Rumbling Hole (The Dead Bobbin Series)

[Don]

Rumbling Hole (The Dead Bobbin Series)

Members Present: Alex, Don, Scaife, Sharman

After some discussion on the forum regarding where to go, Scaife suggested the Dead Bobbin Series in Rumbling Hole. We were all very excited about this option as the very limited information we were able to find about the route suggested that this section of Rumbling Hole hasn’t seen many visitors. The only information we were able to find was a) an account of the original exploration in 2007 by members of the RRCPC in RRCPC Journal 10, including a rudimentary survey listing the names and height of the various pitches, and (b) a trip report written by members of BRCC who completed the trip not long after its initial discovery. Using the information provided by these trip reports we were able to cobble together a description of the main route down (there are a number of side passages leading off from this at various points), while the survey gave us a rough idea of how much rope would be needed for each of the pitches. Our method for determining rope lengths was simply to double the height of the pitch. This method actually worked extremely well with one exception (Sixth and Seventh Pitch – more details below).

Upon arrival at Leck Fell, Rumbling Hole was quickly found – a large open hole surrounded by a fence with a lone tree between the fence and the hole. I agreed to rig the entrance pitch and the Traverse of the Sods (60m), with the others sharing the rigging of the other pitches. The entrance pitch is rigged with a direct back-up to the wooden corner post of the fence next to the stile, followed by a rebelay using a sling around the tree a few metres down the slope. A couple of metres below the tree there is a short step across a gap in the floor to large ledge with a bolt in the wall for a rebelay. Two bolts further along the same wall provide for a Y-hang, with a further Y-hang rebelay hidden on the underside of the ledge a couple of metres below. I had a few issues here as the rope, my jammers and my stop somehow all got tangled together. Once sorted, I continued down the large and airy free hanging entrance shaft.

Roughly 10m or so below the Y-hang rebelay I noticed an in situ red guide line leading off to the left (as one faces the wall with the Y-hang). I swung over and clipped my short cowstail into the guide line and followed it for 3m to the end, from where I could see a series of bolts following the length of the wall for a distance of 10m, the aptly titled Traverse of the Sods. There is a ledge of sorts for most of the length of the traverse, which makes rigging somewhat easier, though the ledge at times is nothing more than a single foothold. There are roughly10 bolts between the end of the red guide line and the far side of the rift, at which point there is a short abseil down and across to a small ledge on the opposite side of the rift, with yet another in situ red guide line leading the way. A bolt located just above the ledge here affords an excellent tie off point for the rope.

From the small ledge there are two routes leading on. Facing the opposite direction of the rift, a small circular passage leads off to the left. The route on, however, is a sideways crawl straight ahead through a small tubular passage with a sandy floor. After 4m this leads to a very small aven (Sweatbox Aven), with just enough room for one person to sit up. The flat-out crawl then continues for another 4m to a much larger aven with water showering down from above (Dead Bird Aven). There is plenty of room here to remove SRT gear before the start of the unwelcoming Reluctance Crawl.

The crawl itself is not very inviting or appealing. The water falling down from high above Dead Bird Aven flows directly into the crawl, which consists of flat-out or sideways crawling in a smooth floored tube for a distance of roughly 20m – a sort of abbreviated version of Roly Poly passage, thankfully without the floor rift to swallow tackle. Sharman bravely led the way forward at this point, followed by Alex, then Scaife and myself. The crawl is initially flat-out in the stream for a couple of metres; followed by a climb out of the stream at a right hand bend onto a flat-out ledge and through an easy squeeze back down into the stream; then a slightly curving left hand bend; followed soon after by another right hand bend around a slightly awkward corner; through a smaller, sideways thrutchy section; at which point the passage opens up a bit where a dry inlet joins on the left. This section affords just enough room to put on SRT kits for the upcoming Blasphemy Pitch (6m), though SRT kits can also be put on in the narrow passage just before the pitch head (note, however, that this is much more difficult).

With SRT kits back on (though it should be noted that Alex made it through the crawl without taking his kit off), the still narrow passage gains slightly in height so that it is possible to proceed through the remainder of the passage upright. Blasphemy Pitch can be rigged from a thread on the left hand wall, followed by Y-hang from a bolt and a sling opposite the pitch head. The trick for getting to the pitch head itself is to stay high. On a large ledge 6m down is a rebelay bolt, which technically marks the beginning of Easy Pitch (4.5.m). Both pitches can be rigged with a single rope (25m).

Immediately beneath Easy Pitch is a short climb down, then a short section of sideways thrutching in a narrow rift (with SRT kit on) to a small opening with just enough room to sit up. This marks the beginning of Profanity Pitch (7m). This pitch is rigged from a bolt in the small opening, and then two bolts on opposite walls at the pitch head itself, which is located 2m from the initial belay point, at the end of a narrow rift. The pitch is narrow and awkward at the top, but soon open up to land in a large chamber. The way on from here is down a narrow rift passage on the left. After a few metres the passage divides and there are three ways on – the first is a 5m climb down a narrow hole in the floor, the second is a climb down another narrow hole a couple of metres past the first hole, and the third (the correct way on) is via a short climb on the left, which marks the beginning of Squeezy Pitch (8m), which is a little squeezy, but only at the top. The pitch can be rigged from a sling around a rock, with another sling around a rock a couple of metres down serving as a rebelay. A few metres below this a deviation on the opposite wall. The pitch lands in a large chamber and is immediately followed by Rifty Pitch (10m), which is rigged from two bolts on opposite sides of the rift. Both pitches can be rigged with one rope (35m).

