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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Rob & Luke
After a hard week Luke was totally out of enthusiasm so I was grateful and surprised that he even turned up. Pre-beers didn’t even seem to help much, and we bumbled off to the end of Cussey. There was no way Luke wanted to get caked up in Loperamide Lust, so we planned to bolt climb the mined shaft we could see up after the trip two weeks ago.
I kitted up and with Luke sat totally in the line of fire I freed up the 15m shaft, putting in the occasional bolt for protection. This shaft has been drilled from above, through solid rock, so it was a pretty easy climb and I didn’t even drop too much stuff on Lukey Babes below.
At the top I rerigged and he came up to join me, then I set of up a muddy slope which was the only way on. A little duck into a roof at the top showed a terminal mud collapse, bugger. Not even a hole for a draught, so we must have been wrong last trip as we thought there was a good draught going up.
This disappoint was made slightly better by the discovery of an old pipe and a very strange stal. The latter was about 2m long and a constant ~10mm in diameter, and ran very close to a wall but didn’t touch it at all. Maybe a calcited root (although ~30m deep here) or wire rope, but certainly not obvious! I gave it a delicate flick and it vibrated very much like a long straw (not that I normally enjoy wobbling long straws, honest). Weird.
Luke descended then I rigged a pull through (twice as very time was a good 5m too short, oops) and we met in the always impressive Inglorious Bastards. From here it was 45 mins out, although neither of us were in a rush.
So there’s no way on in the mine to the west, so it’s now all down to the two muddy crawls now. It’s amazing how hard it’s proving to connecting this cave!
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- Written by: Jeff Wade
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Unfortunately Luke had had a Covid scare in the household meaning the originally planned trip on Thursday got canned, although thankfully for Luke it was just a scare and thankfully for myself it meant Luke was no longer able to come.
Rob had proposed starting up the climbing shaft, but I had reservations mainly as a purist for natural passage and that the two passages at the bottom of Inglorious Bastards were worth a look. Rob agreed, but I think the thought of going back into Black Draught wasn’t a glorious prospect, then again neither was the opposite way, but they both needed a second look.
The trip started well with some miniature birthday cakes and pre-beers supplied by Rob and family, even with candles, which to be fair was my first birthday cake in a while, which can’t be said for the beer.
Once at the bottom of Inglorious Bastards, Rob headed into Black Draught and I into ‘Loperamide Lust’ opposite, as it is now named. These are clearly both one of the same passage cut in two by the Inglorious Bastards chamber.
As part of a ‘theory’ over virtual beers between the team, Loperamide Lust might draught in dryer weather, and tonight was in fact the case, which made it all the more exciting.
Rob in Black Draught made good progress breaking up rocks blocking the flat out crawl leading to a calcite ramp heading up, but needing a little more work to get through. Obviously still strongly draughting.
Myself in Loperamide Lust had dug through a few meters of now sticky and wet mud to a rock blocking the way. By this point Rob had come over and being cleaner and less sticky managed to get past the rock, which could then be pushed to the side as a pair.
Beyond a small chamber with a tiny rift down between boulders and a calcite floor was issuing the draught, with a drop of 2m to something bigger below. Sadly the hole needs to be enlarged and will need a rope or sling in place to help on the return journey.
Once again we now have more questions than answers, but we are ever closer to the source of the draught.
Jeff hiding his helmet in Loperamide Lust
Rob after emerging from digging Black Draught
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- Written by: Luke Cafferty
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Rob, Luke.
With the lockdown still in full swing we are still caving with the team spilt. It was mine and Rob's turn to cave together this week and we had a solid plan down Cussey.
After a quick catch up and pre-beer we headed off down. The plan was to bolt climb up the far west end of Inglorious Bastards, unfortunately with all this new stuff found it now means you have to drag all your SRT kit with you. This very quickly becomes very annoying as you navigate the squeeze at the bottom of the Shattered Dreams dig. I had no issues with this last time I went though, with no kit though I will add, Jeff had had a little moan about it the previous week. It is easy, as long as you pick the sweet spot to glide through if you don’t get the right spot gravity ensures that you really fuck it up. I messed it up. Finally getting myself unstuck and catching up with Rob we came to the pitch head to Inglorious.
Down at the bottom we wasted no time in getting started, I had a quick look around whilst Rob kitted up. After 5 bolts he was up the 9m pitch and across a short traverse. I followed him up and we found ourselves in a rift passage heading off west and it was Mine! It has been a strange project this, hoping to find mine over all the new cave we have been exploring.
Luke following Rob up the bolt climb into the mined passages beyond
After a small climb up, we found ourselves at the base of a climbing shaft, at least 15m up. The passage continues along into a worked vein. We came to a 7m pitch down, very muddy and lots of big boulders. No way on though. At top of the pitch, you can hear a noisy draught, possibly heading up through boulders in the roof. Would be a very hard digging project.
We had another good look at the climbing shaft and we very quickly realised that we would not have enough rope for another bolt climb, so we surveyed our way out. Another 35m added to this never-ending project!
