Belfry Bulletin
The
The views expressed by contributors to the Belfry Bulletin, including those of club officers, are not necessarily the views of the committee of the Bristol Exploration Club or the Editor, unless so stated. The Editor cannot guarantee that the accuracy of information contained in the contributed matter, as it cannot normally be checked in the time at his disposal.
Editor: D.J. Irwin, Townsend Cottage, Priddy, Nr. Wells,
Dates For Your Diary
October 14th
Eldon Hole (phone Dave Metcalf
for details
October 20th
Stream Passage Pot (phone Dave
Metcalf for details
November 25th
Leck Fell Pippikin Pot (phone
Dave Metcalf for details
December 8th
BCRA Winter Meet, Wells. Provisional programme being arranged by Jim
Hanwell includes a survey of work carried out at Westbury Quarry (Chris
Hawkes);
New Year Dates
April 25th NCA Symposium Caves and the Community, Buxton.
September 22-28 European Regional
Speleo Conference,
The Eighth International Speleo
Congress is being held in
Club Notes
compiled by 'Wig'
CLUB TRUSTEES
As a result of a trustee wishing to resign, the introduction of the new constitution at the 1978 Annual General Meeting which requires trustees to be members of the club, Martin Cavender is drawing up the official paperwork naming the new trustees as from the 1st October 1979. As from that date the new trustees are:
Bob Bagshaw, Roy Bennett, Les Peters and Alan Thomas
CAVE KEYS HELD AT THE BELFRY
At the September Committee meeting it was decided that guests wishing to borrow cave keys from the Belfry will leave a deposit of £5 for the key and each member of the party will be charged 25p per head hire charge. This charge is to recoup some of the expenses incurred by the club through its sub to the CSCC and the Charterhouse Caving Committee. Members will be able to obtain the keys free of charge but they are reminded that any guests on their party are liable to the 25p charge.
DIGGING COMPETITION - Scores so far!
B.E.C. are at lust getting worried! 50ft of new passage was found in Tynings
recently and on 29th September, Danny Bradshaw and Bob Cork added 254ft in
Wookey 24 (still going); Manor Farm is being saturated with digging teams in an
effort to boost this. A secret weapon in
the form of Chris Richards can at last be revealed with a new cave on
N.B. We must also
dutifully report the sad loss of some 4,500ft of passage by the
Hon. Treasurers Report, 1979
completing our current series of club officers reports, Sue Tucker presents
As Treasurer I have had a very enjoyable year serving on the Committee, and would like to thank the Committee for all their help.
Since the start of the Club year I have made a little alteration to the books, and have opened many more accounts to give clarity and to ease the accounting load at the end of the year. I have also taken over from John Dukes the responsibility for B.B. postal (which ties in closely with the subs) and, when necessary, the collation.
I am very pleased with the way that the subs have come in this year und trust it wasnt entirely due to the cost, and hope that the club membership will continue to support the club in the very difficult years ahead.
It has been a greet disappointment to me that the club made a loss this year, caused by inflation (coupled with a 2/3 year sub) not only catching up with us, but souring way beyond expectations, whilst the club tries to survive on a grossly inadequate sub.
The main areas of expenditure have been:-
Repairs & Maintenance £233
Insurance incl. Pub. liability £312
Electricity incl. showers £218
Replacement of tackle £184 (after the losses of last year).
and, of course, the B.B. This has cost the club a staggering £461 of which £70 was spent on envelopes and £176 on two years supply of paper. This was off-set by a sub of £356 - a loss of £105 not taking into account other items the subscription has to cover, i.e. insurgence, and I cannot foresee this figure getting any smaller, as this year we will have to purchase envelopes, the next paper and so on ad infinitum, we of course, have to take into consideration the postage which has just risen.
So the sub must rise drastically in order for the club to recoup the losses, keep puce with inflation and be in a position to keep the hut in an adequate state of repair (let alone improvements) if we are to compete with other clubs on Mendip.
I have done some research on the projected cost of the B.B. for next year und hope that this AGM will digest the figures and NOTE the savings to the club of the alternatives.
