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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 5120

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Jon Pemberton (EPC), Sam Pemberton (EPC)

The Pembertons' enthusiasm for Carlswark Cavern and the Dynamite Series in particular made me think that I was missing out on something important so an evening trip to Stoney Dale was planned. Unfortunately the Flower Pot entrance which used to offer a quick way into the Dynamite Series has recently suffered 'deterioration' so we went in the Gin Entrance and soon found ourselves at the entrance to the Dynamite Series. The Dynamite Series proper is guarded by a short squeeze under a low arch with water in the bottom. Bailing stuff is lying around but although water levels were reasonably high (water was flowing down Dynamite Passage) we didn't need it on this occasion. A bit of crawling and squeezing leads through Midnight Chamber and into Prospect Chamber with two ways on: a nice climb up the right-hand wall leads to Fall Chamber and eventually the bottom of Flower Pot whilst a low passage in the floor is the start of Porth Crawl. Sam and Jon had previously decided that helmets off works best in here and who was I to argue on this occasion. Shuffling helmets along in front worked fine and in fact Porth Crawl's not too bad - looks more difficult than it is in some ways and it's very short. Once through that a short thrutch/climb up a rift leads to Clog Passage with all it's shotholes in the walls. All very interesting! Through here and then a bit more squeezing and crawling leads to the end of the Dynamite Series (Final Aven).

Jon had been here before and was keen to have a proper look at Buckley's dig/Picnic Passage etc. We had Martin Milner's sketch survey of the passage beyond the end of the Dynamite Series and ticked things off as we went. Buckley's dig starts at a hole under one of the walls in Final Aven at the end of the Dynamite Series followed by flat out crawling in mud. We passed Straw Inlet and continued in Picnic Passage past a number of small cross-rifts and chambers to arrive at a small chamber containing loose fill with a hole going up through it into a small aven above. Conscious that we still wanted to make the detour to have a look at the bottom of Flower Pot we turned around at this point and made our way back through Buckley's Dig, Clog Passage and Porth Crawl. In Prospect Chamber we climbed up and more crawling leads into a rift. A shuffle under a hanging boulder at the end and climb up through a hole in the roof led into Fall Chamber. This hanging boulder and the choke above that leads into Fall Chamber needs a lot of care. Fall Chamber is a nice place and certainly one of my favourite bits of Carlswark. From here a nice climb and another crawl leads into a final small chamber with a crawl leading off. At the end of this crawl is the bottom of the blue barrels of the Flower Pot entrance. It's obvious that nobody's going to be exiting that way anytime soon as the top of the bottom barrels are well-squashed but plans are afoot to sort it out.

From here we climbed back down into Fall Chamber, through the Dynamite Series and out the Gin entrance.

Excllent evening trip being tight, very muddy and tricky despite not being a long way on the survey.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4989

Report by Jon Pemberton
Cavers: Jon Pemberton (EPC), James Wood (EPC)

Another night of fun for James and myself was on the cards and after our failed attempt to reach picnic passage last time we decided to have another go at Porth Crawl. On the previous trip we were also joined by Sammy Pemberton (EPC) but shortly after calling “Shotgun” once James had gone through Porth Crawl Sam got stuck and panicked resulting in me unwilling to carry on.

Anyway back to the story…

After quickly kitting up we slung a ladder down Flower Pot and gained quick ‘easy’ access into the Dynamite series dropping into Falls Chamber. Plodding along we reached the first flat out which seemed tighter than usual or maybe our hearts weren’t set on fun-times crawling. At the end of the crawl we climbed 3m down into prospect chamber and dived head first into the second flat out. James went first having already accomplished the “horrible” crawl so after a climb over the blind shaft the helmet came off and through he went as I shortly followed. Basically Porth Crawl explained; you pop through a small (one arm forward, one at your side) hole Big enough to turn 90% and take your helmet of. Now you have to go completely on one side best approached facing the right hand wall and just push your way through! With no hand or foot holes to assist. When reaching the end with sense of accomplishment the helmets went back on and we started the tight climb up the rift towards clog passage. I would honestly consider this to be more awkward than Porth Crawl (steep and tight!) at the top is a crawl leading on which sharply turn right. A left turn leads shortly to a spoil filled tube. Right follows on to mine development along a prominent vein with loads of blast marks coming in from every direction. A short climb leads up to a boulder choke with roots running through which surely must be close to surface. Straight on leads to a few side passages one a very tight rift leading to a small chamber where water can be heard trickling away although it was way too tight for James or myself to dare look!! We eventually reached the final aven which we weren’t expecting at all with at least four very large pieces of digging equipment just left sitting there. We then dropped down into Buckley’s dig and the start of Picnic passage flat out muddy crawling until we reached a large cross rift that we could stand up in (Straw Inlet) James decided to go for a look so after a short break to catch our breath. When returning back, James said, “It’s too tight and I can’t be arsed to be honest!” So we hastily decided to retreat rather than use up the rest of our energy flat out crawling to the end of the dig knowing that we’d have to come back the same way! The exit was eventful where we had a few situations of our usual laid back approach to caving where we normally sit in random places and talk about random rubbish, this time it was in Porth Crawl my face touching his boots and James deciding to throw his helmet down the hole at the end of Porth Crawl!

