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.
- Details
- Written by: Jon Pemberton
- Hits: 1459
Dave B, Jon P & Rob E.
Quick "easy" trip tonight to fix the bendy ladder which connects Cussey to Doom/WW. Rob took the heavy bag whilst Dave and I opted for the scaffold poles. Dave got the better deal and had a shorter pole which made for easy haulage through the chokes but the longer bar which I had proved to slide much easier through Loper Lust where as Dave's lil' bar filled with mud.
Once at the ladder rob had intended to cut the old rusty bolts off and replace with shiny new ones with the aid of his grinder but en route to this section the cutting disc had snapped leaving it useless! Instead Rob placed some pins and we guided the scaff up and pinned this into place. Once the scaff was fixed the ladder was fastened to the scaff making it feel much safer although the movement off the ladder now creates a comedy squeeze at the top and the crawl off into Loper Lust.
Whilst Rob was faffing with this Dave and I pushed one of his many great Doom leads. This one was a small roof cavity which was just out of reach. Dave and I decided to build a mound so that we could dig the cavity using an ancient artifact from the floor (currently left in situ) - unfortunately this lead didn't go as it was just a solution cavity but another one ticked off the list.
Steady trip out and Rob almost killed me at the ladder when he dropped the drill bag within a metre of my head down a 10m pitch! I think he was a little tired bless him so I offered to take the bag halfway up and managed to a get a photo of Dave in Coconut Airways.
Half a job - done.
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 1770
We started the evening as we meant to go on with pre-beers inside The Miners, sat at John & Doug's table. We debated on what would be best to do with our time, lack of a team meant we were flying TAP (Team Awesome Proper) tonight so we decided that rather than take a drill and camera gear the term "fast & light" would be our motto for the evening and we'd be leaving all of our gear at the base of Inglorious Bastards.
We had not coordinated in advance and forgot post beers but luckily I managed to pick a couple of Black Sheep up from the Spar which picked us up for the trip we were about to embark on. We wasted little time and got to the bottom ladder in 25 minutes, we now sauntered off down the level with no gear to carry and made our way up to the 73m level. Rob explained where he had poked before some years ago and I followed along until we hit the junction towards the boil up. The water was much lower than last week and we swung a right here to where Katie and Rob had reached a hole in the floor passing a big natural/mined out shaft en route. Here we gingerly traversed over a rock bridge to confirm the accuracy of the survey as the passage terminated in a small chamber down to the left with no way on. We took another look around the below the rock bridge but couldn't find a safe route down so sacked this off.
Once back at the stair case we descended back to the 85m level and passing G Shaft headed straight towards the right swing below the boil up junction. Here we counted the paces and confirmed the shaft above met a hole we could see in the roof. A short distance further we came to a climb up into the uncertain area below the rock bridge which we could now tick off. We double checked the survey and headed for the section presumed to be below Rocky Horror in Cussey. The level swings left passing a few low points and reaches a large natural choke with water flowing from cracks in the roof, a delicate squeeze through some old timber shoring leads to a stooping section which then reaches a collapse. Here the draught was mega and flowing up into the chamber beyond which meant it was heading towards something higher. We went up and through to reach a large chamber consisting of a huge steep ramp leading to a few potential climbs but no immediate way forward - Below Eyam Hall. We checked all possible leads we could reach and noted the places we'd need bolting gear for. The main prospects being Sooty & Sweep because of how black and used one lead looked, like the miners had used it for an entrance at some point. A further lead which needed collapsing was my Death Dig of Choice, a small hole up a tiny level blocked with deads propped up by three tiny rotten timbers. We chased the draught and came to the conclusion it was heading up into the roof of the chamber which made a connection to Rocky Horror seem very realistic.
Elated we started to make our way out ticking off a few side passages en route. We made surface by just gone 10pm which was super early for us and the black sheep went down a treat. Another Awesome trip in the bank for TAP.
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 1797
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…
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 1694
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.
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 1752
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