Letter to the Editor

Dear Sir,

Why didn’t we have a competition for the new Bat design on
the cover?  I’m sure mine would have won
first prize!

 

Talking Point

Discussion, lately, has been dominated by the new Belfry.  It has been suggested that whether we get the
Grant or not we go should go ahead and build the new Belfry this year.  It has been said that the new building as
proposed,, might be priced as low as £2,000, and as Bob, our Honourable
Treasurer, thinks that the money could be raised by May this year, the
followers of this idea now say “Let’s get the building up ourselves this
without the Grant we may not get”.

On the other hand the opposite view is taken.  That is to wait and see what the Official
answer brings.  If it is ‘Yes’ then the
club will have saved something up to 50% of the cost of the new Belfry – in the
case of a £2,000 building – £1,000 saved! The rest of the money would then be available for other essentials such
as car-park, interior fittings of the building etc.

If the former idea is accepted, then an E.G.M. will have to
be called as directed by the 1967 A.G.M.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

“WIG”

*****************************************

Hon. Sec: – A.R. Thomas,
Westhaven
School, Uphill,
Weston-super-Mare,
Somerset
Editor: – D.J. Irwin,

23 Campden
Road,
Bristol. 3.

 

Further Caving In

Switzerland

The first three issues have
included details of the new discoveries and this number continues on the same
theme – this time exploration in north-east

Switzerland.

by Mo Marriott.

Despite the rather general title of this article it is more
or less devoted to the exploration of one system.  But first a brief picture of our caving
activities here in the north-east of

Switzerland.  Caving here is divided into two distinct
seasons; from spring until the end of summer we amuse ourselves by exploring
caves situated in the lowlands, some of these are found in small outliers of
limestone and are partially solution in origin, while many others are formed in
glacial deposits and are almost entirely erosional in nature.  In addition there are a number of abandoned
lignite mines and stone workings, some of which are of considerable
antiquity.  At all events none of these
caves or mines are extensive – they are small, or very small by Mendip
standards.

The second season starts at the end of August – weather and
the previous winters snow conditions permitting – and ends with the general
rise in temperature at the end of February. During this period we are able to get up into the mountainous Karst
areas, where by far are the most interesting systems found.  At first we are restricted to the shallower
pots and the meandering stream passages found in the Karst areas.  These meander passages are quite interesting,
they run more or less parallel to the surface seem to form a pattern of
drainage largely independent of the major vertical systems which pierce the
limestone.  Stream capture between
meander passages and shafts can be seen in a number of places, and collapsing
of these shallow passages has produced extensive trench-like depressions which
are characteristic feature of this Karst area.

By the middle or end of September the remnants of the winter
snow have either vanished or the nightly sub-zero temperatures have reduced the
melt streams to a minimum.  It is only
then that the ‘serious’ caving begins, and that means the deep shafts.  Over the last two tears our attention has
been centred on one system called “Kobelishohle” (literally

Jacobs
Cave).  This cave has been known to the local Senner
(alpine herdsman) for many years as a steep sided depression at the bottom of a
high rift entrance leads down into a high but narrow rift chamber – an
extension of the entrance chamber.  After
a further 40ft. the rift petered out in a horizontal direction but extended
vertically downwards, forming the mouth of a very large shaft.  This shaft was plumbed and founds to be
530ft. deep and apparently quite vertical.

The first descent took place a few weeks later.  After many hours of transporting material;
ladders, ropes, a winch, we were finally ready to tackle this very deep shaft
(See B.B. No.217).  The shaft was truly
vast, 30 to 40ft. in diameter, and tending to a double shaft profile with a
figure of eight cross section near the bottom. The massive beds of cretaceous limestone were everywhere gentle fluted
and scalloped and polished to a finish like marble.  Several promising ways on were seen at or
near the bottom of the shaft, but in view of the lack of time, the small size
of our party (five, including the people manning the winch) and the fact that
the three of us in the shaft were now soaked from the constant spray, we were
obliged to return to the surface.

In the few weeks of 1965 that remained we were prevented
from making another descent, as the result of bad weather, and this situation
continued in the early part of the year, so that the second trip did not come
until September 1966.  We had benefited
much from the experience of the first descent, so that the rigging of the shaft
went very smoothly, although we were still plagued with lack of people, on this
occasion – six instead of five!  Three of
us were soon at the bottom of the shaft and we immediately set about the task
of surveying the large hall which formed the bottom of the shaft.  On completion of this we turned our attention
to the two obvious ways on from the bottom. We decided to tackle a “window” in the wall of the shaft first.  This hole was very conspicuous and about
thirty feet from the floor.  We were
quite easily able to enter the hole by climbing a little way up the ladder and
swinging across.  We found ourselves at
the head of a steeply descending rift, from ten to twenty feet wide, and in
places more than sixty feet high, with some very nice stal. decorations on the
walls.  The rift was quite tricky to
negotiate, in some places we could climb, while in others we had to hang
ladders, and our progress was steady but slow. At a point about 130ft. below the window we were disappointed to find
that the rift closed down to an impenetrable slot, and no way on could be
found.  We returned to the shaft and
examined the second passage.  This was a
very high rift breaching the south wall of the shaft but only two or three feet
wide.  We followed the floor of this
narrow meandering rift, which descended quite rapidly in a series of potholes
of up to a depth of twenty feet.  The
narrowness of the rift enabled us to climb down these pots by bridging against
the walls, so we did not have to use ladders. 

