Cussey Pot
During Lockdown 2020 a new hole was spotted to draught bigger and stronger than any cave in the Peak. We dug it open and this is what happened....
Full description of the trip can be viewed here.
The current survey can be downloaded from here.
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- Written by: Chris Hibberts
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Team: Chris Hibberts & Rob Eavis
A few weeks had now passed since the last trip into the Far-left series of LWS swallet where a team had been in to open up the 3 squeezes that lead to the rift at the end. Tonight’s plan was to cap and dig the mud filled rift at the far end of the far left.
I picked Rob up on route to save taking 2 cars and after Pre caving Beers, accompanied by Mr Porky’s scratchings and nuts, we kitted up. Whilst discussing durability that modern caving suits seem to lack, Rob noticed, much to his amusement, that in the rush of getting his caving gear ready he had in fact picked up Katie’s over suit. Undeterred by Rob’s new fetish for cross dressing we head over to the entrance.
Beer and MrPorky's - By R. Eavis
It was turning out to be quite a leisurely affair as we made our way through the now very familiar parts of the cave. We stopped at the crawl that leads to the pitch head at the top of Brooklands to reminisce over the various trips that had made significant breakthroughs. It really was a team effort to get to where we had.
Chris H Brooklands Pitch - By R. Eavis
Down the pitch we ditched our SRT kits and made the climb up to what used to be the tight squeezes into the rift in the far-left series. After a short toilet break, we made our way to the end of the rift which was full of mud. At the bottom of the mud filled rift there is a hole which you can see on around 5m and down around 2m, down just gets way too tight. So, the plan was to use the newly acquired shovel to removed enough of the mud higher up, where it was much wider, to obtain a better view through the gap to see if the way on higher up opens up.
Chris 'the piss' Hibberts - By R. Eavis
Removal of the mud turned out to be quite easy at first, and after pushing some of the spoil forward through the gap at the bottom it just disappeared down the rift falling quite a considerable way. Rob commented that this was now like no digging that he had- done before, it was digging without having to worry about what you did with the spoil. Just the kind of dig TA are down for. Although the mud was coming out easily it was now body position that was causing an issue, and we had to keep taking mud out above. In essence we were now creating a coffin level through mud, the shovel marks on the rock looking like t’owd man pick marks.
Far left's new Coffin level - By R.Eavis
We took digging in turns of 5-10 minute stints, alternating the attack from the left side to the right side and after around 1hr we had made quite considerable progress of around 2m into the rift. Exiting the dig was getting a little tricky as some of the spoil had now turned into a thick gloop which tried to remove your wellies the second you stood in it. The top of the dig was getting wider, but the goal was to get the hole at the bottom opened up. With another 30 mins of digging Rob, lay down at the floor of the dig, finally managed to get far enough forward to get some of the mud to fall. Helmet off he managed to squeeze his head through….. “Oh No It doesn’t look good”. These were not the words I wanted to hear.
After looking through the gap, down just got tighter and tighter, forward looked like it hit a mud wall, and up was just full of mud. Looks like this is the end of the digging and the end of the road for the far-left. At this point we could both hear the faint calling of the Mechanics and decided it was time to exit and quench our thirst for beer. Rob had also now coined a new TA saying..."We know when to fucking give up...."
The end at the end - By R. Eavis
Such a shame that this cave looks like it’s not going to give up the miles of master cave that should be lurking below, it now looks like the only glimmer of hope is to carry on the arduous work of capping the floor in the Narrows in the far right….
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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Following on with our newly found selflessness, we spent much of this evening helping out the landowner at Cussey by cutting back the overgrown trees at the site, after a complaint from the Council. Our Awesome team obviously made light work of this, filling the road with vegetation and not even hitting one passing vehicle. All until I got a chainsaw stuck up a tree and needed another one sent up to free it. Luckily I’d learnt from the first one so didn’t get the second stuck too.
