Club Log Book 2024


Hunters Hole - Wed 3 Jan 2024

Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Keith Milward, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

A delayed follow up to our SRT tower training evening (due to the passing of Jackie Dors)

This cave has been a bete noire of mine for quite some time so with a certain amount of fear and trepidation I got changed and positioned myself at the back of the group in case I bottled it and needed to leave in a hurry.

It was lovely and warm inside the cave and, despite being drippy, a lot drier than outside. Andy, Sean and Cookie rigged swiftly and the whole party disappeared efficiently before me.

All too soon it was my turn, the first pitch had been rigged excellently with the Y-hang as high as possible, this calmed my nerves as I didn’t have to drop off of the ledge into the abyss as I had done previously, at the rebelay Andy was on hand to encourage and reassure as he was for the second and third, before I knew it I was at the bottom with everyone else.

I wasn’t in tears and my knees weren’t knocking, what’s going on? Whilst it lasted I barged to the front of the queue and started to make my way up the ropes, by the time I got to the third rebelay I knew what I was doing and actually enjoying myself. All too soon I was at the Y-hang and then up and out to the surface where the rain had stopped

Whilst others derigged I got changed then all went into the Hunters for a debrief.

Hopefully my SRTing is on the way up, partly helped by new cows-tails that I actually trust. Thanks to all for your patience, guidance and encouragement

— Lawrence Wilson 12/01/2024

 

Sludge Pit - Wed 10 Jan 2024

Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Rachel Sparrow, Will Puddy

Euan

Our fitst digging trip of the new year saw us making a fresh start in a new location, at the digging chamber adjacent to the clubs old dig.

We split into three teams with Andy and Rachel drilling holes in “The Hidden Stream”. Will, Euan and Peter making great progress at the new dig site, Whilst Cookie and Lawrence partially rebuilt the spoil heap and retaining wall at the bottom of the Aven dig site that had collapsed for a second time.

All out in freezing temperatures so reluctantly warmed up in the Hunters

— Lawrence Wilson 21/01/2024

 

Tyning’s Barrows Swallet - Wed 17 Jan 2024

Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Lawrence Wilson, Paul James, Peter Sanders, Rachel Sparrow, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy

Euan

In minus four temperatures we got changed quickly then stomped around the entrance whilst the two entrance pitches where rigged and descended, the second pitch is a bit awkward, particularly on the return and should probably have had a lifeline on it.

Once we where all down we started to warm up and moved off down mostly walking sized passage before stepping over the Aardvark Trap and negotiating a couple of squeezes before arriving in the roomier Shit Hot which we followed down to the head of Pyramid Pot

Not having any tackle we didn’t descend but had a look over the edge, at this point a rather sweaty Cookie arrived having arrived a bit late and chased us down the cave!

We retraced our steps back up the cave, just passed the Aardvark Trap we left the main passage by turning right up Paton Place then through the squeezes in White Dog Passage to gain Dragon Chamber, after a couple of false starts we found the on via a choice of two awkward down climbs, my preference was a clean but bold direct climb involving a wide bridge across the passage, others opted for a muddy slither down on sloping holds, very long sling was useful, a hand line would have been better.

Rejoining the main passage we where soon at the bottom of the ladders, if anything it was even colder by now on the surface so a quick change was the order of the day, my fingers had just warmed up by the time I got to the Woodborough for a welcome pint and debrief

— Lawrence Wilson 21/01/2024

 

Pierre’s Pot - Wed 24 Jan 2024

Andy Sparrow, Lawrence Wilson, Paul James, Peter Sanders, Rachel Sparrow, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

Euan

All parked and got changed in much warmer temperatures than last week then divided ourselves into two groups, the first to tackle the squeezes and the lower reaches while the second had a bimble around the upper series.

Peter, Will and Sean negotiated the squeezes without too much difficulty, Sean needed to remove all extraneous kit but just pushed through, sadly PJ’s chest was just too big and despite a few spirited attempts couldn’t force the second squeeze so joined the upper series team.

