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JOurtisAL
of the

OAivi-)hixiju.ij Ui\IVuhdll'Y CAV iimu CLG.b

Volume I, No. 3
October 1967
Cüjmi'üiNiS

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physiology of  crying club - Editorial               ?
presidentorir1                                                        24

Foreign News

Professional caving in Canada by Mike Goodchild                    4

British Expedition to the Cantabrian fountains

by Clive Westlake                              5

COCO on holiday in the Dordogne 1965 by Gareth Jones              6

CoCC Irish Expedition 1967by Mike Richards                        27

Caving in Canada Summer 1967 by Guy poulton ................    31

*

Recent rescues involving club members

Oarlsvvcrk cavern by Clive Aest Ip ke                                 9

pant Mftwr rot by Gareth Jones                                      11

Swildon's Hole by Richard Babb .............................     11

Home News

Yorkshire Meet June 1965 by Gareth Jonc-s             1?

Diving in Swildon's 2\ cy pete Bowler                             18

post Tripos Meet June 1966 by Gareth Jones                        19

Dow/prov conauered - just.' by Pete Hayward                       21

Anyone can swim in a wet-suit by Noel Williams .............     22

Technicalities

Ladder building  by Frank norland                                   12

A reliable Nife cell catch by Richard Babb                        15

Self-lifelining devices by Gareth Jones                           14

Caving films by Frank norland                                       16

Library lists ...............................................    16

Produced by :

Cambridge University Caving Club

c/o (XIMu

c/o The Wherry Library
St. John's College
UAMmtiDGü.


EDITORIAL     Physiology of a caving club.

Devotees of any esoteric sport are always being asked why thev do
it, and their answers .vary from an inarticulate silence to the magnifi­
cently enigmatic, 'Because its there". The lait- have little idea of what
a  cave is like inside, and even colour slides, t'~at most convincing of
media, can convey little of the underground atmosphere. An embarassed ad­
mission of being a devotee of this eccentric activity usually receives
the  reply, "Ohi I couldn't do the t ,'I -get- what do you call it- claustro­
phobia.". Those with at least a. superficial idea of Freudian symbology
might   well belabour this '/neurotic retreat from.reality into-the Womb of
the Great Earth Motner", and thence consider our Oedipus complexes, or an
even more advanced student might criticise this perverse thrust into,..the
very bowels of the earth, particularly after seeing- a photograph  of a
caver in a muddy crawl.

But is caving anything like this at all? Leisure activities are

considered an essential of modern life, and those concerned with the eff­
icient use of recreational land can-hardi v complain at our sport. Outdoor
pursuits are widely practised even by Royalty, and what can be more res­
pectable tha.n a sport that has appeared in a Sunday Colour Supplement?

Caving is essentially a non-technical sportrequiring., fa r fewer
special skills than rock-climbing, for example. »*ost people can easily
master  the few techniques involved, but are put off by the rigours of this
undoubtedly hard sport. You ’ve heard it before, I know, but I would like
to     make a plea for more women cavers, not only on. social grounds, but be­
cause their sub-cutaneous fat-1a-er should protect them from some of the
effects of exposure. The exercise of caving may be the ans,.er to modern
woman's neurotic concern with her -weight, particularly as this is one
sport  where a woman can oe at least as good as a. man.      -

Cambridge caving presents many atypical- properties. People from
other universities may oe shocked to lea rn that we receive no funds apart
from members' subscript ions..Colleges dominate the scene, and there is no

Union .building. ( the Cambridge Union is a deba ting ,society- open to any­
one with 12 guineas to spare). College Boat Clubs and Amalgamated Clubs
must be held responsible for maintaining this basically immoral situation,
which is only now beginning-to be rectified. A pathetically small amount
of money is soon to be distributed between an incredible number of scrabb­
ling University Clubs.

Minibuses are the only form of transport that we can possibly use,
and m  the present monopol1 situation, prices are impossibly high. The
University should set up some system of subsidising our expensive tackle
and transport, if necessary hiring out chea„p minibuses itself. These are
issues the club should be intimately involved with.

Despite the handicap of having to pay perhaps ?,2 per meet for

transport alone, we seem to have done rema.rka.bly well as far as the caving
itself soes. Two years a&o , my predecessor was regretting that trips
through Dow/prov and to the bottom of penyghent were no longer feasible.

By chance, we have done both these trips in the intervening years - both

on vac meets when people are not tired by a journey of up to ( and some­
times longer than ) seven hours to and from  the caving areas. My pre­
decessor commented on the severa.1 occasions when we had to ask for the

e ssistance of outside organisations. In this .journal, there are several


J>.          '"   • . .    .

accounts of how members have been of some assistance to other cavers. In
the past two years we have bought or made some two hundred feet of ladder,
six hundred feet of rope, and various'belays and pullers. Further work is
in t.ro& ress to make more ladder. Members now use Nife cells and wet-suits
almost exclusively, and all these technical aids have undoubtedly" helped
our caving. .Evea the weakest member of our teams is <-uite fit and exper­
ienced, and this has helped our safety record.

However, this has not occurred  without the concomitant disadvantage

of a drop in membership as beginners aie deterred bv the high cost of per­
sonal equipment and transport, as we1! as by the high standard of our
trips.  Tne majority of the most enjoyable trips in Britain do need a -wet­
suit. Cavers of the Old School will here be regretting the demise of the
days  of wool next to the smin (from the loce.l Church jumble sale) and
carbide lamps (now little cheaper tha.n Nife cells).

At this stage I must thank the' Eldon pothole Club for their help at

a time ..hen «e needed it. Members have joined them on trips of all length!
yea, even to the bottom of penyghent. This repeats our earlier collusion
with Kendal, and could well oe fruitful in future.

In the past, our keenest ca.vers have usually done something before

they came up, indicating perhaps that our training of beginners was bad.
Now, ma.ny members are still keen a.fter their introduction to the sport
with us. Several trips have been done where each member of the party
learns  up part of the survey and leads that section, thus giving everyone
a taste of responsibility that is so much better than just following the

boots in front.

•>

Vac meets have been resuscitated, and have provided some of our

more successful caving. Members have been caving abroad in the Dordogne,
in Eire, and in Canada, where our ex-treasurer is doing a caving ph.D.
These outings provide a good cheap holiday, and a greater opportunity for
original work than in overcrowded Britain. It is regrettable that the
distances  we travel preclude any serious work in Britain from Cambridge,
and   even in the vac we have time to do little more than look at some of
the bigger systems. To say that a club must produce surveys and dig is

to apply an irrelevant criterion to us.

On the purely social scene, members frequently meet at WOw lunches
or at a pub, and this, as well as our more formal "social meets" have
enabled people to get to know one another away from the depersonalized
rush  of a caving trip. Our pre-mortems - a word which lingers from the
Bad Old Days - serve a similar function and also help the organisation
of  a lore difficult tri* such p s an exchange. The club log-book is a
splendio institution that is widely read and enjoyed. It h° s served as

a vehicle for a.tta,cks on female cavers, covers too large for snueeze°
aon-swimmers, etc., etc., and, best of -11 , h-s proved to be the m a ^
source    of material for this journal.

The club is no^ no more or less than it ought to be : a group of
friends with a common interest — the love of a very fine sport.

Gareth Jones.


^ ,         profe..ss'i"onal caving in Canada

Despite the immense area of Canada., the country has little to offer in

the way of sporting caving. There are a. few sea. caves in Nova Scotia, and
Ontario has some specialist caving to offer in the cracks immediately above
the Niagra escarpment. Solutions! features are often found in the escarp­

ment, but of limited extent, and there are small caves dotted in the south­
ern part of the province. The newly formed McMaster University Climbing &
Caving Club is engaged on a dig south of Georgian Bay, trying to open up
one   of the two sinkholes of promise in the province, about half a mile back
from the escarpment and 300' above the rising;. So, although the situation
is  by no meand hopeless, one tends to go south 500 miles to the rich cave

country of w. Virginia, and 'Indiana,. Here one can discover ten miles of riv­

er passage merely by asking where to look.

The Rocky Mounts.ins are really the only area in the country where any
good sporting caving is to be found. The Nakimu Caves, in the Rogers Pass
in  the Selkirk Mountains of nU have been known since 1903, when they were
found by a bear trying to avoid an untimely death from a. prospector's shot­
gun. They lie at 5600 ', about 2 miles from the main CPh line and the cave
entrance, although consisting of a. hole 90' deep by a few hundred long, was
not  found until some twenty years after the railway was built.

A river, running off the snow at the head, of the Cougar valley, flows
through two short caves and finally disappears from view at the end of the
goige mentioned above. It is about the- same size as the beck emerging from
In^leborough Cave under normal conditions, and is never more or less than

+ ’ ■  emerges 1000' lower after a. horizontal distance of some 3000'.700'
of tnis drop are in the known cave, and. for much of the wav the water is
running down a slope of 45  or more. For these reasons, the first lesson

for the would-be Nakimu explorer is that the streamway is not for you, ex­
cept in one or two places nea.r the top end.

Deutschmann, whom we left shooting a bear, descended the gorge by
means of a fallen tree, and by 1905, because of the interest shown by the
CrK,   a wandering geographer named Wheeler was able to survey 5500' of pass­
age. His account talks of Dante's visions and the witches of Macbeth, and
such is the impression given by the roaring water and huge dry chaotic pass
at,es that during the next 50 years, despite a continual flow of tourists,
no-one was willing to follow the passages which led down, to -:The horrible

depths of Mother Earth out of which ascends the continual roar of torrential

cataracts like the cries of the damned".

The tourists enterred by a crawl and r vertical of 120', and were a
hardy lot. Such were the rigours of a trip to Nakimu that the National parks
finally closed the ca,ve to visitors in the 1940's, leaving it cluttered

with railings and ladders. Since then, there ha s been a steady stream of

local people poking about with flashlights, and the NSS Los Angeles mob had
an expedition in 1958 or so. The’' seem to have spent all their time getting
an accurate fix of the entrance by triangulating -^p from the road, and what

little of the cave they did survev amounts to little more than the 1905
effort.

We^ spent six weeks working on Nakimu, principally to produce a geo—
morphological study of the cave. We concentrated first on extending the low­
er    limit of the cave towa,rds the rising, and succeeded in pushing down 350'
from the old limit. At this-point we could find no more dry passages and
would have been forced to enter the streamway, a do?mright impossibility


^  O      •

pt'that point. One might, however, push further by pegging down the walls
out of the wa ter, or by pushing the crocks in the roof. Still, the cave now
h^s the respect pole., depth of 650' below the top entrance: and this can be
done completely without tackle.

We surveyed a total of nearly 9000' of passage, much of which v?r>s tot­

ally new: and on the last da- found a, phreatic system almost independent of

the modern streamway, choked full of sediment and of great promise for

further work.

possibly the most exciting find in the area is a resurgence which we

called Raspberr’ Cave - a stream of the same proportions as N°kimu River
pouring, out of a mountainside on the other side of the Rogers pass. The
mountain above the rising has no large catchment area, and the effluent
water  has undoubtedly melted off a glacier, from its colour. The only poss­
ibility is a glacier snout on the other side of the mountain and more than

• 2C0G' higher. ,.e got in 2C0 ' or so when we were blocked by a sump. But we
have 0reat hopes for crowbar action and chemical persuasion next summer -
besides exciting leads in Nekimu. But for the time being, it's back.to the
grotty dig at Kimberley, or just plain opencast. It's further from here to
Nakimu than from here to Swildon's.

Mike Goodchild.

1965 Expedition to the Cantabrian Mountains

Thirty members, a ton of food, three thousand feet of ladder, eleven
vehicles, and the backing of the Cave Research- Group give some idea of the
mammoth scale of the 1965 British Speleological Expedition to the Cantabriai
Mountains. Information from the Grupo Espeleologica de Penalba indicated
that    cave systems of vast proportions were to be found in the area of the
Rio Torio, north of Leon. Consequently, this vast assembly of gear, suppliée
mainly by firms convinced for reasons unknown of our good faith, and men,
mainly from Oxford University Caving Club and the Eldon Pothole Club, but
representing man?, other organisations, set off for Spain in late July, con­
vinced   that nothing could stop them from unea.rthing colossal cave systems.