All figures worked on an Est. 250 envelopes per month:
ENVELOPES
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4, 000 purchased
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Monthly
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Bi-monthly
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Quarterly
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Sept 78
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£70 outlay
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250 x 12
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250 x 6
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250 x 4
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|
|
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=3,000
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= 1,500
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=1, 000
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|
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=£52.50
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= £26.25
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=£17.50
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|
|
|
|
|
| |
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Sept 79+
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£104 outlay
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250 x 12
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250 x 6
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250 x 4
| |
|
|
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=3,000
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= 1,500
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=1,000
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=£79.00
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= £39.00
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=£26.00
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INCREASE:
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£26.50
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£13.25
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£8.50
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+ Supplier: Harpercroft. I phoned the supplier on 27.9.79, todays price for 4,000 envelopes would be £104, unfortunately they have not that amount in stock, there is a 20 week delay in delivery from the manufacturers and Harpercroft cannot guarantee the price as they do not know what it will be.
All the following figures are worked on an est.
1978/79 total postage £133.73. 1979/80 total postage £283.20 (est)
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Pages
+
6
12
18
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Grams
60
100
150
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8p
11p
13½p
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Oseas surface
20
20
20
|
Example
|
Est. cost
220x12x8 = 211.20
30x12x20p = 72.00
220x6x11p = 145.20
30x6x10p = 36.00
220x4x13½ = 118.80
30x4x36p = 43.20
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Total
283.20
181.20
162.00
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Join the est. figures for postage and envelopes together: Monthly 362.00; Bi-monthly 220.20 and quarterly: 188.00 - surely the figures speak for themselves. Sue Tucker
Cambridge
Bottom Eislufthohle
Nick Thorne has sent in
the following report on his trip to
Late July and August of this year saw Cambridge University Caving Club in the Totes Gebirge of Austria again, for the fourth year running. Unlike previous expeditions which spent a large proportion of the time prospecting, this year's expedition had only one objective. Our prospecting to date had unearthed no fewer than three pots in the 200-300m depth range and one, Eislufthohle, 350m deep and still going. And it was Eislufthohle, with its powerful draught and huge shafts, that was the sole raison detre for this years effort. As the pot became deeper and harder to push, it was clear that a more serious expedition was required than ever before, with the sole aim of bottoming the place. Consequently it was a small (only eight) but dedicated bunch of Cambridge Speleos that took to the field this summer, gunning for a really deep pot.
Eislufthohle, discovered in 1977, is situated on the Loser
Plateau, reached by driving up a toll road in the
Last year CUCC pushed Eislufthohle to still bigger things. A climb down and a crawling traverse led to a small chamber with a huge boulder suspended in the roof, and the take off to the fourth pitch in the floor. The pitch begins as a slot and widens into a fine sized rift with a small stream falling at one end. About 15m down the rift lenses in a little and the rope was belayed for a further 30m descent to the floor. We were tackling exploration at this sort of depth last year, as some of you will doubtless remember by caving overnight. (This avoided negotiating the difficult Lapiaz to the cave entrance during darkness). We pushed our sleepy bodies down the short fifth pitch, having made a 'bold step' across the passage to reach the pitch head. Next came a superb piece of pot, guaranteed to blow the cobwebs out of anyones brains. A short traverse led to the spectacular Greene King Pitch. This drop is huge and black and the rope hangs nicely free in a finely sculptured corner of the main shaft. The Balcony Pitch follows immediately to gain the floor of the 'Hall of the Greene King'.
After essentially nothing but good, honest grabbing vertically, we were then surprised and not a little disappointed when Eislufthohle started spreading outwards. A large passage with equally large hanging death led to a short pitch from jammed boulders. From the bottom the route forked. At the time we followed the right hand passage along a traverse to a very muddy, broken 20m pitch, a free climb and more traversing. This year we took the left fork and managed to bypass this section, of which more later.
This next traverse was quite a long one in a very tall vadose canyon. Although not technically difficult it was quite arduous, especially with tackle. It ended in a slippery mud slope/pitch, The Fiesta Run. Below this the mud cleared a little and the traverse continued down to another pitch head with the dull roar of water somewhere down below. It was at this stage during last years exploration that proceedings were bought to an abrupt stop by a car accident. (See B.B. 321 for an action replay of all the gore).
With the accident being caused, in no small way, by the fact that we were caving overnight, it should come as no surprise to learn that we gave up such tactics this year. Instead we supplemented our luxurious base camp in the village with a smaller advanced camp at the edge of the Karren Field (about 20 minutes walk from the cave) and then linked the cave and the advanced camp with a long length of high visibility polyprop string. On the whole this ploy proved very successful despite several very cold, sleepless nights up at advanced camp, piling boulders onto tents in order to stop them taking off in the driving rain. To be honest it was very comforting knowing that the camp was here bringing civilization a little closer to you after a long, hard trip.
