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Otter Hole

Assynt, Alt nan Uamh, Sutherland.

Below the western end of Creag nan Uamh, a well-developed channel runs - from the seasonally dry streambed of the Allt nan Uamh - halfway up the talus slope to the crags. At the head of the channel is a low 6 m wide arch in the face of a rock outcrop - the entrance to Otter Hole. In warm weather, the hole emits a strong draught almost certainly coming from Antler Chamber in Claonaite Seven. In the winter, the draught reverses direction.

At the entrance a tight bedding plane is part choked with boulders and sometimes strewn with the bones of small animals (apparently rabbits). suggesting the entrance area is used by predators (probably foxes) although none have so far been encountered. From the entrance, a flat out squeeze on an awkward bend to the left enters a low chamber, the Boneyard. Where the right hand side of the passage enters the chamber the other end of the low bedding plane can be seen but there is no way through.

Crawling to the right of the Boneyard leads to a higher section, Manhole Chamber where across a hole in the floor, further crawling allows entry to a very small boulder chamber with no way on. Down the hole in Manhole Chamber squeezes once led under and over a slab (now removed) to an awkward passage and past an S-bend to a climb. At the foot of this climb, a dig gained another 14 m of dangerously loose passage. When work stopped, there were two ways on, both choked with rocks. Up the short climb, a wider section is reached with Upper Passage starting as a crawl to a corner beyond which a ramp ascends to a wider area. A tightening crawl leads on through a boulder choke below a roof of collapsed boulders of very doubtful stability (Bouldertite Way). This is thought to lie beneath a similarly unstable boulder chamber off Antler Chamber in Claonaite Seven.

Alternate Names: None recorded.

Notes: Visitors are warned that the choke is very loose and great care is necessary.

Explored by the Gritstone Club in 1958-68; extended by the GSG in 1975.

Hydrographic Feeds: None (previously An Claonaite)

Hydrographic Resurgences: None (previously Allt nan Uamh)