I was organising the food, a tedious but eventually rewarding task when
no-one suffered from malnutrition.

First reports from our advance party in Spain were not very promising.

Our campsite at the village of Velporquero wa s in the centre of the -'caving"
area, and a big cave - in fact the only big cave - was called after it. The
limestone proved to be a hideous mess of nigh on vertically bedded rock,
pulverised by violent faulting, while our Spanish colleagues   turned

out to be mere children with no idea how to cave at all. The first week at

Valporauero saw everyone becoming gradually disillusioned. A large number
of shafts above the Rio Torio gorge were examined, but all were hopelessly
choked at a depth of a few hundred feet, often less. A quarter of a mile of
passage was discovered in ;ueva. de las Valle de Marquesas. The cave con­
tained fine formations and ended in a massive boulder choke. Cueva. pozo

del infernio was a resurgence cave involving a few hundred feet of swimm­
ing in ice-cold water of Unknown Depth.

Cur largest discover?- was Ghvrrt Caverns, reached by a hair-
raising drive and a hard sloc, up a scree slope. An entrance pitch of l i e
led   to a series of predominantly phreatic caverns descending to about 500'.
This kept a team led Dy sheperc and Huntington happy for a couple of days,


6.

but intensiv.. searching soon showed that the area had none of the prospects
promised to us. Cueva Valporquero, however, was a. cave worthy of the name.

It proved to be a through trip of half a mile over a vertical distance
of nearly 5C0*> The high-level passages - sometimes 15.0* by 150* -
contained fine formations, while the stream passage - also on an epic

scale - provided a fantastic series of cascades, lakes, short pitches, and

canals. It is an adequate gua^e of how seriously we misjudged the Spanish
cavers that a large party of them took 19 hours to do the through trip,
while two of us went through and oack in two hours.

No-one likes going on a caving expedition only to find that he has

been misled and there are no caves. Thirty people in this position pro­
duced an ugly few da^s in the middle of the trip in which charity was some­
what lacking towards our leaders, the Spanish, and each other. It was de­
cided that the best course of action was to move on to the picos d*Europa,
an area investigated by the Oxford members during the previous few years.

Consequently, the whole outfit staggered optimistically across the Cantab­
rians and re-estaolished camp by the Rio Se*1la near tangas de Onis. The
final blow came when the team sent up to the high Picos to look at the Jeu
Cabou returned after three mildly shattering days., with the information

that it was scarcely 500* deep. For me, this week was not very, successful

:peisonally as I was vaguely ill most of the time.

Then we finally realised that if there weren*t any big caves, we'd
have to put up with what we'd got. A fair proportion of the expedition had
departed in disgust, but for the last week or more of the trip the dozen
or     so of us left enjoyed some fine weather*, large-scale eating, good
drinking, and enough caving to keep us happy by our now humbler standards.
I    was fortunate to be in on the discovery of Oueva. Ootozia , a ouarter-

,mile system with somemagnificent formations. We ended up by finding Oueva

Fuelga, a half-mile long cave of intriuuing complexity. A very good week
all round.                          '

The British Speleological Expedition to the Cantabrian Mountains
got through plenty of caving, and most members enjoyed most of the time in
Spain. Much of the information gained will be of use to geomorphologists,
and speleologists, but so far ns I v/as concerned, the totally misleading
reports of the possibilities of the area a.nd the considerable amount of
time,  money, and energv spent on the expedition were just not quite worth it

Clive Westlake,
liday_Î I L ^ h ^ ^ rdogne_- summer 1965

Cur start was blessed by the weather, and we crossed the Channel in
guod conditions, to the accompaniment of sighs of relief from the one

person susceptible to sea-sickness. The traverse was enlivened oy the pre­

sence of a party of French school-children all wearing labels emblazoned
with the letters Sbr. Duly impressed, we entered France.

The attention we got fr^m the French people was most touching. This
was soon reduced to a bearable intensity when Frank decided to drive on
the right. That night, we camped at Chartres to give our stomach ulcers a
rest. The next day's drive took us to Limoges, and included a stop of one
hour while Frank got the tyre pressures right.

Finally, Richard could stand it no more, and I was forced to take

the wheel. A sudden stop caused by a slight confusion between brake and


7 .

clutch pedals evoked screams from the back seat, but we continued unper-

turoed to our destination - Êbint Leon sur Vezere. Here some noble mem­
bers of the French GCU cluo put up our tent in the rain end we all retired
under canvas for a talk. It came as quite a shock to find that we could
not understand them, but the old fifth-form French slowly came back, and
we estaulished contact.

The next day we all descended Trou du Vent, discovered bv Vartel in

about 1900. Frank, as a consequence of a large breakfast, demonstrated

the aptness of the name at the bottom of the entrance shaft (45')» much to
the amusement of the French. The main pass'ge was about A g e n  Mlwedd size,
but we turned off into a. series  of crawls and scueezes. Needless to say,

•I got stuck on the wav out and had to dig myself free. We‘looked at the
entrance to the wet series, but as this was al lost a sump, did not go
through. Several kilometres of hot and thrutch? passage later, we came
upon  some low crawls in the streamway. The French were most impressed when
we plunged in to cool off, because they seem to have an a,lmost pathological
dread of getting wet. The air temperature was in the sixties or seventies
and we did not feel cold even before the low humidity dried u s off. This
was caving in style.

The French v i e re very much our masters on the wav up their curious
ladder with three rungs ta the metre (ld"spacing). However, they took us
to  the local café that evening,, a^d bought us some beer, which must have
contained about  alcohol. The French cavers were mostly under twenty,
and  being Roman Oatholics (except for one or two atheist "lommunists ) were
under strict parental control, something which v i e  liberalised British
found most strange.

We were taken next day to Bomme, a village perched some three hun­
dred feet above the Vezere vallev, and possesssng a view which tourists
come miles to see. The mayor of the town had a garden with a set of steps
leading underground, hich we found led into a small cave with extensive
cave-drawings, which the caroon from our lamps did nothing to improve.
this    time the French cavers had remembered enough lycee English to realise
that our comments were not favourable towards these curious and obscure
sketches under  ' of caxcite. Our vier of caving was sloshing along large
stream passages, while theirs was one of a more scientific study.

In the evening we all went to a local village festival in Rouffig-
nac where brass bands marched in full uniform, *=nd the whole to«n went wilt
Ema.na.ting from the dance-hall was the music of a  pie.no-accordion, clarinet
and drums trio with a folksy, insistent rhythm that we came to associate
with that part of France. One disturbing feature was the freauenc.y of
punch-ups between the youths of the town and those of the Vezere valley.

Their group loyalties seemed to be analagous to those of the Mods and
Rockers in Britain. One female proclaimed her membership by the words
"La riviere Vezere" printed on a T-shirt stretched attractively over her
ventra1 thoracic pa ir of mammarv gland s.

Somewhat blearv-e^ed the next morning, we went to a pot at Terra soi
This had a fine free surface pitch of 90', and a further pitch of 40'
which  had a very tight pitch-head. The formations were fine, but there

was no stream and we were ill-disposed by two very dead dogs at the
entrance ^itch.

We British lost further face the next afternoon in a cave called

La Manerie, which was a "hot, sweaty little hole with a really tight


8.

squeeze”. The French weie disgusted at our reaction to this hole, partic­

ularly as one large Anglais got stuck for a considerable time, so the
day after we were allowed to rest.

This idyllic state of affairs did not last, as an almost spherical

Abbe (who, we «ere warned "liked ooys") rolled up at our village, and
demanded to see some cave-engravings one of the French called Yann had
discovered. Thus «e went for the first time to see La B&ttueserie, only a
few   miles from La seaux caves at Montignac. The Abbe was hauled up the
hillside on a rope, and somehow oozed through the entrance crawl to a
chamber  where some scratches on the roof suggested the. form of a mammoth.
The Abbe, being something of an expert, pronounced the engravings genuine,
and so Yann was able to claim a reward of £500 for finding- some new cave-
art. Who says caving doesn't pay? The result was that we all got our
photos  in the local rag - "Le Soud-Oeust" - which was very gratifying.

Beyond the entrance hall was a hole we were told was 40 metres deep
so we lowered 140' of lad er, and set off fearfully into the unknown. The

French, as usual, had been somewhat optimistic, and we reached the bottom
at a mere 70', and took some photographs. Late that evening, we were still
not feeling too tired, so some of the out-group French persuaded us to go
on a midni0ht trip to Le Blaireau (Badger) lave. The bedding planes were
at least fifteen feet apart in the rather chalky Jurassic limestone of the
area (millions of years younger than the British Carboniferous limestone),
and the locals had fatten advantage of this and had carved out some large,
square chambers for growing mushrooms. Driving into the cave on headlights
through a narrow entrance was decidedly eerie, so we quickly changed and
crawled into the hole where man's excavations had met nature's. The cave
had  only been discovered a few weekd ago, and the formations were of
Easter Grotto standard, and quite untouched. Our way in was terminated
somewhat prematurely when the large Anglais failed to pass a saueeze,
which    the French, starved of the benefits of milk on the NHS, found ridic­
ulously simple. Thus we became even more inferior in their eves.

Very much later the same morning came our trip to Fontanguilliere.
The French went in by a dry entrance, while we wet-suited tTrpes tried the
wet and superbly sporting alternative. After several hundred feet of pass­
age with limited air-space, we met the others and moved off upstream. The
whole cave consisted d  three entrances soon joining, and then nine kilo­
metres of unbranched passage to the upstream sump. Needless to say, we got
browned off after a few kilometres, and turned oack, particularly as the
callous French started stoning some bats. After changing, we visited a
vineyard  to  taste the local wine, as did. twenty year old Yann, but only
because  his  parents weren't there to sto^ him.

Another vineyard at Montignac, on the opposite side of the valley
to the still-closed Laseaux caves, was the next day's venue. Herç, the
local farmer hoped to find more cave-paintings, assisted by a piece of
brass which he swung on a. string. This curious old man had spent years
digging holes through solid rock. His latest dig was  40' deep, and hsd
broken into  a phreatic tube which hewas dealing. Frank ran a Grade 5

line through, but the old man still preferred the accuracy of his pendulum.
Frank felt that his professional pride was being insulted, but recovered
that night when we all had a sing-song- in an old chateau.

The next few days were spent re-visiting some of the caves we had
seen before, including a photographic trip down La Batusserie. While down
the latter hole, -we pushed a Frenchman by the name of Jean-Claud up a


loose rock face, and entered about 200' of finely decorated high-level
passage. Of particular note was a stel cascade, which we ascended in socks
alone. The find was duly recorded, photographed, and surveyed; during
which process, Frank discovered a. grotto that only he was small enough to

enter*

The day after, Frank discovered that he had fleas. Having consulted

a French dictionary, we went to Peiigeux to change some travellers' cheques

while Frank asked for some flea-powder in his execrable French. 'Also,
some large French carbide lamps were purchased for conveision into those
splendid machines with a separate head-set, and a chamber that contains a

whole pound of caroiae.

The last couple of days passed in sampling the infamous mud of La

Broche. Several greasy chimneys contributed to the sport, but we had to
retreat after nearly ïosin^ one of the party in the mud. Frank spent a
lot   of time surveying some small caves near La Batusserie, while Richard
and I went to Rouffignac show-cave. The journey inside the cave is two
kilometres long, most easily accomplished by sitting on their little
electric train. The cave is in chalky limestone with what looks like
cherts   in it, and contains excellent drawings, overlain by sixteenth -
century graffiti.

The journey back to England was quite uneventful, and on the Chann­
el ferry a demonstration was conclusively made that getting drunk on
whisky is not a way of avoiding sea-sickness.

Anyone contemplating sporting caving would find it worthwhile to
go beyond the Dordogne to pad Irac or the Pyrenees. Nonetheless, the Dor­
dogne offers plenty of f entler relaxation in the countryside, the show-

caves, and the excellent food (we found that pâté-de-foie was the cheapest
source of protean). A good book on the caves is "Le Périgord Souterrain"
by Bernard p .erot.           Gareth Jones.