It took us three trips to rig in down to The Hall of the Greene King at the start of this years caving, the main stumbling block being a new arrangement of snow in Plugged Shaft necessitating new bolts. Then, continuing down below the eighth pitch we decided to make the left fork, the main route. (The right fork is omitted from the survey). This way descended a fine free hanging 15m pitch and reached more traversing. After a short distance a 10m pitch entered a small chamber containing an expedient little water trough, ideal for washing muddy ironmongery - The Gents. Below The Gents the previous years route was picked up on the long traverse to the Fiesta run.
Once below this we were soon at the limit of previous exploration and moral began to rise with each of us eager to be 'out in front'. We started to rig the twelfth pitch of the pot. After only three metres the way on down seemed fairly thrutchy and more obvious was a traverse outwards. This was followed to a broken 15m pitch and a free climb down to the base of a sizable aven. The passage was totally dry, the stream having been left at the previous pitch. What on earth was the pot doing now? The outlet from the chamber/aven was a descending traverse to the inevitable next pitch. This again was a broken 15m one, but unlike the last one, this one landed in a fairly restricted passage. One of our lunatic fringe pushed this tight, muddy grovel for perhaps 30m until he popped out into the roof of another shaft, quite roomy, that he estimated as 15m to a floor with a stream. Had we picked up the stream way again?
We were never to find out. The difficulties involved with this dry route made sure that the next party in the cave had a closer look at the twelfth, later named Madlmair Shaft after our beer vending campsite owner, in order to push downwards instead of the traverse. The restricted pitch head soon opened out and a 'good' descent was made, 28m down to a ledge, the shaft continuing. We were back in business.
The next trip saw tackle hastily pulled out of the dry route and down the new shaft Eislufthohle had answered our prayers and returned to its former vertical self. So much so that in one trip 120m of depth was added, with yours truly swinging on the rope of the fifteenth pitch very close to the 500m mark. I say swinging because the rope was actually 3m short of the floor! Ah well. The cave covered on this trip included a fine, wet 33m section from the ledge to the floor of Madlmaier Shaft. An 'under/over' type move followed (everybody went over as under was wet) and then the 13th pitch. This was descended 50m in a large dry gully, the stream having been lost in the floor. One rebelay was required just over half way down. The stream then reissued from a hole high up in the wall and cascaded down onto the free climb and pitch that followed. The 14th pitch was noted for its airy take off from natural belays. (One of the few non-bolted pitches in the pot). It was quite wet and gave onto a large platform at the head of the 15th pitch. This pitch as I said before had to wait for another trip and a longer rope to the bottom, but nonetheless the view onwards was encouraging to say the least. The passage was about 5m wide, goodness knows how high, mid simply went on off into the inviting blackness as far as a light could shine. Eislufthohle was getting bigger all the time. It had the 500m depth barrier beaten, and looked like making mincemeat of the 600 one too And then ..
Well, I suppose all good things must come to an end. The weather closed in something rotten, and for about 5 days it rained heavily and the wind blew. And of course now we had a cave where it mattered whether it rained or not. The lower pitches would be awash and further exploration had to wait. Several bad nights were spent up at advanced camp waiting for the sun to shine and calculating runoff times. The expedition was drawing to a close and time was running out (I think I've written about the previous two years weather as well!) We reckoned on one last pushing trip providing that we combined it with a little surveying/photography/de-rigging.
When the break in the weather finally came, we soon got down to the head of the 15th amidst lots of flashbulbs going off. A proper length rope was rigged and 20m descended to the floor. The stream ran along just under the boulder floor, and the passage sloped steeply past huge boulders in the floor and ceiling, and then absolutely unmistakably thick, black mud covered rock. It was mud created by a sump backing up - the pot would shortly end. Soon the head of the pitch was reached. Drop tests indicated a short pitch with a deep pool just ahead. An interested party soon gathered at the pitch head to witness the placing of what we believed to be our last bolt in Eislufthohle.
With the pitch rigged, we descended and our footprints soon desecrated the virgin black mud on the bouldery shore of an enormous lake - the far wall being only just visible. How inconceivable that a passage of such size should close down to a sump, yet it had. Eislufthohle had been bottomed.
