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: Luke Cafferty
- Hits: 1934
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
- Hits: 2750
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
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
- Hits: 1435
Jeff, Dave B, Joe & Jon P
We met at the usual time and made our ways to the bottom of Cussey in pairs to avoid boulder dislodging catastrophes! Once all de-kitted we made our way through Loper Lust to the dig which was now no longer dry and a pool of water had formed at the bottom of the ramp. I took to the dig face first being first down the hole and with Rob stating that breakthrough was imminent I was keen to crack on whilst trying to keep dry.
I made my way up into the first air bell which was roomy enough to laydown in. We ferreted about 10 kibbles which now required feet hooking to bring forward to the dig face, a turf rolling technique was applied which seemed to work well rolling the sheets of clay up rather than digging down with fingers which seemed a waste of time. I could now see through to a bigger air bell and cleared just enough mud so I could squeeze through. Now in air bell 2 I could see forward approx. 4m where the floor dropped away with lots of popsicle pendulums on the roof which thwarted progress. Luckily these were quite easy to remove but seeing that breakthrough was no longer as close as we though I made way for someone else to have a go.
Dave was up next and took a whopping 2 more kibbles which now had to be ferreted from the arse end of nowhere and limited dragging without lots of movement from everyone in the chain. Dave managed to push forward into a further air bell (3) but it wasn't until Joe took his turn at the dig face that we reached the 4th air bell albeit with Joe losing both gloves in the process and completely caking his glasses with mud.
We now had to resort to stacking at the sides as it was impossible to drag kibbles back to the chamber. Jeff had the final dig and could see a few more metres ahead to where the passage seemed to be changing direction. We left covered in slop and now need to decide a further plan of action for the dig.
Breakthrough must be only metres away...
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 1196
A sneaky weekend evening trip to fit in with my diary. Jeff found willing help in the form of Joe, and I was glad to see he was well enough informed that he smashed down his own prebeer before we headed in.
I went straight to the dig with capping gear whilst Jeff gave Joe the personal tour. Unfortunately this extra time didn’t help much as I spent most of it trying to get the drill chuck to work, it seems the last few months of Cussey have not been kind on the drill. Brute force eventually got it operating ok and I set to work dismantling the boulders that were buried in the floor whilst Jeff and Joe made swift work of shifting all the debris back. Once completed we swapped and each had a session digging, making great progress and getting pretty knackered and fed up of Luke’s poor music taste (we really should have a playlist that doesn’t have his additions for when he’s not here).
They headed out but I wanted a quick look at the end, primarily to see if the capping gear would be needed for the next trip, which I wasn’t going to be on. At the dig face I was able to squeeze over top and into a 2m long airbell. At the end the roof comes down but then looked like it jumped straight back up again. Ahead blackness. Should be a productive trip next week…
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
- Hits: 1676
No Lukey boy tonight so just Rob, Jeff and I on tonight's now allowed group of 6 trip and with a right to roam again.
Unfortunately we were still blessed with Luke's "presence" by his shit taste in music hence the obscure title name for this entry.
Jeff was a smidge late so Rob and I had pre-beers early, we also had a quick look at the Saltpan down from the car park which makes for a lovely washing place afterward and got rid of most of the gloop. We made good progress in Loper Lust with three people: 1 @ the dig face, 2 @ the top of the slope dragging up the kibbles and 3 @ the small chamber cobbing slop up into any crack going. We must've done about 50 kibbles in total and made good progress uncovering a few large rocks in the floor which need capping. Pretty certain we could also probably gain visual contact with the other side of the dig if we were to try it again. We all had a turn at each location and all enjoyed making fun of Luke's shite taste in music.
We gained surface about 11pm. Onwards to glory.
Team of three now allowed again
Jeff Wade in the Loper Lust Dig, by Rob