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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2nd February 2021
Rob and Jeff
Still in our covid-safe twos, an easy trip in to survey Inglorious Bastards. On the way in we capped last week's dig open a little to make it a much easier and safer entrance onto the pitch head. We surveyed down and around the leads off the chamber then decided to have a poke in the easiest one, a hole in the floor between boulders against the eastern wall. 20 minutes later the gap was big enough for Rob to post himself in feet-first and access a little climb down. Unfortunately to make any further progress here safely would need scaf so the team left if there and headed out.
Jeff digging in the floor of Inglorious Bastards, by RobE
This survey now puts the Cussey total to 500m, a fine effort lads.
New survey can be downloaded from here: http://www.eldonpotholeclub.org.uk/images/Surveys/Cussey_Pot.pdf
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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With the new lockdown rules limiting exercise to two people, we've split up the team and are now actually getting more done per week! Here's a summary of the last couple weeks, written up by Rob and Jon...
19th Jan – Rob & Jon (TAP)
Where to attack? After Rob’s little breakthrough the previous week down Impending Doom we decided to attack the Pankcake Dig located slightly more west and above. We removed a couple of large boulders under the Pancake Boulder which made the place feel slightly safer. We dug down following a tight rift for a few metres before our attentions waned as it was rather tight down there and the walls were collapsing in on you. I went to inspect Pearly Gates which was howling! I shouted back to Rob to sack off his efforts and join me up here. We agreed the inevitable and started to dig Pearly Gates. Unfortunately this was small and heavily calcited although the rift next to it was howling too and looked a lot better. Rob then proceeded to get himself stuck inspecting under a huge boulder, it was here we decided to leave it and see what the other two thought of the place.
Jon heading into the Pearly Gates
21st Jan – Jeff & Luke (TB)
Team Buxton went to inspect the new stuff unfortunately they didn’t manage to complete it missing out Pick Axe Rift. They agreed that the rift next to Pearly Gates was the best looking dig. Jeff had dug out the floor enough to make it look very enticing but gave up again when the walls started to fall down on his head.
26th Jan – Rob & Jon (TAP)
Rob in the Shattered Dreams extensions, by JonP
So Rob and I went to smash the crap out of Pearly Gates and attempt to get a photo somewhere. Unfortunately Rob forgot his phone so live coverage wasn’t an option. Jeff had made it sound worse than it was and we just decided to start pulling things out as we didn’t have anything to shore up with plus we didn’t have anything to remove large boulders. After 10min we had 2 large boulders laying ahead of us in the dig blocking a view through to an open rift with a howling draught.
Somehow we eventually managed to remove said boulders (mine a whopping 18lbs), Rob now dug out the floor and had a cracking view upwards but it looked tight. Luckily nothing fell down from above but we kept an eye on the roof as it didn’t look amazing. I took the front having chilled right down and instead of smashing the calcite floor I dug underneath for 5min and after a quick smash with the hammer had removed a calcite floor to a black hole going down. I created enough space and chucked a boulder down the shaft I was now peering down which looked to be 2m in diameter, the boulder rattled down a pitch for a long way – BINGO! This must be it. We spent the next 30min frantically digging the fractured rock below the calcite floor and left a downward sloping slot just impenetrable but easy digging. Next trip should see us through – Great trip again.
Enticing black space...
28th Jan – Rob & Jeff
According to the survey the Pearly Gates dig lies directly over known mine/cave so today’s expectations of a connection were very high. Luke managed to bail so i nicely stepped forward. Jon was sad. Jeff worked the face first, trying and failing to get a block out from under the calcite ramp so instead chiselling away at the shattered floor. I was getting cold waiting so we swapped shortly before the end when there was enough space to get through. Bolt and rope installed and through I went. A short muddy slope popped out over a large black hole, which got bigger and bigger as it went down! Y-hang installed quickly and I was off. Oh yes, it a fine, mostly freehang down. Big boulders littered between fluted walls, all belling out into the biggish chamber below. But this is all new, no sign of people being here before, and no connection yet?!? Jeff came down with the tools and we went to explore our new chamber, Inglorious Bastards.
Jeff looking across Inglorious Bastards
At the other side of the chamber a tall rift continues up to what looks like a level heading off North, roughly 10m up. Should be a relatively easy bolt climb. A few holes in the boulder floor looked potentially interesting but don’t have any draught. That all comes out of a well decorated bedding plane crawl to the north west about 2m off the floor, which you can hear from the other side of the chamber! Jeff stuck his head in first, being careful not to knock off more formations than he had to. It’s tight but quite wide. Unfortunately the floor is a mixture of glutinous mud and pools of water, so with the blast of cold wind it’s really not very pleasant going. A coating of black soot over the mud gives this place it's name Black Draught. I had a look and got a bit further to a part where it’s even wider. The biggest way on is straight ahead into a small pile of boulders, with the draught issuing right from the middle of it. This is going to be a hard place to dig, but it’s great to finally have a proper horizontal passage in here.
Rob emerging from Black Draught
Back in Inglorious Bastards on the opposite wall is another passage, seemingly the downstream continuation. Jeff inserted himself and could see a good few metres over a clay mud floor. Again no draught, but an easy dig this time.
So, we took a few pictures and started heading out, adjusting the rigging as we went. It’s left me with a strange feeling of excitement but also frustration. The connection is constantly avoiding us, whilst the cave keeps giving us more. What a crazy project this has been so far!
Looking up Inglorious Bastards