Contents
Caving Programme.
October
9-10th. Derbyshire. GIANTS & NETTLE POT. Accommodation at Magpie Cottage, Sheldon, Nr.
Bakewell.
October
16-17th. ST. CUTHBERTS. Working weekend for the completion of the
flood control pipes. ALL HELP REQUIRED.
October
23-30th.
Fermanagh. Cost £13.10.0 from Holyhead
includes food, transport, ferry etc. Further information from Dave Irwin.
November
13-14th.
November
21st. CUTHBERTS. LONG CHAMBER & CORAL SERIES. Party limited to six.
December
11th.
December
12th. LAMB LEER. NEW EXTENSIONS.
For further details apply to Dave Irwin or Keith Franklin.
*****************************************
There will be a St.
Cuthberts leaders meeting on Sunday, October 17th at the New Inn , Priddy at
2.15pm
Library Notes
C.R.G. Publication No. 13 July 1965 Mendip Cave
Bibliography, and Survey catalogue (1901 1963) has just been received. This book is presented in quarto size and is
bound in a stiff paper cover with plastic comb binding so that it opens flat,
and additional sheets can be added as new material becomes available and is
published. The bibliography is
extensively indexed under caves and subjects and consists of the following
sections: –
Introduction.
Catalogue of Publications (arranged under authors).
Survey Catalogue.
Subject Index.
Cave Index.
Each section is separated by a different coloured sheet and
the whole consists of 164 sheets. A copy
will be kept in the club library and one will be available at the Belfry. Further copies are available from the C.R.G.
price 25/- for members and 30/- for non-members. If anyone is interested in getting a copy,
will they please order it from the Hon. Librarian (Joan Bennett) by the 2nd
October together with 25/- please.
B.E.C. Caving Report No. 11 The Long Chamber/Coral Area,
St. Cuthberts Swallet by Dave Irwin is now available price 3/6.
June Mock Rescue in St. Cuthberts
A practice rescue was held in St. Cuthberts Swallet on June
26th. An attempt was made to make the
rescue as realistic as possible with the location of the victim not being
disclosed until the last minute. The
only part to be organised before hand was the Rigging Party for Pulpit, Gour
Passage and Traverse Pitches. The alarm
was given at approximately 11.45am that an accident had occurred in Beehive
Chamber. People on the Belfry site began
to change and a message was sent up to the Hunters to notify B.E.C. Members
there.
The first Carrying Party (CP1) assembled and consisted of
Dave Irwin, Pat Irwin, Alan Coase and a fourth man. (Dave Palmer and J, Manchip were already with
the victim Alan Thomas). They were
preceded into the cave by the Rigging Party of Bryan Ellis, Pete Franklin, Phil
Kingston and R. Craig, who carried tackle for Pulpit, Gour Passage and The
Water Shute. As soon as Pulpit was
laddered, Pete and Phil descended and continued down the cave laddering Gour Passage
Pitch (20 ladder) and the Water Shute (20 ladder and 100 rope). Meanwhile, K. Franklin and Slavin had changed
and entered the cave to augment CP1 and also carry tackle down for the Traverse
Pitches. This tackle was collected from
the top of Upper Traverse Pitch by the Rigging Party who tackled the two
pitches. The Rigging Party reassembled
at the top of Lower Traverse Pitch, continued down to the bottom of Maypole
Series and waited for the arrival of the victim.
CP1 located the victim and tied him in the carrying
sheet. The route out was decided as
Plantation Junction across the top of Sewer Rift into the Rabbit Warren and
down again to Main Stream Passage along Everest Passage and across Boulder
Chamber to Kanchenjunga and then to Traverse Chamber. This was achieved in two and a half hours
with little difficulty in negotiating most of the route, with the exception of
the small stretch of the route in the Rabbit Warren between the stal. bank and
the Main Stream. The only problem was
the tying of the victim in the carrying sheet. This was incorrectly done in the first place amended slightly, and
finally done properly at the top of Upper Traverse Pitch, under the supervision
of Oliver Lloyd, who joined the rescue at this point as an observer. Points about this stage of the rescue were
that about eight in the carrying party were sufficient handling techniques
could have been better with slower pulls rather than quick jerks. With no real problems of negotiation
experienced, the two and a half hours were quite a reasonable time (between 800
and 900 feet of passage length) and this could be cut down by having fewer
stops, using Stal. Pitch and carrying on through the Rabbit Warren into the
Railway Tunnel and Harem Passage (650 700 feet).