Here we were able to make rapid progress, surveying as we
went, and we were soon around 120ft. below the floor of the big shaft.  Then we came to the second disappointment of
the day, but a rather different barrier than the first.  The rift widened suddenly to around eight
feet and appeared to ascend slightly or at least the floor of the rift.  On closer inspection we found that this was
only a local widening of the rift, and a narrow slot continued steeply
downward.  One of us squeezed into the
slit whilst another climbed up into the widening which formed a sort of gallery
along the rift axis.  About one minute
later the discovery of the second shaft was announced, by the man in the narrow
slit who had found himself peering out a little way down one wall, and by me
when I found myself looking straight down into the mouth of the shaft.  It was a big one, and we were not sure that
our ladder would reach.  The plumbing
settled the matter, the shaft was 200ft. deep to the first landing, and we had
only 160ft. of ladder with us.  We made
the long grind back to the head of the big shaft, and began the equally long
task of de-tackling the cave and transferring the material over the
mountain.  In the ensuing months the
weather was again against us and three attempts at descending the hole were
frustrated by excessive water.  It was to
be almost exactly a year before another trip could be made.

In the beginning of October last year we were able to get a
reasonable party together for a further attempt at pushing Kobleishohle.  On this occasion five people descended the
shaft equipped with an extra 250ft. of ladder, which with the ladder on the big
pitch comprised our entire stock – some 800ft. The rigging of the 200ft. shaft proved quite a problem since the
polished rock in the rift at the head of the shaft offered nothing in the way
of natural belays, and cracks scarcely wide enough to fit a razor blade – let
alone a piton.  Eventually we installed
two somewhat doubtful pitons and the first man descended.  The plan was for three people to scout ahead
and see what lay in store for us, the other two people descending using a
double lifeline when they were required. The 200ft. shaft, although somewhat smaller in diameter than the big
shaft was equally impressive.  Almost
circular in section and some twenty feet in diameter, the rock was quite black
in contrast to the deep browns and yellows of the big shaft.  Our hopes were very soon shattered, when,
only a very few feet below the floor of this shaft, a further pitch was
found.  We were praying that that our
fifty feet of ladder would be long enough, but the time for stones to fall down
the shaft was ominously long.  The shaft
was not quite vertical, a smooth ledge at thirty feet obscured our view of the
bottom.  We lowered our last ladders into
the shaft and one of us descended.  The
ledge was very round and smooth, and did not offer a very good footing,
certainly not good enough for a second belay point.  By clinging to the ladder and leaning out one
could see the end of our last ladder swinging in space a long way from the
bottom.  Once again the plumb line was
brought into use – the pitch was 90ft. total. It was decided to leave all the tackle in the cave, with the intention
of returning within a week or two.  This
at least made the return to the surface less of a slog.

It was six weeks before another trip could be made, but the
weather at the end of November seemed to becoming more stable, and we had high
hopes.  However, an unseasonal snow storm
occurred 24hrs. before the trip and we were faced with a long climb up into the
mountains through five feet of very soft snow. In fact we started the climb but gave up almost exhausted after three
hours, and after the prospect of at four more to reach the cave.  The end of the year approached and the weather
remained atrocious.  By now we were
getting a little worried about the condition of the equipment in the cave,
since most of the ladders were hanging in very damp conditions.  A further attempt was made at the beginning
of January, this time the cave was reached on ski, but even so, it required
five hours of climbing.  When we reached
the cave we were horrified to find the depression almost filled with drifted
snow, we were faced with the prospect of having to dig more than twenty feet to
reach the floor of the entrance chamber. It took us the entire weekend to ‘open up’ the hole, the snow in the
lower part of the entrance (probably the November snowfall) had compacted
almost to ice and we had to chop it out with an axe.  On top of that the snow had drifted into the
crawl for some distance, almost filling it. We covered the ‘snow shaft’ with some wooden planks to prevent the snow
from drifting further into the cave and returned to the valley.  Three weeks later we made a ski trip into the
mountains again, this time with a strong party reinforced by some colleagues
from the French speaking part of

Switzerland.  This was to be something of a do-or-die
attempt, not so much to push the exploration but rather to recover the
equipment from the cave before the Spring melt began – to have left the tackle
in the cave during this period would have meant writing it off, what isn’t
hopelessly corroded by the water would have swept away.  This time we and a further 150 feet of ladder
with us, and an extra 650 feet of lifeline. We made record time on the big shaft and just under two hours we had
five people on the bottom.  The 200ft.

shaft was also quickly descended and the 90ft. pitch was
rigged.  The bottom this pitch proved to
be very roomy, with a very large rift passage leading off to the north.  At least, it seemed, the cave was starting to
level out. But not for long!  After 50
feet of gently descending passage we were again staring forlornly down into the
mouth of yet another shaft – another big one! 200ft. to the first landing the plumb line told us, and at the same time
told us that we were about 100ft. short of ladder.  Time was very much against us and after
toying with the idea of lowering ladders from some of the higher pitches we
decided to call it a day and shift all the tackle out of the cave.

