Notts Pot topo and description changes
Back in autumn, we received a report from an enthusiastic caver who had recently visited Notts Pot, to say that some aspects of the topo were wrong, and also that we were missing some recently installed IC anchors which provide an alternative on the penultimate pitch (where the Ireby Fell water enters).
Thank you to this caver for your proactivity in helping us redraw the topo to better reflect the real situation.
A few details needed clarification, so one of our team took a trip into Notts over the Christmas period. We are now pleased to republish the rigging topo with several corrections:
- The hard to find unnecessary deviation at the top of Twilight removed.
- The portrayal of where Twilight meets the Left Hand Route ledge improved.
- General restructuring/rescaling to improve the overall appearance.
- A missing deviation anchor has been added on the penultimate pitch.
- Second route added on penultimate pitch where Ireby water enters.
- Other minor tweaks and improvements throughout.
These changes follow previous updates in 2020 and 2023 after anchor replacement works.
The route description has also been updated to reflect the topo changes and to improve the clarity.
We don't usually produce a news article about every topo or description update. However, with these changes being for one of the most popular potholes in our region, we thought this was worth a mention, if anything to serve as a reminder to always download the most recent version rather than relying on older printouts.
Finally, we know our topos don't always perfectly match reality. Some of our topos, particularly for the more ‘classic’ potholes were drawn in the 1990s when they were first anchored, and either contained mistakes at the time (the ‘draw it up after a beer’ effect) or mistakes have crept in over sequential versions, or due to anchor replacements/removals over the decades. We always welcome feedback on any errors. Even though our topos are only diagramatic and not drawn to scale, we also welcome feedback on any visual improvements that could be made too.
Photos: The entrance pitch and the crawl into Notts Pot. Courtesy of Gary Douthwaite.