After a lazy start on Tuesday marked by drawn out efforts at packing and a final meal of ham/chorizo and eggs at the local bar, myself, Jethro Pryke, Chris Jones, and Dave Powesland set off down the hill to head in towards Death Race 2000 for either 2 or 3 nights depending on how things went. Our plan was to tackle both the ongoing climb that Rob and George had left in “Here’s what you could have won” as well as having a team take in caps to try and open up the sandy dig at the end of Jurassic World. This unfortunately meant taking in two drills, although we had pretty low hopes overall for the dig and therefore only took in one surveying kit (more on that later…) The trip in was pretty speedy but otherwise uneventful, and we stopped only to get water a few times, as well as to have a lunch of chorizo and cheese wraps at Consort Hall and to drop off the dye detector at Colin’s Climax off of Green Domino. Upon arriving at camp it became apparent that the food situation was more dire than expected, and the previous team there (which […]

Odin Mine trip report Max, Leo and Emmott, Sunday 29th Aug 2021 After a lot of reading of all of the available literature, we were begrudgingly convinced that no better trips were on offer and it seemed that the recently re-allowed Odin Mine was the trip de jour. Me, Max and Leo kitted up and set off walking from the TSG along the broken road. The fairly impressive rake within which the entrance lies is just after the last bus stop. To access the mine, we skirted the edge of the rake to the north (right-hand side) and found a strong tree root to do a short pull through from – although the entrance would be accessible by climbing the slope from the bottom of the rake. Leo used the end of this pull through rope to rig the first entrance pitch, where he discovered a loose bolt – the forth one in on the Y hang down the pitch. Easily avoided by single hanging from the end of the traverse. This leads you down an old but solid looking maypole into the mine proper, where you continue in line with the rake following the seam and trending slightly downwards […]

This Saturday gone I was pressured cordially invited to carry dive cylinders to the bottom of New Goyden pot for Benji. I was excited for what looked to be a reasonably easy trip (with heavy things) in an area I hadn’t caved in before. Transportation went swimmingly and we arrived to a parched Nidderdale layby. This dale is surrounded by grouse moor and doesn’t feel very karsty, but a closer examination will reveal a dry river bed and 8km of cave below it. Ben is attempting to move beyond some sumps to link two caves, or something. My first problem was the searing British summer. I walked down to the entrance hole in my boxers and wellies, being unable to fathom how Ben managed in a 7mm wetsuit. I struggled to get everything on quickly before diving into the hole, an ecstasy of fumbling thankfully turning to an ecstasy of cold. The same couldn’t be said for Ben who had gone before to rig, and who appeared to be dying. Jon Carter (NYMCC) and Adele Ward (every Yorkshire club) were with us and followed; making splendid company. The cave is really cool and different, and the entrance alerts you to […]

After having done a Swinsto Pullthrough, and a Rowten through trip earlier in the month – I figured the next logical step was to kick it up a notch and go for the through trip from the next cave up the side of Kingsdale, further proving that West Kingsdale is Best Kingsdale. Mike Butcher had got in contact asking if anybody fancied a mid-week dive in the lead-up to him taking his CDG Qualifying Exam at the end of the month, I found myself free mid-week as well so asked him if he fancied the through-dive from Aquamole into the Kingsdale Master Cave. We didn’t manage to secure any sherpas so we spent a bit of time working out how to get down the cave with all our kit, carry it all through the sumps and then get out of Valley Entrance at the other side. No matter which way we cut it, it was going to be a horrible slog. I picked up Mike in Leeds at noon, stopped for a swift fill at the Northern Compressor and were at Kingsdale for a leisurely 2pm. I packed a large tackle sack with a pair of 5L cylinders, my fins, […]

12/09/20 I had been in France for a couple of weeks I was itching to get caving. My contact in the GSSF (local caving club) texted to tell me that there was a trip happening. It was on. The details were sparse; just a time, a location in a small village in the middle of nowhere, and the description small and muddy. Armed with this information I set off across the uncomfortably hot French countryside. The roads became smaller as I passed fields of comté cows and signs for a dino park (some things are universal apparently). I arrived slightly late to a parking lot outside a church where I was waved down by man who looked like a caver. I rolled down my window as two men approached and started rapidly firing French at me. This was not according to plan. Up until this point I had thought that my limited vocabulary would get me through. It would not. After about 30 seconds of this treatment one of them realised that I was not following and switched to English. Luckily, like many French people, both men could actually speak quite good English but would not admit it because they […]

After a Covid-induced alteration of holiday plans from “expedition in Tresviso” to “touring the West Country”, I was offered a chance to join Rob on a dive in one of the few diamonds of a trip in the rough of Devon caving. Nat and I spent the night at Rostam’s house in Exeter before driving down to meet Rob and Helen at Joe Daniels’ house on the edge of Dartmoor. Joe would be our guide through the maze that forms Pridhamsleigh Cavern entrance series, though sadly he wouldn’t be diving with us this time as he’d broken both thumbs in the pub somehow. We drove in convoy, following Joe’s ludicrously jacked-up Defender down the A38 to the layby near the cave. We packed our kit, divvied out the various heavy bags to our Sherpas (thanks to Nat, Helen, Joe and Holly for that!) and set off to the cave. The walk in to the entrance is short, but features the crossing of a bridge over an A-road which feels kind of funny whilst kitted up for diving, it also features a walk through a cider orchard which felt very Devon. We soon reached the idyllic cave entrance, a gorgeous deep […]

After literally months of not caving, I had such a backlog of psyche that I needed a big ‘ole trip to vent it out on. So when I found out another similarly keen Kent was in the area in need of a vent themselves, I offered to do a quick run to Titan streamway so we could sit by the Event Horizon and excitedly yell “CAAAAAAAAAAAVING” into the void as is traditional for KUCC. So we went out, entering around midday only to find a second line and another party preparing to go back up at the bottom of first pitch. Having annoyed them with our enthusiasm, we continued on our merry way and went down the second pitch screaming all the verses of hard caver that we knew.  However, moving into the streamway, we realised that the super high psyche levels were not matched by our fitness levels. After around half an hour, we stopped for a break and spent some time reaffirming how much we love caving. Figuring we didn’t want to exhaust ourselves for the trip back up the 80m pitch, we turned around.  At the top of the second pitch, I derigged while Elif went on […]

Having recently acquired some shiny new stuff that lets you blow bubbles (amongst other uses), I was keen to try it out on a reasonably tame underwater excursion. I’ve had my eye on the short dives between Old Ing and Dismal Hill for a few years now but I’ve never had the balls to try them as free-dives due to reports of shoddy line, various obstructions, and bad air. I figured I’d also visit the Calf Holes through trip as well as Birkwith Cave I was in the area as they’re all super short but together they make for an excellent day out.I’d also been meaning to have a look at the new access arrangements for the Birkwith area caves, they’re very good fresher trips but the new landowner has prohibited vehicle access meaning that you now need to park at Low Birkwith Farm (left turn just before you get to High Birkwith, £5 a car in an honesty box in front of the barn). So anyway, I pulled up at the farm and got changed into my wetsuit in the barn entrance, sheltering from the wind tunnel. The weather itself was very calm and sunny, as I write this […]

Present: Ben, Ben (creamy), Connor, Elise. What a wonderful trip we had today! Today’s trip felt like a story within itself. It started out a beautiful day. Connor noted in the car on the way there how he couldn’t find a single cloud in the sky. Stepping out in Giant’s car park (to which we were the only visitors!) in the glorious midday sun that warmed us up, felt amazing.  We were hearty and positive we would have an excellent trip. After Garlands pot and the crabwalk, we diverged at some point [after the mini waterfall you must crawl through] to go off into an unknown. I was incredibly excited, I hadn’t felt so calm to go off and explore in a cave before. And oh gosh! We were greeted by a traverse- which I did feel nervous about, but halfway through the traverse, it ‘became’ rigged, so to speak. This put me greatly at ease and I could finally clip in and look down.  On the way back, it turned out, this section became more challenging from approaching it from a different angle. I think my nerves got the better of me for a second there, but Ben was […]

She said something like “You guys okay? I didn’t think that looked like the right way” but her words where but frost on the breeze to my frozen ears. I was much more interested in other things: the bothy and haribos she brought. It was a surreal moment of bonding for us five then. I don’t know how long we huddled there, covered with our plastic bag to hold in what little warmth we had left, being fed by Rachel. I think I was probably the worst off, and for the first stretch of blurred time I existed in a state of delirium. “Is this what it’s always going to be like?” I remember saying. Or maybe I just thought it: I was pretty loopy for a while there.

Disclaimer: I really did enjoy this trip. Just ignore the tone and content of this report and you’ll be able to believe me. ‘twas the night of freshers dales, and as always I was itchin’ for a Notts 2 trip. I have done the in-and-out trip more than a couple of times now and (un)fortunately there wasn’t an enormous number of freshers, so I plotted and schemed to do a more exotic journey through Lost John’s. The plan fell apart fast due to lack of knowledge and ropes, so we switched to Voldemort’s – a trip that came highly recommended and with the advice of “stay up in the tight rift, or you’ll get stuck” from Nat.  We sorted out our pull through plan and set off in a new addition to the SUSS Fleet – Hal was driving Louise, Michael and me. We even crashed a trucker wedding en route, which was nice. We hadn’t booked access in advance, but thanks to the fantastic new CNCC online booking system™, we were able to get a permit on the morning of the trip with zero hassle! Well done to everyone involved. Now, although we had brought enough rope (about 100m […]

I’ll cover the whole of my Tresviso expedition here – given its fresher season this is aimed at folks new to caving, to let you know where you might end up – and why (spoiler: it’s a hole in the ground). It’s a long read because I’ve taken the time to explain stuff – sorry!  The thing I love most about caving is the people – the thing I love second is the possibility of going places and seeing things that no other person has seen before. Whilst a flick through Caves of the Peak District will have you convinced that every cavity has been intensely catalogued, this isn’t true: there are lots of caves still to find, and one of the easiest ways to do this is to go to a foreign country which hasn’t been fully explored and find some.  We call this expedition, and they’re a great way to get away (usually for pretty cheap). This is something that’s really attainable for new cavers – so maybe see you in northern Spain in 2020. Last year, SUSS came to Spain and Conor McGurk (after about 1 year of caving) found a 150m+ extension to the Flower Pot […]

