I always responded to conversations of caving in the same ways, 'you'll never get me down a deep, dark hole' and 'I just don't understand why you would want to get cold and wet in the dark'. Then, over winter I was introduced to vertical caving and it all made sense. I can only describe this type of caving as roped gorge scrambling underground.
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| Pauls photo of Calf's hole, although I think I may have taken it |
After getting familiar with single rope techniques (SRT) we quickly started to tick off the classic beginner/practice cave routes. With this new sense of exploration we took our cameras but soon realised that it wasn't going to be the point and click routine like normal. The flash isn't bright enough, everything's blurry, there's dust and water in the air, so we've started to play round with lights and angles, so hopefully we'll get some good shots in time.
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| Paul's photo of Sell gill hole, he definitely took this one |
As our cavings trips added up I found routes with long abseil's down and testing roped traverses, give the same rewarding feelings as felt after cold winter mountaineering routes. Giving me the addictive motivation to 'tick off' a different cave, without long walk in's and weather watching.
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| Looking up Jiggling pot's 50m open shaft, with our rope hanging free |
After Lucy's dad bought the CNCC rigging guides, my eyes opened to the range and volume of vertical caves in the Yorkshire dales. This is the place to be for caving! With our 'to do' list endlessly growing each time we go out.
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| Coming back up the man made shaft of Aquamole pot |
Although I've started to think that we have too many hobbies and not enough time, I do think caving has managed to wriggle into the to stay list and gives a great day of adventure on wet weather days.
