Cussey Pot

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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 09 June 2023

Created: 08 June 2023

Hits: 817

Joe B, Rob E (Dream Team)

Back in November myself and Joe had an amble down the master cave an realised than an aven seemed to be taking a draught. Joe stood on my head and could just about get in but it wasn’t ideal so we set to return. Many months on, today was the day.

First we ran around the place changing all the dye detectors. The Boil-Up Sump 2 was longer than we had hoped, but nothing like our last time (!) so perfectly doable for us, even with us armed with drill and bolting gear this time.

The aven is a narrow rift, but it’s located in the roof of a roughly 3m diameter passage. I put in a quick bolt as high as I could (see next trip report!!) and attached an etrier which then allowed me relatively easy access into the rift above. Once in it was a pretty easy freeclimb, although quite slippery in places. I attached an electron ladder to my belt which allowed me to climb without the weight of a drill. Plan being once at the top Joe would clip the drill on to the bottom of the ladder and I pull it up. Nice plan, but…

I normally do this sort of freeclimbing with a rope, but getting SRT kits to/from this place is a ball ache and we were keen to keep gear light. Turns out ladders don’t trail behind a freeclimber well at all. It managed to get stuck below me in exactly the slippery manoeuvres, very not ideal. Secondly, ladders are quite short, maybe 30ft. turns out this aven was nearly double that, so Joe clipped on the bolting gear and drill way before I reached the top, therefore making the ladder get stuck even more. Bad plan Rob.

Thankfully I got to the top OK and managed to put in a good bolt and hang the way too short ladder to assist with my route down. At the top the rift is simply blocked with boulders in the roof, some which as bigger than the rift (hence being there) which suggests above that the cave only gets bigger. Good news I reckon, although it’s still a boulder choke, directly above you head, at the top of a 20m pitch, beyond a sump, beyond Cussey, so not ideal really. There is also a small horizontal opening which is too small to fit into but you can see up and may avoid some of the hanging death if it could be made passable. So a few different options to think about.

Also, madly, there was an absolutely huge echo coming from above. Like, Titan sized echo! I holler and hoot in all directions and convince myself that this is indeed coming from above, beyond the choke. Joe below could also hear the echo, which at first was very confirming, but then made me question how. As I climbed down the ladder the echo got louder, and I realised that in fact there’s a weird acoustics phenomenon occurring (big words for a Friday night!) and the echo was in fact just from the passage below where Joe was. Sad, cos I nearly got reyt excited.

Unfortunately the hardest bit to downclimb was the bottom part of the aven, especially getting onto the etrier, but thankfully Joe (an actual climber) was very polite about my pathetic squirming about only 3-4m up. Once down, easy (stoopidly fast) trip out, made memorable by Joe politely asking if he could carry the bag, probably to speed me up a bit.

Joined up with Chris and Jim (who had been buggerin about somewhere above Bradwell) in the Anchor for a debrief and too many snacks.

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Written by: Jim Thompson

Published: 08 June 2023

Created: 08 June 2023

Hits: 1202

Team: Jon / Jim

With most of Team Awesome otherwise engaged recently, with various excuses ranging from ‘working away’ to 'assisting in the research of 300 degree active lava tubes in Iceland’, it was Jon and I only tonight on a task-focused job. The job in question, to swap/install a number of dye detectors in various locations within the Stoney catchment as part of a dye tracing project being undertaken by researchers at the University of Birmingham under the guidance of Professor John Gunn.

Our first port of call was a quick dash into Streaks lower entrance. It seems de rigeur in every trip report ever to describe the pre-activity – so obviously, we met at the correct parking area, got changed into appropriate gear and went from there to the cave, went into said cave and did some caving. None of this is really what we were up to though, merely a means to an end to do the job in hand, thus:

I’d received some dye detectors earlier in the week from John, consisting of a bit of hosiery tied into a ball containing activated charcoal, intended for the capture of Fluorescein and/or Rhodamine dye depending on the path of water at the location vs. the surface dye injection site. An additional detector consisted of a cotton wool pad inside a perforated ziplock bag intended for the capture of optical brightener. The purpose of this is to enable simultaneous injection of dye at different sites, and hence identification of the different sources at the detection site. I’d ensured all the detectors were prepped with a good length of electric fence string and bagged such that the retrieved detectors could be swapped out and isolated to prevent any cross-contamination. Subsequent identification of dyes would be carried out in the lab by fluorometry.

In addition, we had a conductivity meter; intended to give an indication of the level of carbonate etc in solution, as well as a temperature reading that would assist in indicating any thermal origin of the water.