Turning about, we began to de-rig. Our moment of glory was soon weighed under by wet pitches, tackle hauling and prusiking with tackle. In one massive effort our five man party managed to clear the cave below the Hall of the Greene King. We eventually emerged to a starlit sky after about 15 hours underground. Over the remaining few days of the expedition, in blistering sun again, the gear was bought the rest of the way to the surface, and so back to base. Our advanced camp had served its purpose too, and was dismantled.
As we packed to leave for home, we considered both achievements arid plans. We had taken three years to bottom a 500m pot, something none of us had done before. We had gained valuable expedition experience in what, by continental standards, I believe is not a simple pot. Unfortunately we have no complete high grade survey of the place. Our grade 5 survey stopped at the Tap Room with a defective Clino, and the rest of the cave was just a question of measuring pitch lengths. This exercise alone however, makes us feel confident that 506m is a minimum depth possible for the pot.
For the future, then I think few of us, if any will return to this exact area of Austria again for at least a couple of years. This in no way reflects the caving potential of the area as our results will testify. Finding deep pots on the Loser Plateau is a real clinch; pushing them however, as one of our rank dryly points out, is a little more difficult. Our reasons not to return in force for a couple of years stems from a desire to see some other countries and karst areas in order to widen our experience. Most of us havent seen a continental cave outside Eislufthohle!
Finally I would like to thank the IDMF committee for donations towards my expenses over the last couple of expeditions. The aid I found invaluable; so much so that I would like to see the fund continue for a long while yet for others to use, supplying the capital in future quite possibly by repaying donations.
Cavers Bookshelf No. 6
Vertical Caving by
Mike Meredith
64pp. 17 plates. 169 drawings. £2.50
This book does not set out, to cover Single Rope Techniques in as much depth as Thrun or Montgomery. Provided one accepts that its scope is limited to "French" systems and Petzl equipment, then it becomes a good publication to read in conjunction with practical experience.
The ethics of using bolts in the number and with the frequency advocated on the continent is of course a matter of debate. Whether in ten or twenty years this amount of discretion will be looked back on with distaste or acceptance of the method as essential for the sake of safety, only time will tell. The fact is that Mike Meredith's book gives a sound and very clear description his chosen techniques, with only one exception.
It is a shame that there is one area of apparent contradiction when he comes to deal with the use of the "Shunt". He quite correctly states that because this device will absorb shock loading by sliding to a stop on the rope, rather than having a cutting cam, it is very suitable for use as a "dead man's handle" while abseiling etc. However on page 29 he states:-
A shunt cannot be safely used for self life-lining and on page 37 he says that a shunt should not be used as a safeguard when bolting a traverse line at the head of a pitch"
This apart, this book represents good value for money, by todays standards, must be compulsory reading for continental expedition members.
Lifeline
by Time Large
One year closes and another begins. You will have noticed from your ballot paper that Chris Bastone and Martin Bishop are not standing for the Committee. Chris has been Hut Warden for several years now and has decided to take a well earned rest. It will be difficult to find a comparable replacement.
The Club Sweat Shirts have been ordered and should be here soon. If you have not already ordered one then do so ready for the next order as all are spoken for on the first supply.
The Treasurers report will highlight the clubs financial position. As has already been detailed in the B.B. subs will need increasing. Our Building Society capital is greatly reduced to cover ever increasing costs and to offset the reduced sub this year. Although covering only 9 months our major expenses for the period remained the same as usual. In some cases e.g. insurance, there were premium increases.
While not wishing to criticise life-members, and all that they have done for the club in the past, I think that they have had good value for their money. Life Membership will always be theirs but I wonder if the clubs financial position could be slightly alleviated if they could contribute towards the costs of printing and postage of their B.B. - what do you think Life Members?
I hear from Zot that he has a job on an Antarctic Survey supply ship, and is leaving before he can provide his usual humour at the Dinner.
Star Mines Shipham
(Ed. note - my apologies for the error of name the author should be recorded as Neil Weston.
LOCATION MAP:
Jottings
Compiled by Wig
REMOVAL OF FIXED AIDS FROM
Following the notes on possible liabilities having fixed aids in caves published by NCA (published in the BB) the South Wales Caving Club have reviewed the situation within caves under their control. Those to be retained is listed below, for other locations with aids should be assumed that they have been removed and tackle taken with you on the trip.