Caving is the best sport ever. You can see vast chambers untouchable by the most powerful of lights, you can see formations that appear to defy physics, you can gaze upon mineral formations vivid in the darkness, and see great towering heights dropping into darkness. Unfortunately you can’t see any of these things in Gautries. I was invited to this illustrious Dewison dig by the man himself, to apply some niche skills I had experience of in the past. Apparently my job was to make the passage of the dig tray more luxuriant by removing some rocks. Chemical persuasion seemed overkill, and so we plug and feathered it. I presume I was given this job as a retired professional digger and rock remover extraordinaire, and not simply because I’m the only one that seems to actually own some plug and feathers. For your perusal I have rated the dig. Comfort = 6/10 In the famous words of Malcolm Tucker this dig is like the Shawshank Redemption but with more shit and no fucking redemption. At least, until you break through into my dig into P8 which might actually downgrade the comfort rating. I did somewhat… Enjoy? being back in a […]

****The story below is a work of fiction and thus should be treated as such, all characters are entirely fictitious and are in no way based upon real people**** What actually is caving? Why do i do caving? Do i actually enjoy caving? Am i dead inside? and am going to die alone? These are all things cavers ask themselves on a regular basis before descending into the bowels of the earth. On this dreary derbyshire Sunday i believed the answer to at least two of the above questions to be “yes”. Ben squeezed his toned body into his almost outrageously tight undersuit, looking over his shoulder and giving me a wry smile before doing up the zip. He knew i had been watching. Conor sluggishly undertook a similar endeavour but with far less elegance, still trying to shake of his hangover from the previous nights ‘pop tarts’. I too was also struggling due to sleep deprivation for the previous night i had couldn’t sleep so decided to stay up and write pointless dumb stories on the internet till gone4am. Thankfully Ben’s boundless enthusiasm made up for mine and Conor’s shortcomings. Consequently we were underground by a very respectable 1:38pm, […]

After a surprisingly successful 8am meet-up at the kit store we(myself,Max Claire and Botch)  set off towards Castleton. Upon arriving at the TSG we soon learnt that the group we were supposed to be ahead of was about to set off. A group from the Wessex arrived at shortly after and informed us around 20 more would be following so we set off towards the cave. A short time and a misplaced key later(promptly recovered from where I had left it in the layby) we arrived and got on with the trip. The first 3 pitches were mostly uneventful  and went smoothly without overly holding up the Wessex group. Well pleased with our progress the trip continued through the boulder choke and towards cow-arse-worms which we avoided and went up some ladders instead. A few small(ish) pitches and a short walk later we were standing at the top of Ride of the Valkyries. At the pitch head we reformulated the plan again as the top traverse was already rigged giving us a bit more wriggle room with the rope lengths and called out to a Wessex group passing far below to no reply. Descending on a pull-through to the first […]

Members present: Louise, Corin, Henry 2, Sherlock, American Ethan, Jeff and Chris Jones H had agreed to take me and Corin on a “leader assessment” trip, but then conveniently was working and drafted Chris and Jeff in to take her place. Corin did an excellent job of recruiting freshers for us to look after, and so 5 of us met at the kit store to pack rope before meeting Jeff and Chris in the Peak; only to find that Corin had done less well at checking that someone was at home to let us into said kit store. After a slightly frantic drive to the IC to pick up Adelaide’s keys, we were finally in. We’d planned on Giants to East Canal, although after seeing the flooded Derwent in Bakewell earlier that day I advised that a dry trip was more in order. On Chris’s suggestion we packed ropes for Owl Hole, some obscure little pot near Glutton Bridge that I’d seen surveys of on the walls of the Orpheus. The drive was long and twisty, but I did get to listen to the Archers which is always a winner. We luckily reached the parking area at the same time […]

Member present: Louise, Conor, Max, Claire Northern CHECC at Bullpot Farm provides an excellent excuse not to go caving – you don’t get any sleep, you do get plenty boozed, breakfast can be late, and inevitably someone from MUSC has ended up with your wellies. However, unfortunately, the ad hoc catering team Jacob had thrown together had a superb breakfast on the table (read: polystyrene tray) by 9am, with Thom Starnes being the enthusiastic man-with-a-pan that got me out of bed (read: boot of Skoda Fabia), while I had conveniently locked all my kit in the roof box the night before to make sure it all stayed in one place. Bugger. I suppose we’d better go caving them. Conor was very keen for Bar Pot as he’d dropped it at NCHECC the year before but gotten lost on the way to main chamber and turned around. After a while trying to dissuade him and a while longer getting Tony to describe the route, we finally set off with the ever-enthusiastic Max and Claire around 11am (miraculous!). After parking and changing in Clapham we began the long walk up the nature trail, which provided a surprisingly pleasant early-spring breeze to cool […]

23/02/19 Present: Botch, Louise, Wobby Rotten, K Brook It was an unseasonably fine summer day in February, and ULSA were in the Peak District, and so Myself and Louise decided to drive out to meet them. Nob told us that he’d never been in the Peak system, and wanted to ‘complete it’ so he’d never have to go back. This seemed like quite an ambitious plan, so we settled on a Titan -> White river -> Peak trip. It was agreed to meet at the TSG at 10am, giving all parties involved a fair amount of time to faff and get there. After a slow start involving a cooked breakfast, packing, and some lost property returning, we arrived at the TSG at around 10:20 (there was no doubt in my mind that ULSA would be late) to find Imperial and Nottingham there already. Martyn was already there collecting Peak access fees, and so everything appeared to be going swimmingly. This was short lived, as a problem arose as soon as we asked the other (ICCC) Titan trip about access. “We were just planning to use the SUSS Titan key” they casually told us. An excellent plan, I thought, but I […]

Saturday 2nd March 2019, P8 Present: me, Tommy After failing to get to Christmas Aven as an evening trip, we resolved to go on Saturday morning. Tommy picked me up from home at 10 am and we made good time on the way out. Briefly stopping at the Chapel to modify a dig tray. In the hut we met a group of clearly student-age cavers and didn’t recognize a single one of them from any student caving events, this was confusing until they revealed they were York Uni CPC which solved the mystery. It was hot and the skies were clear and it would have been much nicer to go for a walk or climbing as indeed the farmer commented when collecting his precious trespass fee. Going underground away from the burning winter sun at least temporarily removed the ever-present reminder that soon enough Bangladesh will be underwater and then we will know the meaning of refugee crisis. Water levels were surprisingly low for winter. I could tell I’ve not caved regularly lately, not feeling fit. I’ve done in my ankle recently and Tommy had a dodgy knee so I’ll blame that for the relatively gentle pace. Glad to see […]

This was my second time caving and the trip started at about 7:30 pm when Jreg, James and I picked up Ollie (another fresher) from his lab in the Diamond which finished at 7 pm (savage). We then met Jack in the Gautries car park and James went to pay the farmer who warned us it would be dark down in the cave. Also Jreg parked so we could make a quick getaway if we got rumbled by the feds. When we arrived at the Gautries entrance we found it was already drained and could climb down into it straight away. This cave was much narrower than the other cave I have been in I was slow at first because I was not used to crawling. I was also not expecting to have to briefly swim through some parts of the cave that were full of water, although the others said Gautries is usually much wetter. There was also a cool mudslide which was my favourite part of the cave. Eventually we found a new part of Gautries that Jack and Jreg had never been to before but they didn’t like it and said it was not worth the effort […]

Disclaimer: I’m fairly sure on a lot of the location names, but I’m operating from memory and this survey, I may be off on some. Olly, Robbie, Ben and I reached Rowter Farm at about 3:30pm and changed in the luxury of an empty barn. Upon reachingn the entrance, it was clear our rigging planning (2 ropes rigged from the top and the rebelay respectively) was flawed. Olly went too far past the rebelay then reascended to reassess and then rerig the rebelay while replying to our reminders of ‘knot the bottom of the rope’. The solution was a knot pass – everyone’s favourite bit of SRT. We were all gathered at the bottom of the entrance pitch at 5pm, with a callout of 12pm – 7 hours should be enough, or so we thought. The first sections of the cave are fun, there’s some handlines and Bad Badger Squeeze, followed by some nice SRT. I was often spread between two walls of the cave trying to balance and tie a hard lock. Once we reached the bottom the Ice Cream Trail was within sight. This was as far as I had reached on previous trips, and I was intrigued […]

Ben and I were tasked with the job of surveying Ben as far as we could go. As my track record was somewhat dodgy, Ben had the job of disto man, and I was the pointer/tipexer. There were six of us going down Ben that day, and I believe Dave/Antonia were going to Deflowered Chamber while others were pushing the last parts of Bill (Invasive Species). Jreg and Corin went ahead of us to clear a bolt climb, with Rachael and Jolene bringing up the rear, aiming to push a different climb closer to the surface. After the first major pitch and irritating rift we had lost them all. Ben and I surveying down Ben did not go as planned. Once we’d finally reached the point in the cave to survey from we realised that our pen was broken. I saw this as a reason to skedaddle, but Ben convinced me to continue down his namesake cave. We adjusted our strategy to firing a bazillion splays and legs without ever exporting them from the Disto and just hoped that Brendan and Tommy would be able to decipher our messy data. Apologies to the two of them, I think there was […]

Present: Glen, Botch, Olly, Brendan, Ben, Max Long crawly climby entrance series, got soaked waiting for Glen and Brendan to get through a squeeze. Tested rift, went into maze Got through boulder choke, explored enormous tunnel. Botch and Olly accompanied me into a tiny little rift that led onto a smallish chamber – expeditionary according to Botch, who viciously threw dirt in my eyes before I could leave properly. Very sketchy climb back up, managed while half blind. Tried to come out of the tunnel, the others had bricked it up – typical civil engineers (read: bastards). I was confused me at first and I insisted they help me. They refused. Fuck ‘em. I ended up bracing my head on the walls to try and maneuver myself into the right orientation before starting deconstruction work. Removed the wall, what bastards. Left, bringing up the rear with Glen. I will admit, this is to test the emails – yes I know! Contrary to popular belief I am actually attempting to fix them… at least I am now that I have exams breathing down my neck and I don’t want to revise.

