Mike Luckwill
Members will be shocked by the tragic loss of Mike Luckwill who was killed 2am Friday 5th December 1969, on the Snowdon Horseshoe.
His work for the Club and for caving and climbing generally are well known to readers of the B.B.
Our deepest sympathy to Val and Sally.
A New Cave in
Fairy
Cave Quarry
By P.E. Prewer
With at least 14 caves discovered in the piece of Gruyere
cheese called Fairy Cave Quarry it could not be long before No.15 appeared and
sure enough on April 9th., this year, it was found.
At 9.00 B. Prewer left in disgust with the words, I dont
give it much hope but if it does go come and get me out of bed. At 1.00am three muddy cavers got B. Prewer
out of bed! They had found the first
four chambers of
The first four chambers gave the cave its name for they lie roughly parallel to the quarry face and extensive damaged has been caused to the chambers and formations, despite this there are still some very pleasing formations including a fine pagoda like formation in the second chamber.
On the second trip into the cave the third chamber emitted a strange colour it was soon pronounced to be that of diesel fuel. This was coming from one of the shot holes on the top of the quarry which must have broken through the roof of the chamber. Diesel Chamber was thus named.
How the way on was missed on this trip is hard to understand but it was; it was not discovered until a few days later when Gerry Lewis noticed it. The way on, now called Helictite Passage, led past a cluster of superb helictites on a ledge. This concluded Stage II of the exploration.
Stage III began when Willie
A few days later saw a party armed with hammer and chisel back at the hole in Pillar Chamber. The hole was enlarged to allow the first and thinnest member of the party though. The hole was further enlarged as each larger member of the party arrived at the hole to push through. Beyond a short crawl led to yet another well decorated chamber Four Ways Chamber. Two side chambers led nowhere but straight ahead a short sandy passage and a climb led to a very fine crystal pool. Onwards the way ended in a large chamber with a large suspended boulder in the roof with a matching one immediately beneath partly filling a large hole the Plug Hole. A short passage was found leading off the bottom of the Plug Hole which closed down only after 20ft. or so.
A week later another party (members of the Dining Room Dig Team) found a second passage at the bottom of the Plug Hole which yielded a further 200ft. or so of passage the first section being very well decorated with fine pink gours. At the end of this passage a strong draught may still be felt at times but so far no way on through the boulders at the end has yet been found.
The most recent progress in
On October 12th two intrepid explorers decided that Conning Tower Cave, capped over a year because of dangerous boulders, ought to be revisited. They found themselves in the Balch stream and duly arrived at the duck.
Shatter Hole Survey
The Survey of Shatter Hole has been adapted by Dave Irwin to suit the B.B. page format and is based on the new survey to C.R.G. Grade 6 currently being produced by C.S.S. & S.M.C.C. and has been published with kind permission of the C.S.S.