We had a good poke around reversing chimneys etc. and Yvette doing the Switchback, finally leaving the cave at just gone 21:00 when we retired to the Woodborough where the other team arrived a while later having had a great trip up the streamway all the way to the Hanging Gardens.

— Lawrence Wilson 30/01/2024

 

White Pit - Wed 31 Jan 2024

Andy Sparrow, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Rachel Sparrow, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

Euan

Meeting on the roadside between Priddy and Ebbor Gorge at 19:30, we got changed and walked to the entrance over a surprisingly soggy field, on the way it was pointed out that we needed three ladders but only had two! thankfully Andy had a plan.

We descended the tube and turned right into the roomy and well decorated Talus IV, after a few photos we retraced our steps to the junction and took the other passage down through a couple of squeezes to the top of The Forty Backs.

Sean rigged this with both of our ladders and all except Andy and Rachel descended the awkwardly tight rift. At the bottom we had a quick look in Master’s Hall then climbed up the calcite slope of Coffee Pot, helped and hindered in equal amounts by a knotted rope, once at the top a tight right angled bend was negotiated then through a puddle and some small passage to emerge at the entrance to Talus IV.

Andy and Rachel had kindly derigged The Forty Backs and had rerigged the entrance pitch most ingeniously. On the way in Andy had lowered the ladder then abseiled down on a doubled rope. On the way up he used the rope as a safety line, belayed from the bottom but he attached the ladder via a prusic to the other (dead) side of the rope thus being able to climb up the ladder whilst being lifelined, very clever.

Emerging into the field at 22:15 the fog had come down, sadly the Queen Vic was shut but the Hunters provided a warm welcome

— Lawrence Wilson 6/02/2024

 

Sludge Pit - Wed 7 Feb 2024

Andy Sparrow, Lawrence Wilson, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

I am writing this sometime after the event so can’t remember much about it! I’m sure we did good work in both the secret streamway and the connection dig then went to the Hunters afterwards

— Lawrence Wilson 28/04/2024

 

Swildons Hole in flood - Wed 21 Feb 2024

Andy Sparrow, Euan Goodland, Ken Passant, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Peter Hall, Rachel Sparrow, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone?

Having had a couple of weeks of rain and a forecast for more rain on the Wednesday this trip was advertised as “very, very wet” and boy we weren’t disappointed!

The stream was at the very top of the dam and judging by the debris had been going down the grid not long before, in we went, the noise was incredible.

We decided to go straight down the Wet Way as not sure we would be able to come up it against the flow of water.

The Eyehole was interesting, as soon as you where in it your body formed a plug and the water almost immediately backed up and flowed over the top of you, nothing for it but to allow yourself to get washed through, unfortunately Rachel managed to find the foothold on the other side that wedged her in position until she too was washed through, having had a near death experience she and Andy battled their way out.

The next challenge was the Lavatory Pan, it was very nearly sumped, thankfully the much braver than I Pete Hall was at the front and dived through, when it was my turn I just sat in it feet first and within a second I was spluttering on the other side.

The old Forty was in full flow with the water hitting the far side, very glad of the hand line especially on the way up.

The Twenty was thundering. Standing immediately at the top the water came halfway up my thighs

After battling our way back to the Water Chamber a few hardy souls returned via the wet way whilst the rest went via the Short Dry Way that had a sizeable stream flowing down it the whole way.

It was a relief for our ears to finally exit the cave and escape the noise. A truly wonderful trip that I will remember for a very long time. I know upper Swildons “like the back of my hand” but the water transformed it into a completely different beast. Congratulations to Euan as it was his first trip to Swildons, I hope he isn’t disappointed in normal conditions

A very welcome catch up at the Hunters as could only hear shouts down the cave we hadn’t chatted much.

