BIRKS FELL CAVE

A long, exciting and well-watered journey down one of the finest stream caves in Yorkshire.


Additional Reading

Beck, H.M. 2007 "Birks Fell Cave (A Classic Craven Discovery)" CPC Record No.86 pp 5-8
An overview of original exploration with some evocative description of the cave.


Feedback

From Sam Allshorn (ULSA) - 14/9/07
ULSA members had an excellent day out in Birks Fell at the beginning of September. One of the lead group inadvertently discovered a new (and quite desperate) free-climbable bypass to the First Pitch after failing to read the guidebook description properly. A little knowledge can indeed be a dangerous thing! At the far end of Moon Milk Cave we noticed that two P-bolts have been placed (for some unfathomable reason) in the right-hand wall above The Block. Naturally we ignored these and squeezed underneath The Block as generations of cavers have done before us, but inevitably some in the party behind us claimed we hadn't rigged a pitch! Rigging to the left on Shale Pitch was quite challenging, but ultimately offered a much drier descent. We took a rope for Slimy Slit Pitch, but it wasn't uncoiled as the entire group (about eight of us) free climbed the pitch in both directions.