Lancaster Hole round trip, via Montagu West and Wilf Taylor's Passage

From Ease Gill

This is a short, fun round trip. It can be extended by continuing upstream to Stake Pot or Oxbow Corner.

Lancaster Hole Entrance Series[edit | edit source]

The entrance pitch is 30m deep.

  • 40m rope (with minimal rigging); Y-hang from drilled thread and bolt; rebelay from one or two bolts at -1.5m; Y-hang from two bolts at -5m. (The pitch has many superfluous bolts, which should be ignored.)

The pitch lands in a 5m diameter chamber. Two rifts lead off. [The left-hand rift, to the south, leads to Slug World.] The way on is to the right. A short climb reaches a ledge. The continuing passage soon crosses a ridge and descends a long boulder slope. Several routes lead off from the slope.

  • The first two passages lead to Sand Caverns;

At the bottom of the slope is Bridge Hall, a large chamber containing a rock arch.

  • [Ahead leads towards the Colonnades.]
  • The normal way on is at the bottom of the chamber, a descent through boulders, Kath's Way, leading to Bill Taylor's Passage.

Bill Taylor's Passage[edit | edit source]

Kath's Way descends through boulders, past two scaffold bars. This drops into a stooping/crawling passage with a small stream trench. The passage gradually enlarges. It passes a chamber with water entering from the roof. The main passage then turns to the left; [ahead leads to Sand Caverns]. This leads to a slightly awkward climb through a V-shaped slot between a large boulder and the left-hand wall, or a stoop underneath to the right. Beyond, the passage splits.

  • To the right is the quickest route to Fall Pot.

Montagu Passage West, inwards[edit | edit source]

From the junction at the end of Bill Taylor's Passage, a walking passage goes round a couple of bends, before opening out into a chamber, with a rift in the floor. [A bold step across the rift regains the route from Bill Taylor's Passage to Fall Pot.]

Ascending the mud slope to the left, with cut steps, leads to a 1m iron ladder. The ladder provides a step up into a slot, which drops into a larger, mud-floored passage. The passage is clearly very large, but filled nearly to the roof with mud. A crawl passes a blind passage to the left, to a low crawl into a chamber. Ahead is a mix of walking, stooping and crawling, past stals.

After about eight minutes from the ladder a T-junction is reached with Portcullis Passage. [To the left, the sound of a streamway, Waterfall Passage, can be heard coming from a hole in the floor.] To the right is mostly crawling over mud, with some stooping, passing more stal. After about four minutes is a step across a rift. [Descending the rift leads to a route down to Waterfall Passage, slippery when wet.]

A few minutes ahead reaches a T-junction with Cross Passage, in an area with bedrock and cobbles.

Wilf Taylor's Passage, downwards[edit | edit source]

From the junction at the top of Portcullis Passage, Cross Passage soon reaches a T-junction with a large passage, Wilf Taylor's Passage. The passage contains a stream trench, normally dry. [Upstream, to the left, is a pleasant march along a large phreatic tube. The roof soon lowers to a sump.]

Downstream, to the right, is a very pleasant vadose passage, containing some standing pools and short climbs. After a few minutes, a pair of climbs, Double Decker Pot, is met. Each climb has an in-situ handline (June 2016). The first climb is 2m and undercut, and lands in a large chamber with a large pool. Across the chamber, a hole in the floor is the top of the second climb: the climb descends 3m to a traverse on a ledge, and then a final 3m drop into a chamber. [Alternatively, passing the climb leads to a traverse, at the end of which a pitch can be rigged into the same chamber.]

From the bottom of Double Decker Pot, a pair of rifts continue, which soon reunite. A meandering vadose passage descends a few climbs. After a few minutes, the passage suddenly meets the Lancaster Hole Main Streamway.

Lancaster Hole Sump to Fall Pot[edit | edit source]

From the sump, the bottom of Fall Pot boulder choke is reached after about three minutes. Several side passages are passed on the way, all on the left.

  • [A further 20m upstream, a narrow passage on a right-hand bend is blind.]
  • Burgess' Passage, leading to Aardvark Country in Cow Pot.

About 30m beyond the entrance to Burgess' Passage is the base of the Fall Pot boulder choke. There are two ways on.

  • A route up through the boulders leads to Fall Pot.

From the Main Streamway to Fall Pot[edit | edit source]

Ascending boulders, under the drippy inlet, reaches a platform, looking down on the streamway 4m below. Above are two very large boulders, 2-3m high, one on top of the other. An easy climb on the right reaches the top of the higher boulder. To the right, an easy route up through boulders leads to a climb up into a larger space, at the bottom of the Fall Pot chamber.

Fall Pot[edit | edit source]

Fall Pot is a major junction in Lancaster Hole.

In extremely wet weather, the streamway backs up from the sump, and floods the whole of this area.

The following are described from near a memorial plaque on the wall, in a clockwise direction.

  • Up-slope and to the right, just to the left of the plaque, is the start of the route towards Bill Taylor's Passage, leading to Lancaster Hole exit.
  • Down-slope, just to the right of the plaque, a route below huge jammed boulders joins the previous route.
  • Down-slope, at the bottom of the chamber, is a route down to the Main Streamway.

Fall Pot to Bill Taylor's Passage[edit | edit source]

From Fall Pot, ascending to the top right of the chamber, to the left of the memorial plaque, leads to a route through into a smaller chamber. [The same chamber can be reached by a route below huge jammed boulders to the right of the plaque.]

At the top of this chamber is a large stal boss with a stal flow above it. By these is a step up into a rift between a very large boulder and the left-hand wall. This soon opens out into another small chamber, at the base of an 8m hand-line climb.

Ascending the climb leads to a balcony overlooking Fall Pot. To the left, it is possible to skirt a hole in the floor to the left; care: the hole drops into the streamway.

Beyond, a mud slope leads up to the left, from where a slot to the right leads to a mud slope down to the end of Bill Taylor's Passage, leading towards Bridge Hall and the Lancaster Hole exit. [Alternatively, continuing ahead leads to a careful step across a hole. Ascending the mud slope ahead leads to Montagu West, while turning left also leads to the end of Bill Taylor's Passage].

Bill Taylor's Passage to Bridge Hall[edit | edit source]

A awkward climb through a V-shaped slot between a large boulder and the left-hand wall, or a stoop underneath to the left, leads into Bill Taylor's Passage. Following the main passage passes a chamber with an inlet entering from the roof. Ahead, the passage lowers to stooping/crawling passage. Eventually it leads to a crawl up through boulders, Kath's Way, which pops out in Bridge Hall.

  • To the right leads towards the Colonnades and The Graveyard Series.

Bridge Hall to Lancaster Hole Exit[edit | edit source]

From Bridge Hall, a long boulder slope leads up to a ridge. From here, a short section of rift leads to a climb down into a 5m diameter chamber, at the base of the Lancaster Hole entrance pitch (P30), which needs pre-rigging.