— Lawrence Wilson 28/04/2024

 

Eastwater Cavern - Wed 28 Feb 2024

David Cooke, Peter Sanders, Will Puddy

Euan Goodland

Met at WCC on wet and foggy night and eventually set out to Eastwater around 8pm. Peter warned everyone of the slippery approach and promptly slid down the bank on his backside. Lovely waterfall down the entrance and through the approach to the Boulder Ruckle, so soon washed off the muck. Wet through, we progressed through the Woggle Press to the Boulder Chamber and then down to the Crossroads. Turning left we arrived at Dolphin Pot and descended with the aid of the 13m rope (and Italian Hitch for some). Next came the 35ft (Dolphin) Pitch which was rigged with the two ladders and 21m safety line, last man down using a doubled safety line held at the bottom. Getting a bit cold now, we descended the pitch (finding that one ladder actually reached to within a metre of the bottom, but two gave more flexibility at the top). Then on to the Bold Step, which was a bit testing. Down the rift we branched left and down the Muddy Oxbow (?) right at the bottom and back up the Thirteen Pots, returning to the Bold Step (actually climbable in the upward direction when at least two point contact could be maintained) and up through the Woggle Press for a refreshing shower on the way out (more so for Peter who struggled up the first access hole to the base of the entrance shaft which was in full flood instead if diving across to negotiate the second access in slightly more comfortable conditions. Slithering back up the slope we arrived cold wet and tired at the WCC, to find the time was nearly midnight, so straight to bed with no beer. What fun!

— Peter Sanders 2/03/2024

 

Sludge Pit - Wed 6 Mar 2024

Andy Sparrow, Lawrence Wilson, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

I suspect others but can’t remember

Another digging trip to our favourite cave, writing this after the event I presume good work was done in both the Secret Stream and the connection dig, I’m sure we went to the Hunters afterwards

— Lawrence Wilson 28/04/2024

 

Waterwheel Swallet - Wed 13 Mar 2024

David Cooke, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Will Puddy

Unfortunately my Panda spluttered to a halt at the top of Cheddar Gorge (turned out it was the alternator) thankfully Cookie had signal and Will picked us up.

After starting a little late this brilliant little cave came up trumps as it always does, we all enjoyed a swim at the bottom of the ladder, the canals seemed a bit longer than usual and I had forgotten how much “up” there is on the way out.

A warm welcome was enjoyed at the Riverside where we caught up with Cookies adventures in India

— Lawrence Wilson 28/04/2024

 

Hunters Lodge Inn Sink - Wed 20 Mar 2024

David Cooke, Lawrence Wilson, Paul James, Peter Sanders, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

This is a great little cave, but quite strenuous!

Having got the key from Roger we all went down the ladder and straight into a descending crawl that finally emerged into a large well decorated chamber. Then through more squeezes and climbs before arriving at the top of the pitch that Will rigged.

The pitch is long and awkward, the ladder runs against the sloping wall all the way with two pinch points. Despite linking two ladders they didn’t quite reach the bottom leaving a straight forward free climb.

Through a squeeze a lake was reached that most waded through to some passage beyond. We returned via the same route.

After much discussion as to which pub was closest we ended up in the Hunters

— Lawrence Wilson 28/03/2024

 

GB - Wed 27 Mar 2024

Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Euan Goodland, Lawrence Wilson, Paul James, Rachel Sparrow, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo

Gary Avril

All met and changed in light drizzle and walked to the entrance across a very wet field.

Just inside we split up with Rachel, Gary and Avril going through the squeeze into Mud Passage whilst everyone one else climbed up the fixed ladder and into the Devils Elbow route, most of us had never been this way before and where pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t all squeezes. There are little chambers, free climbs and some decorations. Ultimately at Buggery Bend it is a crawl through water before a tricky down climb into the stream (fixed hand line) before popping out into the gorge 20m upstream from the normal Mud Passage route.

Following down stream into Main Chamber we regrouped then split with Andy, Rachel, Gary, Avril and Lawrence making their way out having had a look at the formations.

The rest went down the terrace and loop before climbing up into ladder dig and visiting Bat Passage before finding Disappointment Chamber which is all very loose, thankfully Yvette managed to dodge a large rock dislodged from above.

