TRAPDOOR POT

A largely vertical system with a perturbing choke; some awkward squeezes and a superb final shaft.


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From Mike Cooper (RRCPC/CPC) - 15/2/07
Loose material in the bottom of the FTSE Choke is on the move (care!) and the short pitch below might be safer with an additional tape rebelay from a spike above the final drop. At Electron Pitch the floor blocks used as the initial anchor have been removed (!) and the pitch has acquired two new bolts in the right-hand wall. The deep pitch in They Think It's All Over has also acquired a new bolt (about 5m down from the top). This rebelay bolt does provide some extra reassurance (if required) when negotiating the steep boulder slope below the initial drop.

From George North (RRCPC/DUSA) - 15/5/07
Tom Clayton and I visited Trapdoor Pot recently. We both thought that it was an excellent trip. At Ready to Roll Pitch we used a second spit (on the right) for a back-up anchor. We also replaced a chockstone in the crawl above Electron Pitch because we'd run out of bolts for the spits. It was firmly booted into place! We visited the bottom of the Megatron and 'They Think It's All Over'. The latter was certainly the more exciting of the two and we 'liberated' a significant quantity of loose rock from the gully!

From Mike Cooper (RRCPC/CPC) - 2/4/08
New bolts with integral hangers have been installed in Trapdoor Pot (excluding They Think It's All Over) and there is no longer any requirement to use failing exploration studs or spits. The rope lengths in NFTFH appear to remain valid, but 2-3 extra maillons/karabiners may be needed. On the Megatron Pitch, the new bolts above the big drop have been thoughtfully positioned to obviate the need for a deviation lower down.

From Patrick Warren (CPC) - 27/9/08
Did Trapdoor Pot recently and made a note of the maillons required to use the new in situ hangers: That's Better (2), FTSE Choke (2), Ready to Roll (4), Electron (4) and Megatron (4). Total = 16 maillons.

From Neil McCallum (no club) - 14/10/08
Had a look down Trapdoor Pot on 4/10/08 and the FTSE choke continues to move. There was very heavy rain that day and a plethora of rescues elsewhere. The water was running down the shale slope below the initial squeeze and was washing shale, earth and several large blocks into the next hole leading down to the pitch head. We attempted to stabilise it by wedging the larger blocks in the rift, but the slope was disintegrating as we watched. It was quite unnerving, so three (not usually faint-hearted) cavers went out to the pub. We plan to return at some point with some lengths of wood and a saw.

From Ian Walker (DUSA) - 15/4/09
On 11th April 2009, Ralph Leech and I had a very enjoyable trip down Trapdoor Pot via the Megatron route. The FTSE Choke did show signs of having moved relatively recently, but looked safe and stable enough for us not to feel unnerved. The shoring here looked good too. The new permanent hangers were excellent and we had a trouble free trip.

From Mark Sims and Matt Ewles (YCC) - 17/5/09
We had a fantastic trip down Trapdoor Pot recently, but there were a couple of issues on Megatron Pitch. We used the new in situ hangers, but we also put in the deviation as we couldn't tell if there would be any rope rub. On the way back up, the old deviation bolt popped out of the wall. Thankfully there was no rope rub and hence no need for the deviation. Coming off the top Y-hang, a sizeable (0.5m x 0.5m) rock unexpectedly fell off the true right-hand wall and landed on the ledge a few metres below. We inspected the remainder of this seemingly solid wall and found it to be quite crumbly with the possibility of further layers peeling away. We'd advise future visitors to check for loose rock prior to a descent.