With the ambitious plan to meet at 9am on a Saturday morning, I was surprised when me, Botch, Adelaidae and Leo were assembled in the kit store at 9.20. Leaving Wob and Lydia in charge of Fir Street, we set off for JH and were changed with little mishap in no time. Adelaidede rigged the entrance pitch while Leo and Botch were the perfect pair of backseat riggers. I stayed out of the whole affair, until the other two disappeared behind the windbreak at the entrance and I was left to fill the role of unwanted advisor. Eventually, with only a handful of “oh fucks”, Adelaide descended and we were all quickly underground by 12pm (a miracle!) From the bottom of the impressive entrance pitch the awkward Cart Gate passage made me quickly realise I am not very cave fit at the minute (my last attempt at caving ending in my handing head first over the pitch head of the 2nd pitch in Large Pot with Wob pushing on my head to assist my hasty exit). However, I enjoyed this section of interesting passage, somewhat reminiscent of the Ice Cream Trail in Rowter but with more false floor. At the […]

This week I wanted to take a break from the fan fiction I have been writting, my apolagies! Instead, I wanted to write something out of the ordinary that can hopefully help people in SUSS. From my knowledge, this is not discussed within the group much (and why would it? it’s very penis orientated). You guys know i’m not a hard-core feminist, but I think it would be cool if this was talked about more often within the caving community. This post isn’t restircted to anyone and is not ‘for’ anyone. I’d just like to raise awareness and give advice. I’ve been caving for around 2 years now, and I also bleed/Mestruate. So I wanted to help out SUSS members who bleed too. I have compiled a few tips and tricks below that might help any of you out. Whilst I hope you enjoy, I want to stress that I have no medical training, and heck, Rostam would probably do better at writing this up than me. (Context: he is medically trained, but I am not) So whilst, yes I have experience with caving and bleeding, take this with a pinch of salt. Who knows, maybe Rostam will end up […]

Sun 16th Dec ’18 Present: Corin, Louise R (NUCC) Me and Michael had a sliding scale of trips planned depending on what time we ended up in bed after the sociable and delicious NUCC Christmas meal at the TSG. We were well past the ‘big through trip’ threshold at midnight, and into the ‘short project trip’ territory, but the night wasn’t wild enough to get us into the 4 am ‘going for a walk’ mode. Our carefully made plans were abandoned immediately when Michael woke up feeling unwell and went home, I also felt rough, but not quite enough that I could justify drinking tea all day with Tony in the Chapel even though that is what I longed to do. I quickly found that Louise (the NUCC one) was also lacking a caving partner, and so an alliance was formed. I had made arrangements to go into Speedwell via the boat, and although I wasn’t sure what the water level would be like given the previous days’ rainfall we decided to go and have a poke up the Pilkington’s Series. After some largely pointless faff on my behalf we arrived at Speedwell late morning, and were quickly tootling along […]

♦08/12/2018 Members Present: Adelaide de Diesbach, Glen Sankey, Liam Overett, Wenlong She A cavern hidden in the beautiful countryside. Our trip began with warm sunlight —something that will always encourage you get out of there when you are struggling in a muddy cavern. Red and green are the dominant colors of this land, while black is the dominant color of underground. After a long walking tour along the river, we finally found the entrance of the Wretched Rabbit. Just like many other caverns, we squeezed into this hole, squeezed into an unknown new world. The beginning was easy — descending is always easy. However, when Adelaide asked me about my feeling of this cavern, I didn’t dare to speak out my true feeling. Last time I did that in the giant hole, some terrible things happened immediately. You can say that it is one kind of superstition. Besides that, there were two other clubs caving there. That’s why Liam called it a social caving. Talking and laughing fulfilled this dark world with warm air, while Glen fulfilled another club’s backup back bag with stones. It is not a quiet cavern, waterfalls and streams couldn’t stop sing. When you are trying to climb […]

8/12/2018 One sunny Sunday in the yorkshire dales:   No fucking cave No fucking crabs Some fucking bad photography of merryn by Claire Fucking Yordas Hole Fucking hut cleaning Fucking UlSA trying to steal our stuff Thankyou enjoy Written by Claire and Merryn      

Can I have a free buff pls

Disappointment Rift, Peak Cavern. 5th December 2018. Present: Corin Donne, Alex Reid For several months I have been on about about re-bolting and replacing, or removing some of the in situ ropes around Wigwam Aven and the NCC Shafts on the basis that they should either be safe, or be gone. This idea came to mind when me and Michael Holliday ascended a rope mistakenly in Wigwam Aven and found corroded hangers and generally dodgy rigging (trip report through the TSG). We had repeatedly attempted to organise this trip before, and this was the closest we had ever come. The drill, bolting kit and rope was all ready at the TSG and we had a date planned well in advance. It had rained heavily through most of the day, water levels were up at the showcave and I spent the entire day at work hoping it would flood so I could go on a nice Oxlow or Maskhill trip with Botch and some freshers (though it turns out they just went to The Wanted and never made it underground, the perfect trip). The objective was to aid or free climb up to the entrance to Disappointment Rift and install bolts […]

05/12/18 Members Present: David Botcherby, Adelaide de Diesbach, Ben Thompson, Phil Hughes Apologies: Leila Mason I’ll admit, I wasn’t that keen on the trip from the start. My kit was still muddy from the P8 dig, and I really couldn’t be bothered to put it back on. But, given that work today had consisted of sitting in my car for two hours and then going home, I felt that I may as well take a trip. I had already failed to take this group on their first SRT trip twice, so it was a clear choice to take them out for a good rope trip. Maskhill still needed derigging from CHECC, so we agreed to meet at the kit store at 1800. I turned up a bit late, hoping that everyone would be about ready by the time I got there. My hopes were dashed when I found no freshers in evidence at South Road. I checked the group chat to find they were both waiting for buses. I settled in for a long wait. Phil actually wasn’t too late, so I busied myself helping her get ready, making sure she had all the kit she needed, and watching her […]

All of you are aware of the rescue in March from Prov-Dow and unfortunately as a result of this, I lost my love of caving and haven’t been since ☹. I had been toying with the thought of never making a return and talking myself out of getting back into it again but Rob (Middleton) gave me a good push in the right direction after a chat at CHECC. Since this, I have already been on my first caving trip since – Gautries. As it was just myself and Helen, there was very little faff and we were at the Perryfoot layby for 7. Fees were paid, we donned our kit and were quickly underground. The lid over the drainpipe had already been removed so there was no wait for the water to drain out of the entrance passage and we soon realised that the mechanism had been taken apart and placed to one side. We were mainly heading to have a look at new gautries because although I have been down Gautries many times, I have never been to the end. As the entrance had been unblocked for seemingly some time, the usually wet section before angle chamber was […]

It was Saturday morning at the SWCC on our final pre-exped “training weekend” (read – good excuse for a long drive and a piss up), and of course, I was a wee bit stressed. However, as I sat eating breakfast and contemplating the upcoming day, a well spoken gentleman by the name of Clive Westlake appeared and offered to lead a trip into Dan yr Ogof. I nearly immediately accepted, and buggered off with Jake, Antonia and Jolene leaving the washing up to everyone else. To access the larger system you must first pass through the show cave (and it’s accompanying dinosaurs), which is categorically more impressive thanthan  the nicest bit of peak cavern. That would, really, have been enough to me. However we climbed a barrier, to the horror of the tourists, and were quickly engulfed by the further reaches of the cave, which Clive informed us stretches for some 10km (or was it miles?) Initially we passed through some deep puddles, which in more normal weather were swimmable. This led us through the 1937 series with its straws and some pretty things, and later into the 1960s connection to DYO2, which was an entertaining crawl with some flat […]

27th/28th July 2018 Members present: Will Whalley, David Botcherby, Louise Baddeley Others: Peter Winn and other volunteers from the Sandstone Ridge Trust, Carolyn from Beeston Castle, and a representative from Cheshire Bat group. Background In March Graham Proudlove advertised on the Cave Biology Group facebook page that he had been contacted by the Sandstone Ridge Trust (SRT), a volunteer-run group who preside over the mid-Cheshire sandstone ridge. This piqued my interest as a Cheshire-native, having spent a lot of time in the area as a child and knowing some parts of it very well, although little about the caves. (Link to SRT website: http://www.sandstoneridge.org.uk/) In June, me and Botch visited the ridge and were shown three of the caves on the Bolsworth estate with Peter Winn, one of the trustees of the SRT. We learnt that the trust was mostly interested in the archaeology, as the area is associated with a long history of human activity from the last 6000 years. Some of the caves on the ridge are known to have been inhabited, and all are thought to have been enlarged by man, mostly to mine the high quality white sand of the triassic sandstone. There is also a long […]

Last two weeks of caving Denial – Washfold Pot Group of 7 Wandered around a field for a while Very early call out Great entrance Took 1hr to do the first 10-15 mins of caving (urgh) Quite cold Forgot kneepads Headache Squeezey bit Fell 4m and bounced off a rock near pitch head Cool traverse Cool 40m pitch Sketchy climbs Wished I was taller Descending in rifts Crawling in water Polyprop handlines Standing on Pete’s head to get out Pete and I out at 4.10pm Getting changed while Jack and Benji sat and watched from the van Changed call out for the rest of the BPC group Rest of group out at 8.00pm Bruised Ate a lot of biscuits! Excellent trip VERDICT: 10/10 (Brilliant) Anger/Frustration – Swildon’s Hole Very cross at going caving Ladder broke No water in many of the ducks Blisters and bruised feet Fell down the climb, managed it on the second attempt Fell down Blue Pencil Passage Didn’t manage to hit Rob’s 2hr target time around VERDICT: 4/10  (-2 for no water) Bargaining – Lost John’s, Craftsman’s, Voldemort, Notts 2, Swinsto Faff-tastic to the extreme – see Jethro’s report on the day. Swinsto was the nearest we could manage to getting underground that […]

