19th November 2009 - WR to start of Manchester Bypass

With the rain having fallen for the last few days and more on its way, caving options were becoming a little limited. Phil though had the great idea of trying to recreate some of the pictures from the 1950s which can be found in the "History of Easegill". As well as providing a dry evening's caving, it would also give us the opportunity to try out some new lights: Tom's "Aven-blaster" and my new headtorch.

Aven Blaster in Action

Not only was the rain limiting our caving options but unfortunately the associated flooding was limiting our caving team too - hope all's well in Kendal Dick. John had also found a much cheaper way of avoiding caving. No need to travel to South America, all you need is a note saying you've got a sore knee!

The water at Devil's Bridge was incredible, none of the usual rocks being visible and whole trees being washed along in the current.

Having changed in the shelter of Bull Pot Farm we made our way across the moor and down into Easegill. As soon as we entered the rift of Wretched Rabbit it was time to try out the new lights, Tom's aven blaster lighting up previously unseen chockstones in the very top of the rift.

It was not a day for visiting Spiral Stairway passage so we continued down the meandering passage.

Wretched Rabbit

Fortunately Tom and Phil know this system well and I was called back from what would have been a very wet rendezvous with Eureka junction and we headed up into Fourways chamber. From here it is just a short squirm to Stop pot (even shorter than it used to be courtesy of a new bit of digging).

Once in the chamber it was time to try and recreate the first of the photos. Tom moved around the most obvious view points before ending up perched on a high ledge affording a stance from which to take the picture.

This is as close as we could get - not far of the original picture - click image to see large version

One photo down, we then needed to find "Carrot chamber, close to the start of the Manchester Bypass". Despite finding many beautiful stal formations, they were never quite the right ones and we had to return to Stop pot without our second image.

Some days the climbs out of Wretched Rabbit feel ok, but on others they feel nearly impossible. It is though, always a relief to be back at the top of them, smelling the fresh air coming from the entrance.

It is also always a pleasure to sit back in the comfy sofas of the Barbon Inn with a nice pint and a packet of Cheese and Onion - caving's not that bad John!

9th January 2008 - A fine evening in Ease Gill

Not only are the Red Rose busy above ground, renovating their Bull Pot Farm Headquarters (or are they creating a direct access from the changing rooms straight into Bull Pot of the Witches?), but they've also been busy underground too. At the bottom of the Wretched Rabbit climbs there now sits a dry stone walled entrance into the upper reaches of Spiral Staircase passage. Descending through it we were almost instantly met with the first formations of the evening, a series of pristine straws.

Spiral Staircase Passage

Photos taken, we carefully continued down via a couple of climbs with fixed ropes into Green and Smelly passage, another climb and finally to Lower 'T' Piece passage. Dick and Tom were now in terrority they recognised from years previously and trips down through the Borehole or up to Top Sink. Instructions such as "follow downstream" were harder than usual to follow as most of the water that usually flows down through the Ease Gill lay frozen on the surface. Despite the drought like conditions not helping navigation we soon found ourselves at Holbeck junction, a point we would be returning to later in the evening. We were once again surrounded by impressive decorations as we made our way up the Thackray's Passage streamway and up into the White Way.

White Way

This opens out into the Assembly Hall and the first of the climbs that lead up into Easter Grotto.

Easter Grotto

While the floor is no longer pure white and some formations have been destroyed since its discovery back in the Easter of 1951, it is still an impresive place to visit and the rusty, pineapple like features on some of the stal were a new sight for me. The taped route takes you through into a parallel and slightly less well decorated passage before an ominous looking hole appears in the floor. Dropping through this, the way on is via a 30m long crawl. The crawl is not overly high and a couple of stalagmite stumps restrict movement further. Its floor however is made of calcite and with a bit of water on top of it, progress can be made quite easily by sliding your body along. Over enthusiasm for this means of propulsion needs to be curtailed before the end of the passage however as it appears from a slot about 2m above the floor at the end of Gypsum Cavern. Tackling this obstical headfirst would probably hurt. The cavern is higher than Easter Grotto so its stalagtites hang a safe distance above cavers' heads in all their glory.

Gypsum Caverns

Climbing out of the cavern up another fixed rope soon brought us back to Holbeck junction and the route through to Stop pot. From here it's possible to return directly to Wretched rabbit but we took advantage of the low water conditions and made our way down the trickle of a stream to Eureka junction. Standing with the water barely lapping over our feet it was sobbering to see froth on the roof of the passageway. Then it was 'just' back up Wretched Rabbit to the frozen moor.

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