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Photo: Matt Kennedy
17 September 2024

Exploring Yorkshire Pot: Insights from the Caving Expedition

A Pre-Trip Q&A with Project Lead Brent Arnold

Embarking on a journey into the depths of Canada's third-longest cave, Yorkshire Pot, is no small feat. Brent Arnold, Guide Manager at Canmore Cave Tours and Vice President of the Alberta Speleological Society, leads this ambitious expedition. With over a decade of caving experience, Brent's passion for subterranean exploration has driven him to spearhead the first organized expedition to Yorkshire Pot in the 21st century.

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Q&A With Brent: September 11, 2024

3 Days Until the Expedition Begins

Can you tell us a bit about Yorkshire Pot?
The Yorkshire Pot Cave System was discovered in 1969 and is located down in the Crownest Pass, on the Andy Good Plateau. As of right now, it is Canada’s 9th deepest cave and 3rd longest. It is just over the 14km long range now, with 395 meters depth. Right now, there are 9 known entrances to the cave system
How do you get to the cave and how long does it take?

The cave is situated almost directly on the Alberta/British Columbia border. There are two main ways to access the cave; one from the Alberta side and one from the BC side. The Alberta side, with a camping bag takes around 4 to 4.5 hours to hike. From the BC side, it takes maybe 2-3 hours to hike. Both routes have close to 1000 meters elevation gain.

We will be helicoptering most our gear up to the main camp site this time, so we will most likely just have a day bag with food, water and essentials with us on the hike up.
What makes it interesting from an exploration perspective?
The cave was orignially explored in the 1960's by a group from McMaster University, and has seen multiple efforts since then with many other caves in the area ultimately connected to Yorkshire Pot. Despite all of this work there are still lots of unexplored passageways within this cave and it is already an exceptionally long system. Not only do we have the opportunity to extend what is already a long and deep cave, but there potential to find new formations, entrances and even life in the cave.
How long have you been planning and preparing for this trip?
I have been thinking about this project now for about 6 years. I organized the inital trip in September, 2022 with support from members of the Alberta Speleological Society. For the 2024 expedition, I started planning back in February.
What are the main objectives of the expedition?
The first and foremost is just to allow people to explore a beautiful cave system. The actual objectives of the expedition are to survey and map as much as possible. The primary focus being on an area called the Horror Show, as well as the lower reaches of the section of cave below the Horror Show, going down into Alberta Avenue where there are a few low passages that seem to be avoided and haven’t really been mapped. Another big focus is also to connect a cave called Little Moscow to the main Cave System. Little Moscow would then become the highest entrance way into the Yorkshire Pots Cave System. Depending on how and where it connects, it could potentially add between 50 and 75 meters of depth to the cave.

Discovering the Yorkshire Pot

Situated on the Alberta/British Columbia border in the Crowsnest Pass, the Yorkshire Pot Cave System was discovered in 1969. It boasts over 14 kilometers of passages and a depth of 395 meters, making it Canada's ninth deepest and third longest cave. The system features nine known entrances, offering a labyrinth of unexplored passageways that intrigue cavers and speleologists alike.

Accessing the Cave

Reaching Yorkshire Pot is a challenging endeavor. From the Alberta side, cavers face a 4 to 4.5-hour hike with a significant elevation gain of approximately 1,000 meters. The British Columbia approach is slightly shorter, requiring a 2 to 3-hour ascent. For this expedition, the team plans to utilize helicopter support to transport essential gear to the main campsite, allowing them to focus on the exploration ahead.

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Hiking to the Cave

The approach to Yorkshire Pot is not particularly far, but there is a lot of elevation to gain and a lot of heavy equipment to bring.

Photo Credit: The 2022 Yorkshire Pot Expedition

Caving Expedition Equipment Preparation

Yorkshire Pot is a long, deep cave that requires serious techincal skills to navigate. Even a day trip requires thorough planning and preparation, but planning to spend a week in the cave is trip prep at another level. Where will you sleep? What will you eat? How will you stay warm and dry in a cave that is wet and around 3°C year-round? Now multiply this by 14 people and your equipment pile gets really big!

Photo Credit: The 2024 Yorkshire Pot Expedition

Food Preparation For Yorkshire Pot

You get hungry when caving. Really hungry. The Yorkshire Pot team will need to carry camp and equipment bags through the cave that will average 15-20kgs each. That might not seem like much on the surface, but imagine climbing a 300m ladder with 20kgs hanging beneath you, or squeezing under your bed dragging a heavy bag. They're going to need every calorie they can find to keep their energy up, so meal planning is a big part of the expedition process. The challenge is finding calorie-desnse food that is light, durable and easy to pack, so much of what they bring will be dehydrated foods. Water is relatively availabe in the cave so meal time will generally consist of adding water and heating over a stove. This style of food has the added benefit of keeping the cavers warm as well.

Photo Credit: The 2024 Yorkshire Pot Expedition

Yorkshire Pot Maps For Expedition Team

When planning an expeidtion like this there are a lot of tiny details to consider. For example, a team leader needs to make sure that everyone on the team has the ability to safely navigate through the cave. The team will likely be broken into smaller survey teams to be the most efficient with their time so they will need to make sure every has and can properly read a map of the cave. The last thing they will want to do is have to go looking for a lost caver!

