Anyone know how quickly water levels in Hell Gill respond to rainfall? Does it drop quickly after all weekend rain or rise quickly with rain forecast for tomorrow afternoon?!
It is a hidden gem! I live in Yorkshire and have caved a lot in The Dales but never knew of it's existence until recently. Rope looked ok, but we all jumped so didn't test it out.
Rope comes in very handy (essential) when going up the canyon - you have to drag yourself feet first up the waterfall, hand over hand on the rope - great fun.
It does flash flood like the local caves after heavy rain. I've found it impassable twice (in 15 years of visits) and an experienced local instructor has been trapped midway down (just above the plunge pool) with a group when it flash flooded from a rainstorm further up the hill. Luckily they got everyone high up one side and it dropped again after an hour or so..
Had an interesting time there back in the 80's before bolts and rope appeared. I was in my old caving wetsuit and jumped into the plunge pool. I sank right to the bottom and had a real struggle to get back to the surface. Afterwards we reckoned it was the lack of buoyancy in the frothy aerated water. Some of the caves around Mallerstang are quite entertaining in a grim kind of way.