CarlswarK Rescue

In the late afternoon of Tuesday 7th July 1965, Cadet John Stevens
of the Junior Leaders' Regiment, clad, in beret, denims, one sweater, and
boots, and carrying one candle, dived into the sump in the entrance■ser­
ies  of Carlswark Cavern, stony Middleton, when he did not return, his
companions asked for the assistance of the Derbyshire Cave  Rescue Organ­
isation. Team C, led by Dave Allsop, turned out from Buxton at 1740 and
searched the environs of the sump without success, so Ken Pearce, who

was climbing on Stanage Edge with Bob Togood, .v°s summoned by the police

to dive the sump. At this juncture, it was assumed that the operation

would consist of recovering Stevens'body. Ken dived three times, ad­
vancing 70' into the sump to a constriction, but careful searching failed
to locate the body. He returned to daylight (150' away), and gave me his
bottles to carry. I had just arrived, having heard about the rescue by
chance  via Hu&h Kidu, the Team j Doctor. It was now 2500.

Although no-one believed that Stevens would be alive, Ken's failure
to find anything was very puzzlin^, and the next move was to pump out the
sump. Ken and Dave went off to Earle's Cement at Hope to collect sn elec­

tric pump, while Harold Lord, Bob Togood, and I went to the Mines Research
Depot in Sheffield to collect a generator, leaving the rest of Team C to


10.

hang around with the police,.fire service, and press. The drive in Bob's

van «as somewhat desperate, but once in Sheffield we went to Harold's
house to collect his Land-Rover for pulling the generator. Harold already
knew that the hook was unsuitable so we removed it with an oxacetylene
cutter and fitted a proper one. The Land-Rover already contained Harold's
own geneiator, but he did not want to use this as it was untested. We
could not unload it, however, because it weighed some 84cwt. We drove

across Sheffield at about 50 mph and collected the Mines Research generator
this was a massive trailer-mounted machine displacing some lftons. The
drive back to Stony Middleton was rather more sedate then the outward
journey.  We arrived at 0055 Wednesday.

Ken had just surfaced aft r a fourth dive. This had failed to find
Stevens' body and Ken was very cold as he did not have his wet-suit hood.
Next   an Earle's Cement lorrjr arrived with two massive electric pumps- We
were off-loading these and wondering how to fit them in the cave, «hen two
men arrived from Glebe mine with a small and powerful pump which seemed
ideal for the purpose. This was man-handled into the cave while Harold
unrolled yards of cable and I found myself carrying loads of 3" canvas
fire   hose. It was now that I discovered that I had forgotten to bring mv
helmet, the sort of idiotic simple mistake one is liable to ma.ke under
stress; however, a spare was forthcoming from a nearby quarry. The prob­

lem now was that,\despite the ministrations of Harold and violent crankings

from Ken,, the Mines Research geneiator wouldn't start. It was decided to
ask Oliver Lloyd and two other Mendip divers to stand by for a,nother dive
at 1800 if pumping did not succeed.

Eventually, Harold gave up trying with the big generator and turn­
ed to his own. It started immediately. Within minutes, a spectacular flood
was trundling down the road to Stony Middleton. No speleological or journ­
alistic account of the rescue he.s given adequate recognition to Harold,
without whose technological.genius the operation would undoubtedly failed.

At 0400 John Needham and I went down to the sump to check on the
water level, not knowing that Dave TIT sop arid Clive Downhill had just

gone down for the same purpose. We were just short of our destination when

we heard the shout "He's here and he's, alive!" Mv first feeling was not of
relief, because I had not been a.nxious, merely assuming that boys who dive
70' sumps die. Somehow I felt very insignificant. I phoned through to the
surface, asking for dry clothing, hot drinks, and an exposure suit, and
more  men. Then the pump stopped. This was rather harrowing.

We learnt from Stevens that, being the best swimmer in the regiment
he had not had much trouble, in diving the sump, though he had to turn
round at one stage to recover his beret, which he didn't want to lose as
the quartermaster wouldn't be too pleased. Arriving on the far side
through  a tight squeeze, he discovered that his candle had gone out, so he
could not see which way to dive home. He therefore waited to be rescued.

Twelve hours later we did just that..

Rescue equipment arrived at the sump and soon Harold had the pump
going again. We could .see the water dropping and soon Dave, Hugh and Pete
Bleakley were through the sump and dressing Stevens in a goon-suit. Al­
though very cold, he was not in a •desperate condition and Hugh said that
a stretcher was uneeessary. At 0400 we helped him through the entrance
passages and emerged into the dazzling lights of the press photographers.

He was put into an ambulance which, after a near collision with an escort­
ing police car, drove off into the dawn. We sat down in the road and felt


helpless, even the veterans of twenty rescues agreeing that there had
never been a more dramatic call-out.

by the time I had spent two more hours cleaning up at the cave,

driven home, cooked the family's breakfast, washed the C8.r, hung up my
caving gear to dry, and written a 2,000 word account, I had just sobered

down enough to go to bed.

Clive Westlake.

Pant Mawr Rescue

That day I had been down pant Mawr on a photographic trip with no
less than a real, live, professional photographer, and h^d been mildly
worried lowering down the entrance shaft several ammunition boxes contain­
ing  two Rolleiflexes, a Pentax, and numerous expensive-looking electronic
flash-guns. We spent many happ^ hours descending the pot by the intermitt­
ent illumination required by the photographer, a.nd started out a few min­
utes oehind a party of Army cavers.

Death or sudden injury is always shocking, and I felt quite dis­

turbed on arriving at the uottom of the entrance pitch and finding an
injured man there. He had attempted to climb out while being double-
lifelined from the bottom, but had fallen where the ladder passed under
an overhang. His lifeline must have been wrongly tied, for it had come
undone, and he had fallen freely for at least thirty feet to land on his
back  on some sharp rocks. He was badly shocked, but showed no signs of
spinal injury, as he was sitting up and expounding loudly on the pain he
got  in his ribs when he breathed. He weighed about thirteen stone, and it
was probable that his fat hPd saved him from a broken back.

One bod had already started out for Penwyllt to call out a rescue,
and had left only one strand of lifeline- down the pitch, though firmly
anchored at the top. Deciding to take no chances, I climbed out using

the Mk. II.self-lifelining device described elsewhere in this journal,
and helped to carry the rescue equipment from the club. A hauling team

of ten was more than enough to lift the patient on a stretcher out of the

shakehole. After Deing transferred to an overlsnd stretcher, he was carr­

ied to Clive Jones' Lana-Rover on the old tram-road at  pwll Byfre, and
taken to hospital.

It turned out that he had broken several ribs, and chipped a few
ver ebrae. The moral of this tale is that it is considerate to the var­

ious rescue organisations to learn how to tie a bowline before going caving,
and to lose a few stone if you insist on being rescued regardless.

Gareth Jones.

Rwildon's Rescue       July 19/2Ç 1965

On Sunday 19th, Gareth and I retired early to our pits at will-
grove, adter devoting the weekend to an attack on Primrose Pot (unsucc­
essful) and on Lamb Leer (more successful). At 0100 we were rudely awoken
by  Tim Atkinson (WCC& UBSS) and told that cavers were needed for a res­
cue in Ssvildon's. Some time later, we unearthed a shilling in the toe of
an a.nonymous Wellington boot, and, in the resulting light, learned the
details. A j^arxy of four SVJO members had descended at midday on Sunday,
to attempt the üus, inlet/ Csuser's Calamity rout discovered two weeks


12.

previously. When they became overdue, Paul Allen., also of SVCC had

searched the upper reaches of the cave and found that the Matter ladder
was still in place: he then alerted the MHO.

On arrival at priddy Green, hungry, bleary-eyed, and fagless, we

found Luke Devenish and Howard Kenney in charge of operations. Soon after­
wards, Wells police arrived, equipped with radios and floodlights. The
available cavers were issued with spare lights and MRO emergency packs,
and organised into three parties to search all possible exits i.e. PR and
Double Trouble. There was also the possibility of their making an exit

via the streamway sumps. The first, led by Willy Stanton, was to search
Shatter Passage, the second consisting of Tim Atkinson and Gareth to
search  the Damp Link as far as the second static sump. The third, con­
taining myself, was to search I and II, Vicarage Passage, and the Double
Trouble Series.

We descended at high speed, having first registered bodies and
eauipment with a checker at the entrance, a worthy gentleman from Sand­
hurst.  My party found nothing, although the Round Trip backwards has its
sporting aspects. We therefore settled down at the head of Blue Pencil

to await news. News arrived 40 minutes later in the form of Willv Stanton,

who announced that tie party had been found stranded in Shatter Passa,ge.
Their lights (one Nife, plus an assortment of torches and carbide lamps)
had been defeated by the static sumps.

At this stage I v.as becoming, short of both light and energy, so I
left the cave with Paul Allen, collecting the flatter ladder on the way.

By now, official MHO teams had entered the cave, and a telephone had been
laid to the Water Chamber. These parties also began to withdraw.

I emerged at 0700 Monday to be greeted by a  superb smell ofField

Kitchen. The last men, including the culprits, were out by 0750.

This rescue was a reassuring demonstration of MRO's efficiency,
and at the same time showed the value of getting amateur rescue teams
into the cave as fast as possible.

Richard Babb.

Ladder Building

The purpose of this article is to describe briefly how the new
CÜCC ladders and belays were made. Originally, I had also intended to
discuss some of the technical considerations of ladder design, but these
have'been well aired in the Wessex journal (Nos.105, 104).

One of the misfortunes of the discontinuity of membership in our

club is that Doth the age snd origins of the club tacKle are rather ob­
scure. The club's need for new tacKle was highlighted by Ed Ashcroft's
experience in Marble Steps pot in June 196^, described so succintly in
the    last journal. In addition to-the shortage of ladder, the club's four
nylon ropes were almost worn out; the few belays were in bad condition,
of inconvenient lengths, and fitted with shackles rather than C-links;
and there were no pulley-blocks at all.

A committee meeting at the beginning of the Michelmas Term 1964
decided tha.t a sizeable portion of the club's income of that year, to­
gether with the substantial surplus of cash in the bank from previous
years should be devoted to a crash programme of bela',r and ladder building.
Replacement of the ropes would have to wait until further funds were


available. (The club has sin.ce purchased 650' of Ulstron. Ed.)

The first problem was to find the most suitable method of ladder

construction; we decided on the ferrule method as developed by the South
Wales Caving Club as the necessary machinery was. readily available. Find­
ing the cheapest source of materials was the second problem.

The first botch of ferrules did not fit the wire bv a few thou,
although the manufacterers of both asserted that their part was within the
specification. I decided that it was more likel-'r to be the wire which was
at     fault, and adopted the purely arbitrary expedient of returning the

wire to the manufacturers. When they heard of this, they were understand­

ably annoyed, and immediately wrote to say that thev would return the

..ire to me as soon as it arrived as it was the ferrules, and not the * ire
which wore at fault. This, I regret to say, «as indeed true, for when Ed'
Ashcroft was able to examine a sample of the ferrules under a travelling
microscope at the Engineering-Laboratories, he found that nearly all. of, .
them  were about four thou smaller than the specification. After a month
the wire still had not been returned, and the manufacturers said that they
they had not yet received the wire, and as it appeared to havoigone astray
in the pose, I had better put in a claim to the GPO. Thus ended the first
term of work on the ladder.

By the beginning of the Easter term, all the alumi num tubing: had
been cut and drilled for the rungs, and long lengths of chain had been re­

duced to C-links, and we-had at last obtained a second reel of wire and.. . .
a satisfactory batch of new ferrules. Dramatic progress was made when Ed‘
announced that he had finished cutting up the thicker wire into belays

with his spectacular electric wire-cutting machine, and these were :the
first part of the new tackle to go into use. In spite of the ever approach­
ing threat of examinations, the rest of the preliminary work on the

ladders was completed including the manufacture of the ferrule die.

The credit for the worn involved int he final assembly of the
ladder belongs once more to a small group of members who slaved away for
many days after their examinations in order to have the ladder ready for.
the end-of-'term Craven Meet. The pressing of the ferrules was carried out
on  a flypress at the Engineering Dept, in an astonishingly short space of
time and without the loss of any finders either.' Banham •s'boatyard finish­
ed off the job quickly and efficiently with the Talurit splicing -of the..
ends, so that all the tackle was ready in time to go to Yorkshire.

