Waterfall Hole
This drains to SMMC, so definitely worth a look....
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- Written by: Ben, Rob, Joe and Ned
- Hits: 85
Now then, Some might say that the photography seen in this trip report is AI. well, you should not believe everything you see and you are right to question things with a critical eye, but i can assure you, all Photography here is straight up legit. Now, join me for our journey....
“It’s dead easy, but don’t fall or you will have a bad time”
Its 30 degrees and l’m wrestling my oversuit up over my furry undersuit. Sweat is bucketing out of me and I laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Many people will be heading to the beer garden tonight, but they won’t be cracking open a bottle of cider down a farm track in the hottest clothing possible. They also will not get to experience that cool air of a cave.
Joe leads us down to the entrance of BWS. I get on my hands and knees and instantly get a blast of cool air in my face. I begin the flat out crawl incredibly excited about the trip ahead and keen to get to the site where I was digging last. Since then there has been significant gains in this cave. I climbed up into the narrow passage of the sump by pass, went around the corner and saw the point where I had capped up to. The end of the by-pass was literally a smidge further on. “FFS, If I had just capped a bit more rather than head to the pub I would have broken through and took the glory” I exclaimed to Joe.
We regrouped in a small chamber and Rob spoke to Ned and I about the climb coming up. “Now, it’s dead easy, but don’t fall or you will have a bad time” Jon’s voice echoed in my head at this moment. I sent him a message a few days prior to the trip. “Do I need my SRT kit?” He replied with “There’s no SRT, but there probably should be”
We dropped down a little more until a saw a rope drooping over a rock and disappearing. I peered over the edge to see a rift drop some 15m or so. I could see the first ledge straight ahead but it looked a reach. I sat down and reached my leg out as far as I could stretch, slowly I lowered and pushed it forwards some more, as long as I hit that rock I’m ok. Otherwise it’s going to sting a bit. Due to the stretch I couldn’t really look for my foot placement as I was leaning back, but I felt something solid and put my weight into it. A boost from my arms pushed me onto the ledge, safe. From there I could see Joe winding his way down the rift.
“Don’t pull on that”
I traversed across a little to where the rift narrowed and bridged across. Finding subtle foot holds I worked my way down, then had to turn back on my self and continue traversing downwards until eventually I was on the floor. Looking up into the rift it seemed like such a cool and mad jumble of rock that we had just played snakes and ladders on….without the ladders.
Quick regroup and then onwards. Things got tight again as we wound our way downwards. It was so physical, requiring every muscle to clamber, and contort your way through. Joe stopped to check the way on as we were at a fork. “This way and up…..don’t pull on that” he said to me quite nonchalantly. I look up and see the most precariously perched large boulder. Sliding around it and up I repeat the same message to Ned.
Ben in the Yoga squeeze looking for the stemple
“Ow my dick is trapped”
Clambering down and round and through small slots was so much fun. It bought us to what I can only describe as the crab walk in giants but tighter. It’s a narrow vertical slot that curves around with features that jut out. I can see that beyond the really tight bit it drops away into darkness, but I can see a wooden stemple. Joe explained that there was a technique and it was easier to watch him than explain. He dropped into the tight vertical slot at an angle, fishing for the stemple with his toes. He reversed back onto it with practically no room that he folding himself in half to do a Marilyn manson and then pulled his head around the corner and then disappeared forwards. Essentially the tightest hairpin in a cave. These features are what I look the most and I dropped myself into the slot, got halfway in and got pinned on the rocks as something bit into my gentlemans sausage. “are you ok” asked Ned. “Ow, my dick is trapped”. For a moment I couldn’t work out what was more painful, press on or try and reverse it. I wasn’t even on the stemple so I sucked in as hard as I could, happy that I wasn’t wearing a belt, and eventually gravity took hold and I slide onto the stemple. Now, im a little more broad shouldered than Joe so I had to twist my upper body to get into the gap, gave my ankles a close inspection as I tried to bend and pull my head around the corner. If this was a cartoon you would have heard a cork pop as my head came through to the gap.
We worm our way along some more until eventually we get to a small chamber. Joe and Ned head onwards through a slot called the void as Rob and I get the kit out to survey. I’m absolutely drenched in sweat; I really didn’t need the furry tonight.
