Scrafton Pot

Even though this trip was brought forward a day, Paul’s ‘easy’ still managed to attract a total of 7 to explore Scrafton Pot – many of whom hadn’t been before. Paul spent some time rigging a reassuring zig zag at the head of the first pitch – then asked for someone else to go down first! Kirsti stepped bravely forward into the unknown. The rest (Paul G, Andy F, Alyson, myself & James) followed on. For Andy the 20m pitch was his first SRT underground, having been to 2 wall sessions. For Paul G it was his first ever SRT experience! We all enjoyed the delightful slow – fast – fast – slow Spanish rope descent, whose vibes Paul is completely oblivious to.

The crossroads type junction at the foot of the pitch led to a removal of kit, ready for a rut – for ‘kit’ read SRT gear; for ‘rut’ read good rummage around exploring the cave – the popularity of the trip was not due to the promise of a group session in the dark with Paul, although some may have been misled by the entry in the programme. Paul said set off ahead – Alyson and Andy went as commanded, the rest of us followed for about 30 seconds, then broke off in different directions to explore a maze of interconnecting passages. After many shouts of ‘I’m up here’, ‘I’ll just have a look in this one’, ‘Can you see my light?’, ‘I can hear you’, ‘Where are you?’, ‘It’s good up here’, ‘I can see your feet’, ‘I’m back at the foot of the pitch’, etc, etc, we arrived by various routes at the one feature we could identify down there – the BIG BEDDING PLANE.

After a worm around in the B. B. P. we dropped into a side chamber and after several scrambles through boulders and climbs down arrived at a point where water enters down the facing wall in the form of about 3 small waterfalls, I suddenly recognised this part of the cave – I’d been there before when we lost Wotto (only temporarily unfortunately) but I couldn’t remember anything else or understand the description in Northern Caves I. Some people were more prepared to get wet and rutted around, others retreated to the higher levels for a longer than expected wait as Paul’s 2 hour trip became longer, due to the fact that he kept on looking.

Kirsti and I (also investigating any small hole for possibilities) lost him, shortly after he’d shouted that he’d found something. Unable to find where he’d gone and faced with complete silence, we were about to give up when a clinking of rock and a faint ‘Yeeha!’ was heard. Moving towards the sounds, wet marks on the rock, followed by a voice and an abandoned kit bag led us in the right direction. Once re-united we learned of the discovery of another stream and a passage just too tight to get into – we felt compelled to experience this for ourselves and I managed to squeeze through the tight hole (with the reassurance that Kirsti was only feet away and I could see her and talk to her) and drop myself into sitting in the ‘new’ stream. Unable to turn my head around, I had to partially come back out of the hole and remove my helmet, then drop back in, so I could light up the passage beyond my feet and turn my head to see. It went off as a small triangular passage with the stream running in the bottom – possibly could be manoeuvred along on your side lying in the stream, but not very spacious, almost like a mini-rift. The drop into the stream could possibly be enlarged, so - vowing to go back to investigate – we returned to join the others and make our way out.

Following Paul and myself (who got a bit wobbly half way up, as the lights below and the one above all appeared a long way away) Andy put on an impressive display up the 20m pitch – no sweat! Paul G had to be instructed in the art of froggie prussicking (is that how you spell it?) and had a bit of trouble coordinating the first few sit – stand movements, but then amazed us all with his stamina and rhythm – an excellent ascent for a first timer. Although he later said he was knackered, he was also heard to say an SRT kit would be on his purchase list. Kirsti and James valiantly waited until last and chilling down a bit had to negotiate (?) over who would be 6th and who would de-rig.

A great ‘short’ trip – worth a longer exploration on a day time allows.

	Search this site powered by FreeFind
	Swaledale Outdoor Club

Scrafton Pot

Alison Adams