Date: 06/07/18 Members Present: Myself (David Botcherby), my family, a very familiar tour guide, some other punters As my results were coming out that day, we preemptively decided to celebrate by spending the day exploring the princes’ paradise that is Monaco (it being around 40 mins from where we were staying). The hope was that I’d be able to receive my results while having a drink in a sunny bar. To ensure this, instead of taking the normal route, we instead took the much longer, windier mountain road. This cut our time down from 40 minutes to a mere 2 hours, with only two long stops due to carsickness and 3 close calls with the cliff edge, though the views were incredible. As a result, I received my results in an uncomfortably warm 7 seater, surrounded by 5 other people who felt like throwing up. At length, I was awarded with my celebratory drink which, due to the locale, was an overpriced Leffe, although I did have a good view of the harbour from where I sat. As I placed a call to Kyrgyzstan to inform my friend who was on his own (much better sponsored) expedition of his results, […]

Apparently, I have to get you excited so allow me to commence with a little poetic line; “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive but to be young was very heaven [William Wordsworth, The Prelude”]. On Saturday June 2 George Mitchell and Brian Thomas [two Life Members] may have exchanged this sentence with doughty Botch and Louise as we all walked effortlessly along the gentle path up to Peak Cavern Entrance. We were alongside three Irish young cavers – UCDCPC or DCUCC? – I assume they were in a Dublin Caving Club. Previously [9am], the TSG hotel complex had been a revelation to George and myself. The door windows and floors had obviously just been cleaned; the kitchen was floorless. Upstairs the rooms seemed to be pleasant and satisfactory – both airy and secluded, as indeed was the large back garden. Sadly, we did not have time to explore all TSG. The Ablutions Suite was stunning and took some of our breath away.   SUSS kindly lent us all the necessary clothing – my tight over suit was replaced by Louise lending me hers. I am – was – a stalwart firm believer in caving boots but was […]

It was a fafftastic Friday and I had just had the clamp removed off my cursed car and driven up to Clapham. I walked up to Gaping Gill to find one drunk Nat, gin infused and ready to pass out, but not before she insisted that we would do Hensler’s to Disappointment Pot the following day I remember very little of this conversation and was very surprised to see her the next day. The next morning, we kitted up and were ready to head off in a crowd of 6, but not before Nat had attempted to boil water from the beck…  In my defense – the hangover was strong and the will to go caving weak. It wasn’t boiled but instead warmed to a much more bacteria friendly temperature, but if I continue to winged about this event, I wont talk about the caving trip and instead would rant about how unnecessary this was and rants are for ULSA. Our team of Helen, Rob M, Dan (BPC), Nat, Ryan (NUCC)and myself headed to the Hensler’s entrance, with myself going first because I’m impatient and Rob want “a small person to go first to tell me what it’s like”.  I would […]

A small Sheffield contingency headed up to the dales this weekend; Jack, Will, Leo, Lydia, Jolene, Helen and I. On Sat we rose late, breakfasted and got ready to leave…. by 12.30pm. Packing and repacking the rope we finally got ready for Meregill (the whole premise of coming north). ‘Right, pass the crabs!’ Said Helen confidently. ‘What crabs?’ Said Leo nonplussed ‘Shit!’ Said Helen, and the tone for the trip had been set. In my eagerness to make sure we had the right ropes I never specified to bring crabs (on the basis that it’s kind of obvious…) The six of us went on a mad hunt for crabs in our kit and managed to find 15 between Lydia, Helen and I’s kit. We decided this wasn’t going to stop us and began looking for a new trip we could do with the rope and our limited crabs. We suggested three or four black book trips and Will didn’t look keen. So we went back to the CNCC rigging guide and eventually decided on Big Meanie to the bottom. We repacked the ropes again and Will bailed; deciding to go bother a revising Jack in Ingleton. We arrived at Leck […]

Otter Hole Sunday 20/01/18 Members Present: David Botcherby, Louise Baddeley, Helen Fairclough, Jack Dewison, Will Whalley, Adrian Fawcett (HCC) I believe this trip first formed in the pub about 4 months ago. Someone was telling me about this brilliant cave with a tidal sump that SUSS used to go down once a year, that needed to be booked months in advance. Instantly keen, I wrote a note to self on my hand, and next day found the calendar online, and booked a weekend that was (at the time) free of SUSS activities. Otter Hole lies on the banks of the river Wye, not far from where it flows into the Severn Estuary. When the tide comes in from the sea, this acts to push water in against the river current, raising the river level. Inside the cave, this diverts the streamway, filling a sump at high tide. This tidal sump is impassable when full, but only waist deep at its lowest. As a result, two kinds of trip are achievable: a between-tide trip, in which the sump is passed just after high tide, and returning before it closes again; and an over-tide trip, in which the sump is passed as […]

Over the past two weeks I’ve been down P8 for a hydrogeological quest on behalf of John Gunn (BCRA), Viktoria Nemeth (MUSC) and Liam Kelly (dirty non-caver). What started as a simple dye trace from P3 (Gautries) to upstream Sump B in P8 (Jackpot) ballooned into an exciting whistle-stop tour through the hydrology of the Perryfoot Valley when we found a total lack of flow in the P8 main streamway. The hydrology of P8 has been considered mysterious for a long time, previous literature (listed below) shows exploration in the upstream sumps as early as 1967 with Clive Westlake (a salute and a cheer, please) diving Sumps C and D to find a connection between the two. Drought trips by Ben Bentham in the 1980s lead to the discovery of a fabled “Third Streamway” seemingly unrelated to both the P8 Sink and the main streamway flowing out of Sump B. I’ve only been able to find sketches of these as full surveys are still unpublished. Trip 1 – 15/5/18 I went down P8 to place a charcoal bag in Sump B to hopefully pick up dye that John & team were going to inject in Gautries on the 18th. Viktoria […]

The bank holiday weekend was obviously designed with caving in mind, allowing 3 days of fucking about in the Dales. With this in mind, I joined Jack, Rachael, Helen, Creg and Nat at the Dump, freshly excited for what caving trips might lie ahead of me. Perhaps a solo trip down Deaths Head, or a trip into Pen y Ghent, or maybe even a fuck about in Ireby Fell. I even brought a Yorkist, Hannah, with me, with the promise of a fine caving weekend. Hannah and I arrived on Friday keen to join in the party that was sure to have been started by Monsieur Dewison. He wasn’t there, actually, there was a BPC committee meeting discussing the fineries of the forthcoming GDPR. Fascinating. We went to the pub in Horton. It was later that Jack et al., arrived, having fucked about a bit, and some 0100 before Rachael turned up, having apparently decided the M6 north from Coventry was a nice place to park. It was Saturday morning that Jack persuaded me to join them on a trip down Ingleton canyon, and that we did, picking up ULSA Nathan on the way, before having an Inglesport breakfast. Kitting […]

I’ve done a few dives over the last few months to try and tidy up the resurgence sump of Peak cavern. This suffers from stuff being washed into it when the show cave floods, and over the years a variety of plastic chairs, Christmas trees, and plastic baubles have been removed. On a recent dive to plan a DCRO exercise I noted the level of junk in the sump that was offensive to my desire to see a clean cave and also might possibly be something to get caught and stuck on while trying to dive. A particularly offensive part is the air bell near the beginning of the sump (the Schoolroom) who’s walls are covered in polystyrene beads in a layer about 1m high. It is believed that these are the remains of various fake rocks that have been used in the past for film / TV work and ended being washed in here. Getting rid of them is not an easy task and will require multiple trips with a sieve and some container to put the beads in. I had a trip which removed some planks, a Christmas tree trunk, a wire rack for the sale of chocolate […]

Trip Date: 28/04/18 Members Present: David Botcherby, Olly Hall, Jack Dewison, Todd Rye (MUSC) Relaxing in the Orpheus after a fun, if not particularly taxing, day of Waterways Swallet and a walk down Dove Dale, I was feeling the need to add a bit of adventure to the evening. I remembered reading about some dug out bit of cave not far from the Orpheus earlier on. Placenta Pot, as it was called, was only 300m away, visible from the hut in daylight, and was only 27m deep. Perfect for a midnight trip. I quickly assembled a strong team of whoever was closest, and set out towards the entrance using the GPS location on my phone (cheating I know, but the description was vague and I didn’t have a compass). It was a clear night, hardly needing torches, which was lucky because some of the party had forgotten theirs. We quickly discovered the entrance on a hillside not far away, with scrap and vegetative growth covering it implying it hadn’t been opened for a while. Not to be deterred, we opened the lid (with some difficulty), revealing a rather long fixed ladder. Despite a bit of wobble this looked safe enough, […]

Sunday 29th April Present: David Botcherby, Jake Sturgeon, Olly Hall, Ryan Quinoa On Saturday night we were looking at trips in the Caves of the Peak District. I was interested in the Gentlewoman’s Shaft to Youd’s Level, as I’d heard legends of the longest coffin level in Derbyshire. Discovering that you there was no clear reference to Gentlewoman’s in the guide, I promptly decided that it sounded like a problem for tomorrow. I was right. We set off the next morning quite late, after waiting to supply some keen first timers from Birmingham with some kit and doing some washing up. Olly had been down the entrance of Gentlewoman’s (but no further) so said he would recognise the car park. On the instructions of ‘a quarry near Matlock Bath’, I directed us to the nearest quarry to the Youd’s entrance, a decision I think was reasonable, though perhaps misguided. On the off (or more likely, on) chance that we couldn’t find the entrance, I thought we should pick up the key for the Youd’s entrance from the lead mining museum. This turned out to be absolutely massive, which basically made my day, and carrying that made up for any trouble later […]

Earth Leakage Trip – 14th April 2018 Present: me, Jack, Rachael, Mark We started the day with bacon butties at Fir Street, Mark’s plans to go climbing were cancelled so he decided to come caving with us and we changed our plans from Pilkington’s to Giants. I had been wanting to visit some of the more obscure corners of the cave as if you look at the survey you realise there is a lot more there than the round trip and East Canal. We decided on the Ghost Rift Series and possibly Boss Aven too. Ghost Rift is near the end of the round trip so we decided to climb up into the Crabwalk and get to it the opposite way to how the round trip is usually done. This skips the Crabwalk, but does involve doing the Giant’s Windpipe twice. We set off and I rigged Garlands, then climbed up into the Crabwalk for a look at the top near Garlands. Found a p-bolt for rigging the traverse over the pitch that I am now keen to try. We set off down the Crabwalk not really knowing where to climb up, a couple of abortive attempts were made early […]