“I think we need to call a committee meeting”
Rob checked out the data on his phone to see that the avens had been done on the last trip. “we need to do the bit beyond the void” he said as he slipped the disto away and headed feet first into a tight slot. Arms over head inching through. It looked tight and awkward. “Don’t rush through and look for your feet” Rob warned me. I lay back, pushed my feet forwards, arms over head. With no leverage anywhere it was a case of wriggle your way into the slot. My arms must have flailed too much as I pulled off a rock the size of a caving helmet which landed just above my head. Never what you want to see in a cave that is a whole boulder choke. I drop through after getting my shoulders pinned.
Rob and I began surveying the passage. I mark the stations and rob takes the lazer sights. He moves forwards to me and I move forwards to another feature to be a station. Eat sleep rinse repeat until at the end of the passage where Im handed the disto to do splays around the area.
Joe calling the committee meeting in the small chamber
We can hear the boys below us capping away, so Rob and I have a catch up in the rift. After some time Joe shouts up, “I think we need to call a committee meeting Rob” I sit down and slide into the small chamber like a tight slip and slide. The boys had dug a hole in the floor that had a strong breeze coming out, but the further I put my head in the sketchier it got. Rob checked it out as well and we all agreed it looked pretty awful and loose. Ned had been poking higher up at the back of the chamber. Joe appeared dejected about the whole situation, until Ned’s enthusiasm for his hole got us all having a look. Well, it looked slightly less deathy, so we dedcided to have a poke here for a bit. Ned first with the crow bar and some caps made some good progress. I then asked to have a go and got to the face.
“Golly Gosh!! F&%K sake don’t poke it”
I started by staying out of the hole and reaching in with the big crow bar, breaking bits up and pulling large rocks out, I kept looking at the ceiling untrustingly. I decided to knock some of the hanging death away and started to enlarge the hole a lot in the hope it would stabilise.
I grabbed the drill excited to cap a huge boulder. Tap tap tap went the hammer as I tried to get in a position to retreat if needed. “bang” went the cap, followed by that beautiful explosive smell, I say the boulder split into pieces and felt confident enough to crawl into the hole. I pulled out large rock after large rock and felt like I was making a lot of progress. After a while I was conscious the boys had been sat for some time and might be getting cold. “Anyone else want a go for a bit?”
Ned assessing the stability of the roof and declaring it ok
Rob jumped in as I joined Joe. Some crowbarring and capping and before long there was a production line going as rob was pulling out rock after rock. He too was not overly happy about the ceiling above and kept coming out to think about how to proceed. “I want that one gone from the roof” he said of a large rock. A cap later and a microwave rock came out of the hole.
Our stacking had completely filled in the hole that Joe and Ned had made about an hour earlier. Rob stepped out of the hole and we had the committee meeting about how to proceed next time. All the time Ned had been poking at everything that looked unstable, unbeknown to us. “I reckon just get rid of this bit” Exclaimed Ned poking at what looked like a chock stone for the roof. A little more poking and suddenly a large boulder began to move.
“Golly Gosh!! F&%K sake don’t poke it” Said Joe as Ned gave it one last nudge and boom this large boulder fell out of the wall covering up the hole we had just dug out.
Rob trying to hold back the falling boulder
“I’m going to the pub” said Joe. I looked at Rob, “Pub?”. “Pub” came the nod. We all agreed that that was still worth some work and capping the big boulder to regain access to the dig was worth it as the draft was strong.
On the way out, Joe and I were waiting to regroup. He said “you know, the longer you look up, the worse it gets” I followed his gaze upwards to see all of the boulders just perched on top of each other, held up by being pinned against each other at small points.
We got to the surface and were hit with an oppressive heat as the last bit of daylight was fading away. WHAT.A.TRIP! incredible cave, topped off with a cold cider for our efforts
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
- Hits: 151
This evenings trip was purely reserved to getting our heads around this complex system. It's jokingly been said before that the best way to play out the cave would be to insert yourself into every hole and then mark said hole with paint. There's been multiple occasions where I've pushed a certain section of this cave only to find that I've reappeared in another known section. Tonight was no exception.
I met Chris and Joe around 6:30pm and after a swift pre-beer in warmth we kitted up (not without it's mishaps) and Ventured down into the swallet. Acknowledging the call of nature (again) Joe and I had ample time to exlore the other sink holes and caves within the swallet but with little to report. With Chris now back we summoned out the badger and headed underground.