At each location we would remove the in-situ detector, securely bag it and tie the fresh detector(s) to a suitable weighty anchor (rock) to keep it submerged, note the conductivity and temperature reading, and dash onto the next, given that we had to do this in Streaks before heading to Cussey, this time though driving clad in wetsuit socks and pants, repeating the parking and changing procedure (swapping under/oversuits for wetsuits) and descending Cussey to access Doom / SMMC / Glebe to do the same at another 5 sites… it felt like a long night was ahead…

Probably time for some human interest to progress the story. It had been quite a while since I’d last visited Cussey so I was excited to get back into the swing of it for the summer. Rapid and uneventful progress was made to the shattered dreams squeeze, and feeling blasé about it I squeezed myself in.. I’d rather think it was the fact I’d brought my ‘best’ SRT kit involving an MTDE arse strap harness rather than the slimmed down Derbyshire version far more suited to this sort of thing, than the fact that my post-winter physique was bigger in girth than last summer, but either way I didn’t just slip through as anticipated. I tried unsuccessfully to release the hung up arse strap so rather than mess about I managed to wriggle out of the kit and throw it down to Jon, slid though and rekitted whilst he descended the next pitch. Soon we were making the fun head first dive out of the big chamber into Loper Lust. I wasn’t sure what to expect as the only time I’d been through here before it was in the reverse direction and bone dry. By comparison a wet and muddy LL is delightful. Reaching the wet bit, which by now was not a full on freedive, having significant but somewhat unasable airspace, I waited for Jon to let me know the way out was clear and progressed into the water until my sideways-turned face wouldn’t stay breathing air anymore. Quick pause, deep breath and forward under water, I felt my way through and popped up on the other side.  Shortly afterwards we popped out in Doom.

Another new-to-me adventure to come, due to timings and other poor excuses last summer was the delight of Vulgarious. I knew it was muddy, and that it led the way into RAT, so that was good enough to pique my excitement. It’s not big, not really little, but I suspect it’s likely to be a love or hate option, rather than a goldilocks one. Fortunately I fell straight into the Love Gang, big grin forming as I slid easily through the slop. At one point I was delighted, having tired of the not-quite-proper flat out crawling, not-quite-tall-enough for hands and knees, to find that flipping onto my back and pushing with my heels made for far more efficient and fun backwards progress.

The roar of running water amplified the excitement levels as it signalled the arrival at RAT, and even if Vulgarious had been a horror show, it would have been worth it. SMMC would have to wait for another day as the sump was still too full for a dive through, but it was no small consolation to have a wander up the massive loveliness of RAT.

Back through Vulgarious and into Doom again, this time using monocular vision due to an unfortunate raising of the hand during my back-pedalling manoeuvre that ended with a big blob of gritty mud falling into my eye, and we pressed on towards Static Passage with our now-available spare detector. Static had a mere trickle of water but enough to get the ball wet so we placed it and took readings, then repeated the process at the gushing Elastic Passage, before pressing on towards and up the Wet West crosscut, a long and undeviating trudge up a train track. I must have been tired by this point because I don’t even remember swapping a detector here, even though I remember having a bag for one before and afterwards. What I do remember though is a: being absolutely starving and hallucinating pork scratchings in the Anchor (probably dehydrated too in that case), feeling suddenly and inexplicably utterly knackered, and my lamp deciding to go into limp mode out of sympathy. I had also stopped talking. A definite contra-indicator.

Heading up the Glebe crosscut for the final detector placement of the night, Jon did comment that the air wasn’t very nice in spite of the wind blowing through the place. Whatever it was I momentarily felt like I had nothing left in the tank and wanted to be, well not at the furthest distance away from our point of egress from underground.

Detector placed in the flowing water, we turned round and headed for home. I was obliged to stay close to Jon for light as I wanted to minimise the use of my backup light. I’d regained some energy and started talking again so maybe the air was rank… the tank was at least slightly topped up.

After not too long I was glad to haul myself with plenty of groaning, back into Inglorious whereupon Jon produced a Pain au Chocolat from the tub. Taking a bite, it was like eating a dry bathroom sponge but at that moment the most delicious bathroom sponge anyone has ever eaten. It gave me the energy I needed to get on the rope, have a really quick power nap half way up the pitch, and possibly most importantly, climb up Coconut Airways with no difficulty at all.

Finally, right at the foot of the entrance pitch, I realised everything would be much easier were I able to see, so turned on my backup light. Climbing out of the lid into the night air I was struck with the sensation of ‘feeling OK’, which given my state in Glebe, is an acceptable result for a busy night.

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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 15 May 2023

Created: 15 May 2023

Hits: 967

Dylan was supposed to join me but got caught out by torrential rain on his motorbike ride from York so he turned around. No bother for me as i'm happy caving solo, especially Cussey as i know it all so well and can move nice and efficiently. Loper Lust was open but only by a few inches. The wind roaring through made waves on the pool! Still easier and more pleasant to freedive than suck the roof so i went for that option. Vulgarious was the same as ever. Boil Up Sump 2 was totally full and flowing a little (more than what was just dropping in from the eyehole above). I got the syphon running fine and spent a while thinking about how to improve this setup, ideally so it stays syphoned. I have a plan now to try at least. After a little jog down RAT (rude not too) i turned around and set a good pace out. Whole trip was 56 minutes, including the ~15 mins messing about with the syphon, proving it's not that big a trip. Got to wash off in the Saltpan too, lush!

