TRAPDOOR POT

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


Feedback

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.