Q ., .   addition to the 217-lft of new ladder, two ladders totalling

eet-iWjfe rePaired> Fnd two pulley-blocks were purcha sed from Simpers.

The new ladder was used on several trips in England in the Summer before

going to France with us for more use there. It seems to have withstood all

iîï1^ f ^ ^ ff,Ct0r+ïy ’ Pnd t0 dRte there hnve been no slipped or bent rungs,
v\irefraying or other signs of abnormal wear. Thus, I. think, the club may

n°xfriotlate ltSelf °n P ^ob wel1 done> pnd perhaps start planning for the

.There is an unexpected postscript to this story. In August 1965 ,
some six months after it had gone astray, the first reel of. wire- was found
by .the manufacturers who allowed us full credit un it. Although this means

that the tiro compensation must now be repaid, an unexpected bonus still
remains.

( The Craven Meet is reported on page 17 as the Yorkshire Meet

June 1965. Ed. )


14.

Technical Notes

Materials, suppliers, and prices:

Wire (for ladder):- from Wrights Ropes Ltd. , Birmingham 9. 500' of lOcwt.
galvanised preformed aircraft cable to specification W9, steel cored,
constructed VXl4 '3317/- per 1000ft.              £7-18-6

Thimbles (for above):- from Wrights Ropes Ltd. 36 zinc plated brass
thimbles type AGS136/a 3 4d, each                                 12-0

Wire (for belays):- from Wrights Ropes Ltd. 120' of 15cwt aircraft
cable to specification W9, 7X19 3 418/- per 1000'       £2-10-2

Thimbles (for above):- from Wrights Ropes Ltd. 62 zinc plated brass
thimbles, type Auol36/B 3 4d each                £1-0-8

-illoX..tubing:- from Alreco Ltd., Fulton Road, Wembley, Middx. 11 lengths

X 12ft of   OD XI8 swg alloy HTI4T (11 lb at 12/10 per lb) £7-1-2
Ferrules;- from Hon Sec SWCC, as supplied, 1075 3 Id each  £4-9-7

Shain:- from Mark priest and Sons Ltd, Franklyn St, Bristol 2. 62 links
(4 '10") of 5/16" BS 1663 chain                                    15-0

Taluritv . (for beia yS ) from simpers Ropeworks T.td, Cambridge

18 no. 4 splices 33/- each                    £2-14-0

ES-lurits (for ladder) from Banhams Boatyard, Cambridge. 44splices

£3-5-0

J U U .ys from Simpers   2 eye-pulleys 3 7/6           i5/n

Total    £30-12-0

Acknowled&ements

The club gratefully acknowledges the advice and help of many indiv­
iduals end organisations outside the club in building this new tackle,
and   in particular Norman Lloyd of S*vCC, G E Norris of the Aluminium
Federation, Dr. Black, and the University Engineering Laboratories.

Frank Morland.

'Self-1 ifelining devices

that have so f^r been invented suffer from an inherent degree of

complexity that makes them both difficult to construct, and heavy and
bulky to carry. If the mechanical requirements are reduced to a. minimum,
all that is needed is a device that slides one way along a rope, and
locks when pulled in the other direction. This is sufficient to safeguard
a  man climbing up a ladder, for he ca abseil down in perfect safety.

The first device consists of a prussik knot tied with -§" nylon

or preferably hefnp. Below it is a   length of I 1 tubing attached to the
prussik sling by a piece of string, if this string is made short enough,
then  an upwards pull on the waistlength by the man climbing tightens not


15.

the prussik knot, but the string. This then pulls up
the tube, which in turn slides up the knot with
little friction.

The second device uses eouipraent that most
caving parties ha.ve with them, f>nd is thus particul­

arly useful in minor emergencies such as when a double
lifeline jams., an occurence which has been lament­
ably freauent in my experience. All that is necessary
is  a pair of identical screw-gated karabiners, ideally
12mm ■Stuba is. If these are clipped on a, tight waist-
length, and the lifeline threaded as shown, we once
again  ha.ve a one-way device. Both need a. weight at the
bottom of the rope, for though the first slides at
about   1 lb pull, the second needs about 4 lbs on

quite a new rope, and hence should only be used by

strong ladder climbers.

The first device is virtually fool-proof, but

the second does need a tight waist-length to prevent
the kara.oiners crossing and jamming each other. Of
course, it is vito.lly necessary to use any device

on the sujface before using it underground. .


• ,      *

, « ,

For general remarks on the operation of self-
lifelining devices, see the CRG Publication No. 11,
"Some, technical Aids for Ca.ve Exploration".

Gareth Jones.


A:reliable Nife-cell catch

cell-ca se

,      i

snap-fastener
(size lo)

araldited to

cell-case .

sawn-off stub of spigot

on lid

hole drilled and filed
to guit spigot

hole to suit female half
of snap-fa stener

1/16" brass

copper/brass tube cut
longitudinally

Original hinge-pins and.brackets used. All joints sweated
it not otherwise stated.

Richard Babb.


16.

Caving Films

Since ray article on this subject in the lest journal, I have come'

across more information which I have collected together in this note.

While staying in the Dordogne during the summer of '65, we saw a,
short tourist film in colour about the region. In all it runs for about

20 minutes, but by far the most interesting part is the five or so min­

utes devoted to the underground beauties of the region. These are the
best colour sequences of caving film I have ever seen.. The film is called
".Si tu viens en Périgord", and enquiries about it (in French) should be
made to M. le Maire de Sarlat, SABLAT, Dordogne, France.

Also in France, I came across a. leaflet advertising a film called

"La Nuit des Abimes", presented by pierre d'Ursel and Bernard Msgos. It
is in black and white with colour stills, and seems, at least in part,
to be concerned with the exploration of La Cigalère.

A British film-maker whom I missed in my first article.is T.E.
Morland who did his first underground filming in Baker's Pit (Buckfast-

leigh) in 1955. He followed this with a film taken in Radford Cave
(Buckfa stleigh ) at Easter 1956, and another of Reed's Cave in the same
year. The latter film won him a minor award in the 1956 Amateur Cine
World’s 'Best 10' competition. La.ter John Hopper and the DSS joined him
to  make 'How to explore a cave', which runs for 20 minutes. He also has
done some filming of bat-ringing activities.

Frank Morland.

Check List of Caving- Literature in Cambridge

The following additions have been noted since the check list in
the last journal;

In the University Library:

Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society


Speleological Abstracts (BSA)
The Speleologist -

International Journal of Speleology

In the CUCG Library;

Permission to explore Northern Caves and Potholes by the
News Sheets, ULSAuLÜUSS  Nos. 3,4,5,6,7,8,9.-

Speleo, SvVETCC

Speleologies Bniliana
Cave Science

CHU Publications: No.5 Deepest Caves
CoCC Journal

Surveys of Swildon's, Stoke La..ne, Agen Allwedd, Eastwater
August, Lancaster/Easegill.

Drainage in the Castleton Area by Dr. T. Ford
SWCC Newsletter-

Studies in Speleology(Pengelly Ca.ve Research Centre)

EPG Journal

Exeter USS Newsletter

Vol I-  1962-

Vol I-  1965-

Vol I-  1964-

CRO

1965-

1965-

Anno 11, No.2

Vol 4, No 29

1961

Vol I, No 2&3

, Long-wood/

No .53-  1966-

Vol. I    1965

Vol 7Nol 1966

Vol2,Nol 1966

The librarian acknowledges his debt to the clubs and individuals
who presented the above material.


17.       OUCG Yorkshire Meet 8-11 June 1965

Tuesday Dave Selkirk, Grpham Wright, Mike «oodchild, Gareth Jones.

The road to Kettlewell from Brackenbottom is not an easy one.

Having overcome the formidable barrier of some seventeen gates, we wound
our weary way up the valley to providence pot. A dishevelled camper told
us the hole was blocked, but we trogged on disbelievingly, only to find
his words were true. An hour ’s digging did not produce a man-sized hole,
and an astute observer could soon afterwards have seen four weary grots
plodding across to Dow Cave.

With renewed enthusiasm we plunged in, and got as far as halfway
across the Terrible Traverse before turning back, as time was pressing.

It would be extrememly difficult to over-rate this traverse, and I know

that I felt fundamentally insecure during the whole manoeuvre. Briefly,
the traverse is in a smooth-walled rift about two feet wide. The only sen­
sible way to tackle it seems to be to slide down until the rift narrows
sufficiently to enable you to rest your weight on a tranverse boot-jam.

The alternative of friction-jamming with elbows and knees is far more
strenuous, and results in a slow but inexorable slide pc. you chimney along.

For those who intend to do this trip, I can only recommend a

training meet in Tunnel Cave, S.Wales. All the problems of moving at a
choice of levels occur, and you soon get used to chimneying with a. large
drop below you (exposed, as the mountaineers say).

America! section of this cave would be of inestimable value, as
the position of places like Hardy's Horror is hard to ascertain.

Guy Poulton, Richard Babb, Dave Burton, Simon Rothstein, d scended
the dreaded hole of Low Douk. Simon incurred a cut on the palm of his
hand which later required three stitches, but fortunately his standard of
driving was not impaired.

Wednesday Dave Selkirk, Richard Babb, Graham Wright, Dave Burton, squelched
their way to Bar pot. No, it was not raining; in fa,ct the sun was shining,
and the temperature was well into the seventies. You are puzzled about the
squelching sounds? Well, wearing a wet-suit does have its didadvantages.

These handmen descended the aforementioned pot without incident,
at the same time testing the new club ladder. Having previously studied
the survey, they trailed through New Hensler's to the Main Drain, and
thence out via Disappointment pot.

Meanwhile, Gareth and Mike had laddered in through Dis. Imagine
our surprise at seeing four pprapleS i cs grovelling in the pellucid waters

of the Main Drain, surrounded by the steam from their exertions. After ex­
changing curses at the hot and dry nature of the hole, Mike and I pressed
on   for Old Hensler's.

Our tempers were not improved by the notice pointing down our
route, sa.ying "Mugs this way". The crawl isn't interminable. It just feels

like it. We paused only to hold an inaugural meeting of the jwaso ch ist s '
Society. New member’s may only join at the AGM, which the constitution
states shall be held halfway throu&h the crawl.

Quarter of a mile a,nd fifty minutes later, we staggered to our

feet, and greatly marvelling at this mode of progression, arrived at the

Main chamber. For lovers of contrast, I can but recommend this best of
all ways of seeing the Hall of the  inds. Gazing upwards, our admiration

of the little circle of daylight tacked to the ceiling by some mischicvous


18.              .                           '

maypoler       "sonly tempered b5- the kno„led0 e that we must make Tret furthe
efforts to re6ain oui full ration uf daylight.

Several miner mistakes later, >,e arrived at the foot of Bar Pot.

The big pitch, normal'y a pleo ein^ climb, was a supreme effort at this
sta&e, and the short thrutch at the top a ne*5r impossibility.

fter four and a hr If hours in the underworld, we got to the sur­

face to be & rebted by the other party, ,ho had got out before us. Tired
by a good day’s cavin0 , we all retired to the pub for a pie and - pint.

• iT. - —hw iu| , » ri i sda'v Paul Keir, Frank Mo r1and. Graham fright,'   set out to find Xmas 
Pot.

One member surprised them by walking ba ckwards up 1row Gill. Paid he,
"I’m w Iking backwards to Xmas".

Undtenred: by this sick start, and by the omen of the porridge not

thickening, they trogged on quite cheerfully, "ours later, after invest­
igating Silva, Marble, and other pots, t^eir minds strayed ba ck tu the
mortin._'s porridge, and realising that the gods were against them, grace-

ul17 retir d to the pub.

Mike Goddchi"'d. Richard Babb, and .Gareth Tones had meanwhile de­

scended Grange Rigg Pot to ohe bottom of the Xmas pot ay en, and sat thei e
a-aitirg the coming of the heiald angels (^r was it Godot?’. Tacking the
tackle  to bottom the x-ot, „e waited for an sour and a half, amusing our­
selves b5 free-climbing the fifth pitch, and the aven as far as an over­
hang. Finally aecidin^ that the porridge -was infallible, we surfaced and
wound our weary „ay across the darkening moor to the pub.

