Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

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Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Jase Rider (EPC), Chris Schofield (EPC).

Very enjoyable evening tourist trip down Oxlow to the bottom of Maskhill. Arrived at the parking around 7.15 pm to find that one team was already on their way down Oxlow and a Masson team were kitting up for Maskhill. We decided that since Oxlow wasn't too constricted we'd go in there after the other team. Short walk to the entrance and rigged the first and second pitches. Starting a big (100m) rope at the top of the third pitch gets you all the way down West Swirl Passage to the top of the pitch that leads into West Antechamber. Down the third pitch with some great ginging at the top and then the pitch with the deviation which lands on the col between East Chamber and West Swirl Passage. The deviation cord that's on this at the moment is much shorter than it need be so we added our own piece of cord to the in-situ stuff. At this point the other ropes disappeared off into the East Chamber so we had West Swirl Passage and the last two pitches to ourselves. Jase pointed out the wall that he and John Taylor had built years ago which keeps the passage below Pilgrim's Way from running into the slot that leads to West Chamber proper. We met the Masson team in Pearl Chamber and continued on to have a look at the sump and then set off out. We caught up with the other team on the last few pitches but were out by 10.30 pm leaving time for a drink in the Wanted Inn.

Really enjoyable trip! Good exercise and the start of training for the PSM in August!

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 12 April 2013

Hits: 4122

Report by Jules Barrett
Cavers: Jules Barrett (EPC), Chris Schofield (EPC).

Chris and I were looking for a quick evening trip with some decent SRT and had thought about Oxlow, Lathkill Head top entrance and Knotlow. Since Chris hadn't been in Knotlow before we went for that. I did the cave as one of my early SRT trips and remember being more concerned about whether I'd threaded my Petzl Stop the right way than enjoying the trip. Left Sheffield at 6:00 pm and drove over to the Knotlow Triangle. Nobody else at the parking so it looked as though we were going to have the place to ourselves. We wandered over to the entrance, got sorted and abseiled in. The first pitch down the ginged climbing shaft is a straightforward descent which landed us on a sloping floor with the way on under a low arch. An easy traverse to the head of the second pitch and we dropped down that without any problems. We had a good look at the deviation P-bolt that's lying on the floor at the bottom of the second pitch and then moved on down the series of short scrambles that leads past the window into the 210 and down to the head of Waterfall Pitch. I'd never rigged the waterfall pitch traverse and it's a great thing to rig with well-positioned bolts and a Y-hang in a brilliant airy position. There wasn't a lot of water coming down the waterfall pitch inlet so we didn't need either of the two deviations. Once at the bottom of Waterfall Pitch we had a brief look down the coffin level that leads down to Fourways but turned round before getting too wet. Chris de-rigged the whole cave which meant I could enjoy being a passenger on the way out and have a good look round. We were back at the lid by 9:00 pm and arrived back in Sheffield at 10:00 pm.

We're both keen to go back and do some more in the Knotlow-Hillocks system including the connection. Will probably be an evening trip. If anyone fancies joining us for that please get in touch with me or Chris.

    
1. Chris abseiling down the second pitch.
2. Chris in the coffin level on the way to Fourways
3. P-bolt lying at the bottom of the second pitch.

Details

Written by: Rob Eavis

Published: 11 April 2013

Hits: 4202

Report by Jules Barrett
The focus of the day was on communications and casualty evacuation and around fifteen cavers from all the major Derbyshire clubs attended. We met at 10:00 a.m. in the layby in Stoney Dale and subsequently moved the vehicles up to the parking area on the way to Carlswark's Gin entrance. We were presented with a caver exiting Carlswark reporting that his friend was in the Big Dig area with a damaged leg following rockfall. Teams were selected from the cavers available, two teams entering via the Gin entrance with medical equipment and one laying comms cable down Eyam Dale shaft and through to the Big Dig. The casualty was found, medical treatment given, the leg splinted, casualty loaded into a casualty bag and onto a stretcher. A good deal of stretcher-pulling/pushing saw the casualty up into North West passage and on through the rest of the cave and out via the Gin entrance.

The day was an excellent opportunity to meet folks, play with some of the kit and explore some of the issues that might arise in a real rescue. I will be trying to get to other practices through the year. The DCRO training dates and contact details for officers are on the DCRO website at http://www.derbyshirecro.org.uk/.