So this is the situation up to date.  We now have face the long wait until the
autumn and colder weather.  During this
wait we will all be wondering about what waits in store for us at the bottom of
the latest shaft.  A chamber?  Another big pitch – another five hundred
footer would be by no means improbable. A big passage?  This time next
year we will know the answer, I’ll let you know then.

 “Mo” Marriott.

P.S.  According to the
survey the bottom of the latest shaft, or at least the landing struck by the
plumb line, is about 1,250ft. down.

 

B.E.C. Caving Expedition 1985

                        –
Start planning NOW!

Recent theories on the structure of the Moon suggest a
highly porous surface layer ‘honeycombed with caves of all sizes, by comparison
the greatest grottoes of the Earth are mere pinholes!

…from a recent issue of The New
scientist.

*****************************************

Have you paid you Sub yet?……………..send it to Bob
NOW!

Monthly Notes No.12

by ‘WIG’

Council Of Northern Caving Clubs:-

Address changes –

ASS. SEC. responsible for meets
on Leck, Casterton and Fountains Fell:-
                        J. Morgan,

23 Runnington Ave.,
Colne, Lancs.

ASS. SEC. for Penyghent,
Fountains Fell (except Mr Coates’ land) and Mongo Gill:-
                        J. Rasdell,

6 Monkroyd Ave.,
Barnoldswick, Colne, Lancs.

C.R.G. Library.

All British periodicals are being transferred to Mr. P.A.
Haigh of

Halifax.  Enquiries should still be address to Brig.
E.A. Glennie.

New Digging Spades.

The Committee have purchased 2 lightweight spades that
should take the backache out of constricted digging.  Being much shorter and smaller it is easier
to manoeuvre.  If these are found to be
satisfactory by the digging teams then more will be purchased.

Austria
– The Ahnenschacht 1968

Members interested in going to

Austria to have a bash at bottoming
this great shaft should contact Alan Thomas as soon as possible.  The trip is planned for sometime in
August.  Also, if anyone is interested in
another trip to Greece Alan is prepared to organise a trip to the very deep
shaft – about 2,000ft. –Proventina. Again get in contact with Alan as soon as possible.

Cuthbert’s Report – the position.

Exploration of S. Cuthbert’s. –
Is in for its final re-write.
COMPLETE SURVEY & SECTIONS – Will not be complete until 1969.
NEW & OLD ROUTES – Survey nearing completion.
MAIN CHAMBERS – Line survey only.
RABBIT WARREN – All survey lines complete. 50% detailed.
GOUR HALL – Final drawing completed.
CERBERUS & MAYPOLE SERIES – Both surveys complete except for minor
passages.  Drawings not started.
RABBIT WARREN EXT. & CATGUT – Line survey only.
SEPTEMBER SERIES – Line survey only.
LONG CHAMBER AREA – Line survey through the main route only.
CORAL AND ROCKY

BOULDER
SERIES – Only partially surveyed.

Other parts of the report in various stages of preparation.

Length of passage so far surveyed nearly 11,500ft.

The depth of the cave to the sump = 411.9ft.

Cuthbert’s Tourist Trips.

Leaders are reminded that all visitors to the cave are
charged 1/- tackle fees – except when they are on working trips.  Since the cave was re-opened in January it
has been a regular event to hear of someone being pulled up the Entrance
Rift.  Recently two parties from a
University Club had nearly 50% of their number pulled or assisted up the rift.  It must be pointed out once again that
Cuthbert’s is definitely not a novice cave and club secs. planning visits to
the cave should make sure that all their members have sufficient experience.

Happenings At The Belfry

March at the Belfry has been a month of gradual recovery
from two months fester.  Not only has
climbing and caving been on the increase – several members have lent a hand and
preliminary work for the new Belfry got underway.  The first job was the re-piping of the
Drinking pool stream way.  The old pipes
were replaced with larger, and stronger, concrete pipes.  Alongside the pipes was laid a telephone
cable for communication between the Belfry and the cave below in times of
emergency etc.  It also is now in a much
safe position – before it was slung ‘high’ over the Belfry track and attached
to the clothes line post.  Unfortunately
it wasn’t high enough because it almost threw Walt Foxwell from his
tractor!  What did I hear you say?……

On 16th March, Fred Owen and his bulldozer cut a track along
the inside of the Belfry site south boundary. This will provide a separate approach to Walt Foxwell’s small holding at
the rear of the Belfry resulting in a cleaner car parking area.  The total cost of this exercise is reported
to be in the region of nearly £60.

St. Cuthbert’s Swallet (Mendip!)

