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Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

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Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Jim Lister (EPC), Ann Soulsby (TSG), Chris Schofield (EPC)

After the SRT Rescues training yesterday we fancied something with some decent SRT and that would give a full day. Ann suggested J.H. and as Chris hadn't been in there before that seemed like an excellent idea. During the evening Jim established that J.H. was being left rigged overnight by Kent University Caving Club which made J.H. seem like an even better idea. We met at the TSG and after the usual tea and chat the party moved in the general direction of the entrance. We arrived just before the Kent University team who were de-rigging. The first pitch, Cartgate and Bitch Pitch all passed without incident and we arrived at the Workshop. I'd only ever gone straight across at the Workshop but this time we followed the alternative route down the slot in the floor to arrive at the top of a short pitch which leads to Leviathan. Down Leviathan to the big ledge and then on down the superb final pitch to the floor. Here we left SRT kits and headed down through the Boulder Piles to emerge in the Speedwell Streamway. A quick stomp upstream (much squealing from the girls at the back who were missing their neoprene!) to Main Rising and then back. On the way back we stopped to have a look at the Miner's Toast ("Health to All Miners and Maintainers of Mines") and the Yorkshire Raider's equally significant but later inscription (Main Rising -66m) before heading back through the Boulder Piles to the bottom of Leviathan. It turned out that the de-riggers were still off finding the bottom of Titan so we set off up the ropes. The trip out was uneventful and very easy with no bags whatsoever. Last time I was in here was ferrying diving gear and Ann has also done more than her fair share of that. Much as I'd like to say I'm obviously much fitter now than last time I was in here I suspect that the lack of bags was significant. By the time I arrived at the bottom of the first pitch I'd finally got the hang of the foot jammer that I've recently started using and soon I was on the surface. There are some lovely wild flowers around the top of J.H. at this time of year and it was great laying in the sun waiting for the others to make their way out.

Click on the images above to enlarge.
Miner's artifacts and conservation tape in the Workshop (J.H.).

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 3664

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Gary Bode (EPC), Jim Lister (EPC), Jase Rider (EPC), Chris Schofield (EPC), Ann Soulsby (Masson Caving Group)

A 10 a.m. start at Pindale Farm for a day of hanging around on their SRT platform. As I left Sheffield the weather was better than I'd seen it for ages so we were off to a good start. Whilst I got the kit ready Chris made an excellent job of clearing out the grim brown flood sludge that coated the floor underneath the training platform. Soon Jase and Gary arrived and just as we were making a start Jim and Ann turned up. As it turned out six was a good number as we only needed to run two ropes on the platform.

Ann, Ralph Johnson and I had salvaged the old Block Hall rope from Peak Cavern that had been in there some years. I thought it would be interesting to see what sort of condition it would be in so a totally unscientific test was set up involving Chris, a knife and a slightly slack safety rope. Chris found that he had to cut through every strand of the core but two before it snapped under his static weight and when it went it went with a bang! We looked at changing over from abseiling to prussiking and vise versa and this highlighted a number of issues with kit. We then had a useful chat about improvising kit ("...help my Croll just fell apart!...") before starting to consider assisting "walking wounded" cavers out of caves. We looked at a number of techniques that could be used to belay and assist cavers up short climbs and pitches finishing with some hoisting and associated jiggery pokery to get the injured and feckless off at the pitch head. After a break for lunch we were back at it considering assisting yourself and other people on SRT ropes. We looked at a couple of the more straightforward techniques including a 'snatch rescue' (superb acting by Jim whilst Ann abseiled to the rescue) and a 'pitch-head cut' before a mid-afternoon cup of tea was called for (Chris produced a stove from somewhere and tea-making essentials apparently live in Jim's car in the same way that a spare wheel might live in other people's). It was very pleasant sitting in the sun having a chat about the PSM and all sorts of other stuff. The final session looked at the more complex SRT rescues including caver knocked out on rope above you (potentially very ill and definitely blocking your exit!), what are you going to do? We finished at Pindale at 5:00 p.m. and retired to the Nag's Head in Castleton for a drink where we had a good look at the 'Not for the Faint Hearted' book and planned a trip for the following day. I hoped to have time to cover some basic first aid but we found that there was plenty to cover in the day on rope. I may try to schedule some first-aid stuff in for an evening later in the year. Let me know if you think that would be useful.

