Top Sink to County Pot

From Ease Gill

Top Sink Entrance to Limerick Junction[edit | edit source]

Note: the pitches are very wet, and become impassible in very wet conditions. The scaffolded shaft is 4m deep and drippy. It descends into a small drippy chamber. A descent through boulders leads into another small chamber. Ahead is stooping passage with a short crawl into a chamber. Walking passage soon leads to a junction. [Ahead is a dry passage.] To the right is a meandering passage, mostly sideways walking with one short crawl. After about four minutes, Walrus Pot (18m) is met. The pitch is rather wet. A short lined traverse round the corner to the right reaches an "eagle's nest" ledge, from where the rope can be hung; a deviation avoids the worst of the water.

  • 30m rope; bolt back-up; two bolts for traverse; two-bolt Y-hang; deviation at -4m (short sling).

Below Walrus Pot is the inappropriately named πr2 Passage. The passage is a meandering streamway, which can mostly be tackled upright, with the occasional crawl. Larger cavers will have to crawl for longer, and will find the passage considerably harder. After five to ten minutes, Penknife Pitch (5m) is reached.

  • 10m rope; bolt back-up; two-bolt Y-hang.

Below the pitch, Wisdom Tooth Passage enters as an inlet on the left. An easier meander, Bradshaw's Passage, leads to an easy crawl. After about four minutes, Limerick Junction is reached.

  • To the left, the muddy bouldery slope is the start of Limerick Passage.
  • Straight ahead downstream is the route to Nagasaki Cavern and the Ease Gill streamway.

Limerick Junction to Nagasaki Cavern[edit | edit source]

From Limerick Junction, the route is complex: a series of oxbows that intersect and then traverse above the streamway, crossing the streamway several times.

In more detail, the route starts with stooping passage in the streamway. Soon a short muddy oxbow leads to the left. [Alternatively, the stream can be followed underneath.] The oxbow re-meets the stream, and then continues to the right, 1.5m above stream level. [Alternatively, the stream can be followed with a hands and knees crawl.] Walking oxbow passage leads to a junction, where a 2m descent to the left leads back to the stream; [alternatively, clambering over boulders ahead is a continuing harder oxbow, soon rejoining the main route.]

Stooping streamway leads to a mud bank-cum-oxbow. A short walk in the streamway then leads to where the stream falls 0.6m down a pot. Stepping across the pot enters an oxbow. The oxbow reduces to a crawl, and then enters a chamber, with the streamway 2m below. A clamber up to the right enters another oxbow, which soon reaches a junction. To the left reaches a chamber, with the stream 4m below, and an inlet entering. [Right from the junction provides a harder route into the same chamber.] A step down to a ledge leads to a step across the stream, then a traverse on the left to cross the inlet.

Round the corner leads to a careful step onto a ledge on the left, and then a step across the stream gulley. Round the corner is a bold step back across to the left side of the stream gulley at The Bridge of Sighs. Continuing round the next corner reaches a drop. The drop can be avoided by backtracking a couple of steps to a climb up to the right, leading to a traverse to the right to an oxbow. At the start of the oxbow, a climb up to the left leads into a wider passage.

The passage changes character here, losing the streamway. A muddy passage soon reaches a boulder choke. Immediately upon entering the choke, the way on is to double back, and climb up 2m onto a chockstone above the point of entry to the choke. Doubling back again, and climbing forward and up another 1.5m leads to a hole between boulders into a chamber.

Clambering over muddy boulders reaches a larger chamber. Following the right-hand wall leads to a sandy chute behind a very large boulder. Below, a climb down between boulders to the right drops into another sandy chute behind a very large boulder. [Alternatively, descending the steep slippery slope to the left —with care— reaches the same point.]

The two routes unite in a large chamber, Nagasaki.

  • A hole at the bottom of the chamber descends into Far East Passage, leading towards Boundary Pot.
  • Continuing ahead is the route towards The Assembly Hall and the Ease Gill streamway.

Nagasaki Cavern to The Assembly Hall[edit | edit source]

From the base of Nagasaki Cavern, a large bouldery passage passes an inlet and a rope up an aven to the left. Soon Fairy Steps is reached, an awkward muddy polished climb on the right, which ascends 2m to an ascending traverse leading to an easier climb. The passage descends over muddy boulders, and then narrows to enter a rift.