The water from the Main Stream that flows into the pool
under Cerberus Hall has now been proved to flow on into the
Lake.  Although not proven presumably on back-up
cave to the static sump that lies under Curtain Chamber.  After all the arguments that took place
before the final test Roger Stenner must be pleased with himself in proving his
ideas to be correct.

 

Trips from the Caving Log

Edited by Phil Coles.

Caving is finally finding its feet again as the F & M
restrictions are lifted.  First trip of
the New Year was on 20th January – a photographic trip in Hunters Hole, coupled
with a look at digs.  Dears’ Ideal would
appear to be most promising, a boulder floor rising to a few inches of the roof
at the constricted point.  A few weekends
work, and maybe a bit of bang, is all (ALL? Ed.) that seemed to be needed.

St. Cuthbert’s was officially reopened on the 21st January
with a successful practice rescue in the Wire Rift (see B.B. Feb. 1968).  Subsequent trips have been two water sampling
trips by Roger Stenner on 26/1 and 10/2, return to Sump Dig on 4/2 by Phil
Kingston and Barry and sherpas.  Phil was
pleased to find that despite a prolonged absence from the sump, it hadn’t
silted up.  Thoughts have also turned to
digs again after a prospecting trip on 3/2 by Dave Irwin, Alan Thomas and
others to the end of Gour Rift.  The
Dining Room Dig has been dug on one occasion – 28/2.  On the 4/2 a party comprising Keith Franklin,
Dave Irwin, Howard Kenny and Oliver Lloyd inspected the possibilities of
carrying out a practice rescue from Coral Chamber.  They did not state their conclusions (the
rescue will take place as planned on the 21st April.  A simple route was found – Ed).  They say that the average age of the party was
40!  (Heavens only knows what it would
have been if ‘Old Man’ Meaden and Alan Thomas had been on the trip.  (38 – Ed). There have been twelve other trips into Cuthbert’s including a
photographic.  One such trip in Long
Chamber Tim Hodgson slipped and dislocated his knee.  Fortunately it righted itself before Tim came
to rest.  After a ‘ciggy’ he was able to
get out under his own steam.

Hunters was visited for the 2nd time on the 28/1 but no
digging.  On the 3/2 ‘Fred’ Atwell
explored Cuckoo Cleeves and found the cave very loose!  On the 7/2 bods had a look around

Redcliffe
Caves. Other caves visited have been New Balch & G.B. (photographic)
Burrington and Nine Barrows, all one each.

The main event so far has been the opening of the mineshaft
in Rookham Wood by Bob Sell & Co. Little need be said here as Bob is writing an article on it.  (see letters – Ed).

*****************************************

On Monday 18th March it was announced that Mendip was now
regarded as an area of outstanding natural beauty.  (From B.E.C. and Press reports).

Buckfastleigh Area –
Devon.

On the 11-3-68 the Guardian reported that over the previous
weekend that 200,000 (yes 2 hundred thousand) feet of new passage had been
discovered!  Minor checking found the
Express and Telegraph with the correct length – a mere 2,000ft.  Apparently the cave concerned is Bakers
Pit.  The extensions have deepened the
cave quite considerably.  Finally, the
Shepton got hold of the news and published it in their Newssheet before it
appeared in the D.D.D. Journal – weren’t they mad!

DON’T FORGET TO RETURN THE MRO FORMS THAT APPEARED WITH THE
FEB. B.B.!

Swildons

The cave was re-opened to cavers on Thursday 14th
March.  At first it was only to cavers
known to Mr.

Maine
but by Sunday it was business as usual! 35 cars were counted on the Green outside the farm.

 

That Bat!

By JOCK ORR 

 

We have had so many letters congratulating us on the new
Belfry bulletins that it is quite impossible to print them all.  Quite a lot of comments have been made about
the new cover design; in particular about the BAT.  For instance:-

 

Dear Editor,

I don’t think much of your new bat.  It looks as if it has just received a charge
of buckshot up the backside!

 

Sir,

I’m a keen student of bats, and I must say that this looks
as if you have discovered a new species.

 

Dear Sir,

I think a more energetic looking bat would have been in
keeping with the spirit of the B.E.C. Why not a Bat – Rampant showing its teeth instead of the timid
mouse-like decoration on the cover?

 

Long Term Planning

In response to many members request Alfie and Bob give the
up to date position regarding the New Belfry.

GRANT: –

The paperwork has been transferred from the Department of
Education and Science to Somerset Playing Fields Committee.  The normal time which elapses before the
receipt of paperwork and the provision of a grant is about a year but we have
been told that we shall probably receive a grant in about nine months.  Confirmation of this is expected in April.

ESTIMATES :-

Plans of the proposed building have been submitted to a
number of builders for estimating purposes. At present it looks as if the price will be somewhat less that our
original guess.

“Alfie”

*****************************************

Dear Members,

To give you some idea of the present position regarding
finance of the proposed New Belfry I have set out below some of the pertinent
details.