The victim was lowered down Upper Traverse Pitch by CP1 and
received by CP2 (R. Bennett, R. Meadon, R. King, C. Harvey, D. Searle and J.
Hill) who then lowered him down Lower Traverse Pitch with the aid of the
Rigging Party. Telephone communication
had been set up (
R. Biddle plus 1) to the surface from Upper Traverse Chamber. The telephone party then followed the rescue
out and at the appropriate moment, B. Prewer entered the cave to bring the
other end of the telephone to the top of Pulpit. Oliver Lloyd, Dave Irwin and Keith Franklin
also followed CP2 out to the bottom of Gour Passage Pitch as observers and to
give a hand if necessary. The Water
Shute was accomplished without any difficulty, but Gour Passage Pitch was a
different matter, and requires a definite technique to be worked out for the
sake of both the rescued and the rescuers! This also applies to Pulpit where a double rope was used through a
pulley at the top of the carrying sheet. This pulley was a swivel type and, with a construction of a new hauling
rope which tended to untwist itself, cause it to jam up with the rope and
prevent movement either up or down. The
communications were poor, as the telephone arrived rather late at the bottom of
the pitch, and verbal conversation degenerated somewhat. The salient points at this stage of the
rescue were that a dam across Maypole Stream was enough to keep the pitch dry
in normal circumstances (so should a permanent dam be built?). Gour Passage and Pulpit Pitches need more
serious consideration about rigging. Wire Rift ought to be tried as an alternative. A permanent telephone needs to be put in,
with tapping points. The rigging party
had two hours to wait at the top of Lower Traverse Pitch, so could be used
either to augment CP1 or to leave the cave.
From the top of Pulpit, the victim was pulled up Arête
Pitch. This was more difficult than
expected, as the hauling room was restricted and the rope was slippery with mud
and water. It needed five people to be
on the hauling rope. Also the ladder
constricts the top of Arête and had to be manoeuvred to a better position.
The passage though to the bottom of the entrance pitch was
negotiated without problems, but the victim could only be pulled half way up
the pitch. The rescue was abandoned at
this point. The difficulties experienced
at this point could be obviated by a fresh party in the cave to haul up Pulpit,
Arête and Entrance Pitches and not anybody left in the cave from CP1, CP2 or the Rigging Party. Finally, a practice hauling a victim up the
Entrance Pitch in a carrying sheet. Most
of the trouble was caused by the victims helmet jamming across the rift.
The total time of the rescue was six hours and in spite of
the fact that it did not achieve the object of removing the victim from the
cave, it was successful. If the problems
raised by the third mock rescue could be resolved quickly, the B.E.C. could
feel confident that at least has a rescue system worked out which could cope
with most of the possible accident situations in Cuthberts
K. Franklin.
Editors
Note: Firstly, an apology to the author
re absence of a proper heading to this article. Secondly, we feel that the active cavers are to be congratulated for the
work put in this year on Mock Rescues. With this experience, and the completion of the Flood Water Control
System, we can surely claim to have taken all possible and reasonable
precautions to prevent any serious situation from developing in St.
Cuthberts. It seems a pity that the
public who are fed lurid accounts of danger in caves, cannot be informed via
the press of the less spectacular work which goes on to reduce the dangers as
far as it is humanly possible.
Notice
Since only one nomination for the committee was received by
the date required by the Constitution, there will be no election this
year. The names and posts of the 1956/66
committee will be published in next months B.B.
Showcaves in
Switzerland
-part 2
by Mo Marriott.