29/4/18 Louise, Michael H, Jolene, Conor On the Sunday d the Orpheus weekend we were trying to find trips, as it turns out the far side of the White Peak is a bit shit. So as Olly and George had left Titan rigged we decide to go down under the pretense of derigging for them.   After a usual if frustrating amount of faff and hut cleaning, we were finally kitted up and at the entrance by 14.15. I was feeling quite calm and composed as the leader of this trip, which made me pleased. Michael rigged the entrance and we were down quite quickly.   I led the way to the top of the main pitch, we were all quite nervous. As some others were down there was a spotlight rigged over the pitch, which was handy although made it more visible and scary. I checked the rigging Olly and George had left in, and added a crab to clip our rope into the traverse as a backup. As everyone seemed happy, I left them and descended to the event horizon. After waiting only a short time Conor joined me seemingly exhilarated and proclaiming “that was intense”.   After […]

Eldon Hole exchange trip – 1st May 2018 Present: me and Louise. I’ve been finding it a little difficult this year to get much rigging practice. On a given trip the rigging is either very straightforward and easy or it’s a long trip and I don’t want to slow things down. That and I have done a lot on pre-rigged stuff in Peak lately. Me and Louise met up after work on Tuesday  with the idea of doing one or two exchange trips down Eldon for rigging practice. After negotiating some rotting sheep and getting to the shaft we made a start. Louise rigged the North Gully and I rigged the South Gully. It turns out that Eldon on a mild evening is a ridiculously nice venue for this sort of trip because it’s light, it’s warm, it’s dry and you can each rig a route alone, but still not be very far apart so you can chatter and laugh nervously as you try to remember a sensible way to join ropes fifteen meters off the ground. Louise practiced hauling her tacklesack while I took an age adjusting a rebelay and installing a knot pass, then we passed each other across the impressive snow […]

  [ Catching up on trip reports now that I can actually log in again – this was originally on Facebook. ] Moorfurlong Mine, 31 Jan 2018. Present: me and Louise Having largely failed to achieve anything this week I was a little desperate to get underground, and Louise was game for a spontaneous trip on Wednesday night so long as it wasn’t too long. I suggested Moorfurlong Mine as I’d been reading about it recently, and as no one else seemed keen the two of us set off for Bradwell. We had a nice time exploring the narrow, steep, winding backroads of Bradwell in the snow while foolishly trying to navigate using the map in Caves Of The Peak District, then enjoyed a short drive to a small quarry which Google Maps claimed was the farm we were looking for. Eventually, by having driven along most of the roads in the area already, we found Within House Farm and paid our £2 each to the farmer. As we set off into the fields in heavy, horizontal snow I was pessimistically wearing a coat as I assumed we were about to spend a lot of time wondering around in the […]

Like all good ULSA liberal-minded Northerners, I decided to give Derbyshite caving a go. After such little faff, of only 3 shops visited to try to buy a Rostam-sized wetsuit and no less than 40 minutes of waiting for Botch and 35 minutes for Louise, I felt unprepared to go underground. I’d forgotten all my pants and freshly charged batteries and Rostam didn’t even have a furry. I gave him a thermal, he offered me some pants.   ‘They’re new to me,’ he claimed – I declined.   My knee pads were donated to Rostam and elbow pads suctioned to my knees. Botch reassured my there was very little crawling. Hmm. The faff was over. Fortunately, we struggled with the lock on the gate and time was recovered.   More at ease, we stomped through the show cave, through the gate, Botch didactically leading the way. I took the steps rather than the slide, thinking how shiny my oversuits was. Oh how precious I was. The water level was pleasantly low in the ducks.   I went to look at the ladder for something view whilst Rostam carefully explained where the Treasury was not. Several times. With demonstrations. Back the […]

Twas a fine weekend for a south Wales visit, so on Friday evening I found myself picking up Mike Butcher from a youth rehabilitation center in the aptly named Belle Isle of Leeds. We proceeded to the suburban Manchester borough of Denton where my car was abandoned on Benji’s driveway and Jo picked us up. The journey down was boring and uneventful but improved otherwise by good company and doughnuts for 6p. Saturday was biology time. Led by Jules Carter from the museum of Wales, we had an entomological gander in Powell’s cave, which, if I lived nearer would be a pleasing dig. A good amount of beasties were found, including but not limited to Meta menardi, Metellina merianae, Androniscus dentiger, and several springtails of unknown provenance. After an explore we proceeded into OFD I, which is, as one UKC member put out, a few plastic dinosaurs away from being a show cave. Nethertheless, a good few crustaceans were found including Nephargus, if I recall correctly. After a break, we all had a go identifying such using the microscopes. Thom Starnes became very excited examining a ball point pen. After this we had a discussion about the future of the […]

On the Sunday of NCHECC I found myself rather trip-less. I had no freshers to take underground and none of the other trips going out seemed particularly appealing. I’d brought my dive mask in anticipation of a Kingsdale Pullthrough ending with some sump practice, so I decided I’d go and have a solo play around in the Rowten Sumps (2m, 3m, 8m; from Valley Entrance), having had little experience in free-dives to date, and I’d quite like to do the pullthrough trip this summer because I have a very strong feeling that in Summer 2020 I won’t be able to do the trip, as I predict we will be locked down during a novel Coronavirus pandemic. I left at a leisurely 11am, leaving a callout with a cluster of people near Tony Seddon’s car. I got to Kingsdale in time to see two gentlemen getting ready, I told them my trip plans and they said they’d been planning to do the same but they’d forgotten their wetsuits so had resorted to practicing using a small dive bottle in Keld Head. “you know the air is very bad between the 3m and 8m sump?” they informed me, “you can take the […]

Moi et Olly avons passé une super journée dans un pot de marteau. Sludge Crawl est fini, bien ouej! C’est magnifique!

The weekend came to attend NCHECC which I am gradually becoming too old for. After having a nice catchup and going to bed at 4am I well and truly couldn’t be fucking arsed to do anything even resembling a cave so went with Brendan and some MUSC and NUCC folks down Lancaster -> Wretched. Having lost my SRT kit on the prov rescue, I didn’t have one so made do with some static cowstails, a stop of unknown provenance and a nice new harness from Tony. The walk over the moor was pleasant and I chatted to some folk probably. I remarked in my head the drained nature of the moorland here has lead to a dominance of Eriophorum and what I suspect is Campylopus introflexus. Very disappointing frankly. We soon arrived at Lancaster Pot and off we fucked down it. Due to the clusterfucky nature of this trip it took ages to get all 9 people down so me and a nice Todd fellow, plus NUCCs new pres Laura wandered off into a side passage to look at some pretty bits which was nice. After everyone had arrived except Brendan we fucked off because Brendan was okay. The trip […]

It didn’t start well. I woke up to find that Creg had binned shit-loads of delicious vegan curry. Then was told that the bpc members had binned loads of potato waffles. Fucking unbelievable. I took a dip for a bite of one but it was not worth it. Thankfully, Mr S. Booth had provided a wheelie bin of shredded wheat to sustain me for the weekend, and well into the future. Free of any and all responsibility, myself, Black Jewishman and Olly set off for a speedy run through Penyghent to the downstream sump and back.  We met lots of inquisitive walkers on the ascent, a nice lady offered to be our call-out. We politely declined but it was reassuring to know she had our back if things took a turn. Listening to the rumble of the stream below at the entrance Olly didn’t seem too sure about things, “I’m not sure about this” Olly said in between noises of unenthusiastic disdain. Water levels were pretty high, and the entrance crawl exceptionally cold. Twin Falls pitch was very wet but the rope was still in place and in decent nick. At first I was a bit concerned as the stream […]

Those who know my Derbyshire Caving habits will know I absolutely adore Winnats Head, so when the chance arose to assist in furthering its exploration – I bit Rob’s hand off. I left work, my kit packed ready, and tore through Chapel-en-le-Frith to arrive at the farm just in time to wait an hour for the others to show up. Once Rob arrived with a carful of keeno-carriers (Olly, Helen, Botch) we packed 5 bags and set off to the entrance. I chose the bag containing 5 SRT kits as, though it was one of the heaviest, it didn’t contain a bottle so I could fling it willy-nilly down the many chokes in Winnats. Rob gave us fair warning that he only just fit down Winnats and to prepare for a steady-pace trip – Olly, Botch and I prepared ourselves by promptly fucking off ahead of him and getting to Fox Chamber to have a good play on the rope swing in there while we waited for him to slither down the squeezes with Helen for company. We reached the bottom choke into the first pool chamber, Olly and I shuttled all the bags down through the choke – and […]

Doggers cock blocked Ferreting round wrong quarry James got lost but found

Some of you may have heard about the first attempt at this old mine in the Heights of Abraham, we tried it originally three weeks ago but ended up searching the wrong quarry. Not only was it the wrong one, but it was also more than twice the size so took us two and a half hours to search before giving up. There was one vaguely promising hole I found, but once Corin came to help it became clear it was literally just a hole that fit about half his body into. The trip was essentially a long hike interspersed with brambles scratching my face off, and a few small urbex trips into some fairly small bunkers, but it was a still a nice walk – #getfit4exped. The second attempt was not without its problems, but we did eventually get underground. After searching for an hour in the opposite direction to last time we regrouped and realised James was completely missing. Retreating to the car to cancel callout and put warmer clothes on took us to half past eight – three and a half hours after leaving the kit store. We split up and started looking. Corin and I finally […]

This was the first Tresviso expedition training weekend at the YSS hut. On the Saturday the plan was to survey part of Hammer Pot with George, a nice part just before the fifth pitch and Sludge Crawl. After helping to cook breakfast and making sure everyone had a trip so George and I didn’t have to take anyone else, we packed and got on our way. As we were based at the YSS hut the drive wasn’t as long as the walk at the other end, which was quite a windy, cold walk. When we got the entrance it had some nice icicles blocking it, which had to be snapped off. George pointed out how a stream had been flowing into the pot the previous weekend so it should be a nice dry trip. I headed off down the entrance crawl which alternated between hands and knees and flat out. It wasn’t too long before we were at the first pitch. All the rope had been left in so all we had to do was throw it down the pitch. After the first pitch you are in a small chamber which is perfect for taking your SRT kit off ready […]