HUT FUND		£
	In hand 31-8-67	6	–	–
	Bankers Orders to 12-3-68	105	–	–
	Other Donations.	286	–	6
	Jumble Sale	21	10	2
	Interest to 31-12-67	1	15	4
	½ Annual Subs. Since 31-1-68	25	16	6
		£446	2	6

                        Outstanding
on Bankers Orders   £472
                        Other
anticipations:-       Donations   £200
                                                ½
Annual Subs £50 per annum.
                                                ½
Belfry Dues  £75 per annum.

Including the balance of £446-2-6 on the Hut Fund the Clubs
position is as follows:-

Lloyds Bank Deposit A/C 12/3/68                        £336-15-4
Post Office Savings Bank A/C 18/3/68     £340-14-11
Cash 18/3/68                                         £  32-10-10
                                                                        £710-  1- 1

If you have not already done so, would you please let me
know immediately if you are willing to contribute by Bankers Standing Order or
in any other way.

Yours hopefully,
R. Bagshaw.  Hon. Treasurer.

 

Letters to the Editor

Dear Irwin,

In the north corner of Rookham Wood, in 1933, there is a
nice little climbing shaft which I descended (Back and Knee).  It is surrounded by 4 trees – at its base
there is a right hand turn to another steeply descending sledge-way, boxed with
wood, leading down some 40ft. or more; as far as I went being on my own.

Mr. Balch told me ‘that there were several deep shafts lower
down the valley towards the Rookham Spring.’ But I did not find them.

Yours sincerely,
Gerald Platten.  16/3/68

*****************************************

Dear Sir,

During recent weeks conversation in certain quarters of the
club has turned to the purchase of a barn on the opposite of the Cuthbert’s
depression from the Belfry site (some people have expresses themselves very
forcefully).

I do not at this stage propose to go into the Why’s and
Wherefores concerning the Committees decision to purchase the Barn except to
say that at the time I thought it was the right thing to do.  The reasons were: – a) it would giver us
extra accommodation and b) and investment.

Since then however, the Long Term Planning Committee have
produced their excellent report and had their plans approved for the New Belfry
at the last A.G.M.

The questions now remain: – What are we going to do with the
barn?  Is it worth spending money
on?  Now that we have purchased the barn
should we demolish it and use the stone work and wood for our own purposes and
try to sell the land to someone prepared to obtain the necessary planning
permission to erect a building of some sort?

My own view is that we must take the cheapest way out by
demolishing the building and using the materials for the New Belfry.  Whether we keep the land or not is immaterial
at this stage.  What is important is that
we should not waste money which could otherwise be used for the New Belfry.

G.D. Tilly  16/3/68

Wedding Bells

From B.E.C. members everywhere “Very best wishes” to Joyce
and Pete Franklin who were married in

Bristol
on Saturday 30th March.

Members may be interested to know that at long last the
B.E.C. contingent north of the Border has contacted the B.B. with news of their
most recent activities – well part of them at any rate!  Most will remember that we lost some of the
regular visitors to Mendip last year when John Manchip, Steve Grime, Pete McNab
(Snab to most) and Derm. Statham went north to

Edinburgh in search of their fortunes.  Here is what they have been doing.

 

The B.E.C. North of the Border

By Steve Grime

Since leaving the ‘sunny’ south the activities of the
ex-Mendip population have been limited mainly to consuming vast quantities of
Ale (after dole day!) talking about last summer and planning for the coming
summer.

However, some of the less slothful members of the fraternity
have managed to get away ‘on the hill’ every weekend since September.  Caving first – although there is not much to
report in this field owing to Foot and Mouth etc., in November we made two
trips to Yorkshire to do Kingsdale Master Cave – a really superb cave.  Also we had a go at several other pots.  On the first weekend I got clobbered for the
tragic Sunset Hole rescue (see below – Ed) which was a classic at
underestimating the difficulties in bringing a body out of a ‘moderate’ pot.  The next trip on the following weekend
featured Jefferies (of the Grampians S.S. – Ed) with new wife and McNab.  We were a potential aven climbing party, but
on inspection the ‘old Cuthbert’s snag of dissolving stal. to quite a depth
showed that golos were the only way up. In a water fight in the beck McNab got a pegging hammer embedded in his
skull and spent the next few weeks wailing about chronic headaches. After this
trip Foot and Mouth took and all meets were cancelled. Biddle (HE’S not in the the
B.E.C. – Ed) went north for a week with his new wife and a new bang licence but
to no avail!  A practice rescue was held
in one of the Fife Mines and went very well to our amazement and the awe of the
visiting club.

On to juicier stuff – climbing.  This started with a bang.  On the weekend of September 16th (1967) Derm
Statham, Lynn and myself managed to smash off 9 Munroe’s in 28 hours.  After that things slowed down a bit but every
weekend, except when caving, at least one Munroe or classic has ‘gone’.  Standing out are Tower Ridge in filthy conditions,
wet, heavy snow, cloud and half a gale; also Aonach Eagach in a blizzard with soft snow over-lying verglas.  Result – crampons points now ¼” shorter.

