Rat Hole

Location
Grid Reference: SD 7509 7273.

Altitude: 402 m

An obvious low cave located in the right bank of Fell Beck a few metres below the equally obvious Rat Hole Sink.

Description
Rat Hole is an inlet feeding the Gaping Gill main shaft complex.

A snug crawl with a few bends passes a couple of minor inlets before dropping down a 3 m climb. The passage below almost immediately joins a stream passage flowing from the left, carrying the Rat Hole Sink water.

Upstream, easy crawling leads to the Rat Hole Sink entrance. Downstream leads after a few metres to a 5 m pitch at the bottom of which the water disappears down a gully, the way on being across some chock stone boulders to the main pitch. A descent of this is objectively dangerous, as it takes all the water and passes areas of sharp, tottering flakes. The current SRT route descends a few metres but then swings into the rift to the east. From here a pendulum traverse leads to a ledge overlooking the impressive Mousehole (pronounced Mouzel!) shaft.

Above the ledge an aven leads to a small passage which is in the process of being connected to a cave in the bank of Fell Beck. Across the pitch, a traverse leads to a draughting passage which passes under two small avens before becoming too tight.

Mousehole terminates in a floor with a window through to the Gaping Gill rift, but the SRT route deviates to the south to enter the same rift well above the floor. A few metres above the base of the shaft is the end of a P-bolt traverse which starts 30 m down Lateral Shaft, and crosses Hamster Aven.

The SRT pitch finishes on a large well-watered scoop-shaped ledge after a 49 m descent. A short traverse to the east leads to the final 35 m pitch, which lands in the Main Chamber.

Access
Permission for access should be obtained from the Ingleborough Estate Office

History
During the Yorkshire Ramblers Club (YRC) initial explorations of Gaping Gill the entrance to Rat Hole was buried under a bank of boulder clay, but this had washed clear by 1908. The cave was explored by C. Wingfield and E. Addyman as far as the junction with the main stream in 1909, and in the following year was surveyed by H. Brodrick and L. Slingsby, and with Wingfield, explored as far as the big pitch. This was plumbed at 61 m to the main ledge in 1912 by Wingfield. He succeeded in reaching this ledge in 1913 by traversing across from Lateral Shaft.

In 1935, Craven Pothole Club (CPC) took up the challenge of the undescended big pitch and after dragging in over 70 m of rope ladder with associated lifelines, Arnold Waterfall and Edgar Smith achieved the first descent into Main Chamber. The feat was repeated a couple of years later by a combined Wessex Cave Club (WCC) and British Speleological Association (BSA) party which included Bob Leakey.

Interest in Rat Hole then waned, and by 1960 the entrance passage was choked. In 1983 the CPC started to dig out the sink, P14, as well as the entrance to Rat Hole itself, and continued their efforts the following year. P14 was the first to go and was named Rat Hole Sink, and the main entrance succumbed soon after.

An attempt was then made by Steph Gough, John Cordingley, and Graham Proudlove to rig the pitch for SRT. Steph started the descent but soon found himself amidst a forest of sharp, tottering flakes. He reached the main ledge at -60 m and decided to retreat. This plan was foiled when he discovered that the rope had almost cut through 10 m above the ledge, and he had to return to the ledge without his foot loops. He then had a draughty wait for several hours before someone in the Main Chamber was able to confirm that his rope reached the floor.

Mike Wooding and John Gardner picked up the baton in late 1985, and in establishing a safer SRT route, discovered Mousehole shaft which proved to be the key to the descent. They entered it about 15 - 20 m from the top, and were intrigued by an inlet coming in from the roof. By hanging a rope through a small hole in a calcite chamber above the first pitch they were able to pendulum across at a higher level, and traverse into the inlet series.

The route was P-bolted and straightened up by Mike Wooding in 2004 / 2005, and in doing so he climbed an aven to a small passage above the first stance in Mousehole. He also established a P-bolt traverse from Dihedral to near the base of Mousehole through Hamster Aven to facilitate access whilst he was bolting the bottom pitch.

References and Further Reading

 * 1) Cooper M. 2006. Not for the Faint-Hearted, pp. 33-36 &amp; 203-204, Purprise Press, Hebden Bridge
 * 2) Cordingley J. & Gough S. 1984. "The Rat Hole 1984" Jnl CPC 6, No. 5, pp 211-218
 * 3) Cordingley J. 1986 "Fine Trip- But Beware" (letter) Descent 71, page 33
 * 4) Brodrick H. 1912. "The Streambed of Fell Beck above Gaping Gill" Jnl YRC 4 No. 12, pp 44-53
 * 5) Gardner J.W. 1986. "Rat Hole - A Grand Old Shaft of the Dales" Descent no. 69, pp 30-31
 * 6) Gardner J.W. 1987. "Rat Hole - Up the Mousehole" Descent no. 75, page 26
 * 7) Gough S. &amp; Cordingley J. 1984 "Gaping Ghyll: Craven Re-open Rat Hole Entrance" Descent 60, page 11
 * 8) Halliwell R.A. 2003 "Rat Hole and Rat Hole Sink" CPC Record, no. 72 pp 18-21
 * 9) Rule A. 1910. “Gaping Ghyll: Exploration & Survey: Spout Tunnel and Rathole”. Jnl YRC Vol 3 No 10, pp 186-192.
 * 10) Rule A. 1913. "Gaping Ghyll in 1913" Jnl YRC 4 No. 13, pp 160-163
 * 11) Waterfall A. 1984. "The Rat Hole 1935" Jnl CPC 6, No. 5, pp 218-221
 * 12) Warren S. 1984. "The Rat Hole 1935 - Further Gleanings" Jnl CPC 6, No. 5, pp 221-222
 * 13) Wooding M.J. 1986 "More on the Pleasures of Mousehole" (letter) Descent 73, page 36
 * 14) Wooding M.J. 2005. "Rat Hole Rebolted" Descent no. 186, page 12