Dave Burton, Paul S>.eenoy, Graham Jordan, went down ’Ri  TIoi es and
emerged at Bro.wgill Cave, completing the only successful through trip of
tee  day. They had eaten a different pan of porridge. ■         .

Friday  The scientific cavers Frank Morland, Richard Ba bb, Graham Jordan
surveyed some 6C0 ’ of Calf "oles to Grade 0 in 4 hours to the usual ace-
ompaniment of threats of mutiny.

Paul Kev visited the far reaches of Ingleborough Cav  ith a, Brad­

ford hrdman, and thorough!" en 5oved it.

Gareth Jo îes.

Div ing in fcwil, on's 2l

o r  ho„- to cat ch_expo sure in frye eas*1 stages.

Arriving early on Mendip much merriment wa s made at the "utter's
during lunchtime; also while teetei ing to the Shepton Tnt on the back of
a Honda 50 .ith full kit. By * .pm. the 'normal, inefficiency revealed that
j prospective cavers poss cue6. a total of nearly 2 lights between them.

Finair  at last, „ith one R, Haskett I descended to the nether regions.

»tere heading for Shatter - a nice'warm pl^> ce - and consenuently I cnlv

wore the top part of my vset suit. At the twenty >,e encountered another
part1*, intending to dive two  At this ma companion left at high speed for

the surface, ab ndonin—0y  me to m 1 fate. After " iumoÀ ingv.— I" down the twenty an

that proceedings shou d not be delà yecl, I d .scovered that the art of
photography ..as to be pursued. After a 1ong wait, it  s announce 1 that the
S   ildon's mud had aga in triumphed, so we eager! v sped on to the climax of


1 .

the afternoon, p using cnh to gaze at one genti ema a cl' d m the m*nn*r 01

a Bov Gcout,

There it was, eimm'ring in the darkness, ."'ter lapping the solemn

.revne^s of the fateful pool, I glanced at mv companion, no  clad in a
full wet suit ( 16 •), hooo , mask, flippers, and be ring a ring of lead
a  b ^ t his middle, enthusiasm leapt into me and. I turned calml^ an  s~ id,
"After you •* Ï managed to bo n o w a mask irom one of the non-divers, and,
ful  ’v equipped with weights, realiseu that my last excuse had gone, so I
follo.»e^ my corap m o n into the water. I ..as so put off by  being able to

see under water for the first time (even if it was just a murkv brovmess)

that I so^n found nr self rising and then to my surprise I broke the surf-ce.
That ..as simple I thou0 ht; ;ery short] But r it, where vrnc mv companion

I shouted - gad lo *nd oe old an answering shout came from the II direction.

After- much thought mv water-laden mi.id realise  the truth - I was
in Little Bull, Then another thought airbed - ..here ..as the line? I ex­
amined the circumst nces that I found myself in, Tittle Pei 1 is ° true
be*1!, about 6 * in diameter and tC 1 high including 4' of water. T 'ere v;a s a
small recess in one corner, not large enough for human 'abitation. Tchn
(t'ae other diver} w ’s in III  aiti g for me. "e were in IT or T ittie Bell
waiting for John to return, so that he could d :ve to me  ith the line
(which normally pas.es  1 from Little P e ‘l). After 10 minutes or so when
mT brain returned to its normal function fan  nr’ legs gave up an,r pretence
of warmth) an inspiration hit me, >hy hot-get-mv friends in II, who were’
in aural contact with me, to si0 nal to John that I had backed out (oh, *

t .at I haaJ). Thirteen pulls on the rope, that «as .hat we had agreed. I
saw a light pass through the murkiness at a distance of >*. Then, after a
further 5 minutes *»nicn he spent t} ing on spare lifelines etc. etc., John
at  last arrived where the best peuple alw ys rest when diving sumpll. Then
ireedv^m c me at last (and thoughts of sump I) and a. slow pace was ado ted
on   -.he ..ay. At B a r n e t loop I   surprised to discover that mv legs ..ere
still able to supply feeling when I hit my knee on the beehive* and also
the climb up the twentv revealed th-t mv finders still hurt if placed be­
tween ladder and rock, witn ..eight on the  ladder. So finished another
graxid  and glorious expedition to mv f^v^urite cave. T^e moral of t'-is
story? Never go caving without the MRO

Pete Bowler.

Post-Tripos Meet    June 7-9th 1966

The m- t   really began  „iih the six pints, hr*1 ;-bot,1<- of wine
and the fo .r hu.rc sleep the night before, but this missive starts on:-

Tuesday  when Pete harvard, G r a r m  right, Paul Kev, and Gareth Jon^s
slid do..n the tighter tnan-ever ^xovidence rot. Three-ou" rters of 'n hour
v* re lost in a maze below 54 Ca/ern, out we eventually found oir wav int^
Lowber Gill Passage. Things  ere relatively straight forward until „e
made    a mistake soon aitei 8C0 vaxds chamber,  e traversed in the roof

about > 0 ’ aoove the stiea.m f.r a dicta .ce t -at felt like quart r of a mile
finally, we 0ave   in desperation ana diopped into the stream . Pressing
on    bv brute force ana ignorance, v/u by-passed the Terriole Traverse
(though v.e did not know it at the time) b% a. unique route involving a duck


2°.

a very tight squeeze and a two-foot sump (which is not the Siphon.)  The

stream narrowed to some three inches, but a real.lv dsoerate climb brought
us up halfway along Gypsum Traverse. ’ e knew our wav out from here, and
soon arrived at Dow Cave after six shattering hours, rejoicing at having
wreaked vengeance on the system,

Wednesday  brought another car-load of people, and so six people by the
names of Dave Selkirk, Paul Key, Dave Burton, Graham  right, Gareth Jones,
and '‘ike Richards, toiled up uhe slopes of Gragareth, at which name one

bod «as mightily pleased. Simpson's Pot was the venue for the day, and, to­

gether with the stream, „e gurgled down the Five Steps, and sighed over
the pit. Rather stupidly, we missed the dry traverse, 9nd laddered Shale
Pot, making nine ladder and three ro^e pitches in all. The Blasted Wole
provided a welcome cooling, and made our descent of the series of pitches

ending at Slit Pot frenetic. The chamber before the pitch contained some
mud that was perfect for dam-building, so that our descent of the 80' was
dry. The final pitch of S>,insto turned out to be refreshingly wet. Norm­
ally the bottom of a pot is an anticlimax, being generally a dismal sump
or  an impenetrable crevice. The final bounder chamber is a place of the
most magnificent scale, with manv tempting places for a dig. (The find­
ing  of the *?" ster Cave is by now -.el1 known. Ed.)

Returning through the Slit proved to be enterta ing and ex^i1a ra ting:,

if not actually frightening. The two six-foot members, in particular, hah
treat fun. The long grind up,aids was quite uneventful, and we got to the
surface in 65 hours. The landlord of the Diving uorseshoe sprayed us with
disinfectant, which prevented an epedemic of Simpsitis. Revenge for a
previous unsuccessful attempt.

Thursday  saw the beginning of a successful mutiny, brought on by sore
knees and a state of general shatter. Eventually, however, a party for
Grange Rigg was made up including both the president and the secreterv-
elect  - a most noteworthy event. The walk up from Crummack Farm is far
more pleasant than that from Trow Gill, but lulled us into a false sense
of security, for one member (.«ho shall remain nameless, for personal
reasons) opened his rucksack at the pot and found a lack of a wet-suit.

Undaunted, the partv- bottomed the pot, except the man without a wet-suit,
who baulked at the Drainpipe. The surface v; s regained with few incidents,
except much pleasure gained on the short, wet pitches. Revenge for last
year's unsuccessful atte ,pt.

Meanwhile, great t - m g s «ere going on in the Calf Toles area, where
Dave Selkirk and Paul Key had pushed the Keyhole to 300'. Attempts to link
it with a Calf Toles inlet led to failure, one bloated dead sheep, and a
tangle of barbed wire.

Gareth Jones.


21 =

IjûW/ Prov conquered -_.just 1

or how to cave Chelsee style, all brawn and no brains.

We should have guessed that it was going- to be one of those days when

ve left the Senate House only fifteen minutes late, almost unpiecedented
in the club, by noon  e were in Yorkshire and for the sake of our peace
of mind decided not to calculate the average speed. After an excellent

meal in Ilkley we made oui way to Kinsey to ask the farmer for peimission.
Commendably, he didn't flinch when he heard we were CbCG (despite two res­
cues)   and lust told us to keep to the footpaths.

No-one seemed to know if Providence pot was blocked, and even the

Kettlewell Constabulary asked to be enlightened when we returned. A rescue
was arranged for midnight and after essential cave rations were purchased
we set off on the final leg of the journey. The car was left in a verv
convenient lay-by, and when changed, the party walked the Quarter mile or
so     to Dow Cave.

bsing this as a reference point, we set off in what we hoped would

De tue direction of providence pot, and found the entrance without too

much difficulty. People had elected to wear wet suit bottoms, and as the •-
walk uy the fells had left us more than warm, we looked forward to getting
underground.

But was the pot clocked? The entra.nce shaft was a fifteen foot, head

first descent, reputed to be impossible to reverse. GW went first and re-
po rted that all was well. The rest followed and we were all underground
by 16CO BST.

About 100ft. in, intent on gcin^ down, we ran out of passage. A

labyrinth of crawls between boulders w a s investigated, and at 1645 we were
still 100ft. in. Then GKJ hit on the idea of going up and discovered the
entra.nce to Blasted Crawl. We all followed into a really enjoyable flat-
out  crawl, well lubricated bv pools of liouid mud. On the downhill sec­
tions one could slide for several feet. It was great fun.

Dowber Gill passage was entered and we turned downstream. The first
few thousand feet were relatively easygoing, but it proved impossible to
locate a.ny of the landmarks mentioned in the references, so we were not
very certain of our progress.

Eventually the passage became very narrow and after a squeeze neg­
otiated by lyin& flat-out in the stream we decided to try traversing above
it. Once up we didn't really consider returning to the stream but contin­
ued to traverse about 30-50ft. up on good ledges, bad ledges, nonexistent
ledges, and over sections that belled out below, in front, or «11 »t once.
After about 60011. a rockfall barred the way. There did not appear to be

a. wsy over it or under it, but in the end a way was found through it. GHJ
and rH, being short, slipped through the double rightangle, but GW anri PK
h«d considerable difficulty, especiellir as the rocks were very loose. Att­
empts to move some of the.offending boulders threatened to dislodge th-
lot    a no. an urgent reelu est "to stop was marie by qw in fhe  U66 zc •

At last thev got through* and after some more hair-raising traver­
sing we decided to rejoin the stream. The going was reasonable for 100ft»
or  so until a boulder blocked the way. Another unexpected obstacle. ?fl fll
dive first 5 1 said G-HJ and we all foil „wed ? only to f ind the wav completely


22.

blocked about 50ft. further on. We were now verv wet and cold, and stand­

ing for some time in waist deep water trving to find a wav up the smooth
calls did nothing to improve our body temperatures or energy stores. Back
tracking a few feet, a possible wav was found. It proved to be a difficult
climb  in our rather tired state, but with much pushing and pullin^ and
hauling on waistlines „e all managed to reach a false boulder floor —
Gypsum Traversei In retrospect, it appears that we were up when we should
have been in the stream, ana in the stream when «e should have been trav­

ersing.

A Horlicks fudge was passed round and we soon recovered. Proceeding

alon^ Gypsum Traverse we reached the Stemple, and bounced, off this piece
of wood aoout 2 ,! X 1 “ jammeda^ cross the passage. Soon the roof came down
to the boulder floor. Through a narrow fissure in the bouldeis, a rope
could be seen hanging down to the stream, about 20ft. below. "It's im­
possible, 1 murmured OHJ. “I'll g o 1, said PH  and before he could think
better    of it, enterred the crack. This lapidlv became what may be politely
described as e crutch-jam, but after sundry wriggling, he freed himself
and    sped streamwards - onlv to become ecually rapidly arrested in an in­
verted position tied up with rope and telephone .ire. A verv 1«rge bould­
er  was luckily present (see later) to provide a resting place while thingw

were untangled and the final 12 ft. covered in a barely controlled
manner.