Four weeks ago S.C. Gully was really good but the snow
didn’t start until half-way up.  All in
winter conditions have been terrible although Manchip and I took advantage of
some peerless weather in November to climb Carn Toul (4,000ft. – I think) and
then walked back to Braer through the night on an iced up path where Biddle
picked us up the next day.

*****************************************

At present Steve is back in hospital again but not for long
as he intends to be on Mendip for Easter – the club meet is in
South Wales – just in case you are interested!  He carries on in the letter to suggest a
B.E.C. climbing meet at one of the Bank holidays in Scotland to climb faces
such as the Ben Nevis North East Wall and adds “…We do have two and three lane
roads in Scotland and one could always fly up and then hire a car from
Inverness, it’s only 60 miles from there.

Sunset Hole Rescue.

On October 7th Eric Lockhurst died after falling off a 40ft.
pitch.  Said to have started up the climb
without the lifeliner knowing what he intended to do.  He died from fractured ribs puncturing the
lungs.

Late As Usual!

Some of you are no doubt wondering why the B.B. is arriving
late ‘as usual’.  The fact is that it is
not being published late – the Feb. B.B. appeared during the second week of Feb
and March was published 7th March! – it’s because YOU probably have not
returned the wrappers that were enclosed with the Christmas B.B.  To ensure that your B.B. arrives on time send
the wrappers to Phil. Townsend,

154
Sylvia Ave.,
Bristol
3 – pick your pen and send then NOW.

Caving and Climbing Meets

Caving Meets: –

EASTER BANK HOLIDAY……….SOUTH
WALES…CAMPING.

21st. Apr. ST. CUTHBERT’S
Practice Rescue – Coral Chamber.

12th May.  G.B. Committee Members must attend – come along and watch the fiasco!

SPRING BANK HOLIDAY……
YORKSHIRE…..HAMMER POT & DISAPPOINTMENT.

Climbing Meets

Apr. 28th  WYE VALLEY

May 18/19  CORWALL……….CAMPING

 

Digs

Anyone interested giving a hand on any of these digs should
contact the people concerned at the Waggon on Thursday evenings.

ST. CUTHBERT’S          Gour Rift Dig – Dave Irwin or Keith
Franklin.
                                    Dining
Room Dig – Dave Irwin.

HUNTER’S HOLE          Dear’s Ideal – Phil Coles or Keith
Franklin.

ROOKHAM WOOD SHAFT – Jock Orr.

EMBOROUGH SWALLET – Phil Coles or
Keith Franklin.

Cavers Bookshelf

by B.M. Ellis &
D.J. Irwin

EXPEDITION ’67 TO THE
GOUFFRE BERGER:  Report by R.
Watkinson and others.  Published by the
Pegasus Club,
Nottingham.  10/-

At the start it should be pointed out that this is a report
on the expedition by the Pegasus Club and not the more publicised expedition
led by Ken Pearce; the latter suffered from’ moral trouble’ and many of the
team left the cave and refused to re-enter it. Pegasus Club, assisted by a few from Pearce’s party, did manage to reach
the bottom of the cave.  The report is
divided into sections on the Preparation, the Expedition itself, Medical,
Communications, Food and Photographic reports. One aspect which I, for one, was pleased to see was that part from the
list of expedition members, the text does not mention a single person’s name
and this made a pleasant change when reading the report.  The exception for me was the communications
report which fell between two stools in that it gave no technical details but
was still too technical for me to follow it easily.  This is a small criticism on a very well
produced report that contains some 29 photographs, most of them excellent.  It is hoped that other expeditions will
follow this lead in producing an easily obtainable report of their exploits.

B.M.E.

Some Preliminary
Observations on the Geomorphology of the Dan-yr-Ogof System by A.C.
Coase.  (Reprinted from Proceedings of
B.S.A. No.5. 1967).  14pp. + photographs
and line drawing.  Separate survey (plan)
at scale approx 1” = 166ft.

The whole work is printed by offset litho.  The contents are divided into three sections:
a) Location b) Description and c) Formation. The distance to the farthest part is 2½ miles and is said to be rather
strenuous.  The survey seems to have been
reduced from a much larger scale drawing, though quite clear a magnifying glass
would help to read the very small print. In the time available since the discoveries Coase and Judson are to be
congratulated in producing the survey so quickly.  The text is very readable and the photographs
appear to be taken from colour transparencies – hence their flatness and lack
of detail.

D.J.I.

CAVES AND CAVING
– A guide to the Exploration, geology and Biology of caves by Marc Jasinski,
with English adaptation by Bill Maxwell. Published by Paul Hamlyn. 1968. 5/-.
160 pages (Not available from BME)

It is easy to criticise a book of this nature but
examination of the criticisms that come to mind shows that they are only of a
minor character and very often only differences of opinion.  The sub-title very aptly describes the nature
of the book and its contents – it is an introduction to caving is all
about.  There are five sections to the book.  The first, of forty pages, deals with
equipment (individual and club), exploration technique and dangers.  The second section, thirty three pages,
describes the geology of cave formation and formations.  A brief introduction to biospeleology makes
up the third section of fifteen pages, and the fourth (twenty five pages)
covers caving activities.  This is mainly
concerned with cave photography but there are shorter sections on water
tracing, archaeological digging, surveying and looking for caves.  The last section, ten pages, is a very brief
summary of the caving areas in

Britain
and extremely short notes on the rest of the world.     Finally there is the bibliography of 29
books; an apparently very arbitrary list of 12 caving clubs; a list of the
“major caves and potholes in
Britain”
(the only one for
North Wales is, in fact, a
mine); lists of the longest and deepest caves in the world; and a glossary of
caving terms.