Many thanks to the cavers who came along and Pindale Farm outdoor centre for the use of the facilities. From my point of view it was an excellent day and the feedback that I got from everyone was very positive. I will plan to run a similar day prior to the 2008 Eldon trip abroad.

Click on the images above to enlarge.
1. Jim Lister on rope.
2. The Pindale Farm chimney.
3. Chris Schofield prussiking.
4. Chris Schofield rigging.
5. Jase Rider prussiking.
6. Chris Schofield (top) and Gary Bode.
7. Gary 'snatch rescue'.
8. Ann Soulsby rescuing an unconscious Jim Lister.
8. Ann Soulsby abseiling with (a very relaxed-looking) Jim Lister.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 3896

Report by Jase Rider
Cavers: Jase Rider (EPC), Bob Toogood (EPC), Dunka (EPC), Dave Gledhill, Bernie Maddison, Jon Jones (DyO leader), Mike McCombe (DyO leader)

Dunka and myself set off for a wet and windy South Wales on Friday evening and arrived in the remote village of Ystradfellte sometime after 10pm. We were soon joined in the New Inn by Bob, Dave and Bernie who had been caving in Daren Cilau during the afternoon. As Dunka pointed out, this pub won't win “pub of the year”, although it did sell beer so it can't be that bad!

Saturday morning, Dan Yr Ogof show cave. We were greeted by Jon and Mike who are leaders for the system. Whether we would be able to do the trip or not hung in the balance due to the unsettled weather. At the end of the show cave (Bridge Chamber) Jon checked the water levels - they were high - but it was deemed just about okay to do the trip (although the decision was made to do a round trip rather than attempt to get to the far end of the cave which was our original intent).

Water levels were up and the first few lakes were deep much to Dunka’s displeasure (he was carrying a heavy chain we'd been asked to carry to the further reaches of the cave which will be used to construct a new ladder).At Lake 4 we turned off right away from the river. Larger passageway gradually gave way to hands and knees and so on to the beginning of Long Crawl. This is a mixture of hands and knees and flat out crawling in a small round phreatic tube which leads to the head of a pitch with a fixed ladder down in to Gerrard Platten Hall. Beyond Gerrard Platten Hall the cave really starts to get exciting with large phreatic passageway - much of it very well decorated. We soon came to Crystal Pool which we traversed on a fixed line to take a detour up Flabbergasm Oxbow - excellent formations including straw columns.

Retracing our steps back to Crystal Pool we carried on up Grand Canyon and passed the interesting Candle Wax formations (see photo below). After a short bit of easy caving we reached Cloud Chamber (huge collections of long straw stal appear like clouds in the roof of the cavern). A slightly tricky climb then leads to the Green Canal which is long and deep (and cold!). By now I was carrying the chain. I stuck a couple of empty plastic bottles in the tackle bag and tied the whole lot to a conveniently left rubber inner tube to float it through the canal. After the canal we followed Go Slower Passage eventually leading to Bat Chamber which is where we left the ladder chain. From here we retraced our steps, but not quite as far as the Green Canal. From here we turned right and soon the passage fell away into the depths of a large chamber - "The Abyss". The climb down into the chasm is part handline, part ladder (recently installed by Jon and Mike – very nice job). We were now in the lower series of the system and the awkward 'Camels Back' was followed by some fine phreatic tubes, large and clean washed, some with more recent vadosing in the floor. Parts of this section can flood to the roof as fresh foam on the roof testified. After a nice bit of caving we were back at Gerrard Platten Hall, and we carried on out the way we had come in, via Long Crawl and eventually out through the lakes (fortunately they hadn’t got any deeper while we had been in the cave). This had been an excellent trip in an outstanding cave – I would highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t done this trip yet.

After a pint and a chat with Mike and Jon, we went back to Ystradfellte and walked down river to have a look at the impressive entrance to Porth Yr Ogof (see photographs below). We finished the evening by having a few pints in the New Inn (which luckily was a bit more 'happening' than the night before!).