Changing was cold and wet so it was essential to warm up in the Woodborough the ladder dig crew arriving at 22:30

— Lawrence Wilson 28/03/2024

 

Sludge Pit - Wed 3 Apr 2024

Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Euan Goodland, Ken Passant, Lawrence Wilson, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy

The clocks having changed at the weekend we walked across the fields in the light in a rare dry spell, as there was a good turnout we split into three teams.

Sean and Will going up the Aven, Andy and Cookie in to the secret streamway whilst Ken, Euan and Lawrence got busy at the dig. At exactly 20:00 silence descended whilst we listen for sounds through the dig face, disappointingly we couldn’t hear anything Will and Sean reported clearly hearing our banging about and even voices so can’t be far now, good progress was made from both sides.

A lot of rubble was removed from the secret stream with reports that it looks interesting about four metres ahead.

A pleasant debrief was enjoyed at the Hunters where we were all impressed with Will’s rock aiming that this week managed to find the bridge of Sean’s nose

— Lawrence Wilson 8/04/2024

 

Rocket Drop - Wed 10 Apr 2024

Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Euan Goodland, Ken Passant, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Seán Tidey, Yvette Mayo

Arrived in thick fog, having introduced ourselves to the farmer we got changed in a barn and dunked wellies in disinfectant then walked across a couple of fields to the entrance pipe.

Descending the 10m entrance landed us straight into a roomy chamber with a flat and frankly terrifying ceiling. From the end of the chamber a clamber through boulders lead to the top of a short down climb with a vintage hawser laid hand line in place.

Directly at the bottom of the climb a corkscrew downward squeeze lead into another, well decorated chamber with a short extension at one end.

The corkscrew squeeze was a lot harder on the way up through it, other than that the way out was straight forward via our inward route.

According to the farmer nobody has been down this cave since Covid and a few years before that, so probably six or seven years, that’s a shame as it’s a worthwhile little cave, having said that I won’t be racing back for a year or two.

A slow drive in thick fog ended at the Hunters for a debrief

— Lawrence Wilson 15/04/2024

 

Sidcot Swallet - Wed 17 Apr 2024

David Cooke, Euan Goodland, Lawrence Wilson, Yvette Mayo

Arrived in Burrington in sunshine and decided to have a quick look down Aveline’s, to our surprise the lock was missing allowing us to have a look at the distinctly unimpressive Mesolithic scratchings and the very muddy end of the cave, Cookie has informed UBSS that the lock is missing.

Walking up the valley we arrived at the entrance to Sidcot and rattled down the spidery entrance tube with Cookie looking unsuccessfully for the entrance to Purgatory.

After negotiating the Letterbox and Tie Press we slid down the Lobster Pot and soon came to the watery end of the cave, despite this being a duck it appeared to be full of silt so would need digging out to get to the true end of the cave.

The accent of the Lobster Pot provided the usual array of sound effects but eventually all managed it without the use of the rope.

Just before the Letterbox Cookie and Yvette examined a left turn that succeeded I leading to Purgatory, whilst they where doing that Euan and I exited the cave and did a very quick entrance to entrance trip of Goatchurch which Euan hadn’t been down before, turning the evening into a three cave jaunt.

We retired to the Woodborough where we were joined by Andy and Rachel

— Lawrence Wilson 28/04/2024

 

Read’s Cavern - Wed 24 Apr 2024

Adam Fletcher, Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Euan Goodland, Judi Durber, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Rachel Sparrow, Will Puddy

Gary and Avril

All met up at the Burrington Inn, then lift shared up the very bumpy track to park at the UBSS hut, a very pleasant walk in spring sunshine to the always impressive entrance. Here we split with Andy, Rachel, Lawrence, Gary and Avril going in the dry entrance while the rest went via the Wet entrance before successfully bottoming out the cave at the sump.

Sliding our way in we abruptly arrived in the impressive Main Chamber before having a look in the once very pretty Grotto.

From here we had a good look around the Main Chamber but couldn’t find the way into Junction Chamber (wrong name?) the entrance has possibly been filled with debris, there are huge amounts of flood bebris newly deposited, presumably from the February floods.