Overall very worthwhile trip to see a different side of Carlswalk. If anyone plans to go in the near future give James & myself a shout and we’d be more than happy to go again just to reach the end of the dig.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4937

Report by James Wood
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Mark Harrison (EPC), Toni Murphy (EPC), Jon and Sam Pemberton (EPC), James Wood (EPC)

After the previous attempted trip had to be rethought due to the excessive numbers, Sam was determined to arrange a trip and have a look round. He had spoken to the nursing home a week before and they didn’t appear to be too restrictive. A quick phone call on the day to confirm and we were in. We all met in the car park at 18:30, Sam and myself arriving earlier to collect the key and open up the entrance (a scaffolding bar across a manhole cover).

It was decided to do the trip on ladders, due to the previous trip being awkward on SRT. Mark and Jules set about rigging the 18m entrance pitch. Mark was first to descend the ladder, belayed by Jules, followed by myself, Jon, Sam, Toni and then Jules. Who was belayed from the bottom of the pitch by Mark. Unsure of the way on and failing to remember the description, Mark had a quick look straight ahead over the calcited boulders, coming back to report he was unsure. I had a quick look down to the right of pitch, were after a few metres it went into a tight crawl, with a hole in the calcite, which went nowhere. We rigged the blind shaft, corrected by Jules when he met us. We de-rigged the pitch and continued past the shaft. Jon meanwhile had another look where Mark had been, he managed to find the way on. A slide over calcited boulders leads to a small chamber, to the right a rift which leads to the second pitch (6m). Jules rigged the ladder down the pitch, using rope around a thread to the right. Mark was again first to descend crawling back under at the bottom. Next was Jon who after the descent continued on in the rift which after a distance leads to a large chamber, where it ends. Next I was to descend and followed Mark, then Jon who continued on after Sam, Toni and Jules followed and went down under the wet muddy crawl. Tight in places the crawl shortly leads to ‘The Pearly Gates’, a squeeze through stal. Continuing on to the right it opens out, where Mark firstly climbed down, I followed not as tricky as it was made out to be. A hand line was tied by Jules to a small bridge at the top of the climb, if needed for the ascent. Toni was next to climb down, Jules, Jon, and Sam followed. Now all in the rift chamber, one by one we climbed up the calcited boulders ahead to a smallish pool, with some pretties. Higher up, in the chamber were some nice formations and ‘the boulder of doom’. We all followed the rift on, which required a short climb down. Straddling the drop in places to a lower level we carried on to the end of the rift. Jon at this point was attempting to climb down into the lower level, I joined him. Jules found a more suitable down climb, further back towards the chamber and climbed down to find a dig. Jon and I decided to climb back up to have a look where Sam had previously been. Back towards the large rift chamber under calcited boulders, I climbed through a rift to a small chamber that was quite wet and relatively clean and mud free. First I had a look to the left to find some wood holding up some boulders, easier access could be gained from the other side. I went round and climbed down into a small chamber, on my hands and knees at this point. To the left looked quite tight but I didn’t have a look where it went. I followed the flat out crawl to the right after about 15m I got to a muddy pool of water, 90° right was about a 1m climb up. The crawl continued on to the left to end after about 3-4m, where the mud/silt was roughly 10-15 cm from the roof of the tube. Although it has been reported to draft here, the air was very still and the steam from my breath wasn’t being carried. I crawled back out to meet Sam. We both then go back into the main chamber, to meet Jon. Toni, Jules and Mark had already started to make their way out, the climb up where the hand line was now fixed came in useful to pull up on. Mark waited for us at the top of the pitch, where he and I de-rigged. We then continued back to the entrance pitch where Toni and Jules had already ascended by this time. A belt was lowered down for Jon, Sam and I, which got caught further up where Mark climbed up to a ledge to retrieve it. Jon, Sam, Myself and finally Mark ascended the ladder belayed by Jules. Jules, Mark and Sam de-rigged and locked the lid back down.

Between the group we managed to cover pretty much all of the cave, a worthwhile trip, which remains unspoilt from traffic. Not like the usual Stoney caves.