Rifty lands in a roomier rift passage. Upstream is the delightfully named Rancid Chocolate Fondue Passage, a low flat-out, watery and muddy crawl in an excavated trench which ends at a boulder choke after roughly 20m. The way on, however, is downstream through a short section of thrutchy and narrow rift. The rift then enlarges and the way on is via a mud shelf on the left. Several metres of flat-out crawling through gloopy mud eventually end at a 2m climb down into a small hole, at the bottom of which is an easy squeeze to the top of a 4m high narrow rift. Sharman again bravely volunteered to lead the way. After a failed attempt feet first, he removed his SRT kit and made it through with no problems. Alex, however, decided to not to remove his SRT kit and failed miserably. After much swearing and yelling he finally relented and removed his gear, after which he easily slid through the squeeze, followed closely by myself and Scaife. The first squeeze is followed immediately by another short squeeze and then a climb down the narrow 4m rift to a boulder slope and the top of the Sixth Pitch (6m), which is followed immediately by the Seventh Pitch (10m). Both of these can be rigged with a single rope (30m). The Sixth Pitch can be rigged from a bolt on the right hand wall and a bolt at the pitch head. Sixth Pitch lands on a bouldery floor. A bolt on the left hand wall provides the rebelay/hang for Seventh Pitch.

Shortly downstream from the bottom of the pitch a large stream tumbles down from Bruised Pilchard Aven. Continuing downstream a combination of stopping, crawling and thrutching in the floor of the stream passage soon leads to a series of short climbs down several cascades to the head of the short Pygmy Pitch (4m). This is rigged from a bolt on the left hand wall just back from the pitch head and another bolt out over the pitch. Beneath the pitch a short section of passage leads to Finale Pitch (5m), which is rigged from a bolt on the left hand wall and a Y-hang from bolts out over the pitch. Around the corner from the bottom of the pitch is the sump.

The journey out was largely uneventful. I derigged the bottom four pitches alone (Finale, Pygmy, Seventh, Sixth), while the others waited for me just above Sixth Pitch. Alex then took over derigging the next five pitches (Rifty, Squeezy, Profanity, Easy, Blasphemy), with assistance from me carrying tackle. There were no real issues for anyone until we arrived at Blasphemy Pitch. None of us were really looking forward to this section of the cave. As if getting off the rope into the narrow passage at the top of the pitch isn’t difficult enough, we also had to haul tackle up and then push it ahead of us in the rift, not to mention taking off our SRT kits so that we would fit through the rift (with the exception of Alex, of course).

Scaife and Sharman went first, leaving Alex and myself with two large tackle bags full of rope to drag through the crawl. This was taxing to say the least. Alex in particular deserves credit for derigging Blasphemy Pitch. Not an easy task, as he learned the hard way when he almost slid down the pitch while trying to climb into the narrow crawl at the top of the pitch. We eventually made it through, though the right hand bend just a few metres before the exit into Dead Bird Aven caused a few minor problems for both of us – me because I went through at the wrong angle and therefore took several attempts to make it around the corner (an ascending squeeze), and Alex because he ignored the ascending squeeze and decided instead to make the crawl more difficult by following the narrow passage at floor level.

Once back in Dead Bird Aven we put our SRT kits back on (with the exception of Alex, who was already wearing his) and headed back down the sandy tubular crawls to the ledge just opposite Traverse of the Sods. From here we headed back across the traverse and up the entrance pitch, with Alex derigging both. Once at the top Sharman and I, the first ones out, headed back to the car and got changed. Not long after Alex and Scaife joined us and we made our way to Whoop Hall (with the exception of Scaife, who had babysitting duties that night) where we celebrated the end of an excellent trip with a combination of Pepsi, coffee and beer.

Total trip time – 8 hours.

*All of the pitches are bolted and there were in situ slings where necessary (i.e. we didn’t need to use our own slings).

Below is a list of the rope lengths needed for the pitches:

Entrance Pitch/Traverse of the Sods (60m)

Blasphemy Pitch + Easy Pitch (25m)

Profanity Pitch (15m)

Squeezy Pitch + Rifty Pitch (35m)

Sixth Pitch + Seventh Pitch (30m)

Eighth Pitch (10m)

Finale Pitch (10m)

[Xandar]

Here’s the vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPrJfwQ747Y

[Chris Sharman]

Good write-up.
A couple of corrections:

• I thought Squeezy was rigged off a couple of threads with in-situ tat?
• For the first squeeze above the sixth, I went through headfirst, gear on – don’t know why Alex was feeling so fat

I got stuck at the upper end of Reluctance, too – tackle bag jammed, and I didn’t have enough leverage to push it over.

[Xandar]

We did rig it off in-situ tat but I missed the Y-hang by mistake so added it to the topo after seeing it on the way up. It was not fatness on the 6th just I went wrong way and would not bend the way required.

[Don]

I missed the Y-hang on Squeezy pitch. I didn’t even know there were bolts for a Y-hang.

I didn’t know that you got stuck in the crawl, Sharman. By ‘upper end’ do you mean the beginning of the crawl, or the end near the pitch head?

[Chris Sharman]

The end nearest the entrance – same place you got stuck, I guess.
Poorly hungover Scaife had to go back in twice to retrieve tackle bags – what a hero.

[Xandar]

Vid any good?

[Don]

I think the real heroes on Saturday were the two young gents who valiantly derigged and carried all of the tackle bags up to the top of Blasphemy Pitch (with the exception of a measly, small blue tackle bag), and then pushed those bags through Reluctance Crawl, together with their SRT kits. Those fine young men are the REAL heroes.

[Chris Sharman]

Yes, vid looks good – although I haven’t had a chance to play the soundtrack yet, if there’s anything of interest.

[Scaife]

It was an excellent trip; I’m glad I didn’t talk myself out of it. A few extra days of illness were a small price to pay for such a varied day’s caving. Good video Alex, well done with the editing.

[Author]

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