This book has only one rival in its field.  “Know the Game – Potholing and Caving” by D.
Robinson which gives greater detail of caving techniques.  It is thought that Caves & Caving is
better value for money.

B.M.E.

 

From Other Clubs

by Gordon Tilly

Mendip Caver Vol. 3 No.12.  March
1968.

A 14 page edition, presumably to celebrate to celebrate the
completion of the third volume.  It contains
reports on digging in St. Cuthbert’s Sump and Dining Room and Hunters Hole,
(both these reports have been extracted and adapted from the original B.B.
reports).  A survey of recent work
carried out by the C.S.S. in Holwell follows. Also included are descriptions of some
East Devon
caves with six pages of surveys.  The
January edition of the B.B. is one of the Club Journals features in the review
section on Page 150.

WESSEX
CAVE CLUB JOURNAL VOL. 10.  No.115. Feb. 1968.

The main features of this edition are: – the report of the
clubs A.G.M., “The New Survey of Read’s Cavern” by W.I. Stanton, “Early Days in
Read’s Cavern” by Dr. E.K. Tratman, “Discovery of Browne-Stewart Series –
Read’s cavern” by C.H. Kenny, and finally “A Caving Holiday in Rumania” by Tony
Aldham.

THE AXBRIDGE CAVING AND ARCH. SOCIETY. NEWSLETTER for March 1968.

Continuing the saga of the discovery of Contour Cavern.  This newsletter contains a reprint of Clive
North’s article that appeared in the January B.B.

N.P.C. Newsletter No.24.  February
1968.

Contains the usual club news, a report on the C.R.G.
Symposium on cave Hydrology and water Tracing, a list of members, etc.

EXETER
U.S.S. Newsletter Vol.4.  No.4  March 1968.

If you like reading letters to Harold Bear, A Girls Guide to
Mendip, The Dirty Dozen and their experiences sleeping in the Eastwater Hut
with a slight caving interest by the mention of Longwood, wetsuits and
Christmas Crawl followed by the words of the song ‘Down Below’, then this is
the paper for you.  Nuf said.

 

Towards Wookey Part 2

by D.J. Irwin

4. Beehive Chamber

Another good point for a good muddy dig is just off the
stream way under Beehive Chamber.  This
has been dug on a number of occasions. It is a choked phreatic arch of quite large proportions.  One of the disadvantages of this site is that
bit is on the same level as the stream way and so has quite a drainage
problem.  This passages seems to have
been draining down from Pyrolusite Series before the formation of Beehive
Chamber – which is a collapsed feature now heavily stal’ed over.  Before the water drained across this route it
appears to have flowed upstream.  At the
top of Pyrolusite chain the vertical wall above the roof of Beehive Chamber is
markedly vadose.  The old stream bed is
well marked at the point where one climbs to the top entry of Beehive Chamber
and itself lies some 10 to 12 feet above the present stream way.  The level is the same as the point where
struggle Passage makes its entry at Plantation Junction.  Is there a way out at

Plantation?

5.

Plantation
Junction

There are several side passages at the top right of the
Junction – just above the point where the Plantation Stream makes its
appearance.  All are choked with coarse
infill but in the short distance that they can be followed they appear to run
along the strike; although the lowest of the group turns a corner as if it were
spiralling downwards.

6. ‘100ft. a day’ Passage

Just below the Choke and opposite Bypass Passage is this
dig.  Dug in recent years by Petty.  It is low, wide phreatic tube that is well
choked except for a couple of inches of airspace.  Its interest lies in the fact that it is
running along the strike, and being well below the Rabbit warren, could well
lead to an abandoned stream way.  It well
may have been the original route of the Rocky boulder stream that drained down
bypass Passage.  The infilling has a
considerable quantity of charcoal in it. Just an idea – will the passage take the full flow of stream if diverted
into it?

What Lies Below?

Several areas have many things in common, but when all the
points have been related to one another it would appear that there is a level
at about -350ft. from the Entrances.  The
Cerberus series lie at this level and does not appear to be directly related to
the Rabbit Warren.  The water opening up
these passages must have come from elsewhere. Derek Ford suggests a flow from Everest passage.  Is it possible that a large flow from Everest
could have formed the Cerberus Series?

Just off

Lake
Chamber a passage has
been forced and followed for about 150ft. last year.  It terminates in a static sump.  The general direction is along the fault
line.  Recently the water from the Main
Stream was found to connect with the
Lake via
the pool under Cerberus Hall.  Does this
water, in turn, flow from the
Lake to the
static sump?  Of it does it must mean
that a large volume of water is flowing slowly ‘up cave’ along the fault.

