66/5

The entrance is situated halfway up a pile of boulders in an area of shakeholes about 40m to the right of the Trea path and about 150m before the path starts descending steeply. The entrance is marked by a poorly visible cairn.

An unstable 3m climb leads to a draughting squeeze followed by a further 2m climb round unstable boulders onto a perched boulder floor. A traverse over a 10m pit (traverse line useful) leads to the first pitch - a small loose hole leading immediately into a fine 20m shaft, with an inlet rift part way down. This drops into a large boulder-floored chamber. [The chamber has an unstable boulder-climb at the far end]; the way on is a descending rift on the left. This quickly leads to a small chamber from which Corner Shop Rift leads off. This is the archetypal ``not tight, just awkward'' rift, and is followed round a series of sharp bends at ceiling level. The first bend is by far the sharpest and most awkward; it is somewhat easier on the way out. Enter feet first and drop down low into the rift to pop up round the corner head first at the widest point; continue up into the roof beyond, gradually becoming more horizontal. Each subsequent corner must be negotiated with the stomach on the inside of the bend, with the legs down in the narrow part of the rift where appropriate. After a few bends, the rift becomes bigger and leads to an unstable, two metre wide, boulder-floored passage with a number of side passages leading off. Down a couple of short steps, the head of the second pitch, Los Miserables, is reached. [At this point, a one metre wide passage leads off to the right to a boulder-filled chamber with a climb and a narrow, unpushed lead. This is probably the old route followed by the stream and is worth pushing. Just before the pitch, a roof level passage leads through a smooth rift (the Wormhole) to a loose climb down to a cleft overlooking the pitch from the far side.]

The main way on follows the water down the pitch to a small, cold, drippy, boulder-chamber. From here, a straight, smooth rift, Yorkshire Rift, leads to the next pitch. This is belayed to two dodgy chockstones and has a very constricted pitch-head. A fine abseil past sharp, marbled rock leads to a ledge, from where two rifty climbs lead off. The upper one leads down sharply at an angle of about 60° and soon rejoins the water. A series of fine climbs down a tube 1-1.5m in diameter leads to a reversal of direction and more climbs through a suit-ripping squeeze. A final 10m climb leads to a small chamber with a horizontal grovel leading off, where the stream sinks into a 1cm wide crack. A flat-out crawl with silt on the floor appears to continue beyond this point.

Rigging guide

Pitch Rope Rigging
P25 35 Traverse line across pit; bolt and spike Y-hang with rope protector.
Los Miserables (P10) 15m Natural backup; bolt belay.
Chockstone Pitch (P20) 30m Bolt backup; Y-hang off two chockstones (replace with stemples); natural deviations (replace with bolt).
Route 66 (C30) Currently unrigged, but handline would be useful.