Present: Rosie Hendriksen, Oliver Bosworth, Pete Hall, Jakub Dominikowski
Duration: 5 hours 15 minutes
Late on Friday night the kind leaders of DUSA have decided on trips. The choice for me was between Car Pot and Toyland. To continue my streak on not missed dinners, I opted in for the later option. Without reading any descriptions, I assumed Toyland is a horrible muddy place which turned out to be somewhat true.
After a hearty breakfast and some faff (which I actually appreciated as it meant I could bathe in the sun-a rare commodity in the Dales), we were off to Kingsdale in Rosie’s Mighty Stallion. I must say that the Mighty Stallion has seen better days. The variety of fungi, silicon balls and acid soup in the boot are clear signs of long term health problems of the Mighty Stallion. Perhaps it’s the years of abuse he has endured (or Rosie’s driving), the true cause will always be a mystery to me.
Anyway, we arrived at a peaceful and mostly empty Kingsdale. The weather was so nice it was somewhat of a shame to go underground, although I’m sure there will be plenty more sunny days to come this year. The familiar faces parked in front of us were off to Crescent, seeing them as little dots slogging up that massive hill was quite funny. Being the evil leaders we are, most of the journey here was spent convincing Oliver that the walk to Valley entrance was really long (I really enjoyed the surprise on his face when we got to the plastic pipe). We got changed quite quickly and were off.
I can’t remember the last time I was in Valley entrance, but it feels like every time I go there the roof tunnel is wetter. Quite unexpectedly, the way on towards Toyland starts off as a 70m wet crawl, thankfully the water is quite low and it’s easy to keep the upper body dry. We quickly reached the 1st up pitch which was quite narrow at the top. As this was Oliver’s 3rd cave (I believe), I was slightly concerned how he would deal with the narrow pitch head. Thankfully, Oliver absolutely cruised it with minimal guidance, which is always a pleasant sight to see.
Following this is a sideways crawl which leads onto an easy traverse that pops up into a decently sized chamber. Here we had some time to take our SRT kits off for the upcoming squeezes. I think not knowing how narrow the squeezes are de-kitting is always a good idea. It’s better to delay the trip by 5 minutes than potentially get stuck for a lot longer. The navigation is quite straight forward. Sadly, one of the squeezes was quite wet. I managed to make a dam for everyone else which made it somewhat drier (shame I had to get wet, but to be fair I did have a wetsuit on).
Following this the last main pitch is met. Despite being quite wet, the pitch is very short so it’s easy to avoid getting fully soaked. This gets into a chamber where a choice of routes is available. We decided to head into the Victoria Extensions first. The 11m up pitch pops up into a tiny chamber. Here we decided to take our SRT kits off, which I would say is essential for the next bit of passage.
The “easy” squeeze is encountered relatively quickly. I wouldn’t necessarily call this squeeze easy. Physically it’s not that challenging but it is quite narrow. Pete gave it a couple of attempts and decided it’s not worth it (which after going through the following passages I would agree). The CNCC description describes this as a 15-20 minute detour (surely), so Pete decided to wait for us in the chamber as we had a little explore.
With Rosie leading the way, followed by Oliver and myself, the risk of getting stuck was quite high. Although we did not expect there to be any major difficulties. In the next bit of passage Rosie was in her happy place-sticky mud which you had to crawl through (I swear every trip I go on with Rosie I get coated in mud). I don’t recall much from this bit of passage but eventually the first difficult squeeze is reached. At first Rosie was unsure if this is the way on, which didn’t fill me with much hope. She decided to give it a go and after hearing her get through I got quite excited.
Squeezing is probably my favourite part of caving. I cannot really describe why, some people say it’s like a warm hug they never got. I just find it fun and as long as I enjoy it I don’t think it needs an explanation. Oliver followed Rosie. I do have to say, when going through squeezes Oliver makes very concerning sounds. It quite literally sounded like he was being stabbed by the rock. Despite this, he got through easily. The squeeze itself is in a narrow rift, very tight and slightly awkward as halfway along there is a protrusion of rock which is pointy in the centre. Thankfully, it’s short and the pain is over quickly.
