i surfaced!

 

[Simon Beck]

I wasn't referring to any individual as a pussy either......more the direction of the sport in general.

 

[Peter Burgess]

Simon - I noticed that you said that you expected everyone else to have the same aims in their caving as you - i.e. pushing their limits etc. That's probably your only mistake, because it isn't true. Of course there are many who are like you, but you shouldn't expect everyone to want the same thing out of their leisure-time activity (please note, not 'sport'). The spectrum of pleasure gained from caving is about as broad as that in 'climbing', surely, with those content with walking to the top of Snowdon (not true climbing of course), and those that want to prove how good they are at scaling the seemingly impossible. You really shouldn't stick us all in the same basket, just accommodate everyone's preferences by recognising that you are not in the same class. And if you think I'm a wuff, then I really am not bothered in the slightest.

 

[Simon Beck]

You are right peter yes! totally but you're all intelligent folk and know from the start it's not aimed at everyone anyway, i shouldn't need to explain that. This is a rough guess but a disproportionately large amount of people i came across when i was a climber just enjoyed climbing and never really really pushed themselves beyond there comfort zones and the rest did, about 20-30% of the folk i knew, but 20-30% seemed a hell of a lot and there was no shortage of folk up for it all the time, i haven't observed even 2% of all the cavers i know and we're talking hundreds and hundreds of people.

 

[Simon Beck]

Okay that's look at it like this, the most regular hardcore partner i've had is a women of 60years. She's to be revered!.