WRETCHED RABBIT

UPPER ENTRANCE SERIES

An account of the exploration of these passages is at This Link

At the base of the first drop in the BIG RIFT an inlet enters on the right. This can be ascended along a high winding passage for 15m to a choke of gritstone boulders with tree roots entering from the roof, this point is directly below the true right bank of the gill beneath the obvious Mountain Ash tree. Back at the base of the first drop in the BIG RIFT a tight bedding in the east wall can be followed for 5m to a 3m drop into the PARALLEL STREAMWAY. The alternative way into this streamway is via an awkward 3m climb on the right at the bottom end of the BIG RIFT. The streamway can be followed upstream for 100m until the passage splits up into several inlets. Most of these choke under EASE GILL BECK, or become too tight. At the end of the longest inlet is a tight muddy connection to NEW CAVE. There is another stream inlet, 10m downstream from the exit of the tight bedding into the Parallel Streamway. This is a high meandering streamway for 30m to two chokes under Ease Gill.

The rest of the entrance series lies mainly to the west of the BIG RIFT The easiest way into these passages is via a climb up into a connecting crawl between the PARALLEL STREAMWAY and the BIG RIFT located just downstream of the low bedding in the east wall at the base of the first drop. The way on is along the low bedding plane crawl of CROSS OVER PASSAGE, which heads northwest and crosses over the BIG RIFT at a large deep hole. At the hole it is possible to climb up into a passage on the left. This leads back over the BIG RIFT as the large meandering HIGH LEVEL OXBOW to a point immediately above the second climb down in the BIG RIFT. Off the HIGH LEVEL OXBOW a tight low crawl meanders northwesrwards for about 20m to a 3m pitch down into a chamber.

This pitch need not be descended as the chamber below can be reached much more easily from the passage at the far end of CROSS OVER PASSAGE. This passage breaks out into a high meandering streamway which can be followed upstream to the well decorated high level STALACTITE CHAMBER. about halfway between a 2m climb and STALACTITE CHAMBER is a small passage on the right which leads after a few metres to the chamber at the foot of the 3m pitch. The meandering streamway can be followed downstream via a 2m climb to the top of a 9m pitch which lands in the chamber at the bottom of the BIG RIFT

Just before this pitch is a junction. From here a narrow meandering passage can be followed until it becomes too narrow and is blocked by fill. A few metres back from here is a 4m climb up and the passage can be followed by traversing in the roof to two boulder chokes which need digging. At the top of the 4m climb is a bedding plane of MUD INLET in the roof. This leads to a low wet inlet which draughts well and is heading towards CORNER SINK