Exiting via the Wet Entrance we walked over to Bath Swallet where we had a look at the top of the pitch. The other group weren’t far behind us so lift shared back and arrived at the Woodborough within a few minutes of each other.

Good to see so many members out for a Wednesday night’s caving

— Lawrence Wilson 28/04/2024

 

Sludge Pit - Wed 1 May 2024

Andy Sparrow, Euan Goodland, Lawrence Wilson, Paul James, Will Puddy

Gary Powel

A very successful night’s digging with rapid progress (about a meter) made in the connection dig, we have now turned left which hopefully is heading straight for the top of the aven dig site, our spoil heap is quickly filling up, so all of this week’s spoil was podged onto the wall which presumably strengthened it quite a bit. Fingers crossed not far to go !?!?

— Lawrence Wilson 2/05/2024

 

Sludge Pit Hole - Tue 7 May 2024

Andy Sparrow, Gary Powell, Seán Tidey

Andy, Gary and I met at the Wessex at 7 and began the now familiar routine of heading to the dig.

On reaching the secrete streamway I climbed up to check out the last bang and begin removing the rock. What I was met with was quite a surprize. After previous bangs almost all the rock had been shattered into pieces not much bigger than a fist. These could easily be piled into the half barrel, pulled under the person at the face and dumped until the streamway was clear enough to begin drilling again. This time though the rock had shattered into 5 very large pieces, including some from the right hand wall (all the banging having been done in the left). This proved very hard to remove and involved slings, ropes and lots of profanities. The rock here has quite a lot of faults in causing this to happen. Eventually Andy and I got most of it out with just one whopper left slap in the middle. The plan is to tackle this with plug and feather on the next trip. We had been talking about creating a turning round space in the streamway at some point as so far its a case of wriggle in and wriggle backwards to get out. Inadvertently we have almost done this. Once we had removed as much as we were going to be able to it was time to start drilling. The clubs new 4AH drill battery made its debut and made short work of the rock, making two 60cm holes and still showing two lights on the battery! Andy and I swapped places so Andy could rig the bang. We then retreated to just below Castle Falls where Gary got the press “the button!”, making what sounded like a good explosion.

Standard exit procedure, no pub.

We will wait and see what next week brings.

Seán

— Seán Tidey 12/05/2024

 

Rhino Rift - Wed 8 May 2024

Seán Tidey, Will Puddy, Yvette Mayo,

On a beautiful spring evening Will, Yvette and I met on Charterhouse rd north of Longwood. Before setting off we had the inevitable untangling and fitting of our SRT kits followed by the flaking of 150m of rope into two bags and the distribution of krabs and slings. By 7.30pm we set off with topo and key in hand and of course our helmets on our heads.

After a bit of searching we found the cave and Will and Yvette got to work on the padlock. There is about 5 minutes of crawling and sliding before you reach the top of the first pitch. From the top of the first pitch we could easily identify the direct and right hand-routes, as there was a CCC sign on the right-hand route confirming the bolts were CCC & CSCC placed and maintained. I set off rigging the RH route, starting with a short traverse to the first Y hang in a shallow rift. From here the first big pitch started, at first descending with feet on the wall but at the first deviation the wall went vertical and the decent became free hanging, something like 24m in total.

At the bottom, very far from any wall I spied a small, in-situ sling around a flake just above the entrance to a rift. At first I thought that's a very small sling for a deviation! Then it dawned on me, it was there to grab and allow the rigger to be able to get to the wall and therefore next bolts. With no wall in reach I started to swing and after a couple of mins of swinging and bouncing I managed to grab the sling, pull myself towards the wall and clip a very welcome bolt. I continued to rig, making a 5ish meter bridging, traverse through a rift to the top of the second pitch. Will and Yvette were now making their way down the first pitch.

Somewhere in this or on exiting this rift, and I have no idea how, I think I may have lost the RH route and ended up on the direct route as after another amazing free hanging pitch I arrived on the ledge at the top of pitch three (the sketchy boulder bit in the guide book) rather than hitting a rebelay at the top of three and getting all the way to the bottom of the cave without touching the ground. I had now used the two lengths of rope I had been carrying so set up camp on the ledge and waited for Will and Yvette who were now on the second pitch and waiting in the rift. We regrouped on the ledge and discussed the options, the amount and position of visible bolts making matters confusing. I eventually rigged a short traverse followed by a 23ish M non-freehanging abseil down to the floor.

