Knotlow: ChrisH, JoeB, JonP, SamP, RobE
Last week’s trip had suitably whetted my appetite for the natural passages in Knotlow, and with the weather still on our side, the Crimbo Pipe round (square) trip was the obvious next step. We began by chucking a big rope down the Chapel Dale Engine Shaft in case anyone felt particularly eager on the way back. Then, we rigged down Knotlow Climber and the Waterfall Pitch, tied our SRT kits to the bottom of the last rope, lowered them, and returned to start the round trip. All the prep was in place. LFG.
The East Level coffin passage is a brilliant stretch, and it feels surprisingly short—especially when you realise it’s actually the longest side of the square. A hard left at the first corner brings you into Crimbo Pipe, where we’d stopped last week. None of the five of us had done this section before, and it turned out to be pretty good fun. It’s not tight anywhere, just a bit awkward in places as you crawl over sharp boulders, up and down through the levels. Definitely a bit of a bugger if you’re carrying a big tackle bag, but thankfully, we’re all Awesome, right? There’s one bit where the only way on is through a small hole in the floor, opening out into a dark rift below. We realised that if there’d been any water flowing at all, that section would’ve been truly unnerving!
Eventually, we reached the next corner and climbed up into Rift Chamber for a breather. Here, the plan was finalised—Joe and I (Team Neoprene, aka Dream Team) would go and inspect Crimbo Swallow while the others carried on around the square, taking photos as they went.
This time, I’d done my research on Crimbo Swallow—or what little I could find. The Eldon first pushed this route in the late '60s, and their adventures are recorded in the old Eldon newsletters. The tales of near-drowning, failing lights, snorkels, "Wettest pitch in the country" and terrible surveying give a strong sense of desperation. And when you realise it was a gang of proper Eldon legends (Dearman, Toogood, Mares, Deakin, McIntosh, Gill, Cooper & Westlake), the respect levels shoot up. Oddly, anything else about this place since that first push had escaped my attention, so we were pretty much going in blind. Here's hoping we are Awesome enough…!
Extracts from Eldon newsletter 1967, written by G. W. Cooper
The first section is low coffin passage with a bit of natural thrown in, all of it crawling in about a foot of water. You soon reach Heifer Rift, where a yellow pipe channels the fast-flowing water through a small boulder pile and into the passage ahead. By this point, it’s worth noting that we’d been heading “upstream” in these coffin levels—back towards where the miners dug from, which suggests there’s a way up to the surface hidden somewhere in the roof of Heifer Rift. I should’ve had a poke about here, but we were on a mission and I wasn’t in the mood for distractions.
After a final word with Joe, we pressed on, me in front with the larger tackle bag. The airspace was low from the off—just enough to get one ear wet, but no more. The water was moving quickly, but because the passage is quite wide, it didn’t really affect progress. That said, the passage was too low for proper “hands and knees” crawling, so it turned into an elbow-destroying slog in the wetsuit. After about 20 metres, we could hear a loud roar up ahead, excitement building. Another 20 metres and the airspace became ridiculously tight. I found myself digging at the sides, trying to clear the pebbles and rocks to lower the water level and give us more room to fit through.
Eventually, I cautiously approached the pitch head. Fortunately, I was able to stand just a few feet back from the edge, in what’s called Eldon Chamber. Relief flooded in as I arrived—what a privilege it felt to be standing in the same spot those Eldon lads reached over 50 years ago.
Joe Buck descending Eldon Chamber, photo by Rob Eavis
Joe followed me through, and we took a moment to take in our surroundings. Eldon Chamber is a decent-sized space, with two clean-washed avens above. One looked quite tantalising, and it wouldn’t take much to climb it with a couple of bolts for protection. The obvious way on was down the roaring pitch in front, which looked pretty epic. But tonight, I was more interested in going past it and on to the next drop, Aussie Chamber, which I’d spotted on the excellent 1980 Eldon survey. Skirting the edge of the pitch, the bedding crawl continued, as expected—but to my dismay, it was absolutely tiny.
I squirmed in, and almost immediately my tackle bag dropped over the pitch edge, leaving me stuck in place, tethered by the haul cord. Joe (not so soulless after all) came to the rescue, took the bag, and I pushed on. Now, I’m a small chap and usually pretty determined in a squeeze, but this was desperate. I told Joe to start rigging the pitch, just in case. I had to take my helmet off and use a kind of peristalsis technique to wriggle forwards, inch by inch, and eventually hit a sharp left-hand bend. Clearing flood debris from the edges, where my limbs would soon have to squeeze through, I bent my body round the corner, muscles cramping, and then finally straightened out, giving myself a much-needed rest.
