Out Sleets Beck Pot
Party:- Johnny Wilkinson, Richard and Danny Ellwood
and Norma Nowell 16th Feb ‘74
We located the entrance in the bed of the stream, and set to work pessimistically improving the dam around it. After the flow had been reduced to a minimum we pronounced it safe for descent.(??)
The
entrance gave way to a narrow
passage which just allowed an upright position,----- fooling us into thinking
that this was going to be easy Very soon however, we were groveling about on
our knees through an awkward little passage. At his point Richard and Danny
disappeared and Johnny, behind me, started cursing his lamp The crawl carried
on for quite a way until it took a 90 degree turn to the left. Here it was
possible to stretch a little but the passage was still narrow (still no sight
of Johnny - but plenty of noise!)
Further on the stream passage became larger and provided a few short, sporty
descents. The going was now quite comfortable with a bit more water flowing. We
missed the first pitch, climbing down about 12’ into a small chamber. After
this, water coming from a passage on the left joined our little stream, making
me wonder just how wet the next pitch was going to be.
The second
pitch (40’) soon followed. The chamber at
the bottom of the pitch is perfectly cylindrical and very impressive
with the amount of water going into it. The way on from here was through a
vertical slot in the wall opposite the pitch. This soon became a crawl into a low,
horizontal bedding plane, which, incidentally, was wet. Several nasty moments
later we were in a comfortable stream passage soon followed by the third pitch (45’).
From here to the sump was a very easy passage and it took no time at all to run
down to the bottom and back out.
The pot is at best only a three hour trip, but it is non-the-less very
interesting and enjoyable.
Norma Nowell