GHJ and Gw decided to backtrack to try and find a route down, but
ventured int^ the fissure. His descent was even more spectacular. For

reasons oeyond his control, he dispensed with the assistance of the rope
and made the descent under gravity alone. Luckily some 5ft. of water
broke his fall, but the splash was worth seeing.

It had by this time become obvious that the rope was intended as an

aid to ascending the' large boulder and not for descending from the trav­
erse. IK and PK were soon joined by the others, who, much to their chagrin
reported havin^ found the usual easy way down. The last 1,500ft. were un­
eventful, and very rapidly came out into .davlight. It was onlv 2200 hrs
r>Sl    and despite the exotic route we hrd only been down six hours.

Pete Hayward.

Anyone can swim in a. wet-suit.

I have always enjoyed clowning about in water provided I am not out
of my depth. In just over five fe t of water I havo an unpleasant tend­
ency to drown. This has led to a few disturbing moments in nr” caving.

The first time I was completely immersed in water was  on my fourth
trip underground negotiating the little sump in Stoke. I remember, whilst
crouched underwater, with my helmet banging against rock and frantically
pulling at someone's hand, thinking what a damn fool sport caving was and
vowing never again to do a sump. Sincere though this vow was, I had not
considered that the sump had to be repassed on the way out- The repeat
performance, I was amazed to find, was about ten limes less frightening
than     the first. For a few da vs j felt quite a hard, having done a sump.

With sumping, familiarity breeds some degree of conte apt; this is not the
case with drowning.


23.

On becoming the proud owner of a wet-suit, I «/ s informed bv mv

ex-friends that, "ANYUNk can swim in a wet-suit.'■* I was unfortunately able
to prove them wrong. One of the rewards of bottoming Giant’s Hole is a
coup.e of lengths in its 80ft. deep canal. Not wishing to forego this
treat,  and having on my drownproof wet-suit, I plunged gaily into the
water,   on my first visit there.

At rir.st I didn't try any strokes, expecting to float with just mv

head out of water. Hue perhaps to the angle of my entry, I found that mv
feet started floating up behind me, and that my head was being forced
underwater. In an attempt to correct this state of affairs, I started
thrashing   with my arms and jerking my head. Somehow nrr feet began to sink.
Not  being exactly delighted with my position all the sam , I decided to
get out of the water.                     .

Unfortunate!1 , mT~ feet cound not touch the bottom. I was also hav­

ing trouble with my breathing because my nose was only above water when I
made violent upward thrusts. Trying hard, to control a rising panic, I de­
cided to make for the mudbank, but despite all mv thrashing and kicking,
I couldn't actually propel myself in any direction. Swimmers mag* not be
De ver1 sympathetic witn my difriculties, but I was quite clueless about
making' strokes.

Meanwhile, back at the mudbank, two of my companions were engaged

in conversation, oolivious to rny difficulties. Not wishing to "sound"
panic-stricken, I decided not to scream "Help" just yet (and anyway my
mouth      was rarely above water), so j started thrusting one arm at them
frantically. When they eventually saw me they seemed to think I was wav­
ing      at them. After, what, .seemed an age they realised  that at anv moment I
might involuntarily slip from view, and an outstretched hand gripped mine
and  I war hauled to safety.

Some time passed before I wa,s cuite so adventurous/stupid again. On
what might have bc.n nr* last birthday I did ray first through"tripsin Lane-
aster/Ea segill . Nov/ Lancaster is a dry hole, and with a wet-suit on, I wa .s
begging for a drenching by the time we reached Fall pot, the entrance to
the Master Cave. I therefore readily joined those of my companions who
climbed down to venture upstream for a while. The water in the passage

was flowirg very fast and it was great fun trying to make progress as the
passage got narrower, because unless one ’s feet were firmly on the bottom
it  was quite a fight to stop them being whipped away downstream. Event­
ually, deep pools began to appear in places, and I had to go aground the
edge  of them where they worn ’t sodeep, all the time fighting  against a.
considerable force of water, goon we reached a whirlpool into which a
torrent     of water was gushing from a nerrow passage on the right, a bit
aoove   the level of the pool.

This looked like as far as we could go and I was about to return
when  I heard veils of delight coming from this passage. Not wanting to
miss  any tiling, I ventured into the pool, holding onto the wall and going
with the current towards trie passage. Somehow X was pushed and pulled up
into the passage by mv companions without being swept off my feet. Then I
knew wnat all the yells had been about. The water was going so fast in the
m  i row passage that you only had to sit down in it and vou were washed


24.

along at great sp-jed. It seemed just like an aouatic version of the Crerta
run, because at the bends the water took you halfway up the wall. It was
really fun, but then came the return. As it was impossible to climb back
the  way we had come, you just had to sit in the water and be shot out into
the whirlpool by the stream. My swimming companions enjoyed a few circuits
in the pool before grabbing a handy rock and getting washed out over the
edge of the pool.

I quickly followed suit, taking a deep breath as I was projected

over the pool. I sanu below the surface and was rather disturbed to find
that my feet still hadn't touched the bottom. Then I started to come up
again and my eyes were clearing the *.ater - but that was all - and I
couldn't  0 et myself to the wall as the current was just taking me round
and   round. Visions of oeina whirled round till my breath ran out were soon
dispelled «hen a friend grabbed me and I got hauled out of the pool.

I sat down to recover for a while, then set off back down the pass

age. Gne of the pools I had edged around before I now fell into, and this
just about clinched it - I definitely can KOI swim even in a wet-suit. I
am now learning this noble art (and can now boast half a width of our
local pool), and only when I can swim properly will I again savour Giant's
ty.jC treats and water tobogganning.

Noël Williams,
presidential. No - Presidentorial._(Sorry.)

I gather that a presidentorial is not supposed to be an exposition
in heroic st^le of the sterling qualities of our noble speleological fell­
owship, but a write-up of what we've been doing for the last couple of
years.

The cluo log-oook was first defiled with ink at about the same time

as Vol I No 2 was published so this records our caving since then. In the
summer of 1965 we v.ere struggling to re-establish ourselves after a dis­
astrous previous jear in which we had been involved in two rescues and
done     a fair number of other silly things. The Post-Tripos Meet w»s held in
Craven (see p.17. Ed.), and was reasonably successful; except for the diff
icu.lty in finding Christmas Pot,

Later on in June Gareth Jones and ^rank Morland had such a success ­
ful trip down Tunnel Cave that they went down again the day after, when
thev failed to persuade Eileen Davies through Chisel Rift. A week later

t ey went up to Yorkshire with Clive Westlake and hordes of Spanish Exped­
ition and Eldon Pothole Club people. Notts Pot «as bottomed, via the Left
and Centre Series on Saturday and on Sunday Gareth and Clive went from
Lancaster Hole to County pot via various passages in Easegill ..here thev
met   Frank and several *core other cavers. The following weekend Frank came
up to Derbyshire «ith (jra.iam .;ii0ht and successfully explored New Oxlcw
Caverns with Clive ana various other Eldon men. A trip to Eldon Hole the

following day was utter shambles, for which we blame Eldon, not ourselves
for once.

The next meet was in Mendip and by now Frank had visited the
four main caving areas on successive weekends. This time he was accomp­
anied by Gareth and ilichr rd Babb on an epic nine hour trip down Primrose


25.                                •

Pot in Eastwater. Only the "heioic Jones, undressed to the limit of dec­
ency" could feet through the saueeze end a jammed lifeline stopped him at
the second ledge. Sunday ..as spent relaxing down Lamb Lair, but at OlOOhs
Monday Gareth and Richard were hauled from their beds to go to rescue a
Severn Valley Club party overdue or: the T,ong Round Trip in Fwildon's. Al­
though neither saw the victims, Gareth went and bailed Gloop Sump in Swil
don's IT, and Richard did the rouble Trouble Round Trip backwards. Gareth
was back down Swildon's the following weekend] This time high water pre
vented him end Frank from going beyond the PR Mud Sump.

The Michelmas Term 1965 started with a beginners' meet down P8,
which didn't, deter too many of them from coming pg«in. Next we „ent to
Mendip, where Richard Babb led a highly successful Stoke Lpne II trip.
Clive Westlake, Bob Fellowes, and Graham /.right all took unexpectedly ex­
cellent photographs of the outstanding Throne Room. Meanwhile, Frank took
another party down Swildon's where they were much held up by hordes of
dying cavers on the pipeless Forty. In fact, on the following day, a
Swildon's II party  spent some time on the way home hauling up cold and
wet   covers on this pitch. The last meet of the term was to Derbyshire ~nd
proved to be a good example of controlled lunacy. Upon arrival at Buxton,
Clive  nd Gareth were met by Paul Deaicin, George Cooper and pam Hicken of
Eldon, who «hisked them away to Giant's Foie, which was descended in a-
raging blizzard at 0020 hours Saturday in company with high floods. After

hours violent caving the te°m returned to Buxton, then one party led

by Frank went off t<- ladder Oxlow Cavern while Bill Morris took another
to Orleswark Cavern. The night Giant's party woke up at middav and went
off to delrdderOxlow. On Sunday one team went to Eldon Hole, 'where G°r 'th
discovered that women can climb ladders. Another went to Giant's, which
was    very wet as the snow had melted.

Gareth and Clive joined an Eldon trip to Yorkshire a fortnight later

when Alum pot was descended direct. Bull pot was also bottomed and a some
what, unorthodox examination made of Turbary Pot while looking.for Swinsto,
On New Year's Day 1966 Dave Selkirk, Paul Key, and Clive took part in an
epic Eldon descent of Penyghent Pot, which was turned back by very high
water at the Main Shaft. The Club's vacation, meet now followed. First a
day  was spent festering in the caves of the Birk,,ith area,, then Fr-nk Bor­
land, Pete Heyward, Dave Selkirk, Bob Fellowes, ^nd Paul Key had a verv
enjoyable trip down Disappointment pot and. a visit to Hensler's passage
and   Gaping Gill Main Chamber.

The Lent term began with a. meet at Ogof Agen .ATlwedd. Gareth tore
round the Inner Circle in five hours with Paul Key, Mike Richards, Ionv
Good, Guy poulton, and Graham Wright. Another more leisurely party visit­
ed  the up stream sump of Turkey Passage. Only Guv Poulton and Pete ffe.vward
fell in Turkey Pool. The next trip was on a Lancaster Hole a.nd Cow Pot ex­
change with an Eldon party.The  most noticeable feature of this weekend
was   the exceedingly spectacula,r Fall Pot ladder pitch and the verv ala.rm-
ing incident when George Cooper of Eldon was very nearly washed away into
the terminal sump of the Master Cave. Just after the end of term Clive and
Gareth joined an Eldon trip to the bottom of penyghent Pot. One of the
party  was Oliver Lloyd, aged.... well, a good deal older than us. CUCC
members also turned up for another Eldon Meet at Aggy and though there


26.

were innumerable cavers around and many trips were done, only one Qualif­
ies for notice here (i.e. two or more CUCC present). This was a.n Inner-
Circle trip with rather high water in the Main Stream and Turkey Passage.

Exam fever prevents much activity in the summer, but one trip r s

managed to Swildon 1s DouDle Trouble. This was wholly uneventful and com­
pletely efficient, a quite staggering state of affairs for those who had
caved with GoCC a couple of years before. Again the post-Tripos meet pro­
vided some very successful caving. (Report on p.19 with a special feature
on Dow/Prov on p.21. Ed.)

The only meet in the summer vacation was in Derbyshire, which began

as a CoCC descent of Giant's Hole, and ended with Gareth's joining a
Chelsea cb party and coming out of Oxlow Cavern via the new connection
dug  out by Eldon. This feat was all the more notable for his attempt to
drain the pool in the tight squeeze by swallowing.

The Michelmas Term 1966 began with another E8 beginners' meet.

Though rather less successful than last •'"ear's because of high water and
too man1' other cavers, most members seemed to enjov it, especially Bob
Fellowes, who passed away the time at the head of the pitch cutting him­
self  Pate sandwiches. The next trip to Aggy was marred by the non-arrival
of some of the party owing to a car breakdown, but Pete Hayw°rd led a very
successful trip to the fringes of Summertime. Meanwhile, Trey Faulkner,
pat   Brown, Joe DuXbury, Mike Richards, and Gareth Jones spent 11-? houi s
down Southern Stream Passage, three of the pa.rty reaching the Fifth Boul­
der Choke. On the la st meet we visited o-B Cavern, where a large party was

conducted round bÿ Peter Kay (UJoSb) end Fish Jenn-maire and Jame._- Cobbett.
S^dly the leader was unable to find the Ladder dig series extension.