Our first lead to examine was one Mark Noble had flagged up after a survey trip in the late 70's with JSB, see fig 1. This was quite easy to find at the base of Hockenhull's Rift. Its easily recognisable by the immediate dog leg halfway down the passage. The end has three ways on. Left leads to a boulder choke that looks above our pay grade. Straight on is a narrow rift with a climb at the end leading to a further choke, whilst to the right is a tight rift which needs the floor digging (approx. 5 inch air gap), this is marked as draughting, however the draught was not present this evening with average surface temperature. The passage is solid which seems positive as most things below aren't. but it's not a dig which presented easy pickings - CHECK.
fig 1. Insert from JSB's diary (09/01/77) courtesy of Mark Noble
We then moved on to the next location. A choked rift heading SW from Chandra's Series, see fig 2 (blue circle). Chris opted to stay entrance side of the squeezes which seemed a bit more tight than usual. Joe and I proceeded to explore this section giving every hole a thorough examination. The rift was heavily choked with large blocks, again looking super uninspiring we opted out of this being a viable dig and I showed Joe the large clean washed descending choke at the entrance to Chandra's (orange circle). This does look very promising in reality with voids to be poked at everywhere, however it looks a serious undertaking and not something we (TA) would be willing to participate in. Also on paper the water that sinks here has been confirmed to reappear in Showerbath Passage, this doesn't mean there's not virign territory somewhere within the choke but makes decision making a little lopsided - CHECK.
fig 2. Screen capture from Waterfall Hole survey
Our next point of call was to head down to Jim's Bit but before we made it through to Waterfall Chamber we explored a hole in the floor which unknowingly to us dropped us halfway along Showerbath Passage. After checking a few holes we eventually stumbled upon a knotted rope down a pitch. I know Waterfall Hole only has one pitch like this which is EPS Aven but this did not look anything like the version I had set in my memory from 15 years prior. Joe descended and stepped across halfway down into a muddy side passage where he noted a sling hanging from a boulder. This triggered a memory I had of Jim's Bit but the pieces didn't quite fit together. After nearly losing a Welly in thigh deep mud Joe returned and we traced our steps back up the climb and dropped into the Waterfall Chamber. I led the guys down through the waterfall and into the passage beyond which was the way I knew to reach EPS Aven. Halfway down the passage I realised this was where we'd just come from. That didn't stop me having a little fun and pushing Chris onwards to explore the passage once again. After a few more metres he eventually turned around and called us obscenities for tricking him into thinking he was pushing a new passage.
Time served, we made a push for surface and reached the cars close to 10pm. Posties at the mechanics. Slowly I'm getting my head around the place but it's easy to lose yourself.
A disoriented Chris Hibberts (photo by JRP)
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- Written by: Joe Buck
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Joe, Jon, Ben, Sam P, Rob
After successive weeks of small but enticing breakthroughs, a team assembled which included some less frequently attending GGWs. DJ Ben Marks decided he would lower himself to coming to our dig, even though he declared that he was officially over caving and not even Matienzo could make him “feel anything inside” (his words). And Sam, the other half of the Pembros, came out of retirement.
Jon wanted to take some photos on the main pitch, and seeing as I somehow ruin every photo it was decided I would head straight for the tight rift we were capping from last week. Given Ben’s misery and inability to smile while down a cave, it was decided he ought to come with me as well.
We made reasonable time to the end, having to stop only briefly because I gave bad instructions and managed to get Ben stuck in the stemple squeeze. I began capping down into the rift armed with two very different but terrible crowbars. I was making reasonable headway, but heading almost vertically down, and the further I progressed the more awkward the capping became. I was eventually having to post myself headfirst down the tight slot and then having to reverse back out to grab anything and/or Ben would pass it to me. Every time any capped rock would immediately rumble down and block the way so I would have to reach back in to try and push the rocks through.
After about an hour of work, I had just about got it to the point where I thought I could squeeze through into the space beyond, when the others joined. The jeering from behind did little to help the frustrating capping as I repeatedly failed to set off the caps one handed and upside down, tantalisingly close to another breakthrough. With a final crack and rumble of rock into the void below, I was through, just.
The space beyond was a small chamber with terrifying and huge boulders suspended above. There was a very narrow bedding heading SW with no indication of anything beyond. The floor was comprised of a ruckle of small and reasonably clean boulders with a general faint draught coming up through but no single obvious way on. The main draught was coming from above, which appeared to be a continuation of the previous rift and would be a terrible dig and no enticing leads. All in all, not the result we were hoping for.
