New anchors for Yockenthwaite Pot
Mike Cooper's book ‘Not for the Faint Hearted’ has a lot to answer for, including the rise in popularity of a number of esoteric and more challenging potholes across our region.
With this comes a need to provide these pots with safe anchors, as many still have only original exploration spits or degrading non stainless steel anchors. In recent years we have anchored ‘black book’ caves including Quaking Pot, Marble Sink, Broken Finger Pot, Boggarts Roaring Holes, Car Pot, Pasture Gill Pot and Growling Hole.
This summer has seen the turn of Yockenthwaite Pot in Langstrothdale. This is a quirky but increasingly popular cave with four short pitches, and a collection of the usual squeezes and challenging situations.
The integrity of the anchors in no longer a concern, although this does not make the pothole any easier!
The same installer has also added a few anchors to the rarely visited Cote Gill Pot in Lower Littondale.
Thank you to our anchor installer for this excellent work. Topos for both caves are now online, and if you are looking for a great route description for Yockenthwaite Pot, then Not for the Faint Hearted (p140-141) is your goto place, and also Descent 300 (p11) for details of the anchoring work.