Eight members survived the club's (i.e. Kate's) Xmas dinner that night and
descended Stoke Lane LI on Sunday.

Just Defore the New Year vacation meet in Yorkshire, Gareth joined
Clive Westlake and Eldon in yet another Penvghent epic on New vear^s Eve.
Spectacular flooding- turned the team back at the Twelfth Pitch. Eight
CuCC  completed an uneventful descent of Marble Steps Pot, but the most
successful trip was the Kingsdale Master Cave via Simpson's Pot, when
eight     of ten reached the final sump in seven hours.

’We began the Lent term in Derbyshire with a verv highly planned

expedition in Giant 's/Oxlow, which hadn't made provision for Mike Richards
spendin^ 2^ houis getting stuck in the squeeze. The most notable  feature
of   this incident was Mike's complete equanimity as he was dug out of the
tight bit. Eventually only olive made the through—trip. Four members could
face the Sunday  tiip which was the first useful work CUCChave done for

a long  time, as the party acted as Sherpas for Ken Pearceand John Sin­
clair diving the terminal sump of p8.

Next we. went to Mend ip, and inevitably Swildon's Hole. Thiswas
one of  the most successful trips as eight members reached Swildon's IV via
olue Pencil Passage, then Pete Bowler led Noel Williamd, Guv Wilkinson,

3o  Fellowes, Graham Wright, and Clive Westlake through to Swildon's VI.
ïne return was via Double Trouble series, but inSwildon's I Noel contract-

j.  ^am Disease", a strange malaise suffered by all those who had prac-

lsed for Sump 4 in the River Cam. Fortunately, Noel recovered »nd made


27.

made his own wav out of the cave. At the same time Trev Faulkner led four
more members t^ North vest Stream Passage, which he had discovered a vear
before with a SwJSTCC party. Only three members survived Cam disease and
the Hunters to do August/Longwood in rather high water on Sunday. We ended
up. bv.going to Yoikshire for the last me t of the term. One team descended
Lancaster Hole and much to their surprise met up with the Countv pot partv
at   Stop pot. On the Sunday six descended Ireby Fell Cavern at some hideous
hour of the morning and had a fast and enjoyable journey to the bottom and
back, of the type that seems to oe increasingly  common in Cambridge

caving.

At Ea.sten, half a dozen members joined an Agen Alleedd assault with

an army of about fifty Eldon, B3A, and also Hereford cavers, some of whom
had been on the original explorations'ten years before. Clive Westlake,^
Noel Williams, and. Joe Duxbury did a Double Circles trip in six hours with
a motley crew of others, carrying Ken Pearce's and John Sinclair's diving
gear as far as Summertime Passage. Mike Richards and Trev Faulkner repeat­
ed the same trip, but without the sub-acuatic payload. Whilst Mike and Bob
ended up with a 3rd. Boulder Choke, Noel, Joe, and Clive ambled down  Sou­
thern Stream with the usual strange collection of cavers: five clubs were
represented. Eleven hours were profitably whiled a.wav gaping ^ t and phot­
ographing  the Ma in Stream Passage.

Again the summer term was unambitious, the only trip being an enjoy­

able Giant's trip, with a p8 photographic trip in the Long Vac. This ended
the year on a note of quiet efficiency, which we have been gradually try-.
ing to achieve over the last couple of years. We have noticed a difference
in our caving, and we can only hope that other cavers have also.

Clive Westlake.

Expedition to Ireland, Summer 196/

There was much discussion in the club over the destination of our
expedition this year, Norwyv and the Pyrenees both having their protag­
onists. Ireland prevailed, however, and on August 22ad Fete Wavward, Noel
Williams, and Mike Richards left London and travelled to Bristol, where
we collected Richard Babb. The next day we picked up Gareth Jones in
Swansea, and travelled on to the ferry.

We arrived at our destination., Lisdoonvarna in Co. Clare, the foll­
owing afternoon and eventually found a campsite not too liable to flooding
and cows, where we pitched the large tent we had borrowed.

The next day we went to Doolin for a swim and stroll on the lime­
stone cliffs. The bare flat surfaces, closely criss-crossed with joints,
are  most impressive. Noel, our tame geologist, spent ages bashing away
with his hammer, and actually produced some cuite fine fossils. After we
returned to camp some of us also walked up Slieve Elva, the local mountain,
which, being on a layer of impervious shale, is a large surface catchment
area with streams sinking all around its base. We found several sinks on
the south side, some of which did not appear to be marked on the    map,
and traces of anfold sink some 250 vards south of the present line, indic­
ating a recession of the shale cap as postulated by JC Coleman in his

•'Caves of Ireland" to explain the large entrances to Pollnagollum and


2b .

pollelva, situated on the east side of Slieve Elv a , but again some three
hundred yards from the present line of sinks.

Our first trip underground was the through trip from St. Oath's
I to Fisherstreet Pot. It is necessary to first rig Fisherstreot Pot,

which nedds 50 feet of ladder belayed to a. tree. We found St. Oath's I
after an aoortive thrutch in II, which no longer connects, and set off
down  the streamway. Though a, little awkward at first, with a fair amount
of hands a,nd knees, it soon opens out and just goes on getting bigger snd
bigger. Going downstream one often doesn't see the best route, and in two
or three places finds oneself crawling in deep water, and then being able
to stand up and see an overhead route behind. Our impression of the cave
was that it is really rather grey : though we didn't visit the Aran View
Tributary so we can't denigrate the whole system.

An army captain, Shane Lucas, turned up at our camp the next day to

ask our help : it seemed that he had been leading a party from KiViA Sand­
hurst in poulomega a., couple of weeks before, when they had been trapped
by flood water at the end of the cave, due to a sudden thunderstorm. The
locals had turned out and dug a channel to divert the stream v.hich
enterred,  the cave, and the army emerged after being stuck six or seven

hours. They had left their tackle in, however, and Shane asked if we would

go in and fetch it. We agreed to do this the next day, but Shane had dis­
covered by then that another party had collected it, so ,.e did the poll­
elva /pollnagollum through trip instead. I auote Gareth's entry in the log:

’'Driving rain made the walk from the ro^ d to Pollelva very unpleas­
ant : joli]/' unsporting to get wet on the surface] Pollelva. had « terrific
stream crashing down it, but our 97ft. pitch hung only in the spray. The
pitch was interrupted by a gonking ledge, where our president's descent
was stopped by a. violent attack of diarrhoea, placing the unfortunate
fellow at the back of the party, we progressed up craven Canyon to the
amazing Maze.

"Shame knew the way, where a short but tight crawl led to the mag­

nificent main stream passage of pollnagollum. Soon we came to a 12ft. wide
bedding plane some 2ft. high with 1ft. of water. The roof soon rises again
though, and after a swim or two we came to a very fine inlet waterfall,
surpassed by the next (the First ’Waterfall). The mega and mini carbides
were    not put out by this, and the only lighting trouble of the whole trip
was caused by Mike's Life cell suffering contactitis.

"Exit was made via tne moonmilky passage of Gunman's Cave, and day­
light and the cow's skeleton at the bottom of Pollnagollum were reached 1-*
hours after leaving the pollelva pot-ole. Getting out of the pot was a
slightly tricky climb - a. fine end to a. very fine through-trip.

"While Pete, Gareth, and Shane went back to meet the rescue dead­
line, the other sweaty sods provided a meaty insect meal when retrieving
the ladder and line from Pollelva."

Our campsite was about a mile and a half east of Lisdoonvarna,

by a, dry streambed. Following the streambed down leads to St. Brendan's
Well, a resurgence for most of the sinks in the area. The other way leads
to Upper St. Brendan's Well, which only flows under fairly wet conditions.
We had been blessed with fine weataer hitherto, and our return from


29

pollnagollum was t .e first occasion when we ,p w cater in the streambed.
It rose from bpper St. Brendan's, flowed for about 150 yards and then
sank near oui tent. As the level got higher, it started to go further
down  the streambed , and then sa.hk a hundred yards further down. We foll­
owed this with great interest, and found aoout ten sinks, the stream
reaching further a,nd further as it rose, eventually getting about two-
thirds   of the way to St. Brendan's. .

Several days were spent during the remainder of our stay digging in

the stream and around it, trying to get into the very large system which
must certainly be there. We did find about fifty feet of rift cave (which
some of us found considerably easier to enter than to leave) but a chat
with the farmer revea.led that it had already been enterred.

By the, time we had spent about nine daT,s in the tent things were
beginning to get a bit sordid, especially since the weather had deterior­
ated.  It culminated in a terrific smell one night, when it was blowing

a full gale at sea ( and the sea was not verv far away). The flysheet w*s

slightly damaged and we bega..i to feel that a change of accommodation was
desirable. There was a cottage a,bout a mile and a half further east, b--
longing   to a Mr. Casey, and known as Casey's Cottage, which he was willing
to  rent at aoout a pound a night : „e moved in and were soon very comfort­
able.

parties from Sheffield and Kendal «ere also in the area, at this

time, and some of the Sheffield people joined us in the cottage for a.
night. They had come better eouipped for digging than we had, and we borr­
owed  a bucket and a shovel from them for an assault on our most promising
dig. This was a shakehole by the dry streambed and about 150 yards north
of  St. Brendan's. We had previously made a couple of not very effective
efforts, and had put a barbed wire fence around it to placate the farmer.

The dig was. in shale and in a. very damp place, and this caused the sides
to be rather unstable. We dug on undeu n oed, however, and after opening a
gaping void about twelve feet deep Noel could just get into a bedding;
plane which developed into a, passage about eighteen inches high, he foll­
owed it for about fifty feet, apparently towards the roar of wa.ter which
could be heard from the surface.

We didn't visit the dig the next da,'r, but, on the principle that

anticipation flavours the delight, visited Coolagh River Cave instead.
This has two entrances, about a quarter of a mile apart, called P'oll-
donough and polldonough south'. There was a lot of water a.bout so we ent­
erred  by the South entrance, which is supposed to be an escape route in
case  of flood. After about 100ft. of crawling in water, the airspace dim­
inished to a. couple of inches in the fast-flowing streamway, so we re­
treated and tried the North entrance. This was taking the most impressive
Coolagh river.but we managed to follow it down to the second bedding cave
where again the airspace became minimal. We failed to find the entrance
to  Gour pB,ssa.ge, which bypasses the second bedding cave.

Our return to the dig was a day of unprecedented disaster. On

arrival we found that a small collapse had occurred - not a great amount
but as we were now reduced to one entrenching tool and a bucket it was a
job to clear it. We did^try to borrow a shovel, but all we could get was
a long-handled potato lifting spade, which was quite useless. The ground


00.

was very wet and digging was Hampered by water trickling in on the uphill
side, so we cut a drainage channel around one side of the hole. This was
a great mistake, for in fact it was the surface vegetation which was
holding things together, and a block of earth about six feet long, and
three  feet by three feet, tumbled into the hole. It buried our entrench­
ing tool and almost buried the man in the hole, .ho just got up the ladd­
er in time. Water and earth were not our only troubles though, for about
a million gnats had decided that, the hole was a good place to get out of
the wind., and were feasting .-off anyone who got within ten feet of it. We
did try moving some boulders in the neighbouring shakehole, but it soon
became apparent that this was subject to the same dangers. We replaced

the barbed wire and retreated, chastened. The dig was not mentioned again.

We could now & et down to some serious caving, and our next trip
was to Faunarooska, which is on the hillside overlooking Galway Bay. It
consists of a 101% streamwey rather like Giant's Craowalk, but with sharp

scalloping and protrusions designed oo tear boilersuits to shreds. It
took about an hour to get along the streamway, and we went down the Wet
pitch series. This is a narrow lift, of which there is a. longitudinal
section on the UBTS/RAF survey. The route down the rift is not exactly
that apparent from the survey, a.s it is necessary to traverse along it
in  one or two pla.ces to get a climable pitch. In fact, we found six pit­

ches while Colmen only lists five. The sump at, the end, like all the Irish

sumps we saw, is filled with what looks like Guinness. We have staked our
claim for the first-ever Guiness mine.