After we all made it to the bottom of the cave, we had a couple of minutes of looking around but time was quickly marching on and we had an 11pm call out. Unable to put off ascending any longer I set off up the pitch, with Yvette behind and Will de-rigging. On the sketchy ledge Yvette swapped position with me and took point on the very bouncy pitch two. When Will arrived and de-rigged the bottom pitch I took the bag of rope and gave him the empty one and set off upwards!

All three of us I think it is fair to say found the free hanging ascents pretty hard work, mainly due to poor technique rather than fitness, defo the case for me. By the time I reached the rift Yvette was transitioning onto the first pitch, which was proving hard as I had not left anywhere near enough rope loop under the rebelay (thought I had loads when rigging but it all turned out to be rope stretch). Will caught me up in the rift as Yvette carried on up.

When I eventually slogged my way up to the top I took one bag with me and left Yvette to wait for Will while I dashed out of the cave to grab my phone and scramble into the field to get signal and cancel the call out, also to let people know we were not going to make last orders. When I got back to the top of the pitch Will had just finished de-rigging so, very hot, sweaty, and tired we made out way out of the cave, faffed again with the lock and ambled back to the cars for 11ish.

This was a fantastic and challenging trip, not to mention an excellent work out. Credit to Yvette for preforming like a seasoned SRT caver and Will for doing all the de-rigging and ascending with the extra weight of rope.

Although it would have been good to have more than three members of the club on the trip any more than three and we would have been very late. If we fancy going down again, perhaps after some training then either pre-rigging or rigging both routes could be an option.

Seán

— Seán Tidey 12/05/2024

 

Thrupe Swallet - Wed 15 May 2024

David Cooke, Euan Goodland, Lawrence Wilson

Arrived in high spirits, got changed and walked across a couple of fields in gorgeous sunshine with deer and rabbits frolicking, full of the joys of spring. Oh my how things can change.

We identified an overgrown depression and beat our way through brambles and nettles to find a tiny stream that we followed to the very heavy gate that to our surprise didn’t need digging open.

The vast majority of this cave has been dug through loose boulders with lots of shoring evident throughout, metal still looks in good condition, the same can’t be said for the timbers.

We climbed down the natural entrance shaft on a fixed ladder then negotiated an awkward feet first crawl to descend a tight rift. At this point the small stream reappeared which was more of a minor annoyance than a problem. The cave is reminiscent of the nearby Hobnail Hole, clean washed through boulders.

Steeply descending through shored up boulders and numerous small grottoes we finally arrived at Inside Out Passage, the book describes this as a 10m hands and knees crawl leading to the top is Persistence Pot.

Sadly the stream has clearly been diverted or blocked so it now carries its silt into this horizontal passage that has filled to become a flat out crawl in stinking sludge. Half way along a slight enlargement enables you to nearly sit up whilst legs and bum disappear into the ooze. This is where the somewhat dodgey bolts are.

Much phaffing then ensued with Cookie unrolling two ladders, discovering one didn’t have C-links, dropping a mallion in the ooze, setting up a lifeline, feeding it all down the restricted pitch then finally turning around and crawling backwards to the pitch head.

As soon as Cookie disappeared over the lip much swearing was heard as the now stinking stream flowed straight into his face and continued to drench him for the entire 13m drop.

More phaffing as Euan moved past me and turned around to back over the lip, more colourful language as he also got drenched. Finally it was my turn, extracted myself from the ooze, turned around and over the lip……..oh yes a face full of gritty, smelly water. I couldn’t look up, around or barely down. Got to the bottom cold, wet, spluttering and only able to see out of one eye!

The other two investigated a wet crawl whilst I had had enough so self lifelined back up the ladder to resume my position sat in the ooze to lifeline them back up.