Jon and Rob joined me and got some Insta content. We had a quick poke in the floor, concluding that this would actually be easy digging, but would require more work than we are typically capable of, generally going instead for the quick and “easy” wins.
We’d have to return to survey this extra bit of cave but left it for now to check out the bottom of the main choke. Rob and Dylan had surveyed and checked out most of the leads down there, but there was a hole they’d left off in a cherty pot under suspended boulders. Rob and Jon went through first under a horrendous stack of rocks and I tentatively followed after. The dig here followed some solid wall but appeared to have tailings from some mining work above and was constantly washing back in. This dig would also require significant shoring.
We made our way back out, somewhat deflated but already looking elsewhere in BWH for the way to Stoney Middleton. Not sure if we convinced Ben to come back and feel something inside him again.
Rob climbing Hockenhulls Rift (JRP)
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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Just Joe and I again this evening for breakthrough 3.0! We met at the substantially earlier time of 6pm, armed with camera and capping gear we swiftly changed and made our way down the shake-hole to escape the weather.
Nonchalantly we made our way down to Westy's bit, plagued by the usual rigmarole of bag snagging around the corner. We passed breakthrough 1, where I expressed my consideration for the looseness of breakthrough 2 and the possibility of catastrophic failure. Joe reassured me that he thought it was fine and we proceeded Into The Void. Our first call for action was to make a photo in the breakthrough chamber. Joe had limited me to one good photo, I agreed to the one but didn't make any promises on it being good. After some flashing antics I cleaned my camera of excess water (super drippy in there) and we started to mingle with the chaos. Joe laughed at the crowbar we had decided to bring Into The Void (Rob's 'butter knife'), at 1m long it's exceptionally difficult to manoeuvre in tight spaces, which we often find ourselves in.
"What is it with us and choosing to use immensely shit crowbars?"
I pointed Joe into a hole I found last week but couldn't pass a squeeze. With little consideration he passed under the washing machine sized boulder I was questioning and managed to insert himself into the rift beyond. Unfortunately it was too tight to progress but felt fresh and with a bit of shuffling he managed to retreat safely.
I went to check out my only other lead which was the downward slanting rift that Rob had almost entombed me in two weeks prior. I inserted my head and I could feel the fresh cool air blowing out the hole, this was promising! After last week the team was a bit deflated with no obvious lead to shake a stick at, but when cave digging is concerned, you always follow the draught. Joe joined me and commitingly dropped headfirst down the rift to inspect the end. After some awkward shuffling I got a "f**k yeah!" back through the hole...
Excited I hastily asked him to describe what he was looking at. He shouted back that about 2m ahead was black open space, stal, and looking like it dropped down beyond. By this time Joe was restricting the hole with his body and the draught was howling back towards me. I asked him what we needed to do? He replied by saying, "just cap this rift, we'll be through tonight!" I passed down the tools and he made a start on enlarging the entrance and then progressed to enlarging the squeeze. After 30 minutes he was ready to attempt it. I slithered down to join him and watched him dither for a second, questioning the foundation of the right wall before diving through head first.
It all went quiet for 30 seconds whilst he walked off out of sight... Excited I asked him to describe what he'd found, "6-8m long rift passage, 2m high, end is tight, needs capping." Not quite as optimistic as before but eager to proceed he told me to come through. I decided before passing the tools through to enlarge the squeeze a bit more, making it Jon size. I decided to opt for the left wall this time, hoping to remove a small scab. I hammered down the capping rod and it didn't take long before going with a whopping BANG! on inspection the capping bar was now locked in place. The wall above had dropped down and pinched it in place. After some awkward back hammering I managed to remove the bar but we now questioned the stability of the squeeze, both the left and right walls. Joe came back through to prevent eternal blockage and checked it out. He started by tapping the wedge shaped rock that was holding up a microwave sized boulder above. Once it started to move he walloped it back in place, after a few little love taps he declared it safe enough to pass and we shrugged it off deciding to remove a small scab from the right wall instead. Within no time we were both through into breakthrough 3.0 armed with capping gear for beyond.
