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: Rob Eavis
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After our surface celebration last week we were geared up for a good push into the unknown, although not before Jon tackled the beast head on with having another crack at the photo looking down Inglorious. I was really keen to help but he only needed 2 helpers so I let the others enjoy assisting him whilst I headed on to the dig, picking up more tools on the way. Moving through the cave today felt great up until Loper Lust which is always sapping of energy, especially with a bag. It does seem however that the filthy clay may be becoming less grippy as it dries, which is a promising sign for the future.
Looking down Inglorious Bastards, by JonP
The plan this week was to attack on two fronts. The dig at the end of Deep South looks great and takes a huge draught but the best way to attack this would be if Black Draught could be connected as it’s quite close and would avoid Loper Lust, so I prioritised the dig me n Jeff started two weeks ago.
Capping the boulders was hard work due to it being so restricted, plus they were a mix of really hard limestone and really soft barytes. On the third hole the caps didn’t fire, which is annoying but quite common. Normal procedure here is to twist the rod 90° using a spanner and then hit it again. However this time the twisting motion set off the cap, simultaneously filling my face with shatter and my pants with dinner! And now I couldn’t hear the digging tunes anymore. Nevertheless good progress was made and the others soon joined me after their successful photo mission.
Jeff took over removing the rocks now from the roof whilst I showed Jon and Dave the Deep South dig, only a few metres away. Here only one boulder blocked access to a low bedding passage and we took it in turned to try to manoeuvre it before giving up and capping it. Nevertheless it was still very hard to shift, owing to its awkward shape and the tight working space. Jon took to hammering it and eventually it gave it and pushed aside. Unfortunately the passage heading off was still a bit too small to move along, especially as it’s heading slightly downhill and everyone was getting a bit knackered.
Jeff had reached a block that needed the capping gear so I brought the gear back to him and offered to hit it, before seeing that it was perched right above the entry position leading to a hilarious attempt at hitting the capping rod from as far away as possible with ever tiring arms. Thankfully the rod didn’t get stuck this time and after two holes it was in small enough pieces for Jeff to drop them down relatively safely with only a few impacts to his head. The others were getting cold and tired so they started heading out, whislt me and Jeff kept poking.
Jeff in the cramped working conditions of this obscure dig, by Rob
The remaining hole now gave a tantalising sight of a flat roof leading off but unfortunately it was a bit too tight for Jeff to comfortably get up through. I had a go and managed to just about force/squirm/wriggle a way up into a flatout room above which lead down a short slope into a great looking bedding plane passage, littered with stal. Awesome! Once I’d got my legs up out of the hole I slid down the slope, making careful note of the route in case I had to back up feet first. Once in I could see a long way ahead. It was low and floored with mud and puddles which weren’t very pleasant, but it was all metres gained heading presumably towards Black Draught, which it should be pointed out is exactly the same size, shape and character. After 10m this passage (now named Draught Black for optimum confusion) got wider with a new passage seemingly coming in from the right. This felt like it must be close to the Deep South dig. It was unfortunately too tight to easily get over to it so Jeff went around to Deep South and we got a good voice connection through. This unfortunately suggests that Deep South is in fact not leading off into something else, although it all needs a better look over there.
Straight on in Draught Black the going quickly got lower as the passage got wider. Even with helmet off I was unable to make much more progress. The mud floor will need digging out a bit, which will not be an easy job. Looking ahead there was no obvious point that looked like the end of Black Draught which is all a bit unfortunate whilst still very much in keeping with the rest of Cussey. Nothing seems to be easy here.
I started heading back and thankfully I was able to turn around quite easily. Back at the dig I realised now that I had to reverse the manoeuvre but this time head down. Once in up to my hips it hit home how very committing this position and sure enough I wedged firmly into place. Upside down, mucky water dribbling into my increasingly bloodshot eyes, legs trapped against the roof above, at least there was Luke’s crap country music to lighten the mood. After a while Jeff offered to try push me back up but thankfully my pride came through and I was able to twist, bend and slide just right to get my hips through and plop down into the passage below into a knackered, dizzy, deaf pile. Silly game, but success nonetheless.
We packed up the gear and headed straight out. I was grateful of Jeff going ahead with the bag. Loper Lust was especially fun for me this time as my light stopped working at the start. Turns out it is possible to do the full crawl in pitch blackness. Back in Inglorious Bastards Jeff helped me fix the light and we headed out. Weirdly only took us 20 minutes to get out from here, I think probably because we were both so keen to get that well deserved beer in us. On the surface by 23:30, that was definitely the hardest trip I’ve done in there. A quick debrief with the others who were already fully changed and ready to go. Not sure where this discovery takes us. Black Draught now looks less inviting that Loper Lust, and whilst it may offer an all-weather option, it may not be worth the effort. Time to have a think…
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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Cussey Pot has a really nice, galv lid that was specially made for us by Hal and Dylan. Over the last few months this has worked loose from its surroundings and needed resetting into place properly. However whilst the fight for the connection was in full swing we successfully ignored it.
