Bagshawe Cavern
The Eldon always have a number of active digs undergo in Bagshawe.
One that is currently receiving quite a lot of attention is the "Dead Ahead Dig" in the Full Moon Series.
[For more information regarding Bagshaw Cavern go to the dedicated page]
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- Written by: Jim Thompson
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Diver: Rob M
Support: Bog, Jim T
The discovery of Glorious Hole back in 2020 marked an exciting point in the exploration of Bagshawe and it was remarked in April 2021 (EPC Newsletter) that ‘both agreed we need a diver in to push the sump, although it would be great to see it during lower water conditions’
Recent visits have certainly revealed lower water conditions and generated further excitement at the clear blue sump pool where a suggestion of open passage was glimpsed by Jim T and Dave C on separate occasions, but tonight was the night to answer the question, as the stars finally aligned for Rob Middleton to perform the necessary heroics and go underwater.
As the surface temperature was 33C as we assembled at the Coe, we wasted no time in getting underground and were soon at the increasingly dodgy looking squeeze into the extensions, and I headed down the rope with cylinders dangling beneath me and excitement at an all time high. Teamwork was in full flow moving bags through various constrictions and we were soon at the Glorious pitch head ready for Rob to take over proceedings.
Bog rigged a pair of ladders on the Y hang that Dave had helpfully rebolted the previous week in anticipation and the now cleaned up pitch head is an easy handline climb to the rebelay, saving a lot of faff in general but invaluable for tonight’s activities.
With Rob at the Y hang, I positioned myself behind him whilst Bog passed the tackle bags through a hole into my hands. As appointed ‘fluffer’, my job was to remove items of diving kit from the bags, stop it all from tumbling down the pitch and make sure Rob had no faff whilst kitting up in a pretty awkward spot. At one point this required me to ‘zip him up’ and the whole thing was a good insight into the rigours of cave diving as a tool for exploration.
As regulators were screwed onto cylinder 1, the valve was opened and the circuit pressurised with a satisfying sound…. Cylinder 2 just started hissing gas out and didn’t sound good. Several cycles of threading and rethreading the reg didn’t cure the problem and I started to feel nervous that the dive would be turned before it’d begun. Fortunately Rob had at the last minute decided to pack his ‘baked bean tin’ aka a hi-tech waterproof diver’s spares-and-tool kit so he fettled the reg and it subsequently made the same satisfying pressurising sound. All good and he headed of down the ladder.
I soon heard sloshing to indicate he’d reached the water and stood by for the sound of exhaust bubbles breaking on surface… but no. More hissing! I really thought we’d be beating a hasty and disappointed retreat at this point but Rob quickly had it sorted and shouted that he’d likely be 30 mins, and to not worry unless he failed to surface after an hour. Time check made, I settled back in my perch and sure enough, the next sounds I heard were the regular chuffing of his exhaust gas.
Bog and I just got stuck into some long overdue catching up and philosophising, and I barely contained my delight on realising that the cavity in the rock just above me looked just like a giant calcite vulva.
In what appeared to be no time at all, that tell tale chuffing sounded up the shaft and I had a time check – 14 minutes – which I took to signify a poor outcome and closure of any potential leads in the sump.
However, an excited ‘woop!’ from below followed by a ‘that’s awesome!’ perked me up. A quick exchange revealed that it certainly did not close down underwater, was clean and sizeable and Rob had run out his entire 50m line reel. Delightful!
I set to and lowered bags down and hauled them back up containing cylinders, passed them up to Bog and a delighted Rob appeared at the top of the ladder looking a bit shivery but very smiley.
We got him dekitted, everything packed away and made haste for the surface in order to make the Bowling Green for a celebratory pint and debrief.
The outcome was that after a slightly muddy rift opening at the entry to the sump, a roughly 1m high x 1m wide phreatic tube (wider at the bottom as it’s formed on a bed) clean passage with good vis was followed for the aforementioned c. 49m of a 50m line reel, accounting for belays (all of which made to conveniently sited breakdown) trending 240 degrees at a depth of 3m via a series of s-bends, with the current limit at such a bend but appearing to continue unimpeded beyond.
We were all delighted with the result and plan to return at the next available opportunity with Rob who will survey the now-lined passage and continue with a fresh line reel to push further..
As always, but particularly in this case, work most definitely continues….
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Team: Bog, Jim T, Kristian
A bit of sump lowering was in order for the team tonight. It was good to catch up with Kristian again as he regaled me with tales of caving in South Dakota. For a guy who proclaims a hatred for caving he gets about a bit. We got underway with the arrival of Bog and it was nice to easily open the door to the cavern using the shiny smooth-operating lock I’d fitted the previous Friday.
