We had heard about the Big Rift at the end of Wretched Rabbit
Passage (W.R.) in Ease Gill Caverns but had never been there for a
proper look. In late August 1984 Jim Farrer and I decided to go for a
trip. There were two probationary members at the farm, Terry and Lee,
who were looking for a trip and they jumped at the chance.
Ron Bliss and Lol German overheard us talking and as they were taking
Lol's dog for a walk. "Did they want us to have a shout in the gill
down various holes to see if we could hear them?" We laughed!
We had a steady trip up W.R. showing Terry and Lee the joys of P.J.
to finally arrive at the Big Rift at the end of W.R. In spite of
professing to be a non-climber Jim was first up the two lower
sections and he tossed us an old digging ladder he was carrying and
we joined him where the rift splits into two near the top. Jim and I
went left which was blocked after a short distance with large black
boulders, while terry got Lee on his shoulders and scaled into the
right hand passage. We soon joined them to find the passage ending in
a wide bedding which looked quite diggable. Terry was just pulling a
couple of boulders out when he said he could here a dog and some one
shouting it. I told him he was hearing things. Then suddenly Lol's
voice rang out, "Gerrout o' there!" We hoped he was talking to the
dog. We tried to dig through there and then but although we made 6
feet of progress it was not to be so we staggered off down the
passage coming out the long way round.
Jim was up next weekend and told me over the phone that he had almost
dug through from the surface. When Terry and I went over with Pete
Muckalt and Peter Bracken it still looked blocked but we pulled back
a block there it was, open! Peter Bracken squeezed through before we
could stop him, but when he turned round it had collapsed behind him!
We soon put in a 45 gallon oil drum and a very picturesque entrance
was constructed.
Next week we returned with scaling poles as we had spotted a hole in
the top of the rift. Richard was shoved up, but dashed our hopes with
news of a large boot print, However he was soon joined by Derek,
Frank and the rest of us from a variety of directions. Bodies kept
appearing in different parts of the rift and at different heights.
The amount of passage made a mockery of the Ease Gill Survey and
there was lots of new stuff!
Jim Newton
Description
At the end of August I returned from the Gouffre Berger Expedition
not especially keen to go caving in the relatively small caves near
Bull Pot Farm. A visit to the Farm soon changed all that. A new cave
had been found and it was only five minutes from an entrance! I had
to have some of that. At first things were very confused. In typical
Red Rose fashion nobody seemed to know what anyone else was doing
Co-ordination and a survey were needed. I was the one to do it!
Within a few weeks over 300m. of passage had been surveyed within
50m.. of the entrance. Avens had been scaled, squeezes pushed and
pitches descended, The link is a description of the Wretched Rabbit
Entrance Series as it is now known.
The entrance is located in Ease Gill Beck immediately upstream of New
Cave with which it is now connected and 30 metres down the Gill from
Slit Sinks (grid ref: 676806). An oil drum marks the entrance.
New Cave
For completeness New Cave was included on the survey as it was
connected to Wretched Rabbit, by Derek Varnon not long after the
entrance was opened. New Cave was explored by Red Rose in 1972 (RRCPC
No. 6) but it was not surveyed. In 1990 we re-excavated the entrance
in order to survey the cave. The survey was never completed as the
cave is very tight and awkward and the surveying party did not even
reach the second pitch! Hence the lower part of the cave is only
Grade 1. It is worth noting that New Cave's location is incorrectly
marked on the old CRG survey and the more recent one which was copied
from it. As can be seen from the survey in this Journal it lies
further along Ease Gill to the S.W. and is opposite the waterfall
marked on the other surveys.
Andy Hall