, We had two further trips down Coola.gh River lave. On the first
the water was considerably lower  than before and we managed to get
through polldonough South. After the low airspace bit this develops into

a. rift passage about twelve feet high, which is most easily negotiated

by traversing half way up it. This leads into Jolumn Chamber, a. small
muddy chamber *,ith some rather grotty cal cite. It has been recommended Qs

a. flood refuge, out .e saw debris quite high up it. A short mud slope

under the wall leads into the second bedding cave, .and crawling along here
one soon gets to u-our passage which comes out in the wall of the Main
Drain.  A ladder is needed here really, or at- least a rope. We found our
thin nylon waistlength rather desperate m  the return.' Downstream from
Gour Passage, the Main Drain is a most magnificently spectacular stream-
way with' several wa to rebates and a deep pool which requiies swimming fox
aoout fifty feet. The cave ends in a tall rift, which seems to h°ve a

bedding cave at the bottom, for it is just possible to get under one wall
into a low chamber, almost completely filled with water. Just upstream of
Gour Passage is a very fine waterchute about twelve feet long, ending in
a  two foot drop into a. very deep pool called Balcombe's Pot. It is very
difficult to get upstream without a rope be laved, at the top end of the
chute  (where there is a convenient piton), and it provides much amusement
if one tries to do so and is repeatedly washed down into the pool.

ene of the part3 was a non-swimmer we had to retreat via
Gour passage rather than continue up the Main Drain.and out bv the north

tu  on^ V u  ïeUafoeCl tü S et eveiy°ne   into Gour Passage, and set. off for
e second bedding cave. By crawling straight on one comes out in the main


31.

Goulash Hiver passent;, at the limit of our previous exploration from the
north. It had oeen oui- intention to   out via Column Chamber and Poll-
donough South, but half the party lost its way and went straight through.
A verbal battle ensued, -on by the ,oolagh River school, and we all left
by the north entrance after an extremely sporting and enjoyable trip.

;roseing a field on the way back to the car, we met the farmer, who showed

us a round*hole about two feet across which had appeared in his field
when a horse, oulline, a cart, had put his foot on it, to the g^eat con­
sternation of the horse ~nd of the driver, who had been thrown off the

Gur second trip into Joolagh River „as a photographic trip, which
has subsequently been proved completely abortive, *'s none of the pictures
taken underground came out. So much for our careful nursing of the ammo-
box, carer ul posin0 in elegant positions, and terrifying climbing into
desperate places.

Oui „nly other trip of note wa s into v ;aiomega, the hole ..hich

had been the ainr 's undoing. This has a veiy a.wkward entrance passage of
about eight hundred feet, followed by a forty foot pitch, then a seventy
in  a rift, only two bottomed this hole : the otheis found the pitch head
too tight. Pol-an-Ionian w s also visited, and provided some piotogr'phs
of tne largest stalactite in  the  British Ibias.

Our lp st two or three days were spent swimming and climbing on

the clifis oj tne coast road, Altogether it v?as a very enjoyable sta^,
especially enhanced by the unexpected social attra ctions of T isdoonvarna,
wnich  must oe easily the most swinging town , est of Duel in. We hope to
make   a rather better eouipped expedition next year, as the possibilities
for di^gine are very definite.

Mike Richards.
paying in Canada. Summer 1967

The sport of caving is only in its infancy in Ianadaj few

Canadians participate, the majority being English immigrants or Americans.
In tae Id caving is eagerly followed, but bv relatively few considering
its population. It is  highly organised (on a national scale), but even
su there is only one cave rescue organisation in the whole of North Amer­

ica - this has the use of the presidential number two plane to get it
places.

I was xurtunate enough to Spend this long vacation with the McMas­
ter Cave Group (MCG McMaste'r University, Hamilton, Ontario). This is pre
dominantly English ; the leader being- Dr. Derek Ford, with such other stal­
warts   p s Txch Morris (Chelsea SS), our own Mike ucudchild, Mike Boon, of
cave diving fame, Peter Thompson (who has done Do /Prov in 55 minutes)

and a Canadian called Charlie (Flowere Po.ere) Brow...

We s^ent ten weeks in the Canadien Rockies, exploring, end mapping
env ceves that we found.» These mounta ins ere most.lv limestone, so thet v/e
expected e lot of action - end after four weeks we got it. Our base we s in
Jaspei National park, where there ~re many il1-developed karst systems,

inly occluse of their *routh, following the lest Tee Age (5 ,CCO "e^rs ngc )
We found evidence of old cav,s , but these  ere invariablv blocked b^


32 .

glacial debris after 100ft or so. There were manv sinking lakes, with ris­
ings several miles away. The one we were especie 11” interested in w»s Med
icine Lake - inflow 100 million gallons daily - without a visible exit.

The water rose in 70 ood places 9 miles awry, 900ft below lake level.
These risings «ere summed, so v.e tried to get dov.n in toe middle, xhis we
failed to do, and came to the conclusion that the whole system was still
phreatic, and probably airless — gro*'t sport in 10,000 years time.

Our major find was j.n Banff national park 90 miles  south  of
B-se uamp, where we hoard reports of an entrance 12 miles from the road,
and these stimulated us to investigate.

The cave entrnce - a dry resurgence 12ft by 20ft wide situated

at the end of a va ley as it was intersected by another - was situated at
6,5C0ft, and was reached by a 12 mile tromp, climbing 3,000 feet up a
glacier,   and then dropping another 1,500'feet down the valiez. Water sunk f
over   a wide area at the col four miles from the resurgence, and the sys­

tem was fed by glacier and snow meltwater. Sink to rising; 1,600ft. The
present active resurgence is 130ft below the drv entrance, and constricted

Mike «roodchild and Rod S^kes mafe a preliminary investigation,
and found a 25ft drop 250ft in. Not having tackle (in a resurgence system)
thev pulled out with glowing reports of potentially canada.’ bigg-st known
cave. I went in a week Inter with Dr. Ford, Mike Bo n, Peter, and an Amer­
ican Donnie Stn.niford, and m  three days we laddered the 25ft pitch, ex­
plored a mile oi pas~a0 e to cn &0ft drop, laddered it and pushed 2,000ft
beyond. In noplace did we find flowing water of any significance, al_
though indica.tiuns were that une section ( the first 2,000ft of cave) were
prone to flooding This includes an area we called the ’d uck ’, the lowest
point of the cave, two feet high, 26ft long, with a foot of standing water.

in a second sixday trip (carrying 601bs of clobber to the cave
each), Jjonnie and I surveyed to the bo - 5,800ft. It was verv cold (35°F
air,  32 F water) and even wearing wetsuits  with socks, gloves, and hats,
six hours surveying daily was enough. It took us three days. On d*v i,
Pete and Mike Boon pushed three miles beyond the 80 in lc-1 hours, report­

ing big cave still going. They also found » large stream passage, which  »
could have been the Main Stream. On the fourth dav Donnie and I rested

while Mike and Pete went down for a   or die P^hour push. This dav was
the first day of superb weather - previously it had been overcast - so I
effectively added to mj’- tan, little suspecting the drama to follow. Derek
plus   two others arrived that evening, and we awaited, the others’ return
about lo am the next da.y - the second day of sunshine.

By midday wu were very worried, so leaving elaborate rescue in­
structions (helicopter lifts, etc.) a.t the surface, Derek, Donnie, and I
went    in. tu find Pete and Mike. This we did - they were bivouaced beyond
the duck, which apparently they had reached at 7 am, to find it sumped. It
was normal when we came through at 1230 -pm. Evidently the fine weather had

melted more snow than thu constricted rising could cope with, and water had

filled the duck area. It had then subsided corresponding- with the previous
night's freeze (roughly a 12 hour delay for water from sink to resurgenace)
Not expecting it to rise immediately, Donnie and I went on to retrieve
tackle from the 80 (e mile further in) while Dr. Ford led the two heroes


33.

out. Ou arrival at the duck a half hour later, Donnie and I found water
pouring down a side passage which was previously dry. We had previously
nicknamed this passage "Boon's Blunder" when Mike took the wrong turn and
went   up it, thinking it was the way to the 80ft. Evidently it links up
with the mainstream passage somewhere beyond, fastening our pace - by now
a crawl - and a little anxious about all this water, we reached the duck
area - only it wasn ’t there. A two foot deep pool had formed 200ft from
the duck, in a place usually dry. Water gushing from this to the duck

made us even more fleet of belly. On reaching the duck proper, we couldn’t
find it for a moment, but on seeing a mark on the wall, there it was, a
slit  of air 3 .inches high to the right. Half diving through it, we made it
out of the final 100ft in record time. 2b hours later, water had appeared
at the cave entrance - having flooded 100ft of walking height passage, and
rising thirty two feet. Estimated volume; five million gallons a day -
thirty times that of the permanent rising 130ft below. It stayed flooded
like this for at least two weeks, corresponding with a. spell of very fine

weather - Donnie and I had made it with only minutes to spare..

Now, back tu the big push. Mike Boon and Peter Thompson had gone
an estimated 7 miles into the cave, heading upstream, not exploring any
side passages; They encountered l*rge passages; avens at least 100ft high;
large waterfalls; and several major side passages, one two miles long.

They turned back only on. encountering- increasingly dangerous boulder
chokes in a high slit passage. They estimated 12/15 miles of passage total
Cp nada ’s biggest cave by ten miles.

Dr. Ford ’s comment to the press - "a big dangerous baby". Sub-
seauent expeditions will be equipped to stay down at least a. month, should

they become trapped. A fortnight later Tich Morris, Rod Sykes, Mike Good-
child, myself and others went back, trying to find a flood-proof entrance
in  the sink area. In two days we found 50 holes, 27 of them wet, with
shafts up to 13Cft deep. Most are blocked at the bottom, but two or three
were tight but promising, so will be banged next summer.

Two hundred and fifty miles south, on the eastern edge of the
Rockies, members of the expedition found a 600ft long cave at 8 ,000ft.

This cave kept the most fantastic ice formations any of us had ever seen.
Ice crystals (hexagonal plates) I4 inches in diameter were abundant, and
there were some interesting ice flowers - crystals growing at the rock/
crystal interface, producing flower—like formations (cf gypsum flowers).

Needless to say, many photrogs were taken, a truly magnificent cave - if

+u + S+2 rtwisf* The i(?e fcrmPticns *re probably permanent, but so delicate
that the heat from six bodies brought many crashing to the floor. There
are still plenty left for future parties to enjov, but if it does become

over-visited, the plate crystals will certainly disappear. Luckily the

cave is be miles from the nearest village, but onlv half a. mile from a
car track.

By this time, our sojourn in the Rockies was nearly over, so
for the last three days a. party went to Glacier National Park, British

Columbia, a.nd revisited the Nakimu (Red Indian for "spirit sounds") caves
which the MCu had previously explored fully and mapped in ’65 and *6 6 .

This was previously Canada’s biggest - 17,000ft of passage, 900ft sink to
rising, it is hoped to open the system to tourists, mainly due to its

technical easiness, and the outstanding beauty of its passages. Although


j4 .

there     p.rea few stal formations, moonmilk grows inches thick on most walls
giving a pure white appearance to the passages (moonmilk is an excretion

of calcium carbonate by a. low temperature bacterium). These «re probably
the best moonmilk accretions in the .world. In addition, one chamber - the
Witches' Ballroom - h a s splendid ice formations in winter and spring, and
it   is hoped to refrigerate the chamber «rtifically during the summer to
preserve them for the sightseers (access can only be gained in summer a s

the 'main entrance is under 50ft of sno./ in wintor). The cave does have
its sporting sections, in the. depths beyond the tourist part. In all, a
grand system, chilly and a. bit wot.

There are a few "other caves at present in ’anada , but these are
all small and without enough merit for special mention. Undoubtedly there
are a lot more big 'uns just waiting to be discovered. The majority of the
Canadian Rockies and Shield area above the- Great Lakes is limestone, so
with   a few more intrepid spelunkers - as our American! colleagues would
call themselves - Cana da. could become a. major caving country.

Guy poulton.



*