Members: Don, Sharman
Yesterday I finally got the chance to go down Hensler’s Pot after many suggestions – in vain – of a trip here on the forum. I’d done the trip before but had forgotten how strenuous it is.
Sharman and I met at Inglesport. I was almost an hour late due to an unexpected diversion on the A1. I had to convince Sharman that Hensler’s was worth doing as he didn’t seem very impressed by the trip description in NFTFH. Not because he thought it would be hard, but rather because he didn’t think that it sounded very difficult. He soon learned how wrong he was though.
After sorting out the tackle, we headed up the path to Trow Gill for the long slog up to the stile just before Bar Pot. Along the way we saw lots of people – school groups, parents with kids, old people, not to mention a small group of 14 year old girls, one of whom told us that we looked ‘Well cool’. Little did we realise at the time that that was to be the high point of the day.
Once at the stile Hensler’s was easily found. Cross the stile, stay roughly 50m away from the wall and walk to your right for two or three minutes until you come to a long, shallow shakehole with a metal drum at one end. At this point we put on our SRT kits and headed down the in situ ladder. After 15-20 minutes of flat-out crawling and crawl traversing we finally reached the first pitch. We were ecstatic to find that the pitch was already rigged with a rope labelled ‘Hens 1’. We therefore (correctly) assumed that the cave had not been derigged at the end of the Bradford Winch Meet a few months prior in May. So we left our tackle here, with the exception of SRT kits, and luckily found that the rest of the pitches were still rigged, which made the trip much more pleasant, even though it was still very tiring.
I won’t spend much time describing the route we took as it’s all pretty straightforward, with almost no route finding issues. Besides, the description in NFTFH is far better than any that I can provide. There’s one area, however, in which the NFTFH description is not accurate. If I had to use two words/phrases to describe Hensler’s those words would be ‘strenuous’ and ‘small and narrow’. The majority of the cave consists of flat-out crawls, narrow sideways walking passage, and flat-out crawl traverses over narrow rifts. Almost without exception the only places in Hensler’s where you can stand up with a three foot open radius around you (i.e. without a wall) is at the bottom of the pitches, of which there are seven.
Though there are a number of easy squeezes and narrow areas, there’s nothing that could be described as tight. The only possible exception to this are the aptly described ‘thrutchy sections’ in NFTFH, both in what is essentially a long, straight and narrow rift in the shape of a number eight squashed in on either side. Movement forward is only possible in the upper part of the eight. The first section is easy and barely noticeable. The second is more awkward than tight, largely due to a narrow rift below, which constantly threatens to eat your SRT kit (off at this point) and wellies, as Sharman unfortunately experienced first-hand. The only other real difficulty is Burnley Pitch, which is very awkward at the top – think flat-out crawl traverse meets narrow pitch head. Going down isn’t so hard, but going back up is as it’s very easy to get tangled up at the top while trying to manoeuvre into the flat-out crawl, as I learned on my way out.
One of the highlights of Hensler’s is the abseil down Hensler’s High Aven, a 38m pitch which starts out as a narrow rift and soon opens out. The pitch seems much higher than 38m. Once at the bottom of this Sharman and I were not looking forward to going back up the pitch and out Hensler’s, because we were already tired and cold. In desperation we decided to go to Bar Pot Aven to see if there was a rope in place that we could use to go up Bar Pot Aven and out Stile Pot (and then climb back down the Hensler’s entrance pitch to retrieve our tackle). Considering how popular Bar Pot Aven is as a route into Gaping Gill, we had high hopes (more the idealistic me than the far more realistic Sharman). Following the directions in NFTFH we reached Bar Pot Aven in 20-30 minutes. It was a long slog through New Hensler’s Crawl, mostly a flat-out crawl over cobbles and through shallow pools of water. Once at Bar Pot Aven our hearts sank as we saw no rope, which meant no hope. So we retraced out steps back to High Hensler’s Aven.
The trip back out was largely uneventful, and seemed somewhat easier than on the way in, though we were much more tired now. Something very interesting did happen on the way out though – Sharman talked. In fact he talked quite a lot. Anyone who’s caved with Sharman knows that he’s not the most talkative person, no doubt because his daughter and wife do all the talking for him so that he doesn’t have to and he can concentrate on other more important things. Some of the phrases I heard used repeatedly included:
‘Ugh!’
‘Not another pool of water!’
‘I’m cold!’
‘Jesus!’
‘Why is it that as I get older I get colder more quickly in caves?’
‘£%^”^£”!!!’
‘I’m not looking forward to the thrutchy section.’
‘Eh?’
The trip out was slightly quicker than the way in, or at least it felt like it. Sharman and I agreed that the most difficult part of the cave is probably the section from the bottom of the entrance pitch (laddered) to the first pitch (Buzzy), simply because it’s very tiring to move bags, which tend to get caught on everything, through that section. And there’s a lot of sharp and pointy rocks on the floor and protruding from the walls. Once out there was still a bit of daylight left, though this had faded by the time we got back to the cars. After a quick change we went for a quick drink in the New Inn in Clapham, which was full of high class, well dressed people. Then we headed home.
All in all an excellent trip. I would not recommend doing this trip unless the cave is already rigged, unless you’re a glutton for punishment.
Total trip time: 4 1/2 to 5 hours
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