A comparatively swift derig as we pulled everything back to a small chamber where we could sit up and pack everything away.

We then rocketed out, dashed across the fields, changed and strictly adhered to the speed limits to arrive at the Hunters with minutes to spare.

If anyone fancies doing this cave again it would be much easier to set up everything in the “sitting up” chamber then pull the ladders and lifeline in behind you and feed it down the pitch whilst the second clips them into the bolts at the small enlargement. Probably best only done in a drought as well

Unless anyone else has a nomination this cave wins the much coveted “worst pitch head award” 2024 (and hopefully in perpetuity)

— Lawrence Wilson 26/05/2024

 

SRT Training WCC Tower - Wed 22 May 2024

Andy Sparrow, Avril Rea, David Cooke, Euan Goodland, Gary Powell, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Seán Tidey

Paul Stockall (potential new member)

Not raining which was a relief but got quite chilly in the wind. Much kitting up, going up and down, changing over etc.

Euan, Gary and Avril’s first ever SRT experience and all made great progress.

Many thanks to Andy, Cookie and Sean for their collective patience and guidance.

Retired to the Hunters to warm up

— Lawrence Wilson 26/05/2024

 

Hunters Hole - Wed 12 Jun 2024

Euan Goodland

The trip started, as most SRT trips do, in the car park flaking rope and trying to untangle and then fit our STR harnesses. At the cave Seán rigged with Yvette and Will helping Euan as this was his first SRT trip. We fist rigged the direct route, Seán went to the bottom of this while Will set Euan up to do it. Will then set up the Right Hand route and came down with Yvette. Once we were all at the bottom it was decided that Euna would go up the RHR as it was a bit more complicated with its rebelay. Seán went up on the direct rout along side to try to help. After a bit of drama and phaffing at the rebelay (entirely Seán's fault) Euan past it and we started making out way out, with Will and Yevette de-rigging and repacking bags as they went.

After a successful trip, with fun had by all we returned to the car park to celebrate and congratulate Euan on his first SRT trip. We decided against the pub.

— Seán Tidey 20/06/2024

 

Sludge Pit Hole - Wed 19 Jun 2024

Seán Tidey

This was the last chance to make a breakthrough without Andy. Euan and Will jumped straight into the dig and cracked on, with Gary in charge of dealing with the spoil. I had a quick gander into the secrete streamway dig, which you can now turn round in! This was all expertly supervised by Cookie! As we had plenty of people I went to the dig at the at the top of the aven to see if he could hear Will and Euan. At 8:20pm, clear as a bell I could hear Will and Euan banging away at the other end. After banging back my self (there are not many decent rocks to bang against at that end) I started shouting and could clearly hear the others shouting back! AN AUDABLE CONECTION HAS BEEN MADE. I returned to the other end and we confirmed we could hear each other. After a bit more digging, a rock falling out of the ceiling and almost taking out Euan we headed to the hunters knowing we were and that a break though is defiantly imminent!

— Seán Tidey 20/06/2024

 

Eastwater Cavern - Wed 26 Jun 2024

Andy Sparrow, David Cooke, Lawrence Wilson, Peter Sanders, Seán Tidey, Will Puddy

