HAMMER POT

Through Stemple Rift and Sludge Crawl into the Out Fell Master Cave with absolutely no possibility of getting bored.


Additional Reading

Allshorn, S. 2009 "Almost a Hammer Horror" Descent 207 pp 28-29
A detailed account of the discovery and exploration of The Water Butt extension in Hammer Pot (including survey and rigging details).


Feedback

From Mike Bottomley (ULSA/CPC) - 26/5/08
Recently we enjoyed a superb trip down Hammer Pot. Going at a steady pace it took around 6.5 hours for our group of six to complete the trip, which included a visit to the upstream sump and Incline Passage - both are interesting side trips and well worth doing. Stemple Rift proved to be easier than expected with plenty of footholds and wooden stemples to ease progress along the narrow rift, although it is slightly more awkward on the return. The fine Fourth Pitch could do with another spit at the top to improve the rigging, as there is only one eyebolt at the moment for the first two drops. The Out Fell Master Cave was rather impressive and even after nearly 3 weeks of dry weather still had a sizeable stream flowing through it. On the return from the sump, I decided to climb the Last Pitch bypass, which was fun and straightforward in the low water conditions, but exposed at the top. Fountains Fell certainly has its share of classic potholes.

From Mike Cooper (RRCPC/CPC) - 19/4/09
In September 2008 Sam Allshorn (ULSA) and Mike Cooper enlarged a narrow vertical rift in the floor of the final aven of Incline Passage. Sam descended the 3m deep rift and pushed a short, flat-out crawl to a pitch head. In January 2009 Sam descended the new pitch and named it The Water Butt. The pitch is 22m deep (the largest pitch in Hammer Pot) and lands in a flooded shaft with no way on at water level. A steep mud slope leads up to the base of another large aven, but again there was no way on. A 40m rope, 4 bolts and a tape sling are required to descend this interesting new extension.