As I recuperate I can hear a loud roar ahead and I presume that is Aussie Chamber which is shown to reach down to the water. However it is actually a small hole leading back to halfway down Eldon Chamber, the torrent of falling water visible through a small gap. I continue on along the bedding, a much more sensible size now, but still clearing drift wood as I go. Another 20m or so and Aussie Chamber is reached. I had planned to have the drill, rope and bolting gear here to descend this but had also hoped that it might be freeclimbable. Luck it seems was on my side and a 8m steady freeclimb down got me to the stream. Mega.
Upstream straight away is a sump. This is presumably just a bypass of the water going down Eldon Chamber. Downstream is a 45° sloping tube taking all the water and it looks epic, like a proper cool waterslide followed by a certain death. “Discretion is the better part of valor” was quickly replaced with “now or never” and I inelegantly performed some of my most careful caving ever as I descended the water chute.
I soon realise the walls are actually super slippery, coated with a thin film of mud, so I needed to find positive holds instead of relying on any friction. Very few were obvious but I managed to find a few hidden under the white water, which I was trying to stay out of to prevent it pushing me down, and I make my way down. After about 10m I can see clearly down into a raucous sumppool below and I decided I didn’t fancy a swim so took one last careful check of the surroundings and turned around. Ascending the tube wasn’t actually as bad. I realised the floor below the water was obviously washed clean so quite grippy so I got out fine. Next time a handline would make it much much easier.
At the top I look around the bedding plane to see if there was any other way on at this level and in fact there was a small continuation of the bedding. However it was maybe only 100mm high so not a realistic prospect. Nonetheless it’s worth noting that it sounded like the stream could be heard far in the distance, or maybe that was just reverberation from around me…..
I head back along the tube towards the small hole down to Eldon Chamber and see a very wet Joe surrounded by rope and water. We shout at each other for a few minutes sharing each of our escapades. He had put in two bolts and rigged down fine although it’s a total maelstrom at the bottom of the pitch with no obvious way on. I encourage him to de-kit and thrutch up towards me and go take a look at Aussie Chamber, whilst I then snuck down to his spot which indeed is a bit like inside a washing machine. With only one SRT kit between us I chose to handline out which from this point wasn’t too tricky and I was soon back with our gear in Eldon Chamber. Brilliant. This route is much easier than the stoopid tight crawl above, and in hindsight the pitch could be rigged quite acceptably at as handline/traverse and not warrant any SRT kits. I wonder if this “down under” route was in fact the original way onwards and maybe even gave it the Aussie name?!? In fact, the tight crawl isn't shown on the 1980 survey, was mine the first route through?
Joe Buck in the waterfall, photo by Rob Eavis
Whilst waiting for Joe to return I mess about with my phone for bit, checking the survey and doing some photos, then we derig the place and begin to leave. The crawl out was not notably worse than the way in despite going upstream, so we were thankful the water levels were not higher. Soon back at Rift Chamber we fortunately remembered to collect our glasses before starting the slog upstream to Fourways and then on to Knotlow Waterfall Pitch, and slog it did indeed feel after our workout so far this evening. As we climb and derig to the surface I was replaying the trip in my mind: the fun of Crimbo pipe, the low airspace of the swallow, the power of the water in Eldon Chamber, the tantalising thoughts of the streamway beyond Aussie Chamber, the impressive Waterfall Chamber. Phoar what a trip, this really is up there in Derbyshire’s finest!
In the Bulls we met the others who’d had a steady trip out, Jon getting some snaps and Chris having some fun acrobatics on my crap rigging of the traverse. Caving clubs do evolve as strong characters steer them through time, but last night felt quite historically topical for the Eldon. Fun pushing, decent sport, comradery, grit and beer. What more could you want?
This morning I’ve managed to find a few exerts from John Beck diaries which shed a little more light on the area:
Wednesday 8th October 1975.
…we pushed on down the short pitch and through the tight thrutch into the continuation, then on to Aussie Chamber, where we descended the pitch to the sump. Instead of a deep sump, we found water thundering over a waterfall, and were able to follow the stream down over a series of cascades to a depth of about 35ft to a final sump. If the drought holds long enough, this might yet go. It was a long and tiring trip, and we emerged worn out but very pleased.
Thursday 13th November 1975.
Down Knotlow with Tony and Noel. Mr.Goodwin told us that three Eldon members had been up here last night, and had come out very excited.
Noel and Tony therefore decided to go via East Level to Crimbo Swallow and check the level. They reported a climb down of about fifty feet to the water, at which point the walls were starting to open sideways into a chamber of some sort. Tony says he’s DEFINITELY NOT GOING AGAIN!! Who else can I con into going?!