Gaping Gill

Saturday 21st May

The Bradford Pothole Club were running the winch meet at Gaping Gill starting this weekend, so we decided to make use of the rigged entrances and floodlit main chamber. Martin, Olaf, Kathryn and I headed down Flood Entrance Pot, after deciding against Bar Pot when we saw the caver traffic jam at the top. The main chamber was really impressive with the flood lights on and the sight of the winch hoisting people up the shaft into daylight is particularly memorable. In addition, today, a group of people were playing improvisational music (drums, trumpet a cello and a lone dancer wearing bicycle reflectors - don't ask) in the main chamber, so we watched them for a while. I don't think the caving world is quite ready for such avant garde art forms yet though...

After a bit of a side trip into North West Passage, which is possibly the muddiest place I've been, we headed out of Stream Passage Pot. It was nice to see a new bit of the system and the pitches are very impressive.

T/U 5 hrs