Kristian was off ahead so I didn’t bother doing the usual entrance passage interpretive stuff, and I was soon observing the somewhat shattered slab of rock hanging over the restricted opening into the newest extensions. Once again dropping down the awesome pitch into a lovely bit of natural cave, I smiled at the thought that it was literally under our noses until Bog and Dave felt the fatigue of their advancing years and shifted a few rocks whilst sacking off the rigours of the ‘business end’ of the cave.
First I had a look at the limit of Dave’s exploration in an aven, narrow enough at the highest bolts to have put him off climbing any higher. In the absence of any kit, I pondered the option of freeclimbing higher, but managed to convince myself in short order that the top was blind. It’d be good to continue the bolts to the top to really confirm that but the real objective of the sump was still in need of attention so I abbed back down and let Kristian have a look. His conclusions were similar to mine.
We headed into the crawl towards the sump, handily channeled out by now-absent, yet clearly effective water flow. Bog pointed me towards the Glorious Hole pitch head and I thrutched over the first opening to enjoy poisitoning myself in the big sloping waterslide before the pitch proper. The calcite surface here looked just like sprayed fibreglass and yet again I marvelled at the presence of such a feature so close to the entrance. It’s a stunning pitch. Big enough to be significant in Bagshawe terms and as I descended deeper, I began to see the reflections of my light in the surface of a dark pool. The prior limit of descent was marked by the rope, coiled and stored in a crack, but now a good 15 feet above water level. I uncoiled the rope and continued until I was just above a big, stunningly clear and blue sump pool. Little blobs of mud fell into the water creating small clouds that scattered my lamp beam, so I had a good look around on full power and was pretty sure that I could see a floor maybe ten feet subsurface. Short of dropping off the rope and going for a swim there was nothing left to do but get into ascent mode and rejoin the others. As I swapped onto my jammers, I swung my arse slightly to ease my position and suddenly everything exploded around me with a boom. I got a lovely refreshing face full and my wellies were sloshing. I looked down and the sump was now impenetrable brown. Clearly the boulders sitting on the diagonal surface were just stuck on with mud and I’d dislodged one of them. I spent a few moments inspecting the others, peeling them off with my fingers and letting them crash into the water below. Probably a good thing I’d avoided a swim…
Once I was back off the rope up top, Bog led the way towards the other sump. He talked about running water and tonight everything was bone dry. We reached the rift and the sump presented itself as a foul looking flat out crawl in water. We considered channeling back the way we’d come to let the water drain in but it was fairly obvious that doing so would create a big pool mid-crawl and it wasn’t clear if that’d be a great idea given the lack of height. With time spent looking at the other stuff we abandoned the plan.
Instead I had a thrutch high into the rift which turned slightly and probably needs an inspection but it’s mega greasy. We need to return with Rob’s other table legs and a saw. Back to the Coe and into a torrential downpour, and down to the Bowling Green for pints and scratchings.
As ever…. Work continues.
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Continuing on we now needed to find the continuation of Harry Potters bedroom.
The first place to look was the chamber immediately to the right at the bottom of the stairs .This is full of rubbish including quite a bit of glass, but behind that is a silt bank in front of a natural bend in the passage .One corner certainly could be connected to the small dug out channel at the top end of Harry's and was probably open before the steps were cast on top of it .
We had hoped the silt bank was hiding a continuation ,but this was not the case . Somewhere lies the key to all this as the bottom of the steps has large natural passage obscured in many places by all the stacking .
Lockdown has stalled our efforts ,but there is a continuation around there just waiting to be found .
As soon as Boris says go we will resume the quest for Mulespinner series .
Dave Cowley , Bog (Team Average)
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Harry Potters Bedroom (the dig under the stairs )
11.03.2020
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Not a great deal of activity in Bagshawe this year from Team Average.
Trips have been limited due to work commitments, however after last years distraction of the La-La dig, this year we had to decide if we should remain at Dead Ahead or leave and carry on with the lower series dig.
We dragged all the kit needed in during the winter months, to get cracking at dead ahead. The plan soon changed when the water levels dropped. Our quick referendum decided to leave Dead Ahead and have another crack at La-La.
We have made good progress over a few trips, and have now opened up a standing room chamber. The way on seems to be upwards still, so I decided to consult John Taylor for details of the sump survey’s. On speaking to John we now realise our referendum may have been a sham (typical). We believed we were digging towards a tube, when in fact there is a good possibility it could go to surface close to the resurgence.
With water levels now back to normal, the Dead Ahead(xit) may be over after all. 2019 looks to be a return to Dead Ahead, although Mr Eavis informs me in a vote of no confidence that the dig is full of water.
To make matters worse, the Bowling Green has changed hands, and we are now left without a suitable watering hole. We should have seen this coming and arranged a proper backstop, maybe Mr Farage could help us with that one...
Onwards to glory (even if we are a bit slow).
Bog & Dave Cowley