With our beer-fuel shenanigans completed we’d planned a quick trip down the other side of Cussey before making the Eldon pub meet. It was therefore with horror and disdain that I looked upon half the team donning not their furry suits but their jogging attire. It seems their Albania training is more targeting aerobic fitness than strength and fortitude. Through gritted teeth we bid them well and me, Chris, Joe and Hal headed down.
This was Hal’s second time down Cussey, since the initial breakthrough east, the first being actually on the day we broke through! However that night his size and our self-serving wankerness meant he remained the wrong side of the last squeeze as he listened to our hollers getting further away. I was keen therefore to see him through the constriction tonight (which has now been widened) and to enjoy the delights of Timewarp and beyond.
I rigged using the newish p-bolts and I realised this was the first cave I’d help found that has actually been p-bolted, which gave a weird, certain stamp of officialness to our discovery. Once down NCA pitch I followed by Chris but then was saddened to see Joe come next, rather than Hal. Turns out he wasn’t going to give it a proper second try and had returned to the surface. Maybe third time’s a charm.
Now with no other agenda we decided on a tick-box tourist trip for me to take these two to locations they’d not been before, and hopefully they’d think that was a worthwhile exercise, for more than just the exercise. First Walzernice seemed to impress them very slightly, so that was a good start. Second was the bitter end of Rocky Horror choke, heading towards Diceman which Joe was bolt climbing only last month. We got down the vertical squeeze dug back in 2021 but were stopped at a new mud collapse, preventing us from reaching the bitter end. This’ll take 30 mins to clear, but not today so we headed back out.
So not a very productive or satisfying evening, just box ticking and caressing landowner relationships, but at least the beer tasted good in the Mechanics.
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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Finally a return to Diceman was on our agenda for this evening. Joe and I now feeling Cliffestile fit with Sam tagging along, kitted up in Eyam on this sweltering hot afternoon. It wasn’t fun putting wetsuits on but in hindsight this was a much better option than Cussey.
The walk over was bleak, we stashed away a couple of post beers at the lid, ready for post 80m prussik. A wade up the sough and a quick march through Glebe got us to Sooty which we had left a ladder on from our previous trip. The ladder was not in great condition but with a rope still in situ it was safe to use. We all squirmed our way through the first choke and Joe bravely knocked a rock out of the way in the second choke which had decided to collapse in on itself. Now we we’re finally in Diceman again. Previously we’d only made two trips to this place to gain access and survey. The large natural rift lies at a very exciting place under Rocky Horror in Cussey Pot and could provide the elusive ‘Artistic Connection’ into this side of the system. Our mission for this evening was to climb the rift. We checked out the far side first to where the smoke grenade we used on the final trip followed the draught upward. The climb here looked abysmal and choked. We then backtracked to the main chamber just above the breakthrough window, here the walls looked much more solid and the view above looked enticing. I told Joe to crack on and he quickly kitted up for his third bolt climb in three weeks!
Joe quickly progressed up whilst Sam and I got cold in the draught. About 10m up he gained a ledge formed by a large ruck of boulders. From here a delicate traverse over holes led to a further rift which climbed out of sight. We called it quits here as it was getting late and we had a trek back out. The upward spiral choke was awkward with bags but what was more terrifying was the glutenous mud which nearly killed Sam and I, luckily for us Joe was on hand and keen to rid his ‘Soulless’ nickname and jumped in to save the day and retrieve our wellies! Ideally this requires some stepping stones.
We hit the sough and washed off (main reason we chose the sough rather than Cussey)!! The trip out was uneventful until we hit the shaft where near the top Joe decided to kill us both by lobbing summat down the shaft. Scary place to be with nowhere to hide. Beers on surface were a reyt treat!
A return trip is planned.
