After months and months of putting it off and fueled on the most exciting discovery of the decade (for Derbyshire) we decided to go for a second look at the Wet West in Cussey. This passage originally explored and surveyed by The Eyam Exploration Group in the late 80's has been somewhat of a "mindfuck" for us avid Stoney fans. A large section of natural caverns was entered heading WNW towards the main feeds (Waterfall Hole, Hungerhill etc.) which eventually hit a sump. This sump was siphoned/bailed in an extended dry period to a further chamber with and continuing passage with only a boulder blocking the way on. Access was always tricky and the caverns could only be reached by an epic slog up Moorwood Sough - enthusiasm and access agreements being sketchy the lead was shrugged off.
It was picked up 20 years later with a few more trips being made this time fueled on the back of the "Credit Crunch Expedition". The sump was again siphoned and the passage explored and pushed to reach a further sump. All hopes to bypass the sump failed and the dig was abandoned, again due to access restrictions and effort levels.
Then Doom was found...
This took excitement away from The Wet West Caverns as a shit load of T'owd Man's stuff was found intersecting many natural passages. Lots of effort went into exploring Doom and pushing certain digs but with nothing "wide open" and Doom not being an evening trip enthusiasm was lost. We needed a back door in.
Enter - Cussey Pot.
Rob coming through the Loper Lust connection from Cussey to Wet West, by JonP
Our main reason for this Cave was the almost certain potential for it to connect to Doom/WW. We eventually made the connection after Cussey unraveled itself to around half a mile long. Instead of reaping the rewards so to speak we pushed a draughting choke near the Boil Up to enter a large natural cross rift "Diceman" which is still yet to be pushed. This lies just underneath Rocky Horror in Cussey and an artistic connection was dreamt up which would create a grand circle so to speak. Much easier than pushing Diceman our attention went back to Rocky Horror for the connection to be established but with no great luck we soon gave up.
After a brief hiatus back in IDM and with the recent Discovery of the decade our attention has immediately headed straight back to the old Wet West Caverns. In 2009 a small team dug a side passage in this section heading south, a Stoney size phreatic tube (1.2m high) filled with the sloppiest mud known to man. It was dug briefly but abandoned due to pushing the sump. Luckily for us I was on this digging trip. I remember Mark was keen to inspect this passage and having not been to the place for 20 odd years it must have been a half decent lead to be cemented in his mind. The passage heading south was heading straight for the Discovery of the Decade we assumed so this was a key lead to inspect. We also wanted to have a proper look at the Inclined Cavern which heads off north from the passage gaining some good height before ending in boulders. This lies just under the edge of the New Close estate in Eyam.
We had a brief stop at The Miners' before heading over to Cussey. The cave was warm and I soon had to take off my balaclava once we reached Inglorious. Loper Lust was bone dry, surprising after all the heavy rain as we thought at one point that it may fill with water over the winter but this might not be the case. We headed straight to Mark's dig making sure to check every hole en route. We finally reached the dig which lies just before the infamous boulder choke which had to be cemented during the original exploration - handy as its rather awkward. Rob started to make a video showing the dig and the way the water had originally flowed down this passage easily identifiable from the shape of the roof. The draught was definitely present heading in and a small stream was emitting from the end carving out a small trench in the mud. The passage continued almost double to that of the survey and headed prominently south as expected straight toward the great new discovery. When I reached the dig face there was approximately 10 inches of airspace tapering off to the right and now with my body constricting the passage the draught was howling by. I was psyched for sure but it would require some work to drag back the spoil. Rob took a second view and declared we go on no further as that was it, we'd found our next dig.
Our winter project
We did go on further and had a thorough inspection of the Inclined Cavern. This took us by surprise as its much larger than we thought and very complex. It heads North from the main passage so not of much interest to us unfortunately except for a potential further connection to surface through someone's garden. We continued on after completing a round trip through the Inclined Caverns and eventually got to the sump after a quick look at another large side rift, this time on the southern side with a couple of possible digs maybe to checked out properly at a later date.
The climb up into the Inclined Cavern
Looking West along one of the levels in the Inclined Cavern
Job done we slowly plodded our way out which seemed much more a struggle than the likes of IDM. I was knackered by the time I hit surface and grateful for the post beer.
Next week we dig.