28th November 2007
People present - Pete Dale, Rob Santus

Weather: - Cold, Wet

Well we decided that we wanted a hard trip and thought about Hangman’s hole but due to wet weather and low airspace crawls we opted out and where stuck for something to do that wasn’t to easy and had a bit of everything that we were after.

Dunc had posted a comment about new passage and 9 pitches that have been found in Rumbling hole, so we went to inglesport and quizzed Dave Ramsay about the rumours. After a lengthy description of the route we popped in to Bernie’s for a brew and then set off to leck fell. You guessed it the fell was as cold as ever and with me braving the cold and rob cowering in the car we got kitted up and set off to the distant fenced shaft of Rumbling hole.

Rob wanted to rig so he set off down and I followed closely behind so as to get down into the warmth of the cave. Now i've seen and even been down Rumbling when it’s been wet but today the water was thundering down the shaft and spraying out in all directions at the bottom a stunning picture if only we had a camera! Anyway back to the trip, part way down the entrance pitch a red guide line goes off to the left away from the thundering waterfall coming out of Rumbling Back cave. Reaching the end of the red guide line we tied our rope off and set about tackling the free hanging traverse to the end of the rift (Very strenuous) reaching the end of the traverse you then abseil down and across using another red guide line to the far side of the rift were you end up perching on a small ledge. Now having spoken to Dave he said it is best to remove our SRT kit to do the next section so we promptly did and after rob shot off down the sandy tube I duly followed a few minutes later.

The entrance to the dead bobbin series starts with a sandy crawl up hill into a small chamber then another crawl uphill in to an aven (Dead bird aven) from the aven the only way on is ‘Reluctance passage’ aptly named as well, sideways going flat out in the stream round a right bend then a left bend then a sharp right bend the going then gets a little smaller and then opens up were a dry inlet joins on the left, from here on the going gets easier if still a little cramped to the top of the first pitch ‘Blasphemy pitch’ it is here were Dave said to put srt kits back on and I can tell you don’t bother even taking it off as it’s one hell of a job to put back on. A short traverse line heads out and round to the left to the top of the pitch where it is best to stay high on the way down. Once at the bottom a short roped climb drops you straight onto ‘Easy pitch’ rightly named as well since it’s err well easy. A small climb follows and then a short section of crawling to the top of ‘Profanity pitch’ which is a little narrow at the top but didn’t pose much of a problem. The bottom of the pitch lands in a nice big passage with a climb up the right wall and the way on being a narrow rift heading off down to the left. Only a few metres and the way on divides again, a climb down to the right and a climb up and over to the left which is the start of ‘Squeezy pitch’ not tight or awkward but squeezy none the less. A re-belay and a deviation take you to the bottom and a short traverse to the top of the next pitch ‘Rifty pitch’ (imaginative names!)

Rifty pitch lands in a dug trench in the floor and to the right there is a wet inlet passage and the way on is a crawl through another narrow rift and then a muddy pool which is soft going under foot to a climb up on the left to a mud shelf, then a few metres of easy crawling leads to a climb down loose boulders to another awkward scramble through to a rift with an easy but interesting climb down the rift to a sloping boulder slope which leads you down to the head of the next pitch ‘6th pitch’ a free hang for most of the way down lands at the top of the ‘7th pitch’ you can here a hefty amount of water from here and upon reaching the bottom a stoop under a low section places you under a huge aven with a thundering amount of water coming in from high above, a quick dash under the water and the way on is a low crawl in the stream over a boulder and then you can stand up again and admire what lays ahead of you! A magnificent stream passage snakes off with cascades, climbs and water to the top of the 8th pitch, quickly followed by a short climb and then the final pitch to the sump. An excellent trip by any means and a credit to the diggers for cracking open another classic! The return journey didn’t go as well as I had hoped with a few problems in the crawl at the top of profanity pitch were my chest strap and cowstails kept catching on everything they could, but I got out and I’d go again so it can’t be that bad.

Once changed and our numb bodies warming nicely, we headed back to Inglesport to relay the information to Dave that we had left his ropes were he wanted them and to congratulate him on his find. It’s good to note that there are still 3 pitches un-descended to date and talks of possible connections to Deaths head could this be the start of a big exchange trip? Big Meanie to Rumbling hole here we come!!

Pete Dale