[Below] Sam getting cold in The Diceman (JRP)
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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Dylan Kocher , Cameron Macdonald
With SMMC open again and LL breathable I wanted to get into the master cave properly since only popped in last Thursday to change the dye detectors with Rob and Chris. I love bringing new people into caving as seeing the glares and awes of an exciting new experience is great and reminds me of why I love it so much throughout my experiences today. So, in the spirit of both, I called Cam. Why Cam because he is nuts like me and willing to do anything. I have previously taken Cam to Giants a very beginner cave and this is a pretty big difference. Of course, this is not a very “smart” decision to make as Cussey holds very tight and wet caving that even most cavers find unpleasant and somewhat daunting. There are a select few that absolutely thrive and love this environment who are comfortable with being uncomfortable. Cam is one of these people at heart and is the reason we get on so well. Arriving at the car park to gear up cam shows me his foot. A broken toe. But there are more also massive scrapes up his arms both sustained in a tree-climbing accident due to “letting go”(arm scrapes). But retaining the can-do attitude we laughed and carried on.
A broken toe, perfect way to start a caving trip
At the lid, Cam lowers himself down onto the first entrance pitch. Oh, and have I mentioned that this is his first-ever pitch albeit some light practice in a tree? Once down we had a gander at Nomenca rift then through coconut cavern arriving at the second pitch. Once talked through the second pitch we arrive at the fun stuff. LL is nice and open and although Cam went head under anyway, knew that my judgement of character was spot on and we would have a fun trip. Talking all the way about the area and surrounding sections of passage we make our way to race against time. I had been avoiding the conversation of the free dive as you never know how someone will react until under the gun but with boil up ahead I give Cam the lowdown and the kid doesn’t blink an eye. In I go surfacing and give three tugs. A minute passes while I analyze the movement of water, the sound of the splashing against the roof with the movement of the rope. I gathered he put himself in the water and positioned himself at the dive. Just like fishing the instant hit of the line signals the beginning of an experience that will always be remembered. Bursting out of the sump I ask how it was and the reply was “extremely committing”. Spot on. In the master cave, we take an intimate look throughout and discuss the features of the walls and boulders and make our way to sphincter aven. Once in we made our way out but I thought it was good to state out loud that any injuries sustained at this point if rendering any of us immovable (broken leg ect..). You would probably die of hyperthermia before help arrived and with this, we kept a lid on some of our more light-hearted free-climbing tendencies continuing back. To keep this s, it was a great trip and some of the most fun caving I have done, offering a lot of experience in one go and how Awesome it is that an absolute novice got to see what others may never, even in this great circle of cavers. I’m sure Cam will be back and right with me when I come up with some more on-the-day ideas.
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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Rob E, Joe B
After the “Dream Team’s” escapades a few weeks ago, I was keen to get the new aven in the master cave fully rigged and get eyes again on the choke/dig at the top.
First we ran around the system replacing all the dye detectors, this time engaging proper efficient mode by splitting up and each doing the Glebe and Doom detectors alone. Back at the Wet West we wandered West and through to the master cave.
First we went upstream, to change that detector and also to inject a new load of Rhodamine as part of a secondary dye testing project to try to better what happened directly downstream of SMMC. Neither of us had injected Rhodamine and were suitably awestruck with the beauty and wide variance of the hues emitting from the stream.
Then we headed down to the aven with a simple plan; reclimb the aven and clip another ladder on the bottom of the currently hanging one, hoping that they will then reach the floor. I gear up to redo the freeclimb, trying to warm up my body and mind beforehand, then start climbing the etrier hanging off the ceiling. One foot in, pull up, try get the other one in, and boom, I’m on the floor. Flat out, head ringing, Joe looking very concerned. I lay there, trying to work out what had happened. Turns out the bolt holding the etrier had not failed, but the planet it attached to had, allowing a big enough boulder to eject itself from the planet and even strike my head during my accelerating flight towards the floor.
I was very lucky, not only did it hit my helmet instead of my precious face, but i was only a few feet up off the floor. Slightly dazed and shocked by the event, I turned upon my rare spiritualistic persona and willing took this as a warning to not attempt this climb this evening. That, plus the pub was certainly calling for some of our money. Stumbly back along the master cave, quick dive through to RAT, bumble out Cussey, all to be welcomely greeted by summer warmth and light. Certainly a lovely exit after the cold uncomfort of the world below.