Joe let me scurry along to the end as he'd already taken a look. The passage was about 6m in length post squeeze, lined with a sandy/bouldery floor and roofed with tiny stal curtains. The awesome thing was that we were now in solid passage away from the choke and the draught was howling from the end. Approximately a body length from the end the calcite vanished and gave way to clean washed, scalloped limestone. The passage terminated at a letter box slot about 10cm wide and 1m in length from which you could just about peer down to see a bouldery floor 2m below with who knows what heading off out of sight. Above the slot looked remarkably like the top of Hockenhull's Rift, clean washed, scalloped, teetering, boulders, with a sizeable void above that looked super intriguing.
I took the lead in capping the slot, which we concentrated on for the rest of the trip. I let Joe take over after flattening my hand with the lump hammer in an attempt to avoid projectiles which I thought would certainly sever my jugular! Joe also caught a stray during his shift, receiving a nut shot from a fist sized boulder which I declared as a 'love tap...'
Before we left, we glanced the rift one last time, just to make sure we'd not missed anything obvious. Joe expressed his glee about being a GGW as on his last three trips he'd broken-through consistently. I don't mind him being a GGW providing this happens every time.
We exited in a huff, lugging the bags back to the entrance felt tougher than usual and we broke surface at 10:30pm which meant I lost the bet and had to buy the first round. Comme ci, comme ça.
Joe dropping Into The Void
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- Written by: Dylan Kocher
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Rob Eavis Jon Pemberton Dylan Kocher
Eldon getting with the times tonight! In an effort to be like the 'super' TSG on this trip - we’re busting out the nail polish.
Last week saw a breakthrough in Waterfall Hole. This week we’re making sure you will forever know it, having never been to this dig before the excitement was definitely high. Keen to see another classic in the making, my friends had been working hard as usual with their unique gorilla digging style. Tonight’s mission was to survey beyond the void, and wrap our heads around the area that adds complexity to an already complex environment.
First stop was the Travelers Rest where we picked up our digging prizes from 2025 ensuring a glory grabbing photo in the process.
Once parked up, myself and Rob hastily jumped down the swallet. Jon would be joining us later. Through the bedding we hit a choke, past ward wins into a pitch head via the sump bypass; set up as a deathball freeclimb. Having focused on climbing recently this felt super sketch. Rob, of course, just plummets down pressed against the wall. I carefully negotiated the alternative and standard TA approach to the freeclimb. It could not be understated how dumb and mad this would seem to any other club, but these lot breeze it and clearly blunted by the years of exposure to Radon poisoning. Once through, the discombobulated way presents its own fun obstacles and definitely gives a fringe and untraveled vibe to the destination ahead. We reached Breakthrough 1, past Westy’s bit, and there we started our survey. Some fun crawling leads to Breakthrough 2 where we dive (feet first) into the void. Beyond this is a relatively large and comfortable chamber where numerous ways lie ahead. Pushing a few easy picking and tight leads to no avail brought us into deeper areas of the boulderchoke.
Various leads gave way into further small chambers, until John cried out above letting us know of his arrival. We investigate a small lead on the floor. I start digging away and within a couple minutes myself and Rob are able to push on and through into what will be the deepest point in The Void (so far). Solid walls surround a third of the area and NW give way to the usual broken down choke; however the colours have gone from dark grey to a hollow orange (small chamber nearing on 20m below main chamber). Feeling by far the most remote, getting out above took some care as the whole place can be quite loose. In haste to join in and survey, Jon helps navigate us through another area above and adjacent to the way we came in. This is hidden when first entering. Moods being chip and cheerful, as now there are three in The Void. Jon excitedly points to the wall “look look”. Thinking he was pointing out a way on, I thought he was a bit mad at first and he definitely thought I was just dumb until I looked closer. What appeared to be scratches from a stemple adding to a growing theory that this area has at one time been accessed by miners. This is further evidenced by apparent stacking above (high chamber SE) and knowledge of the area adjacent being mined, making it all somewhat conclusive. With some more pushing and surveying in rather hostile and unstable conditions led us back to the main chamber. It was agreed to head back out after a final push and end tonight’s fun. In total, we have added 120m of absolute clusterfuck to the cave. I’m sure there will be a way on somewhere as now access can be maintained through weather conditions, but seems to be quite the start!
With pints and snacks bought at the Mechanics, I was very pleased to see that the nasa rocket launch had already initiated its countdown. A very fine excuse to stay a bit longer before my drive back home.
No one died in the cave nor on the launch so very successful night indeed.
Rob post Into The Void (JRP)