United Cavers Exploration Team

Trip to Sell Gill Holes, Yorkshire, 27/1/2013

Visited with Mad-Dan, Dylan, Vikki, AndyJ(guest) TomH(guest)

Massive thanks to Vikki for Driving yet again and to Andy for rigging/supplying rope.

My day as usual started at daft o'clock, Vikki was picking me up at 8am and I had kit still to sort out, so after a couple of hours of messing about i'm ready to go, in true mad-dan trip style, vikki turned up around 30 minuets late, which wasn't a problem, I'm always late  anyway.

We were supposed to be meeting Andy and Tom at 9.30 in inglesport for breakfast, but it looked like we would be late, after a pit-stop on route for supplies we hit the motorway and off we went, vikki managed to miss the junction on the motorway, she was probably messing with her phone or something, so we had to get of at the next junction and turn around, this added even more time on the journey!

Vikki stated that she had a plan and knew of a private road we could use to save some time, which she did and we arrived at inglesport at 9.25, vikki had managed My house to inglesport in under an hour, that private road really does save you some time.

Andy was already sat waiting for us as we walked in and ordered food, we got our food and ate it, there was at this point no discussion on where we were going, it had been settled in the week, alum pot to the sump, weather permitting we would do the exchange trip, it was quite clear that the exchange was out of the question, but sumping alum pot  is still a worthwhile trip!

Tom turned up a good 30 mins late, and off we went, we got to alum pot to find it wet, very wet, we guessed the churns would be in flood, or they wouldn’t take much to put them in flood, so we opted for somewhere a little more suited to the weather, a quick natter and we decided on sell gill holes, back in the cars and over to Horten.

Again, we got sorted out and set off up to the entrances, there’s a wet route and a dry route, I would of liked a go at the wet route, but no one was volunteering to rig it, which wasn’t a surprise!

The dry route was chosen, sell gill is a grade 3 system, but with the amount of water coming into it, it was closer to a grade 4, even the dry route was putting you under running water on the pitchs.

The trip consists of 3 main pitchs, all of which have deveations/re-belays or traverses out to them, we all got down without isue, some of us not been so keen on the 3rd pitch, which was rigged to keep the rope out of the water for as much of the pitch as possible.

Once we were all down, we followed the stream way for a while until the way on was to lye in the water and squeeze through a tight bit, people were cold and tired at this point and the water was deep, very cold and fast flowing, we decided it would be best to head back, we all went up, I de-rigged the first rope (pitch 3) then set off up the second pitch, andy was behind me, he was taking some time to get up, it turns out his croll had failed mid-pitch and he was having to rig a self rescue pully system while on the rope. my self, vikki and dylan headed up the last pitch. And decided to make a break for it back to the car, Vikki told us we didnt have to carry any of the rope bags back to the car as UCET members do not carry gear, this was fine by me, so it all got left there for Tom and Andy to carry.

We got back to the car, got changed and waited, around an hour later tom turned up telling us Andy was behind him, we were lovely and warm in the car, it made for good fun watching the others freez while getting changed.

We then headed off to the crown in horton for refreshments, as you do..

pics are bobbins, everything was handheld, it was too wet for cameras today, I managed to destroy the little compact I was using for video, I also managed to drop my DSLR then it rolled down some rocks into water, it's not looking good.

I've had a go at a video, it isnt great, but give it a watch and let me know what you think, if you're over 21 you probably wont like the music, tough..

Another great report, you are right about "some" UCET members and rope bags.

Interesting in=car shot of the speedo LOL

 ;)

Ian

[quote="Ian" post=13672]
Interesting in=car shot of the speedo LOL

 ;)

Ian[/quote]

It's a French car, I'm guessing the Speedo is in km/h.... Maybe..

well done team looked COLD but fun fun fun

[quote="Ian" post=13672]Another great report, you are right about "some" UCET members and rope bags.

Interesting in=car shot of the speedo LOL

 ;)

Ian[/quote]


All lies I tell you!!!! Well the bit about carrying kit is, lol

Never seen Sell Gill that wet before. Looks like fun  :dry:  :P