AAC Caving Meet, Helwith Bridge, Yorkshire

by John Hardwick

For the last three years in succession there has been an autumn caving meet in the Yorkshire Dales. Last year we had hoped to descend Swinsto in Kingsdale, an exciting through trip, involving 7 abseils and not inconsiderable crawling, but the water levels were too high (see NL 170). However this year the trip was feasible and Mel Owen and Allan Hartley rigged the pitches and led five of us on this excellent excursion. Nevertheless there was sufficient running water to make the abseils très sportive.

The next day a trip was promised in Illusion Cave. It might have been relatively dry but it was certainly very muddy. There were some interesting stalagmite and stalactite formations to view in the main chamber, however, it was not so dry that a sump passage would not have necessitated more or less complete immersion for a short distance. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, several of us had mountaineering head torches rather than cavers’ waterproof ones, so we decided to retreat.

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Last updated: 04 December 2007

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