Montagu West Passage, outwards

From Ease Gill

Montagu Passage West, outwards[edit | edit source]

From the junction with Cross Passage, Portcullis Passage is a mix of crawling and stooping, passing stal. After a few minutes is a step across a rift; [descending the rift leads to a route down to Waterfall Passage, slippery when wet.] A few minutes further ahead reaches the start of Montagu West, a 2m-wide, 1m-high passage to the left, with stal bosses and formation tape. [The sound of wter can be heard from a hole in the floor ahead.]

Montagu West is a mix of walking, stooping and crawling, past stals. The passage is clearly very large, but filled nearly to the roof with mud. After about eight minutes, to the left is a step up into a slot; [it is easy to miss this, and end up in an alcove to the right.] The slot leads to a 1m iron ladder down onto a mud slope. Carefully descending cut steps in the slope leads to a choice of routes.

  • To the right, a walking passage goes round a couple of bends to reach the junction at the end of Bill Taylor's passage: to the right (either over or under boulders) is Bill Taylor's Passage, leading towards Bridge Hall and the Lancaster Hole Exit; to the left re-joins the route to Fall Pot.