We boarded the coaches, and were soon on our way, but before
finally returning to
a visit was paid to another cave near Zug thr Hollgrottem bei Baar. This system is in complete contrast to the
Hollock, both in size and formation. The
cave is at about 2,000 feet O.D. and has been formed in Tuff on the edge of a
shallow wooded valley.
The system consists of a series of small grottoes and
cambers connected by passages some natural and others excavated. The feature of the cave is that these
chambers are packed with formations in something like the same degree of
profusion as in Balch Hole. The first
and smallest chamber was about eight feet high and the roof was covered with a
fine display of betroidal stalactites with colours varying from white to deep
brown and red. I noticed in this chamber
and in the next the Straw Room that there were hardly any corresponding
formations on the floor. I asked if
these had been removed and was told that, surprisingly, this was the original
condition of the cave. I was
particularly impressed by the length of some of the straws, and the fact that
some were deep brown and red in colour.
The next chamber was called the
Forest
name for a show cave, but a name with special significance as I later
learned. This was the most impressive
chamber, the main feature being a cluster of perfectly parallel columns riding
from the centre of the floor into a chimney in the roof. These pillars were between twenty and thirty
feet long and some were only six to eight inches in diameter almost like
gigantic straws. As in the case of Straw
Chamber, I noticed that these pillars had developed almost entirely as
stalactites, since there was little or no build up of flowstone at the
base. In another part of this chamber
there were several stalactites of over ten feet in length which had almost
reached floor level, yet there was no trace of flowstone beneath it.
We moved on to the next chamber where, Professor Bogli
assured us, the origins of these odd formations would become obvious. The name of the chamber was the
apt. In the centre of the chamber were a
number of what appeared to be very very thin, dark brown pillars. Closer inspection showed them to be tree
roots! These roots were about thirty
feet long and from one to three inches in diameter, perfectly parallel and
smooth with a dense cluster of hair-like roots at the point at which they
touched the floor. Professor Bogli
explained to us that, because of the porosity of the Tuff, the fir trees
standing on the slopes directly above the cave have to send down long tap roots
into the rock to finds enough water. When they reach the cavity, the roots carry on growing until they reach
the floor where they send out thousands of fine roots to collect water. Once the roots have reached the floor, the
growth rate drops almost to zero and a thin film of stal. begins to form at
once over the root. This film soon
develops into a thick case and forms the columns of the
Forest
cave.
The depth of the rock above the cave varied from five to
fifty feet so that some of the roots sent down by the fir trees could be as
much as eighty feet long probably greater than the height of the tree.
Apart from the trees, the other inhabitants of the cave were
bats and spiders in fact the cave was absolutely infested with spiders. The final chamber had formerly been half
filled with water to form a large calcite basin. However, a nearby water scheme for
all the seepage supply so that the basin was now empty. This did give on the opportunity to examine
the walls of the basin (which had been about six feet deep). The walls were covered with fine Dog-tooth
Spar, with some interesting calcite flower formations at the old water
level. On the floor, were several large
chunks of petrified wood that had been similarly coated with Dog-tooth Spar.
The temperature in this cave is somewhat higher than that in
the Hollock, and this was particularly noticeable when we made our exit into
the teeth of a full-blown snowstorm! Thus ended a visit to two very interesting
Annual General Meeting and Dinner
FINAL NOTICE
As announced in last months B.B., the Annual General
Meeting and Dinner will be held on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2ND.
The Annual General Meeting will be held at 2.30pm in St.
Mary Redcliffe Church Hall, Guinea Street,
wait a long time for a quorum.
The Dinner will be held at the Cave Man Restaurant, Cheddar
at 7pm for 7.30pm. The price of the
dinner is 16/6 and applications should be made AT ONCE to Bob Bagshaw TOGETHER
WITH THE MONEY. His address is: –
We know that there is very little time between your
receiving this B.B. (due to staff holidays and absence) and the actual date if
the dinner, but please write PROMPTLY to Bob.