The next squeeze is quite possibly the narrowest (not the hardest) hole I have ever gone through. Again, Rosie was unsure if we actually would fit through (after which she slid straight up it). The squeeze has 2 parts. Initially, it starts off horizontally and then bends upwards, forming a corner. It then becomes vertical and turns into a narrow circular hole at the top- its circumference just slightly larger than that around my chest. To get through the 2nd part you need to rotate your body in order to push yourself up. This is where Oliver’s foot got slightly jammed in a crack right next to the squeeze. Luckily, I could quite easily reach his foot to guide it out and all was well. It was my turn to go and I was concerned I wouldn’t fit through. I did have to take my helmet off so I could fit my arms and shoulder in front of me. I did the same thing as Oliver, twisted my foot into the crack. With some wiggling around this was quite easy to get out.
The squeeze pops into a nice chamber with large calcite formations. On the far side of the chamber is a climb which would have been quite tricky if the rope was not there. Naturally, as is the case with most of my trips, I became a human ladder (possibly one of my best traits if you’re caving with me). Getting stepped on is not always a pleasant experience but I’m glad I can be useful to someone. Following this is some easy crawling and a climb. After the climb I decided to check the time and it’s already been around 20 minutes since we split off with Pete. Not wanting to make him wait longer I decided it was not worth pushing it to conclusion (we still had 2 hard squeezes to get through).
On the way back, I wasn’t as much of a human step (I think? I can’t remember now it’s been over a week since this trip). The vertical slot was quite a lot easier on the way down. However, the rifty squeeze accounted for that by being much more difficult. I went through it first and kind of slipped down into the narrow bit (first time in my life I swear). Instead of just backing up and trying again I decided to force myself through, which was really painful with the invasive rock protrusion digging right into the centre of my pelvis. This was probably the closest I have ever been to getting stuck in a squeeze. Following me was Oliver who also had a little bit of trouble with this one. I decided to once again donate my body to a good cause and used my leg to make the floor of the squeeze a bit higher, making it easier to stay up. Rosie was the last one to go through and she basically slid straight through it like she had baby oil on her.
After about an hour since we entered the extensions we finally met back up with Pete (I’m very sorry to keep you waiting). The 20 minutes on the CNCC topo is quite misleading. Certainly it’s possible to do the whole thing in 20 minutes but it feels like a lot of cave, which would probably require a much faster pace. Everyone was still keen on exploring more, so we decided to go into the other extensions.
There is not much to say about this part of the cave, it’s quite easy and uninteresting caving. At the end we got to a boulder choke which Pete decided to start digging with the help of Oliver (and Rosie?). They managed to move a couple of boulders which opened up into 2 meters of passage. What a way to spend your 3rd day underground trip- extending Valley entrance by 2 meters. Meanwhile, I sat in the water pretending to be a beaver. At the end of the 2 meters, it did look like the passage continued- a return trip would most likely require a crowbar and a hammer.
The way out was quite uneventful. When we got back in the roof tunnel we decided to have a look at the pitch into the master cave where we met some folk from the YSS who had just been to the strike series. It was still sunny on the way out and there was no risk of missing dinner. What a happy ending! Of course I didn’t get to do Car pot, but I’m also very glad to have been back before 10pm!
All in all, I’m quite pleased with this trip. Oliver has impressed me with his squeezing, general lack of faff (pres material right here) and having extended the cave by 2 meters. It was also really nice to cave with Pete again and hear about what he has been up to in the Mendip. Toyland is quite a nice excursion and as long as you don’t go into Victoria extensions, it’s a really nice and clean cave. Although I did enjoy the squeezes and I’m glad Rosie pushed us to go further.
(P.S I think the Mighty Stallion is an environmental hazard at this point and should have a sign to enter at your own risk (of course we love the Mighty Stallion, please don’t beat me up)).
Jakub Dominikowski