what is wrong with bogfarts roaring

thehungrytroglobite

thehungrytroglobite

Well-known member
The other day I was forced to descend Boggarts Roaring due to the high water levels ruling most caves out. I was strongly warned against this, over 5 cavers told me tales of how horrible it was. I'd previously been told that it was the worst cave in NFTFH, and I was reminded that it is all blasted crap with no redeeming features. I was therefore shocked by what an excellent cave it was, once we actually found it. A really picturesque entrance pitch, fantastically varied pitch heads - they were a bit awkward on the way up but that just made them more fun. The 'blasted' stuff wasn't nasty crawling like I expected, but short sections of sideways thrutching that merely added to the variation and fun. The pitches varied in character but included lovely free hangs down aven, one of which had excellent acoustics for singing, and most of the cave (including the blasted thrutchy stuff) was very roomy indeed. Throw a crawl through a waterfall, a squeeze and some brilliant fossils into the mix and you get an amazing cave that has everything you might want, bar a good streamway at the bottom (but I didn't expect to find that on Dowlass moss). I enjoyed this cave more than the Berger. It's an excellent full body workout and I feel it has gotten a bad rep. I would encourage any keen cavers to add it to their list of top caves to do in the Dales. I would happily do it again tomorrow if I wasn't going to Tenerife, but if anyone wants a fellow boggart to roar with in 2024 let me know and I'll be straight down there.
Ps. Beware that there is currently a bloated sheep with a welly shaped hole in it at the bottom of the entrance pitch
 
adep

adep

Member
thehungrytroglobite said:
The other day I was forced to descend Boggarts Roaring due to the high water levels ruling most caves out. I was strongly warned against this, over 5 cavers told me tales of how horrible it was. I'd previously been told that it was the worst cave in NFTFH, and I was reminded that it is all blasted crap with no redeeming features. I was therefore shocked by what an excellent cave it was, once we actually found it. A really picturesque entrance pitch, fantastically varied pitch heads - they were a bit awkward on the way up but that just made them more fun. The 'blasted' stuff wasn't nasty crawling like I expected, but short sections of sideways thrutching that merely added to the variation and fun. The pitches varied in character but included lovely free hangs down aven, one of which had excellent acoustics for singing, and most of the cave (including the blasted thrutchy stuff) was very roomy indeed. Throw a crawl through a waterfall, a squeeze and some brilliant fossils into the mix and you get an amazing cave that has everything you might want, bar a good streamway at the bottom (but I didn't expect to find that on Dowlass moss). I enjoyed this cave more than the Berger. It's an excellent full body workout and I feel it has gotten a bad rep. I would encourage any keen cavers to add it to their list of top caves to do in the Dales. I would happily do it again tomorrow if I wasn't going to Tenerife, but if anyone wants a fellow boggart to roar with in 2024 let me know and I'll be straight down there.
Ps. Beware that there is currently a bloated sheep with a welly shaped hole in it at the bottom of the entrance pitch
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I agree its a great cave, peoples descriptions often over exagerated
 
Alex

Alex

Well-known member
The biggest problem I have is, it's not as waterproof as people may think, below Dolphin hall, it has been a complete maelstrom and the passage is impassible. It was a very wet day though and the draft this created up the pitches above was phenomenal.
 
thehungrytroglobite

thehungrytroglobite

Well-known member
Alex said:
The biggest problem I have is, it's not as waterproof as people may think, below Dolphin hall, it has been a complete maelstrom and the passage is impassible. It was a very wet day though and the draft this created up the pitches above was phenomenal.
Click to expand...
Which one is Dolphin Hall? Is it the one where you meet the stream?

We did it on a wet day, after days of heavy rain... the water levels were super high. I found it quite wet (I was soaked head to toe by the end) but not impassable. The second last pitch was very drippy, had to hold my breath for a couple of metres but it wasn't too bad. I can imagine it being impassable in very high water though.
The long flat out crawl in the stream made me feel a bit nervous since I knew that if the water rose quickly, or rose whilst we were below it, I wouldn't be able to hold my breath to get back out. I can imagine there's a risk of bog bursts there too but I don't know much about them (would like to learn more).
 
D

darklord

Member
thehungrytroglobite said:
Which one is Dolphin Hall? Is it the one where you meet the stream?

We did it on a wet day, after days of heavy rain... the water levels were super high. I found it quite wet (I was soaked head to toe by the end) but not impassable. The second last pitch was very drippy, had to hold my breath for a couple of metres but it wasn't too bad. I can imagine it being impassable in very high water though.
The long flat out crawl in the stream made me feel a bit nervous since I knew that if the water rose quickly, or rose whilst we were below it, I wouldn't be able to hold my breath to get back out. I can imagine there's a risk of bog bursts there too but I don't know much about them (would like to learn more).
Click to expand...
I think he might mean Penguin Hall...which is the short pitch after the free-hanging 3rd pitch, at a convergence of several avens.

And thanks for the fine accolade you've awarded it! We enjoyed exploring it. It's certainly a novel hole with interesting situations. A shame it never hit that master cave...;)
 
thehungrytroglobite

thehungrytroglobite

Well-known member
darklord said:
I think he might mean Penguin Hall...which is the short pitch after the free-hanging 3rd pitch, at a convergence of several avens.

And thanks for the fine accolade you've awarded it! We enjoyed exploring it. It's certainly a novel hole with interesting situations. A shame it never hit that master cave...;)
Click to expand...
Thank you for exploring it. I can't wait to go back. Best trip I've had in a long time
 
thehungrytroglobite

thehungrytroglobite

Well-known member
could a mod please fix my spelling error in the title, I feel embarrassed every time I see it :O although the place did smell a bit like a boggart's farts when I was there due to a decomposing sheep
 
CNCC

CNCC

Well-known member
thehungrytroglobite said:
could a mod please fix my spelling error in the title, I feel embarrassed every time I see it :O although the place did smell a bit like a boggart's farts when I was there due to a decomposing sheep
Click to expand...

Oh no, and we'd already updated our rigging topo too...

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