In 1964 Marble Hall and Marble Pot were discovered.  Below Marble Hall a series of phreatic tubes
were found though they were mostly choked with coarse infilling they lay at
about a depth of about -350ft. from the entrance.  The depth was established by the use of a
altimeter which read -300ft. on the floor of Marble Hall.  Marble Pot ends at a similar depth but stones
have been heard to fall a fair distance below the choke level.  The pot, about 25-30ft. deep shows signs of
having been choked to the roof.  The
infilling has now slumped the depth of the pothole.  Although it cannot be proved until a survey
of the area has been made, but Marble Pot and Coral Pot appear to be on the
same drainage line.  An energetic, more
important, a strong party, could well commence a dig at the bottom of the pot
with a good chance of finding a continuation of the development along the fault
line.  A strong party is required because
of the difficulty of returning through the squeeze at the top of the pot at the
end of a digging session.  It may be that
another way across the fault line lies in this area.

An Open Hole

A high level hole has been known for some years to a small
number of leaders and is going to be attacked in a few weeks – the details will
be reported in the B.B. when available.

It lies about 80 – 100ft. above the stream way by the Great
Gour.  It has so far only been viewed
from a distance – some 25 – 30ft – but is described a sizeable and appears to
be running along the line of the fault. It is an inlet or the way over the sump?

 

Other Digging Sites and Holes.

All of the following sites will be most likely to lead to
new cave but all within the present boundary.

1.                  Octopus Chamber – high level holes.

2.                  North end of Illusion Chamber.

3.                  South end of Continuation Chamber.

4.                  Aven above Hanging Chamber.

5.                  Rift in roof of upper traverse Chamber near
Upper Travers Pitch.

6.                  Hole in roof of terminal chamber in Canyon
Series.

7.                  Floor of far side of Extension Chamber.

8.                  Aven on the far side of

Lake
Chamber
– entrance sumped most of the time.

9.                  Aven in rift off chambers in Pillar Chamber
Extension.

10.              Tight squeeze leading to chamber on roof of Long
Chamber Extension.

11.              Passage in large chamber in roof of Long Chamber
Extension not pushed beyond crystal pool.

 

Outdoors

with Hedera

February/March is usually a Good Time for Outdoors and this
year its been splendid.  Three or four
consecutive weekends with snow sports. 
North Wales being in particularly good condition with the
cognoscenti climbing pretty well every major gully.  Imagine cramponing from the bottom to the top
of Great Gully on Craig-yr-Isfs or even snow enough to enable Slanting Gully on
Llewedd, climbed for the first time in 1897, to suffer its first recorded
winter ascent.  Even Cloggy was
attempted.

Brecon, our local Alp, was beautiful.  The Bennetts came back on 25th February with
enthusiastic reports and an impromptu meet was organised for 3rd March.  Quite a large party (including Ifold and
Attwood who would seem to have a nose for the best meets) climbed a steep,
shallow face gully from Bry-teg and then traversed the Beacons taking in odd
gullies on route.  Ifold insisted on
including a sensational traverse below the crest of Corn Du.  “How Brave” we thought as we waited basking
in the sun, until, looking back, we could see Ifold and Bennett striking
magnificent photographic poses for each other. Perfect weather.  The descent was
made slowly, with late sunshine suffusing rock and bracken with golden colours.

The continuing sun tempts the rock men and Avon Gorge
activity seems to be back to normal, though it’s cold enough when the sun
vanishes.  Winter frosts have
considerably loosened your favourite handholds – so watch it.

Hard Man, swinging vigorously all over The Turn of the Screw
with an impressive array of technique and equipment, was heard to complain
bitterly about the piercing wind.  The
Hard Man Image prevented him from rolling down his sleeves apparently.  A little later we heard a resounding “XXXX
the Image”, and down the sleeves came!

Roger Boston, of whom you have not heard, made his debut
with the club on Brecon W/E and later made his first rock climb with Pete
Sutton and Roy Marshall.  Another one
indoctrinated.  This pair, with Malcolm
Holt and two newcomers raked Eddy Welch out on the afternoon of Sunday 17th
March and got him to show them the

Frome
Valley routes.  No second ascent of Derek Targett’s “Middle
Slip” but Pete Sutton has established another line on Ivy wall.  Kangy, out for a walk in that area found
another outcrop of promise.

For those hardened in the game there is a party off to the
Oertzal and Bernina this year.  Details
from Edward but briefly – 22 June to 6 July ’68, leader Terry Taylor.  Transport by car to
Dover
–
Ostend, then motorways, turning right at
Munich and returning via Luxemburg and
Ardennes.

Terry Taylor of course is guiding professionally at very
reasonable rates and can be contacted at the Waggon.

“If you’re lost and off the route
With a left foot in each boot
Don’t go to sea and be a sailor
Put in a peg and call for

Taylor”

‘HEDERA’

BEC Sales

Car Badges and Ties available from Bob Bagshaw,

699 Wells Road,
Knowle,

Bristol
4.