Stream Passage Pot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Stream Passage Pot | |
|---|---|
 Entrance to Stream Passage Pot | |
  Showing location of Stream Passage Pot in the Yorkshire Dales | |
| Location | Ingleborough, North Yorkshire, UK |
| OS grid | SD 7484 7252 |
| Coordinates | 54°08′52″N 2°23′12″W / 54.147831°N 2.386572°W[1] |
| Depth | 151 metres (495 ft) (To Mud Pot sump)[1] |
| Length | 579 metres (1,900 ft) (To Mud Pot sump)[1] |
| Elevation | 415 metres (1,362 ft)[1] |
| Discovery | 1949 |
| Geology | Carboniferous limestone |
| Entrances | 1 |
| Difficulty | IV[1] |
| Hazards | verticality, water[1] |
| Access | Permit [2] |
| Cave survey | 1966 ULSA survey on Cavemaps |
Stream Passage Pot is one of the entrances to the Gaping Gill system being located about 320 metres (350 yd) ESE of Gaping Gill Main Shaft. It is a popular and sporting entrance into the system, featuring three well-watered big shafts. It is the highest entrance of the Gaping Gill system, so the full depth of the system, 198 metres (650 ft), is measured from its entrance.[3] It lies within the designated Ingleborough Site of Special Scientific Interest.[4]
Stream Passage Pot is at the end of a blind valley. The water sinks to one side of the valley before the end, and the entrance is through a boulder ruckle down a vertical lined shaft for 6 metres (20 ft). An awkward passage soon terminates in a small pitch 6 metres (20 ft) into a chamber where the stream enters. A high meandering passage from the chamber leads after about 200 metres (660 ft) to an 85-metre (279 ft) deep rift which is descended in three stages. The descent route involves traversing and technical rope rigging to avoid the waterfalls. The last pitch drops into Stream Passage in Gaping Gill.[1][5]
The water flows through Stream Passage into Stream Chamber. From here a route to the right follows a succession of chambers towards Gaping Gill Main Chamber, but the stream works its way through a boulder ruckle in Stream Chamber to a lower stream passage and the final pitch of 15 metres (49 ft), known as Mud Pot. At the bottom is a sump which has been dived to a depth of 9 metres (30 ft) and distance of 67 metres (220 ft).[1] The water is next seen in the deep pool at the bottom of South-East Pot below the final pitch of Flood Entrance Pot.[6]