Leck Fell Master Cave round trip

From Ease Gill

This round trip visits much of the Leck Fell Master Cave. It starts from Dusty Junction; but could also be started from any intermediate point.

Dusty Junction[edit | edit source]

Dusty Junction is a major junction in Pippikin Pot, with routes leading to Link Pot and Mistral Hole. Several routes lead from the junction. In clockwise order:

  • To the south, the main route leads towards Hall of the Ten, Pippikin Pot, and the other caves of Leck Fell.
  • To the north-west, slightly left when coming from Hall of the Ten, is the route to the Hobbit and Mistral Hole exit, slightly downwards past stal bosses.
  • To the north-east, slightly right when coming from Hall of the Ten, is the route to Squid Junction in Link Pot, slightly upwards past stal bosses.
  • [To the right of the route to Squid Junction is a low crawl into a blind chamber.]

Dusty Junction to Hall of the Ten[edit | edit source]

From Dusty Junction, a mixture of walking, stooping and crawling passage leads along a well-trodden route. After about five minutes, the top of a long slope down is reached, which is slippery in places. At the bottom of the slope is Hall of the Ten.

Hall of the Ten[edit | edit source]

Hall of the Ten is a major junction, where the normal route down Pippikin Pot enters the Leck Fell Master Cave. It is in a very large section of passage. The following routes are described in clockwise order.

  • Ascending the mud slope to the south leads to a continuing large passage. After 20m is a junction.
  • Ascending the mud slope to the north leads towards Dusty Junction, with routes to Mistral Hole and the caves of Easegill.
  • Descending through boulders leads into the Pippikin Streamway Choke; the normal route is to follow the Pippikin Streamway; various other routes lead off from within the choke.

Hall of the Mountain King[edit | edit source]

Hall of the Mountain King is an extremely large, and extremely muddy, chamber. Several routes emanate from it. The following are described in a clockwise direction, from the top of the muddy slope overlooking the chamber.

  • [Descending the mud slope, to the left, is a blind pit.]
  • At the bottom of the mud slope, to the right, the obvious outlet leads to the Cigalère streamway.
  • Traversing right from the top of the mud slope is Wellington Traverse, which leads to Peterson Pot, Gothic Series and Hall of the Damned.
  • At the top of the muddy slope, on the left, is a traverse leading to the final pitch of Peterson Pot.

Cigalère, from Hall of the Mountain King to Leck Fell Lane Junction[edit | edit source]

The obvious outlet at the bottom of Hall of the Mountain King is a descent over muddy boulders, which descends to meet the Cigalère streamway. The streamway sinks into a choke below the Hall.

Upstream, walking streamway with short oxbows soon reaches a junction.

Leck Fell Lane[edit | edit source]

Leck Fell Lane is pleasant walking rift passage. There are two ways on from the passage.

  • About 15m from the junction with the Cigalère Streamway, a chockstone 3m up in the rift, and a larger one 5m up, mark the point of a roof tube, which provides a crossover passage to Pippikin streamway.
  • At the end of the passage, an abrupt choke is met; a climb up leads to Misty Mountain Series.

Leck Fell Lane to Pippikin Streamway Crossover Passage[edit | edit source]

The roof tube is easiest to reach by continuing upstream for about 20m, where a climb reaches a mid-level traverse back to the chockstones. The tube, to the left, is a short crawl through puddles. At the end, a 3m climb drops into the Pippikin streamway.

  • Upstream leads towards Pippikin Pot and Ratbag Inlet;
  • 15m downstream, the route follows an oxbow. Just after the stream is regained, a climb up leads to Intercounty Passage, and ahead the stream enters a boulder choke.

Intercounty Passage to Red Wall Chamber[edit | edit source]

The downstream end of Intercounty Passage is immediately upstream of the Pippikin streamway choke: a 2.5m climb into a roof tube to the right of the stream. A crawl very soon passes a squeeze to the left [which leads to a descent over boulders to return to the start of the choke.] Continuing easy hands-and-knees crawling leads after a couple of minutes to a route over holes connecting down to a small streamway [which leads back to the Pippikin streamway choke]. Ahead soon intercepts the streamway.

Continuing upstream, a mix of stooping and crawling leads to a junction. [What happens right?] To the left, sideways walking, with some formations, leads after a couple of minutes past a slot on the left [leading to an aven]. Ahead gradually lowers to a flat-out crawl. The crawl passes a cross rift to the right [which ascends over boulders to a choke]. Ahead, a flat-out crawl in water and mud leads to a junction:

Red Wall Chamber and White Wall Chamber[edit | edit source]

Red Wall Chamber contains a 4m pit. Several ways emanate from the pit.

  • To the right of the previous, a climb leads to a small muddy tube; alternatively, the tube can be reached by traversing above the pit. The tube soon leads to a 1.2m drop into White Wall Chamber, again formed on a cross rift. The muddy crawl ahead soon leads to a dig.

Red Wall Chamber to Dusty Junction[edit | edit source]

From the pit in Red Wall Chamber, the obvious climb enters a low crawl. This leads to a chamber, with stal bosses, a tall thin stal on the wall, and guano on the floor. Ascending, and then descending, reaches the next chamber, formed in a cross rift. The passage descends and then reascends to reach another chamber formed on a cross rift, containing old stal (the chamber also contains equipment as part of a climate monitoring experiment: please do not interfere). The route soon passes a crater, with a trickle of an inlet; this contains a connection to Dickeries Inlet. About two minutes further on reaches Dusty Junction.