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Written by: Dylan Kocher

Published: 03 March 2023

Created: 03 March 2023

Hits: 1310

Arriving at the Carpark Rob rather sluggishly leaves the car voicing complaints of his previous meal, although outweighed by arriving back to the stomping grounds of Cussy. Winter has seen most attention diverted to other prospects for Team Awesome leaving this ripe section of Stoney alone and for the most part silent. The mission for tonight was to reach the Boil-up Sump 2 and reactivate the syphon to remove the underwater gate allowing access back into the Master cave. The Idea of free dive is truly tested at this second sump when the levels raise as Joe Buck and Rob have previously experienced.

A team previously had attempted to pass Loper Lust whom reported that there was no draft and therefore sumped as of last week. I have never experienced this dive and therefore was very excited to try my hand at it. As I tested the limits of my mother’s wetsuit we set off. Left of the initial descent into Coconut Airways dropping into Inglorious removing our srt kits and right into the inviting crawl of Loper Lust. Flat out with speed, we reach the first sump. Positioned in the first section Rob below me explains the nature of the dive containing three airbells and then a fully committed dive. After performing his ablutions, he then leaves me. Duck one two and three and through I hear an Excited caver on the other side meaning there is air on the roof but not enough to be noticed or taken advantage of. Now my turn the initial cold water seeps into my suit releasing some adrenalin and I pass on into airbell three to what is an uninviting way onto my left. After I feel both sides with my arms I slow my breaths and wait for Rob to set up his camera then go. What is only a body-length sump in a tight crawl makes for an exciting emergence into comforting air. Now on the wrong side of a sump we carry on with the trip to the ladder to the Wet West jumping off a few feet down to Vulgarious Bastard past the rift arriving at the Boil-up Sump 2.

With the syphon working Rob comes up with a plan to do a round trip to Doom, a system I have heard much about and am very eager to see, the only thing is that there is a pitch and we do not have our kit. But we of course go forward with the promise to give it a solid effort. Journey back into a beautiful passage of A Race Against Time to the entrance pitch of NGA chamber. On initial look at the pitch, it did not look crazy so I go for it. Rob explained the body belay method. Now I center myself and assume the role of tomb raider or young Indi junior and descend into the chamber with Rob right behind. The floor was made up of sleeping titan-like boulders of impressive stature. Crawling down through the boulder choke careful not to awake NGA thus arriving at a very tight squeeze between two slices of rock. Though my role as Squeeze master was established at the YSS hunt in combat with the GUCA Rob went ahead and showed me the technique of needing to take your helmet off and let gravity pull you through. With a solid hug from Oztoteotl, we enter the mine of the Wet West. Coming section of mine with magnificent lumber mine props added to the photogenic nature although I did not realize what was to come. Once to the ladder leading back out to Luper Lust we offshoot to DOOM.

Entering the official mine of Doom I was greeted with huge open passage with offshoots into lower and upper series all bumping in and out of a natural cave. The most beautiful Stone walls crafted by the miners separated the working path from the drop-offs into the impending doom of the lower series. Walkways across the walls with Launders circling around carrying water into natural cave. Side shoots of workshops, this place feels more complex due to the time investment into the structure of their works! Almost like a director's take on a working mine. As we continue through the main passage of Doom I am shown a minute detour into a huge aven ascending into the ceiling yet to be bolt climbed. Then past a mine cart left in the final position of dumping material into a lower section of the mine. Travelling further in the horizontal movement then transitions into a pipe mine ascending and coming back about halfway up the aven reached earlier. Along the catacomb-like stone walls, we reach a T junction although the miners added a wall to block off the right passage clearly directing you to turn left. For what reason the miner themselves would do this is unknown and adds a very spooky aspect to the Intersection. With advice headed we journey further and then decide to turn around as this was a lot to take in. Retracing our steps jumping over and across the lower series down beautifully crafted steps and back into the wet west up the ladder and into loper lust. This time I opt to go first through the sump. The entrance slides down into the plunge and with reasonable momentum, one could slide through like a seal. I lacked the commitment and ended up face pressed against wet rock reshuffling my position I dive in and come to the first air bell and journey through. Robs' shout of successful passing lets me know we're well on our way back to the surface. With kits on we ascend out of blackjack and up to the surface. A successful night with the syphon working and for myself thanks to Rob I got to have an amazing trip adding some of the puzzle pieces of the area to better understand the picture I am forming of Stoney Middleton.

Dylan Kocher emerging from Cussey, by RobE