On Wednesday 26th Andy, Lawrence, Cookie, Will, Peter and I met at the Wessex with the intention of having a fairly leisurely exploration of the upper sections of the cavern, no ropes / SRT involved. Whilst walking out of the carpark Andy suggested going to have a look at the ‘Technical Masterpiece’. This sounded interesting. Cookie had tried to get there a couple of times with no luck, Andy I don’t think had been down it and the rest of us had only seen it on the survey and didn’t have a scooby doo! When Andy suggested we enter the cave in age / size order with him staying firmly at the back the alarm bells should have started ringing, but to me this made the ‘Technical Masterpiece’ sound like a short, tight, tricky feature that we would each have a go at and some may make it and others not, how wrong I was! The start of the trip was the standard Eastwater start following the string down to its end. From there instead of taking the 380 foot way as may normally would we followed Cookie down towards a sideways squeeze. Cookie had a go but tagged out and I went in first, this put me in the front of the line! We continued through this with the floor changing from gravel to concrete! We followed the concrete floor gently down until we reached the top of Mortons Pot, a short pot with some cable in the ceiling ( a remnant of the dig) which led us to an impressive, vertical dig, somewhere in the region of 30ft deep with a lot of wood and scaffolding on one side. There was a double rope hanging down the pitch (from a rusty pully) but integrity of this was unknow. I climbed down, what was a really tricky climb first, at the bottom the passage turns into a crawl and heads off “under” the scaffolding side. I waited for Cookie to come next but 2/3 of the way down the climb he decided it was too tricky of a freeclimb and started heading back up, his parting words were “that’s the Technical Masterpiece through there” and “that’s 3 times I’ve tried to get there now”. Peter made it down next and due to the lack of space I started through the fairly easy crawl into the TM. After a short headfirst belly crawl with a 90deg bend I came to a small pot. After 5 minutes of trying, I still couldn’t get into it feet first so I made Peter back up, to the bottom of the pitch and tried the whole thing again feet first that got me in easily. Peter quickly followed with Will behind. This was the start of the TM! With still no idea of how long or hard it was and whether anyone was behind Will I started heading down with Peter and Will following. The passage was a tight rift downhill stream passage with a small pot you could stand in every few meters. The main feature of the passage was there was no single technique / position you could use to get down. One moment you were right up by ceiling, on your side, 7ft above the floor at a 45-degree head down angle, the next you were down in the trickle of water on the floor going feet first dropping into a slightly bigger (two person pot). Every squeeze was different and required lots of thinking, trial and error and effort! Will, Peter and I continued down for a while until Will made the best decision of the evening and decided to turn back. This left just Peter and I to continue. Why did we continue when it was clear it was not the short, tight, tricky feature I thought it was in the beginning? I was still under the impression that the passage came out somewhere we knew and could get back to the surface from. A short look at the survey would have shown this was an error. The passage also had lots of 90 degree turns and there was always the thought that the end was just round the next corner. Finally, the challenge of seeing the next and the next and the next squeeze made me want to keep going and get through them. I don’t know if this was the same for Peter or whether he was blindly, loyal, following his club chairman assuming (wrongly) he knew what he was doing! After perhaps 45mins of this, during which we descended a long way, I eventually got to a squeeze that no matter how I tried it I could not pass. This was actually the best thing that could happen to us! If we had made it though we would have ended up in the Westend Series somewhere with the only way out involving large vertical pitches. After a bit of discussion between Peter and I, it was decided there was nothing for it but to turn around and head back up! By this time, I think our distinguished colleagues had made it out and decided the best course of action was to head to the pub! Petter and I continued, very slowly to head back up the TM the way we had come. I found this much more physically tiring than the way down (as we were going against gravity) but knowing we had done it all before and taking a slow and steady approach with plenty of mutual encouragement and help we progressed back to the bottom of the dig / pitch at 12am on the dot. The relief I felt when I realised we had made it to the bottom of the pitch and were out of the TM was substantial!! Peter and I, after catching our breath started the climb up (taking full advantage of the rope) and followed the concrete floor back to the squeeze where we retrieved our belts and found the guide rope to the entrance. We emerged at 12:30am precisely to see a relieved Andy, Lawrence, Will and Cookie. Cave rescue had been called out at around 12.10am but Lawrence quickly stood them down before anyone arrived as well as informing wives we were out and safe. We staggered back to the Wessex whilst explaining what had happened, where we had been and what the TM consisted of. Our energy levels were recharged with a Snickers from the Wessex and at about 1am we started making our individual ways home. I don’t know about Peter but I woke up on Thursday covered in bruises and just a little stiff! Although a very hard trip, with a bit of jeopardy thrown in, after a couple of days reflection I would defiantly class it as type 2 fun and something to tick of the caving bucket list. Peter was an absolute machine throughout and thanks to the rest of the team for dealing with everything on the surface.

— Seán Tidey 7/07/2024

 
Last modified: 14 Jan 2024 23:12