The rift passes stal bosses, and continues as easy walking. After a couple of minutes, it reaches a step across a pot in the floor. Immediately beyond is a choice of routes. [To the right, a crawl leads to a descent into The Assembly Hall, which needs tackle.] [Ahead, a traverse along the top of a rift provides an alternative route into Easter Grotto.] The normal route is to descend the hole in the floor, ahead to the right: a constricted slot drops 1.5m into a mini-chamber, which opens out into the wall of the passage below. A further 3.5m climb follows: good footholds 1.5m down give a decent but precarious-feeling stance, from where a straddle across the passage allows the final descent.

To the right, a very short passage opens into The Assembly Hall.

The Assembly Hall to Holbeck Junction[edit | edit source]

From The Assembly Hall, a route leads ahead over boulders. To the left [with an alternative route to the right] leads to a descent into another chamber. Ahead opens out above a drop, with the sound of the main streamway coming from below. A crawl to the right leads to an in-situ rope (March 2016). A 2.5m climb down, with hidden footholds halfway down, drops into a 10m diameter sloping chamber.

At the bottom of the chamber, a rift runs to the left. The rift becomes a calcited oxbow, the White Way, above the stream, and very soon a short drop into the stream is reached. [Upstream soon reaches a very dangerous boulder choke.] Downstream, Thackray's Passage is a pleasant well-decorated streamway. The streamway is knee-deep in places in normal conditions, but is sometimes deeper, and floods to the roof in very wet conditions.

After about four minutes, the roof lowers. Just before it becomes very low, the way on is through a small window to the left, by a stal "grille". This opens out into an oxbow, with easy walking and stooping, passing several gour pools. Soon the passage slopes down to regain the stream. Downstream is easy walking passage, passing nice stal formations. The stream is lost in an oxbow, except in wet conditions. Soon afterwards, the passage reaches Holbeck Junction.

Holbeck Junction[edit | edit source]

Holbeck Junction is a major junction in the upper Easegill main streamway. The junction itself is often dry, as the stream runs in an oxbow.

Several routes lead from Holbeck; in clockwise direction:

  • Downstream soon leads to a choke; a crawl to the left provides an alternative route to Green and Smelly Passage.
  • Upstream is Thackray's Passage leading towards Top Sink with a connection to Boundary Pot.
  • To the left of the stream, behind a 2m high boulder, is a dry passage leading to Green and Smelly Passage, with routes to Pool Sink, Spiral Staircase in Wretched Rabbit, Slit Sinks and New Slit Sinks.

Holbeck Junction to Stop Pot[edit | edit source]

From Holbeck Junction, the route to Stop Pot ascends the boulder slope to the right of the streamway. [The route towards Gypsum Caverns leads off to the right.] Two routes leads off to the left after 4m and 8m; the routes soon reunite, with the latter providing the easier route. An easy bouldery passage continues, with the stream audible below. Parallel routes split and then recombine in a chamber, with the right-hand route providing the easier route.

Ahead, the stream is met at a large pool, deep in places; [an alternative route to the left, over large boulders, avoids most of the water.] The way to Stop Pot is quite complex; the general tactic is to follow the right-hand wall. In more detail, the route follows the stream on the right-hand wall, and then continues ahead where the stream cuts left. The route continues to follow the right-hand wall, gently up over boulders, and through a "doorway" to where the way ahead drops sharply. A clamber 1.5m up over boulders to the left leads onto a boulder-strewn ledge, descending gently towards the stream. Before the stream is met, a clamber up reaches a ledge with small stal bosses. This leads down to a short mud-floored section of passage. Then a route over more boulders, still following the right-hand wall, reaches Stop Pot.

Stop Pot[edit | edit source]

Stop Pot is a major junction in the Easegill streamway. It is in a very bouldery area, with a boulder choke downstream.