It was early on Monday afternoon when I got the message from Jack about a super secret caving trip he was planning; a raid on Christmas Aven, to reclaim it back for SUSS. Utmost secrecy was sworn, and then promptly forgotten, as come the day everyone seemed to know that a “secret” trip was happening, although the exact nature of it fortunately remained covert. We set off on Wednesday evening  after leaving callout with Jreg(?), in the mental rental, Jack’s courtesy car as his plush VW was out of commission. Not an aux cable in sight unfortunately, so the music choice for the drive out was an old Nightwish disc, a remnant of Jack’s edgy past, followed by a few tracks from Sieben’s “As They Should Sound”, a CD that Jack found on the floor in Peak Cavern. Upon reaching the P8 car park, and quickly getting changed in the freezing weather, Jack realised that he had forgotten his helmet and light, fortunately however, he had an old ULSA helmet still in the back of his car, so he was able to use that to remain safe. Unfortunately the light on it was woefully underpowered, and so I had to […]

This week I managed to tick off two (or three depending on how you count it) bread-and-butter Derbyshire caving trips, that I’d somehow managed to avoid visiting thus far. Must be all those exciting trips down P8 and Oxlow I end up taking… Last Sunday I visited Knotlow and Hillocks, and this week I finally got round to doing Rowter. In my defense Rowter was basically just a 70m entrance shaft during my first year, with an abandoned DCC dig at the bottom, barely worth a visit. Nowadays it is a decent length SRT trip with some nice-n-spicy horizontal to boot. Mark, Rachael, Leo, Olly and I set off to the Peak District, after making a sketchy drive down the track to Rowter Farm (the snow had banked up several metres high on the side of the track, and more snow was due) we kitted up. I say “kitted up” in the loosest sense of the phrase, as I’d forgotten my oversuit and wellies. Luckily I carry a pair of knackered old boots in my car for emergencies, and an orange hi-vis jacket for roadside safety provided perfect upper body protection. The jacket was given to me by my dad, […]

  Last weekend, I volunteered to carry down Speedwell and decided that if I was going caving that I should do a trip into Peak at the same time. Dragging Alex and Helen into my plan we decided during the week that we would carry, then head to Peak via White River and Moose Trap. I arrived in Castleton late on the Friday evening and headed for the pub. There weren’t many still around after the CDG meeting so it was a small party of Alistair, Rob, Helen, Mike Butcher, Benji and Ash. We all disappeared back to the TSG and took part in the noblest of caving weekend traditions – having a good old moan and bitch. Everyone wander off to bed leaving Helen and I to our discussions. About 4.50am, we decided we need to totter off to bed if we were going underground the next day and accidentally woke up everyone in the members room when Helen was looking for Rob and her sleeping bag. – We missed the first boat due to disorganisation and a late start and Rob was very amused by Helen’s apparently inability to walk in a straight line. Armed with cake and rope, we set […]

This weekend I persuaded Gamble to come caving with me in the Dales. Kathryn was drinking in the pub with Jack and Will in Sheffield on the Friday afternoon lamenting that there were no trips going over the weekend when she was bundled in Gamble’s estate with enough provisions for a weekend – and seemingly half Jack’s wardrobe – and magically transported to the BPC. Whilst waiting for a late NUCC to appear Gamble, Kathryn and I settled for irritating Benji and Stemple and generally making mischief before celebrating when NUCC arrived with more wine/gin/unknown alcohol and merriment irritation to the people trying to sleep in the guest room. Eventually I toddled off to bed at 6am unable to find my keys so I could get my sleeping bag out my car. I decided, therefore, to pick the two NUCC freshers that were sleeping closest to each other, burrow between them for warmth and attempt to get a little sleep. Earlier than I would have liked – 3 hours later – I was prised out of my prone position by Jacob whose sleeping bag I promptly claimed. Around elevenish, a very hungover Benji and I decided to surface and go in […]

The day started off slowly for our little group of four. Nat and Benji both had spent the entire previous night having Adventures With Gin, and so neither of them seemed inclined to actually imitate life till nearly midday. Nevertheless, we ignored Nat’s bruising (she’d tried to fit through a coat hanger at some point), found the car keys, and by noonish were on our way to Ireby Fell. Gamble drove us, as we had unanimously decided that whether Benji and Nat were still half drunk or half-hungover, they really shouldn’t be behind the wheel. We arrived in the allotted parking space and found ULSA there as well, preparing to go down the same cave. I feel like it should be noted here I don’t know a single thing about ULSA, (still don’t tbh, they’re from Leeds, right?) and I’m pretty certain I had never met a single member before that moment, but there they were, ULSA exists. Pretty sure I still haven’t actually spoken to any of them. Gamble, Nat, and Benji did know them however, and after talking it out we agreed that we would let them go ahead of us, rigging the cave, and we would follow […]

On Tuesday evening, Rob posted to the SUSS group asking for a bottle carrier down JH on Friday (27th). It would be a long, hard trip, joining him and Lydia going up Cliff Cavern for Rob to dive Cliffhanger sump, then out Peak to join the others at the TSG. I thought “Why not; I’ve not done enough caving recently?” and in my tired state quickly signed up. Typically, I didn’t consider that this would land me in for 4 days of caving, with cleaning up P8 on Thurs, and a full weekend following. This seems to be my style now: caving in short controlled bursts. I was resigned to it. The prognosis was looking poor for the trip by Friday. A chance encounter with Phil Wolstenholme on Wednesday had not been inspiring about the condition of the sump (“It’s been checked, and it’s choked”) and seeing Rob Eavis on Thursday had not improved things. I had hoped that Rob (Middleton) would be more optimistic about the dive, but I was having no such luck. Friday was a gloriously clear autumn day in the Peak District and Rob was only interested in one thing: Climbing. Unfortunately, we’d all agreed to […]

I spent the morning of the Saturday of Peak freshers catching up with Lydia, Alistair and others, but when everyone came back from taking the first lot of new cavers underground I felt obliged to actually go caving. No one had asked me to take a trip and it seemed like every group already had at least one second – this provided a good excuse to go up Victoria Aven instead. This was a trip I had been meaning to do for months. It took all of 10 seconds to convince Michael to abandon the afternoon games and go straight back underground, and then Sam decided to join us. There was then a fairly long interlude while Tony helped me make a Dyneema footloop, new safety and new cow’s tails and get all the lengths correct (turns out this is important). If you think it’s excessive delaying a trip to fettle your SRT kit like this then you clearly didn’t see my old cow’s tails. Victoria Aven is only a little way in past the showcave, so called because this is as far as Queen Victoria made it on her visit. We found the in situ rope and headed on up. […]

The day started with a healthy organic faff, nonetheless ridiculously long, Monseigneur Botch, head of the group of heathens, trying his very best to sort out the 20 odd cavers walking around aimlessly in a morning haze mixed with the alcohol still lingering in our veins. Since Natalie wasn’t caving that day I took over SUSS’ complaining department and loudly dragged my feet and whined around, until the hut itself grew tired of my shit and I fell down the stairs, right before Olly decided to fuck with me, gave out my kneepads to Catherine (I let her keep them because it gave me an additional reason to complain) and stole my sexiest buff. However the enthusiasm of the freshers was contagious, and the little troupe’s mood was excellent as we set off in the mist, rain, and flooded paths. The way there was extremely merry, sliding down hills on the wet grass (Leo using the Lack of Friction of his PVC suit to impress us with some cool ass slides, with that smug Leo look) and crossing a tumultuous river. We got in the cave, Alfie leading the way and getting really excited by the pretty unimpressive entrance crawl, […]

Headed out with Sam and Mike to go digging down Gautries. The plan had been Sam’s dig in Peak Cavern but access hadn’t been sorted, which was a positive as Gautries has a much nicer dig. Got underground before 20:00. I headed up to the dig face under Sam’s direction. Had a go at the face while Mike panicked over where to put spoil before realising there was a lot of room. There was a lot of room at the dig too so sitting and hacking away was possibly pleasant. Everyone else had a go, Sam told us about some fossils, and we made it out in good time for the pub.

Despite only being around for the Sunday of Peak Freshers weekend, I still encountered a lot of really keen fresh faces (as well as some filled with a mild dread). I spent the morning helping Creg and Mark out with the classic get-to-know each other games, which was really fun. It was great to also be joined by Nottingham, which was a lovely way to get the new cavers immediately used to how close the uni caving community is. Caving clubs seem to be one of the few examples of uni sports clubs fostering friendly inter-relations (sometimes too friendly, admittedly) rather than tense rivalries, and it was nice to introduce the freshers to this. I think the early start lent us a helping hand, as everyone was too bleary eyed to argue when we gave them instructions like “get into a circle and hold the hands of the people next to you”, or “tear up this single sheet of news paper in such a way that four people will fit through it”. Pretty soon everyone had got over, or got used to, their social awkwardness – lets admit it, this is fairly inescapable in the caving community.  The morning culminated […]

For those that haven’t heard me waffling on about getting this cleanup underway, The Great P8 Cleanup consists of shifting all the crap that can be found in Keith “Ben” Bentham’s old dig out of P8. Preliminary work last Summer consisted of collecting all the old digging kit into one big pile and filling up as many old dig trays as we could in preparation for taking it all out. I never knew Ben but I’ve spent a fair few days in his dig over the last 4 years, surveying, digging and clearing – Jesus Christ could that man dig! At the current count we have 27 broken dig trays to get out of P8, they seem to be 50L water containers and every single one has the bottom broken out! It seems Ben just brought more in every time one broke and he didn’t bother taking them out (it would eat into precious digging time!) Of the 27 containers 7 are filled with old digging stuff; cables, chain, rope, tool handles, tubing and conveyor matting. Anything salvageable as digging kit has been moved into the face of Ben’s Dig as I intend to carry it on. The plan is […]

