Swarthgill Hole - (Photos/video and report)

Featherstone Tangent

Mossdale Caverns - High Level Mud Caverns

With a body still tender from Langcliffe Pot three weeks earlier I wasn't wrong to predict I'd be in pain throughout the entirety of this outing. The hike to the scar alone was enough of a slog.
Huge amounts of fresh sand, shifted cobbles and froth in significant quantities were the usual reminders of the destructive reign recent storms have had.

Mossdale Caverns - Photos

After going through all my Mossdale photographs this is a collection of the best ones. The vast majority of them i'm afraid were blurry and unusable. I was carrying the camera unprotected inside my wetsuit jacket on all these trips, with nothing dry to wipe the lens - it surprises me any of them came out good.

Langcliffe Pot - via Oddmire

Today's trip was only my third time beyond Nemesis, yet I couldn't shake the feeling I'd been there more often. I've obviously spent a great deal of subconscious time in there.

When ever I see Great Whernside either in passing or from afar, I always struggle to place Langcliffe Pot within that hillside. Like Mossdale, there is a mysterious, incomprehensible element to those environments. This begins to fade the moment you exit, leaving an indelible sense of other-worldliness.

Mossdale Caverns - Video - Youtube clips

An assortment of footage featuring Mossdale Caverns

Rowten Pot - Pull through

I seldom leave Wharfedale for caving these days and it's been an age since I did a three peaks classic. My increased bias towards the Mossdale'esque type caving venues means I spend a lot less time on ropes as well so I wouldn't usually be interested in a conventional trip down places like Rowten Pot. I do have a long held affinity for through trips though and Rowten's is one of the finest examples in the Dales.

Marathon Obsession

I've only two choices, carry on or turn around, both offer torment but only one attainment. There is no where to hide from this crushing environment, no calling time-out. Every hard fought inch must be retraced and the further one goes the deeper-in one gets. The mind reigns in this physically repressed environment, one moment it is your friend the next your foe, your motivation and all your worst fears. Vanity and wealth count for absolutely nothing here, past experience and the fortitude gained are the only currency. These dour devoid confines rarely offer friendship but under the right circumstances are the only friend one needs. The greatest of satisfaction can be had through the existence of a simple hard earned end. Escape from the pressures of society can be achieved through the blinkered like reality that ensues. Loosening the grip your existence has on you can be a liberating thing but to truly succeed one must be willing to go all the way. Dangling a leg over the side is a common virtue and satisfy's the masses. To abandon the program completely is one thing but returning later is another.... Pushing yourself ever further becomes addictive and then just necessary..

Langstroth Pot - Through Trip - New Year (Solo)

My first lonesome trip of the New Year. The variable weather had forced me to cancel this one several times over the past week. I'd been here the previous evening, but after kitting up and heading for the entrance I realised I'd forgotten my Primary Light's (Fenix) battery. I made up for this absent mindedness by getting an early start, I was still against the clock though due to a scheduled Climbing Wall session later that day and supposed poor weather arriving at Lunchtime.

Dowbergill Passage Christmas Solo (Dow Cave - Providence Pot)

I've ended up doing the traverse of Dowbergill Passage many times this past year, most of these trips have been for sport, to keep fit and maintain an edge and usually be done at a very quick pace. Today's trip was a pleasant change from the norm and was used to tie up some loose ends and attempt some photography.