The Booth Eyre Crawl, Easegill
- 8th. January 1978
It was night, but out of the darkness & across the moor three blackened forms swayed drunkenly onwards. Their approach could be seen by the dim lights they carried in varying stages of brilliance. Every so often one would disappear and a curse could he heard as a shape dragged itself oat of a bog & stumbled on into the next one. (Now they are all writing like Hugh. Ed.)
Earlier in the day I had suggested
to Andy we might have a look at the Booth-Eyre Crawl. Graham was persuaded to
come with us to help carry tackle as he wanted to have a look at Top Sink, the
plan being to abseil through and come out of
We had been drawn on by tales from Jim Newton that very few people went to this
passage as they didn’t know about the 60 foot pitch until they got there, and
by that time of course they had no tackle. Also tales of “it previously was
only done in woolens, think what a thin man in a wet suit could do, etc.”
The C.R.G. Extension proved
to he a particularly nasty place with a vadose fissure at the bottom of a mud
& boulder filled floorless passage. This proved quite strenuous with a 150
foot rope, two ladders
& numerous belays. Eventually a rift in the floor was found with a small
stream which could be seen & heard at the bottom. A convenient capstan was
belayed, and after a tight top portion a free hanging pitch of a little less
than 50 feet was descended. The C.R.G. transactions say 41 feet, Jim had said
60. (A good. average. Ed.)
The Booth-Eyre Crawl was
described by Jim as a “walking-sized crawl”, but it began with a meandering
flat to hands & knees crawl in water, and we found this to be the easier part.
Later the passage became more fissured & it was necessary to force a way
either upright or, & this was more usual, in a flat out crawl/traverse
position in the roof. Very tiring and reminiscent of parts of Quaking Pot
(except that is easier.). Eventually a five foot wide chamber? was reached, the
furthest point of the previous exploration. It is of note this is dotted to be
about 30 feet wide on the survey, also the 10 foot pitch entering the chamber
is actually a six foot drop descended fairly easily with the aid of a sling. (Did. you re-survey it, Pete.)
The way on is a continuation of the previous passage, which Andy managed to
force after an initial squeeze, for about 100 feet. He reported that further
progress could be made with difficulty.
Graham had been left at the top of the 50, and the nature of the crawl can be
assessed by the 1 hours it took from leaving him to returning. In fact it was
found to be 5.30p.m. & to take a further two hours or so to get out and
back to the Farm, exhausted, at about 8 o’clock. My only consolation is now I
have at least been down Booth-Eyre Crawl which only a handful of people can
say, and the fact I have no reason to go there again!
P. Llewellyn.