BOGGARTS ROARING HOLES

Another splendid vertical caving system on Ingleborough with an amusing assortment of awkward pitch head manoeuvres and rigging dilemmas.


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From Mike Bottomley (ULSA/CPC) - 3/4/07
We hadn't done Boggart's Roaring Holes before so the description was followed carefully and proved to be very useful, even though there weren't really many places to go wrong. Most of the rigging is off exploration studs (which are a real pain) and some pitch heads do involve minor 'head-first' acrobatics! Care is required on Fever Pitch and Fifth Pitch in particular as there isn't much to rig off. The stud at the top of Bone Pitch is unusable (i.e. it rotates and the nut is rusted on). Rope lengths were accurate as usual.

From George North (RRCPC/DUSA) - 21/8/07
Four cavers from DUSA/BUSS went for an afternoon bimble down Boggarts recently. We couldn't find the original Y-hang bolts on the First Pitch so we used a spit on the left-hand side of the rift shared with a thread from a boulder. This produced a good hang. Apparently the Y-hang bolts are 2m higher up the rift and are accessed via a short traverse along the left wall of the rift. At Fever Pitch, one of the thru-bolts (exploration studs) is now unusable, but an 8mm bolt provides a substitute anchor. At the Fifth Pitch, the roof thru-bolt is knackered, so we just rigged from the natural thread and used a rope protector. We turned around at the bottom of Blind Man's Bluff in order to make the pub. I think it's safe to say that cheap thru-bolts are rubbish!

From Mike Cooper (RRCPC/CPC) - 2/4/08
New bolts with integral hangers have been installed in Boggarts Roaring Holes and there is no longer any requirement to use failing exploration studs or spits. Fever Pitch can now be rigged with 5m less rope (i.e. 25m not 30m), but otherwise the rope lengths in NFTFH seem to remain valid. Curiously, on Lost Persons Pitch the new rebelay bolt has been positioned a couple of metres lower and is difficult to spot, but once found it works well. On Frank's Pitch there is an additional (and very helpful) rebelay bolt at a large ledge about 10m down. For a full return trip, an extra 2-3 maillons/karabiners may be needed.