Photo Credit: The 2024 Yorkshire Pot Expedition

How big is your team and what do you look for in team members in terms of personalities, skill sets, etc?
Altogether there are going to be 14 people up at the cave, at different periods of time. There are 9 people that we can call the core team, that will be up there most of the time. As far as things that I am looking for, they need to be a competent caver, with experience in surveying and mapping. It is also helpful if these people understand how to put bolts into walls and how to rig ropes. I am also looking for people who can meld together in a group.
How long is the expedition?
The current plan is for an expedition that is about a week in length. There will be a day of travel on either end, so that gives us about 6 days at and in the cave. This is of course subject to weather. At this time of the year the Andy Goode plateau can get snow, although we are expecting that to be a big concern. But once possible challenge will be if the helicopter can't fly for some reason. There is a lot of equipment to move up to the cave so we will have to decide whether we haul it ourselves or wait out the weather and hope the helicopter can fly.
Can you tell us a bit about the camping set up for the trip? And what about access to water?

We will have two camps set up. Base camp will be located just outside of Mendips Cave, which is one of the main entrance ways into the Yorkshire Pot Cave System. In 2022 we created a camping area up there, so there will be tarps set up and we will be flying up gear and a big five-person tent as well as other tents. For those staying in basecamp, there is water in Mendips Cave but it requires about 150-175 meters of caving to get there. They will then have to fill up their empty water jugs and haul them back out of the cave to the surface.

For inside of the cave, it is either going to be just one major camping area in the Chocolate Chamber or possibly a second area down in a chamber called the Horror Show. It will just depend on how many people we can get together in the Chocolate Chamber. We have around 9 camping set ups to bring down. A few set ups will be sleeping bags and Therma Rests while 6 of them consist of hammocks. We will either use bolts or pitons to hang those on the walls. The water inside the cave is all dripping from the walls and we will have collapsible buckets that we will put underneath the drips. Those will act like a reservoir, and we will use those to fill up bottles which will then be carried in a backpack back to the camp. The water source is not right next to the camp, so we will have to repel down to the water and climb back up to camp.
Ok, you said that you have to bring the camping set-ups DOWN into the cave. How far down are we talking? Do you have to repel to get there?

Yeah. The Chocolate Chamber is just around the 200-meter mark below the entrance of the cave. And yes, you have to repel many pitches of rope work. The biggest repel is a 40 meter repel, but there is also a 28, 17, 15, 10, 7 meter repel and a few little down climbs in between some of these. The entrance down is basically just repelling mixed with a little bit of horizontal passageway. Then everything after the chocolate chamber becomes a bit more horizontal.

And how long would it take to get down there?

For me, with an average weighted pack, it would take me about an hour to get down from the entrance to the Chocolate Chamber. Of course, everyone’s skills and comfort levels on the ropes are different, so it will be different for everyone coming down.

The Yorkshire Pot Map

Below you will see the approximate location of the passages of the Yorkshire System caves. There are currently 9 entrances into the cave system, but the level of survey for many of the maps includes a lot of error, making an exact layout of the cave map difficult. From here you can get any idea of the caving expedition objectives, camp locations, and more.

The Chocolate Chamber

This is likely where the team will establish their in-cave camp.

Mendips Entrance

In 2022 the team established a surface camp here. Team members will rotate from here, into the cave, and back as the project progresses.

The Horror Show

This is one of the main areas of focus for this trip. The Horror Show area contains many unexplored passages meaning lots of potential for new discoveries.

Main Cave Entrance

This is the original, and most common entrance to the system. From here, cavers will need to descend ~200m to reach the Chocolate Chamber where they will establish camp. This includes a lot of vertical caving - descending vertical shafts on rope, often free-hanging, with cave bags hanging below them.
What are you most looking forward to on this expedition?
I genuinely just love going into places that aren’t very understood or documented, or environments that are new and challenging. I’m really drawn towards those. So, I think I am most excited for the challenge of finding some of these new locations and trying to create a usable survey and map for other people to be able to go into these places in the future.
Given your objectives, what does success look like for you this week?
Well, everyone coming out of the cave safe, and being able to go home safe, that is first and foremost. I would also love, over the course of the time, if we could have 500 meters to a 1km of the cave mapped. I would be ecstatic about that. And maybe… a connection to Little Moscow. That would be the cherry on top!

At the time of publishing, Brent and his team should be well into the depths of Yorkshire Pot.

It’s clear that this trip holds a lot of potential for exciting discoveries, from exploring new sections of the cave to the challenge of connecting Little Moscow. What stood out most to us, though, is Brent’s calm confidence and passion for the unknown. It’s not just about the adventure but also about the process of exploring, documenting, and sharing these experiences with others.

We're really looking forward to catching up with him after the expedition to hear how things went — what they found, what surprised them, and how the trip measured up to their goals. Brent has already agreed to a live follow-up interview, so as long as we can coax him out of the cave, we'll post that interview right here. Stay tuned!

Join the Adventure

For those inspired by Brent's journey and eager to delve into the subterranean wonders of the Canadian Rockies, Canmore Cave Tours offers a range of experiences. The Adventure Tour is a 6-hour excursion that includes rappelling and navigating through passages like the Laundry Chute, providing an adrenaline-pumping experience for thrill-seekers. Alternatively, the Explorer Tour offers a 4.5-hour journey suitable for beginners, featuring climbs, crawls, and squeezes through the remarkable Rat's Nest Cave.

Embark on your own caving adventure and uncover the hidden gems beneath the surface. Visit Canmore Cave Tours to book your experience today.