After spending nearly a month away from Sheffield, unable to cave despite spending a tantalising week in the karstic playground of the Western Pyrenees (including a brief trip to the entrance of Pierre-Saint-Martin) I was keen to get back into caving as soon as I could. With American Mike back for a fleeting visit we arranged a trip to Winnat’s Head with Leo, Jreg and Liam. We set off to Castleton at 6:30pm and were underground by 7:30 – determined to make it out for Last Orders in the village we hastily made it through the gravelly entrance crawl which, despite me clearing out all the big rocks on the way in, is usually filled back up on the way out! Jreg lead the way down the bouldery chaos, followed closely by the rest of us. We made it down to Fox Chamber where we split up to see how many different ways down through the chokes in the floor we could find. I found one I think I went down on my first ever trip to Winnat’s Head, Jreg went down the quickest one, and Mike went down one I’ve never seen before, popping out in a letterbox squeeze […]

Posted by William Brian Thomas I caved and potholed for 7 years until marriage in 1970 scooped me up and away from fulfilling my masochistic needs. NB if anyone can think of a name which is the opposite of a Fresher then, don’t bother, I won’t remember it! I even slid into biospeleogy, discovering, along with dear-departed mate Robert Miff Smith, a unique cave snail since named [by CRG] “Trichoniscoides thomasum”. About 16 of us meet for four days each June at our annual reunion near Buxton – to chew the cud and imbibe a little liquid. I am persuaded to respond to the Elise Freshwater Blizzard SUSS website “trip report”, containing her amusing and very true post-activity thoughts. My paragraphs are based on Elise’s ten thoughts. “The pub could close in about ten minutes!”. Not a chance, as our beloved Joan Prime organises the entire four days with, if not Pinochet Precision, then great background efficiency. The whole reunion purrs along thanks to Joan and her August husband Min/Dave. [we have about six “Dave’s” so this Dave is known as “Min” – you can guess why]. “I’ve never seen so much clear water in my life”. A big reason […]

I’m so organised. Everything has a set time. Everything has a date, a schedule, a particular way. I am constrained by the clock, an invention of man that has me in its noose. Every lesson must not be missed. Every book must be in alphabetical order. Everything task must be done in a specific amount of time, or it’s pointless. Every action must have meaning. Every emotion must be analysed. I have lived like this for years and it’s something that has secretly tortured me. It never stops. It’s there every second of every day and I can’t begin to comprehend a life that would allow me to be free of this ‘thing’ that holds me down. I’ll get back to this point later. The small pools in the ground became bigger and bigger as we headed into the depths of the cave. The large corridors surrounded us and made me feel but a needle in a haystack. The more we walked, the more I noticed how the water in these small pools were beautifully blue and transparent. I could see the bottom of each one, and felt indecent for stepping my muddy boots into the centre of them, but […]

So this last weekend heralded the final SUSS weekend (in Britain) before everyone gets bogged down with revision and deadlines and the sort. A good number of 21 members descended on the Croyden Caving Hut in South Wales which all made for good company and overall, a fun weekend. The Friday night was met with typical drunken merriment which went on till the early hours as we all laughed and talked our way through the night. I think there was only one fight that night between James and Adelaide, cannot say who won but it was a rubbish attempt at fighting none the less. Saturday Saturday morning greeted me well and I sat outside with the others basking in the warm glow of the morning sun. I heard mutterings of a trip to OFD 1 – top entrance (OFD 2) just no one knew the way. I fortunately did and was keen on the trip so that was the day sorted. The team for Saturday was to be myself, Craig Hamer, Liam Overett, Olly Hall and Mark Holdcroft. We got our gear together and were soon on our way to the SWCC. We were ready and making our way to […]

I’d been talking of attending the Irish Student Caving Forum for a while, and with an impromptu ferry purchase after the worlds kindest kick up the arse from Tony me, Molly, Liam, Michael and Botch actually found ourselves assembling at mine and Liam’s on the Tuesday morning; full of beans and ready to sit in a car for 7+ hours. If anyone isn’t familiar with my car at this time of writing, she’s a silver Diesel Renault Megane with a ‘character mark’ on her rear left door and her name is Megan (as she will be referred to for the remainder of this report). This being said, it was rather ambitious to attempt to fit five people + belongings, gear and food into her but goddam it if we weren’t going to try. However, after a lot of cringe as I watched Megan’s suspension creaking ever lower we managed it and were all squeezed nice and snug into our respective spaces. And thus, clad in the party hats I’d sneakily bought for Liam’s birthday when we were buying food, the five SUSSonians relinquished all ties of fixed abode for a week and began our journey. The drive over to Holyhead was […]

//I want to thank Creg and Gamble for putting in so much effort to organise and hide all the eggs. I also want to thank all the drivers who carried us back and forth to the mine and our homes, thank you, all of you, as you made this happen. I had the most fantastic time and I hope you enjoy my report.// After a scenic drive with the sounds of Will’s wonderful road rage every now and then, we were all smiling and ready to put on our kit to start this journey into the mine. Not knowing what to expect, a few nerves ran through me. But, looking around at my fellow SUSS members, I felt a warmth of trust and love rise within me, and I knew I was ready to kick some ass and thrash them all. Whilst I am not experienced, and always become a nervous wreck before any caving trip, this time felt a little different: I was feverishly excited. Gamble hands us all little Easter buckets we can collect our eggs in. We are all engrossed by its design. While we are spectating and discussing if we should go in pairs or go […]

Living up to my new acclaimed title of ‘diving bitch’, I agreed to help Benji by carrying dive bottles to Main Rising. Which, overall ended up to be quite a short, but fun trip with good company. The trip involved myself and Benji, as well as Corin and Molly who all awoke a bit bleary eyed one Saturday morning – Molly being particularly grumpy as per. But still we arrived at the Speedwell car park in good time (0900 hours). There was a bit of a wait as the boat we were on left at 0945 so we sat and rested before getting dressed. A couple of us were dreading it slightly, but I was quite looking forward to it. I didn’t let slip that I was more excited for the boat trip but hey ho. The bag was surprisingly heavy, but I have carried heavier so it didn’t phase me, just knocked me out of balance a couple of times. None the less, we were soon on the boat, destination: The Bottomless Pit (or Speedwell cavern as one of the guides called it *Humpf*). This took about 20 minutes until everyone was off and getting into the far canal. […]

** Disclaimer: I know there is already a (brilliant) report about this particular trip by Elise, but as we’re both early in our caving careers but coming into it quite different directions I thought it’d be interesting to see the trip from two points of view. Plus I’m hungover and I’d like to sit in bed writing a trip report. ** Jousting down Peak — a trip to Moss Chamber It was a warm spring evening as a fellowship of five threw themselves enthusiastically from the TSG, made merry in the graveyard and were soon swallowed up by the cavernous mouth of Peak Cavern — Sam: “It’s the biggest cave entrance in the UK!” Henry: “Does that mean it’s the most likely to collapse because there is so much unsupported ceiling?” Elise: *squeak* But such comments soon petered out as we passed beyond the realms of mere mortals, travelling even further into the mouth of the earth than had a monarch centuries before. The banks were muddy, but crystal clear currents passed around our rubber soles as we waded into a diminishing tunnel, like entering the chocolate factory of some sadistic mole, made more so after passing a swirling vortex in Buxton Water. After […]

Why Do I Do Caving? Why Did I Slap a Butt? Two questions that I shall never be able to answer. After training me for a while, I know that Gamble and many in the group want me to actually go caving, rather than just go to the pub and drink pints of water. So Gamble mentions a suitable trip, and quite naturally for me, on the day, I am nervous as a porcupine in a room full of balloons. But I need to go. Why? My life has not been the best for the last two weeks.  It’s been miserable for me if I’m honest, I needed “a reset button” (Creg, 2017) by going caving. I meet Louise, and she’s very smiley, we get to know each other. We all head in the car over to this small village where there’s a car workshop-looking building. It reminds me of my father who used to race and fix cars. I’m soon told it’s a ‘TSG’, and that most of the group stay here for the weekends. Can’t imagine. Suddenly everyone is getting undressed and into their caving suits-  I begin to panic. I’m not ready for this. I can’t do this. […]

Unfortunately the title is not caving-related but typical conversation starter of the weather, which was absolutely fantastic and was a part of many events that made for a very good NCHECC weekend! Saturday Members present: myself, Glen and Hugh (GUPA). After waking from a short slumber, I wandered around the hut aimlessly whilst eating breakfast and asking around for a trip. I heard some were going to Lost John’s, but there seemed to be quite a few, so I didn’t bother with that one. I then found Glen who was doing some rigging training with Hugh from GUPA and so I decided to tag along, suggesting somewhere in Kingsdale as it will be a bit quieter. My light decided to pack in this weekend (reminder to self to get that sorted), so I ran around the hut (again), like a headless chicken looking for a helmet and light for me to have. Tony Seddon turned up to the scene as the knight with caving armour and let me borrow his for the day, which in turn led me to borrow it for both days. There was also a bit of time choosing a cave, which we decided was Heron Pot […]

Members present: Myself, Alan Bretnall (Guide), Molly Smith, Liam Overett, Michael Woodward, Michael Holliday. As this past weekend was our annual dinner weekend in the Peak District, I booked a visit for a couple of members to visit Water Icicle Closed Cavern near Monyash. We all awoke feeling a bit fresh and heavy headed, ate some breakfast, drank some tea and were soon heading off to meet Alan in Monyash. We made a couple of trips up and down the track as we were a bit confused as to whether we were going the right way or not. After all the faff, we were going the right way, so headed back and pulled over at an appropriate place. We were all suited up in our suitable attire including some of the equipment that we had gained from winning the CHECC competition (many thanks are extended to Jane Allen who provided the equipment) and heading for the entrance. Liam rigged and we were soon descending down the mined entrance. It is a fairly nice slot that drops down until you enter the natural chamber that the miners broke into. Alan pointed out the way to the rift which eventually leads to […]

