During the recent work to stabilise the entrance to Ireby Fell Cavern the workers were side tracked when a hole appeared partway down the entrance slope. This was excavated to reveal a short network of passages and climbs which lead to a tight squeeze at the head of a pitch. When the squeeze was enlarged and the pitch dropped it was found to be one of the avens in The Chamber of Dark Sound, thus giving a direct and entirely separate route into Ireby, by-passing Ding, Dong, Bell and Pussy pitches. The pitch has been bolted with glue in anchors.
Description - About halfway between the entrance and Ding pitch is a short climb down above an obvious hole on the left, this is the start of Bubbles route. There are still a few loose blocks here so until this is remedied, care is required. Climb down and enter the passage feet first, after two bends is a short climb down into an enlargement, a further climb down to a small chamber follows immediately (a rope has been left in situ to aid the climb). A short flat out section leads to a choice of routes, that to the left being easier, drier and more spacious. Another roped climb down leads to a streamway which is followed downstream via two short squeezes to the head of the pitch. From the Y hang a drop of about 6m leads to a swing to the left onto a tiny ledge, following this leads to a further Y hang above an 18m pitch which has a deviation partway down (it may be possible to combine these two sections by using a deviation about 8m downfrom the initial Y hang). The landing is on a spacious ledge where a single bolt on the left marks the final descent of 5m. An obvious route down through boulders below an impressive false floor leads to a juction with the main streamway below Pussy Pitch. Although possible to do the entire route with SRT gear on it is much easier to carry your SRT kit through the cave as far as the pitch head where there is space to safely kit up. Rope length required - 45m plus 7 karabiners and sling for deviation