Several routes lead from Stop Pot. The following are described from a position in the streamway, surrounded by boulders, at the base of the boulder slope leading up to the fixed ladder, where the streamway splits. In a clockwise direction:

  • A few metres upstream, on the right-hand wall, a climb onto a ledge leads to Depot Passages.
  • Following the stream downstream to the left, and clambering ahead over boulders leads to a dry route through the choke, towards Eureka Junction.
  • Between the two branches of the stream is a large ascending boulder slope; part way up the boulder slope, on the left, is the route to Four Ways, a flood-escape route into Wretched Rabbit.
  • At the top of the boulder slope is the Stop Pot ladder, up to Mainline Terminus at the start of the high-level route leading towards Lancaster Hole and Cow Pot, with a connection to Link Pot, Pippikin Pot, Bye George, Peterson Pot, and Mistral.
  • Following the stream downstream to the right leads to the wet route through the choke, towards Eureka Junction.

Stop Pot to Eureka Junction[edit | edit source]

In reasonably dry conditions, the easiest route from Stop Pot to Eureka Junction is to follow the streamway, near the right-hand wall. The route is in, or just above, the stream, all the way through the choke.

[Alternatively, from Stop Pot, a drier route starts by following the stream to the left, into the boulders. A slight left turn leads into a flat-roofed crawl, with some small stal on the left. The crawl becomes lower, and has an orange floor in places. The way opens out beyond the choke, and a short slope leads back down to the streamway, to rejoin the wet route.]

Beyond the choke, two minutes of easy walking in a large stream passage leads to Eureka Junction.

Eureka Junction[edit | edit source]

Eureka Junction is in the Easegill streamway, where the route from County Pot and the Wretched Rabbit traditional route hit the streamway. Note: this area floods to the roof in wet weather.

  • Downstream, a stooping passage leads after a couple of minutes to a choke.

Eureka Junction to Pierce's Passage[edit | edit source]

A muddy passage leads off to the left of the streamway at Eureka Junction. This very soon reaches a junction: [to the left is Wretched Rabbit.] Ahead, the passage continues as a roof oxbow, which soon steps down into a tall stream passage, Pierce's Passage. A few minutes upstream, the floor changes from boulders to bed rock, and two prominent calcite bands mark the climb up to Ignorance is Bliss. Continuing upstream, soon a climb up through boulders reaches another junction, with the streamway entering from the left.

  • Following the dry passage, slightly right, leads towards Poetic Justice.

Pierce's Passage to Poetic Justice[edit | edit source]

Ahead, two minutes of easy walking leads to the Poetic Junction pitch (P6), which needs pre-rigging. Ascending this leads to a streamway rift passage (often dry). [Ahead, upstream, is a route to Battle of Britain Chamber.] The normal route is a step up to the right into a bedding plane with stal bosses. A few metres ahead reaches a window looking out over the County Pot streamway. In front of the window is a narrow, 3m calcited chimney, Poetic Justice. Sliding down this drops into the stream.

  • Upstream to the left leads towards The Broadway, giving the quickest route to the County Pot Exit.

Poetic Justice to Battle of Britain Junction[edit | edit source]

From Poetic Justice, the normal route to Broadway is a short crawl in the streamway. [Alternatively, a longer, dry, well-decorated route is to the right.] The two routes unite in Spout Hall, a large chamber, about 10m by 8m, sloping up ahead and to the right.

The normal route is to ascend The Spout, by stepping up from a ledge on the right. [Alternatively, ascending to the right leads to a bypass.] Ahead soon reaches a junction, at two side passages from a ledge on the left.

Battle of Britain Junction to The Broadway[edit | edit source]

From Battle of Britain Junction, the streamway soon splits at Confusion Corner. [To the left is The Snake.] [The Spout bypass enters on a ledge on the right.] After a few minutes, the Showerbath is reached. Round the corner to the right leads to a slope down into The Broadway.

Broadway to County Pot Exit[edit | edit source]

From the Broadway, the route towards County Pot entrance is a 3m climb on the left-hand side of the passage (when looking upstream), part way along the largest part of the passage. Some cavers find the climb difficult: there is a foothold for the left foot near the top which makes it easier.

At the top of the climb [to the left, a boulder slope ascends to The Snake.] Round the corner to the right, is the first pitch (which needs pre-rigging; see County Pot Entrance Series).

Above the pitch is a pleasant well-sculpted passage, with a few short narrow climbs. [An inlet on the right leads to a pitch down.] After about 10 minutes caving, the entrance is reached: a 4m climb, starting on a ledge on the left.