One Morning, while the night before, Lay restless in my head, There came a ringing on my phone, That filled my heart with dread. At once I flung, with lightning speed, My body from my cot, As i’d agreed, with much regret, To go down Rowter Pot. My bag was choked with caving kit, And one spare pair of drawers, My stomach grumbled angrily, Awaiting Pevrill Stores. With Rob and Helen in the car, We totalled nought but three, And set off westwards, caving-bound, Towards the TSG. Our mission was as such, you see, To dye dear Rowter’s sumps, For this we wouldn’t be paid in coins, But pints, from The Cobden’s pumps. We feasted with much merriment, On bacon, egg and bread, Then off we drove, with bellies full, Out town, past Winnat’s Head. We paid the farm its rightful coin; Its daily dose of dime, Then struggled into oversuits, All caked with mud and grime. At last, we journeyed through the field, T’was moist with morning dew, With nought b’tween us save the dye, A vibrant, greenish hue. In no more than a quarter-hour, Spent underneath the dale, We stood in silence at the mouth, Of Rowter’s Ice […]

I WILL NOT Assemble a custom SRT kit using the club equipment. Fall in any of the following: Elizabeth shaft, Suicide Pot, any of the many holes that suddenly appear mid-crawl. Rely on leaders to carry heavy tackle sacks. Form an attachment to the following: Alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits, freeloaders, perverts, ascending too far so that I get strung up, mountaineers, Southampton. I WILL Buy my own SRT kit. Aspire to become an Equal. Consider buying a Pantin. Reduce circumference of waist by 1 inch (for squeeze purposes)   Friday 10 March: Nettle Pot to Derbyshire Hall (sounds lovely) Song of the day: some Irish thing that Jreg was singing, followed closely by the intro to All Stars (obvs) Cigarettes: 0 (don’t smoke, v.g.) Aperol: 50ml (excellent) 4 p.m Assembled custom SRT kit, much to horror of Leo. I just really prefer simples to stops, okay? Bought snacks. (v important) 5 p.m. Left Sheffield, having had to wait to procure the minimum number of krabs and for Hallam Jack to come back from his vulva conference. (not a gendered slur) (two unrelated) After the usual paying of the farmer and listening to his three warnings to avoid […]

Date: 1/03/17 Members present: Myself, Thomas Smith, Olly Hall and Adelaide de Deisbach We departed Sheffield at a reasonable time of 6:15pm with much excitement for the trip ahead. Maskhill has been a trip I have been wanting to do for some time as I have only ever been to West chamber via Oxlow. However, we didn’t get to bottom it, but instead made a good attempt in the process. A brisk wind meant that it was a bit chilly getting changed into our caving gear but we were soon in our appropriate garments and making our way to the entrance. By the top of the hill I was well heated up for the wait as the others descended down into the nether regions of the Earth. I was last so got myself clipped in and then shut the lid but realised my descender was the wrong way around which was a faff to sort out in the position I was in. But, none the less I was soon descending myself and with the others. I ended up descending into some random little side passage at some point but other than that it was a quick descent down into the […]

Saturday   Bar to Flood – I am aware that Jack has already written a report about this trip so I tried and keep it short but I’m not at all good at that so sorry (in my defence I drafted it on the monday afternoon)! So far I haven’t managed a GG trip without it turning into an epic and nearly missing call out. Never mind, third time lucky I thought. The day started well with the hangover from hell – let’s just say I should stop trying to keep up with my past student self. The day got worse when I realised in my hurried packing after work that whilst I had packed my personal kit, pantin and personal tacklebag I had managed to forget my entire SRT kit. Now as you can imagine the thought of attempting GG with only a pantin and a personal tackle bag as pitch kit made me very apprehensive so I went on the hunt for a spare kit. Once again Benji came to SUSS‘s rescue (we would go on far fewer trips without him) and I was able to go underground. There were a lot of us so we decided to have one […]

Fresher Dales – Oct 2016 Fresher dales was way back in October but it was a fun weekend with a turnout of over 30 people with the freshers going on a variety of trips. The car spaces meant that there were 5 leaders and equals left over so we decided the night before that we’d attempt to do a ‘proper trip’ the night before. Breakfast was an interesting affair. Jethro and I were definitely paying for our sins. Apparently 3 bottles of wine is a bad idea and who knew drinking Gin in 250ml servings makes you feel rubbish in the morning? My petition was (as ever) Swinsto but Rachael refused to walk up the hill, Rachael suggested something that Mark pointed out we didn’t have enough rope on us for, Helen suggested Box Head to which Rachael then suggested Death’s Head. Jethro and I contributed by staring at our shrivelled bacon and beans willing them to eat themselves. An hour and half after Rachael finished her breakfast Jethro and I were down to one hash brown each and daring each other to finish our breakfast first in the slowest most intense eating competition that has ever taken place at […]

A weekend at The Dump is always a winner, I enjoyed a fun and eventful New Year there just over a month ago and was more than happy to return. I decided to augment my weekend caving with a trip either side for good measure, and I now present to you a single report on all four trips. Friday – Yordas Pullthrough I was picked up at 3pm by Alex and Jacob from NUCC, we stopped briefly on the way up to the Dales to check out GUPA Sarah’s art exhibition in Bradford Cathedral “The Rhythm of The Dales” which was fantastic, and the Cathedral gave me a new outlook on Bradford; perhaps there is some beauty to it. The three of us arrived at the Craven Cottage to pick up Sarah and take her caving, I thought I saw her in the Crown pub but it turned out to be Kristian Brook sat alone writing trip reports, it’s very easy to mix the two up… We left him to his writing and went to go fetch the right person, then headed to The Dump to pick up Stu, the final member of our mottled group consisting of SUSS, NUCC, […]

TOP Ten Trips of all [my]time caving. I used 5 factors = [1] time underground [usually, the longer, the better and the harder] [2] amount of water in any form [the more the better] [3] how awkward and number of obstacles encountered [4] enjoyment [5] tiring and exhausting [usually, the more the higher the mark].   Over the period 1963 to 1970 1 LOST JOHNS 2 SOUTHERN STREAM PASSAGE IN AA 3 OXLOW-GIANTS-OXLOW 4 GIANTS-OXLOW-GIANTS 5 FILTHY FIVES EXCHANGE IN GIANT’S 6 P8/JACPOT MOCK RESCUE 7 PENYGHENT W/O WETSUIT 8 OGOF FFYNON DDU 9 POUL NA GOLLUM 10.GIANTS TO EAST CANAL AND BACK     Most disliked and liked caving trips – by a SUSS Life member over the 1960’s decade. Least enthralling – Yorkshire Dales None!! Even Bar Pot and Calf Holes were enjoyable! Most thrilling and therefore best trips in Yorks dales; Penyghent Pot [PyG – SSP], when not in flood. Did this one without a wetsuit, with a butty box and a metal thermometer. Strangely, this trip went against one of my basic caving tenets – it was with 5 complete strangers = Leicester Uni students. Took about 5.5 hours [so slightly quicker than the Eldon PC […]

Sunday 19.2.67. GIANTS-FILTHY FIVE EXCHANGE.   Brian Thomas brings this unique event alive for you, right now. In 1967. Reviewed after only 49 years. Excludes details about a normal Giant’s trip. Bailing, “Down” Party [F5]; Jeff Phillips [JP], Dave Wear, Pete Lord (Fly), Bob Fowle and Tim Brett-Holt. (first two on carbide; all members of Sheffield University Speleological Society). Geology Pot, “Up” Party [F5]; Brian Thomas [BT], Dave Prime [DP], Brian Chadwick [BC] and Brian Dobson (first two not in wetsuits) [all in SUSS]. Other concurrent parties- Eating-House Round Trip Party; Michael Binns, Joan Graham-Guthrie, Bob Smith, Keith Dennis, 2 of DP’s mates and “Carole” [all except 2 mates and “Carole” in SUSS]. Pegging in Ghost Rift Party; Bob Dearman, Bob Toogood [EPC?] [what a DUO! And in a cave!] JP took his party down at 11.40 am. Snibb’s (MB) group vanished into Giant’s entrance at 12 noon. BT’s quartet entered at 12.55, already in overdrive and highly expectant at the epic journey ahead. They passed the Snibb Round-trippers as the latter were climbing up to the North East Swallet Series. BT shouted “Banzai”; JG-G riposted “Shut up”. Giants was wetter than usual; no hitches yet; BT’s “Up” party reached […]

Thursday June 16 1966.  GIANT’S-OXLOW-GIANT’S. THE NEW CONNECTION by SUSS members; Entrants; the late Keith Dennis [KAD], Dave Prime or Min [ DP] and Brian Thomas [WBT and author].   J G G [Joan, daughter of Bob Guthrie and soon-to-be the new Joan G Prime] deposited our triumvirate at Watson’s Farm with the weather set fair now but with a forecast of storms later. The entrance was rather dry, at 12 noon, so we had a little snigger at KAD, the only one girded in a wet suit. We took ten minutes to get our little hoard of tackle through the near sump [the Days of The Dams!] and Garlands was very unwet. We left it doubled and were in excellent good spirits as Min ascended the Crabwalk to the Upper Series [trailing a rope behind him]. My right hand had been rope-burned whilst recently digging in Bradwell. KAD and DP had no present injuries, although KAD was already very warm indeed! Ascending out of the Crabwalk I always find the last few sheer feet a bit exposed, but, once in the Upper North East Swallet Series, we all three soon arrived at the right-hand turn up to Poached Egg […]

I usually feel personally offended when the sun dares to peak out from the thick cover of the British clouds and hurts my precious pupils, but that day the sun was more than welcome, warming us up while we were lazily changing in front of Winnats’ head. Who the fuck is this Winnats anyways? What kind of name is that? Too shit to be a winner, too boring to be a brat. But I digress. We made our way to the cave, reaching the mass of boulders that constitutes its entrance, both Jack and Jreg enthusiastic about the trip that was about to unfold, Jack even claiming this cave was his favourite. I stepped in with confidence. Now the cave was probably having a hard day, going  through a rough patch of its life, who are we to judge? Being eaten by water, little by little, doesn’t exactly sound like a perfect life. Whatever frustration Winnats was battling through, it was getting ready to pour it all on us. Or maybe it was just a douchebag cave. Who knows. A crawl greets us at the very entrance, which I only mildly complained about; followed by a few vertical squeezes, which we overcame […]