Post date: May 2, 2011 10:11:06 PM
Cavers: Aileen, Gaelan, Niall, Petie, Al
A change of plan led us up to East Cuilcagh to principally check out prospects in Goat Pot, one of the sinks for the Tullyhona system.
It was a lovely day and caving attire was hardly suitable for hiking across the moors. Following the GPS to the co-ordinates given in COFAC, Petie and i found a series of blind shakeholes with no prospects whatsoever. After a bit of head scratching we homed in to a nearby hollow sheltering a few trees, and found an open rifty pot. The others soon arrived, having found some divertions into various others holes on the way. Aileen volunteered to rig, while the rest of us lay in sun, drying out. Rigging off two trees allowed her to drop the first short pitch to an old spit which made a rebelay for the second pitch. This required some cleaning with spit and a twig, and she then set a second spit to make a nice Y-hang. This took some time, but when completed it allowed a nice 20m drop to the floor of the pot. This is a really nice pot, and would be an ideal beginner SRT trip. Niall took some photos and then left early.
Sadly there's not much horizontal development. From the base of the pitch the pot bellies out and slopes downwards over a mud and boulder floor, with some nice fried egg formations. At the lowest point of the slope was an inviting hole between the boulders and the wall, and i inserted myself into this and slid downwards. I made it down about 2m, where the space enlarged a bit and appeared to run off horizontally under the wall / ceilling. As i slid further to try to get into this, a large rock fell onto my legs and another slid into my chest. Slightly pinned, i called for back-up, the calls becoming a little more urgent as it seemed that the back-up didn't realise the awkwardness of the situation. Petie arrived with a sling, which i put around the upper loose boulder and he was able to pull it up and support it while i tried to float upwards without kicking on the slope. That was the end of the leads at the bottom of the pot. In the wall opposite the pitch and a little above the floor were a series of bedding plane collapses, into which Aileen and i wriggled for 10 metres or so of virgin passage, and although there was one place where it might be possible to dig (awkwardly) it seems pointless. Peite and Gaelan poked around a bit higher in the bedding plane collapse area, and then we all left.
Gaelan encouraged / coerced us to look at a large pot with a stream sinking in it which he had spotted on the walk in. This turned out to be Sheep Pot. After a lengthy battle with the trees we made it to the stream which could be followed to a waterfall. Aileen then left, while Gaelan rigged from a tree and dropped the waterfall pitch. The rigging is far from ideal, and it really needs a couple of spits to make a Y-hang to the left of the waterfall where there's some decent looking rock. Petie joined Gaelan at the bottom and i set a Y-hang from a second tree and positioned myself to act as a human rope protector. Prospects here are reported to be good, Gaelen claiming some draughts while Petie pushed some awkward rifts until they became too tight, however there's further passage visible beyond. It needs a bit of hammering or perhaps a smaller caver. COFAC additionally reports this cave as unpushed.
En-route out, we checked other holes. I entered a small rifty cave (unrecorded), for 5m of manky walking passage to a slope up to a grotty calcite grotto; in the floor were cobbles with no obvious prospects. We also found Legacurragh Pot and Aghatirourke Pot, which we had to leave undescended as there were no convenient trees (ground anchors needed).
Al
Niall's photos of Goat Pot - https://picasaweb.google.com/slowlearner1/GoatPot#5602921605408486418