Last night this was sorted by throwing lots of materials, pizza and beer at the solution. Unfortunately we were met with snow, rain, hail and wind so not the enjoyable change of scene that it could have been, but that didn’t put enough of us off.
It’s certainly not some crafted work we’ll be massively proud of, but it’ll hopefully do its job for a good number of years and allow us to get back to what we do best.
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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29/04/21 - Jeff W, Jon P, Luke C
Photo trip from the entrance to Inglorious Bastards. Presumably so uneventful that none of them could be bothered to write it up.
30/04/2021 - Jeff W, Rob E
Just the two of us, and I was nicely impressed that it was Jeff’s 3rd trip in 3 days. He’s a good’un.
Pre-beers completed we headed down to get some photos in Loper Lust. This is certainly not the easiest of photography locations but thankfully Jeff was on form and got some good shots without too much faff. As a model I was very grateful of his haste as it’s a very windy place to be lying about, covered in filth.
We then went on into Wet West to inspect a side passage (Deep South) that heads towards the flatout Black Draught passage, off of Inglorious Bastards chamber. We managed to get a good voice connection from here a few weeks ago and it may well provide a better connection than the current Loper Lust one, which we know sumps in very wet weather, and did I mention it’s filthy!
We had always planned for today to be a quick inspection so didn’t bother with capping gear. This was a faux pas on my behalf which I realised instantly upon arrival that it’s a perfect location for capping. With just a hammer and crowbar we did not achieve very much. That did however make us go for more of a look about the end of Deep South and there’s at least two very promising digs here heading away from the known Cussey and taking mega draughts. This sort of project is exactly why we started pushing Cussey, so it’s great that we’ve got something to get our teeth into straight away, and driven us more to now make the Black Draught connection also.
We headed straight out from there, noting that it took us 15 minutes to get through LL and back to Inglorious and a further 30 minutes to the surface.
The breakthrough point, by Jeff
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- Written by: Luke Cafferty
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22/04/21
Survey team: Rob and Jeff.
Photo team: Luke, Jon, Dave and Joe.
After our hard-fought connection last week we had decided to celebrate this week with the first through trip, in Cussey and out of the Sough tail. The plan was that Rob and Jeff would go ahead and first survey Black Draught then through the connection and tie it in with a survey up the Wet West and what we think is the other end of Black Draught. The rest of us would have a steady bimble down and take photos.
After meeting in Stoney and having a good catch up over some pre-beers we all piled into my van and I drove up to Cussey, saved us having to walk up to Eyam. Rob and Jeff set off to do their thing and the photo team slowly made our way in. First photo stop was the Shattered Dreams squeeze, after Jon had finished telling me I was doing it wrong we finally got a photo that looked okay.
Luke in the Shattered Dreams squeeze, by JonP
Next, we moved on to the second pitch. After a lot of faffing around, flash guns not working and none of us really having a clue how to do photography we decided to move on. The big photo we wanted for the night was Inglorious. Joe and Dave had gone down to the bottom of the chamber with a flash gun as I set off down the pitch, Jon tried his best to get a good shot, but the pitch head is horrendous, and he really struggled to get a good shot. So, we changed the plan and he tried to get a good shot from the bottom looking up. Kind of worked!
Looking up Inglorious Bastards, by JonP
Now the next part of this story is where it all changed. Going through the connection crawl is at best a very shit crawl. The plan was that Dave, Joe and Jon would go through and I would come through last for Jon to get photos. Lucky for me I messed this up and Jon ended up behind me. Having been through the squeeze last week I really did not think I would have any issues, so I confidently said to Jon I’d go through let him past and return though the squeeze and repeat to get the photos. Oh, how I was about to royally fuck this up. The mud in Loper Lust is like mud I have never seen before it is just so sticky. In my brand-new PVC suit, which I had been bragging about only 30 minutes ago, it was making it very difficult to even move in the mud. As I got to the pinch point, I got very stuck. I would lift up my weight to move forward and not move an inch. I then got my elbow very stuck and could not even move back. I’ll admit I was starting to panic a bit now. Obviously, Jon behind me was not taking the piss or laughing. I dumped my helmet thinking this would give me a bit more wiggle room, it did not. I had managed to free myself and moved backwards. I shouted to Joe up ahead that he would have to come back and drag my ass out of there. He set off back along the flat-out crawl to come and save me but halfway along the crawl he decided I wasn’t worth saving and he was getting too hot so he turned around and left Jon and I to fend for ourselves. Cue Dave coming through to save the day. He passed Joe and got to the other end of the squeeze. After a shit joke about he would be able to offer me moral support but couldn't help due to social distance he lent me his hand and with Jon pushing my feet and Dave pulling me I finally got through. Cheer’s boys. Now Jon made it look easy and he quickly got through the squeeze. He did ask if I would go back through so he could take the photo I very quickly told him to fuck off.
As I sheepishly climbed down the bendy ladder, I was glad that my friends were there to give me support or take the piss as it turned out. We were all through though and now it was just the long slog down the Sough to freedom.
From the bottom of the ladder in the sough it took us 15 minutes to reach the base of Cliffstile and a further 15 minutes to reach the Rock Cottage entrance and then a long slog of 25 minutes to be finally greeted with a stary night at the sough tail.
All in all, a great trip. The first through trip and probably will not be repeated many times. We now have to come up with some sort of plan as a team on the way forward.
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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The trip we’d been working towards since last June has finally arrived. After over 40 trips, through bravery, ignorance and stupidity, driven on only by the appetite for glory and reliable pre-beers, last night we connected Cussey Pot to Doom…
Team 1 – Joe, Luke, Jeff, Rob, DaveH
Team 2 – JonP, DaveB
A night where two become one; one team digging in Cussey whilst the other planned to dig from the other side, heading in Cliffstile.
After prebeers Joe, Luke and myself headed straight to the sharp end whilst Jeff gave Dave H the conducted tour. Having not been on the last digging trip I was keen to assess the end as their reports were slightly conflicting but the worst gave only 2m before open passage.
Rather than mess about with trying to fit the drag tray passed me I suggested Joe get to work on enlarging the passage behind me using the hauling team slowly assembling whilst I push on ahead, back filling a small airbell to the right. The sediment, mostly damp clay, was almost impossible to work with. A crowbar just sank into it but made no progress whilst fingers could only just penetrate. Once a handful was finally clawed from the dig face it cemented your whole hand together such that is was almost impossible to then let go of your hard earned nugget of progress. After spreading it onto any wall or body part reachable it was then a challenge to actually get your fingers unstuck from each other before attempting another deep dive into the filth in front. This was hopeless work.
Dave struggling his way through Loper Lust
However after only one metre of digging straight ahead I could see the floor rising up ahead and what looked like streak marks in the mud from human activity. A little further a welcome crowbar became visible. Come on! I passed back the good news.
The other team were meanwhile making their way to the other side, up the sough, but could not yet be seen or heard. For some reason a race started within me and I started frantically pushing on, desperate to entirely undermine their hard efforts and make the final connection without their help. I start pushing the top few inches of mud into any crack I can find a squirm slowly forwards. With the gap looking barely big enough to squeeze through I push my helmet ahead and go for it. I’m in. We did it.
After a few minutes to take in the feeling of success, I turn around and use my newly reclaimed crowbar and larger working space to work the hole bigger and shortly after Joe slides through too. Yes. We shout to the others to follow and then head off towards Doom and down the big bendy ladder to the first sociable chamber. After only a few minutes we hear the familiar jovial discourse of a JonP approaching and simultaneously turn off our lights, waiting like naughty little children in the dark. They finally spot us and cheer, the team united, the success shared, and the optimistically packed whisky passed around. Good work lads, what an effort this has been.
With spirits high we enjoy a leisurely stroll around Doom, taking in some of the key sight and projects yet to be pushed in here. It is a strange but euphoric feeling being in this previously remote place after only the relatively short descent of Cussey. After some more whisky and general piss taking the sough team head off back to their distant exit and we head back up Cussey.
Attempting to clean off in Doom
Any euphoric and leisurely feelings that were gained from our stroll quickly disappeared once back flatout in the connection crawl. The clay here is so sticky that it sucks all the energy out of your muscles and we all defaulted back to primitive grunting to get us through to the spacious Inglorious Bastards chamber beyond. Here would desperately benefit from a shower. This was Dave’s first caving trip in over a year and he was pretty knackered so we let the others go first and made our steady way out, my digging playlist keeping us company on the way. It took over an hour to battle up through the numerous awkward thrutches and tight pitches and reach the still cold air of the surface. Whilst this is indeed a much shorter route in, Cussey is certainly not the easy backdoor we were hoping for and will likely remain a connoisseurs trip. Work will continue to improve the connection crawl and to get the link surveyed through. Meanwhile we as a team will need to assess whether this entrance gives sufficient advantages to the numerous and varied enticing leads beyond to make digging in the Stoney catchment a continuing theme for is in the near future…
Please note that Cussey is very demanding, especially on the way out. A high proportion of post-lockdown cavers will not fit and most will certainly not enjoy a lot of it. Most importantly formal access is not yet agreed, so please stay away until this is sorted.
To all the haters who said it couldn't be done