All aids have been removed.
OFD1
Entrance ladders
Maypole chain
Maypole wire
Bolt Traverse wire, bar and ladder
Bolt traverse 2 wire (presumably this is the 'jury Fairy' line.)
Lowe's chain
Poles across the pots.
OFD2
Letterbox handline
Divers Pitch Handline
Skyhook lines to be fitted to Fault Aven Series
Arête rope
Great Oxbow ladder (alternative to be placed)
Maypole Inlet ladder
OFD3
Belay bolt on Crevasse
Maypole bridge
D.Y.O.
Bolt for ladder into G. Platten
Hall
Dalis Delight handline
Abyss handline
Rising ladder
Flabbergasm Oxbow handline around pool
Bolt for ladder into
The SWCC state that though they intend to inspect the remaining aids regularly is recommended that all are supplemented by a lifeline.
TYNING'S BARROW - Following the re-opening of the cave and a newly agreed access arrangement with the farmer the Belfryites have been down and have pushed Drunken Horse Passage to its conclusion. Jay-Rat and Tim Large investigated the ruckle at the upper end of the passage and located a short side rift ending in a sump and on the north side located a sizable chamber above the boulders - Mountbatten Chamber. Details of the access arrangements and of this chamber is given else where in this BB.
LAMB LEER access is now controlled by the Council of Southern Caving Clubs and the BEC, as a shareholder of the Southern Caving Clubs Ltd has a key. It should be remembered that all cavers should call at Beaconsfield Farm for permission to park and change in the disused quarry. Anyone finding the lock faulty or that the lock is missing should contact Oliver Lloyd, the director of the company dealing with Lamb Leer access.
Wessex Cave Club Journal reports that on Wednesday 30th May
that severe flooding occurred on
BANWELL BONE CAVE SURVEY
In the last B.B. (Aug/Sept 1979) was the first publication
of Chris Richard and Marie Clarke's survey of the
This publication is a nicely produced, type-set, publication, 14 pages including 7 photographs, a plan and elevation with sections of the Baker Extension and a short bibliography. For those collecting details of Mendip caves through publications this is an extremely interesting and good buy.
Whilst on the subject of the
WOOKEY HOLE
Recently little stickers have been appearing everywhere on Mendip and some were seen at the BCRA Conference in Manchester stating that the BEC get everywhere, one was even appearing on Oliver Lloyds back for a time! Whether this is true or not they are certainly getting to the far reaches of the Wookey System. Bob Cork and Danny dived through to Wookey 24 and laid the aerial for a radio transmission on the 29th September. Duly on the day, Prew et al assembled on the hillside above the cave and found as with previous locating exercises that the expected point was miles form the actual location. This time the coil was laid out in Wookey near Sting Corner and from the CDG survey of the area it was expected to find the point above the top end of the large dry passage of Wookey Twenty. This was not to be the location was found to be some 400ft to the east.
After switching on the transmitter, Bob and Danny went off to explore the Oxbow above the active river in the far reaches of Wookey 24 and found approximately 250ft of new passage trending to the north-west, ending at a deep rift requiring tackle. M Presumably this will be an additional 250ft for the Digging and finding of new passage Barrel Competition more of this later.
EASTWATER CAVERN
The notorious ruckle is on the move again and the cave is
blocked. The
The
The views expressed by contributors to the Belfry Bulletin, including those of club officers, are not necessarily the views of the committee of the Bristol Exploration Club or the Editor, unless so stated. The Editor cannot guarantee that the accuracy of information contained in the contributed matter, as it cannot normally be checked in the time at his disposal.
Editor: D.J. Irwin, Townsend Cottage, Priddy, Nr. Wells,
Paul Esser Memorial Lecture, 1980
Oliver Lloyd has sent the following notice:
MARTYN FARR on CAVE DIVING
The lecture is on Wednesday, 13th February, 1980, at 8.15
pm. in the Tyndall Memorial Theatre, Department of Physics,
Martyn Farr, aged 28, is one of our Ace Cave Divers. He started cave diving in 1970 and has done notable dives, extending to their utmost limits such caves as Wookey Hole, P8 in Derbyshire, Dan yr Ogof, Porth yr Ogof, Ogof Afon Hepste and all principal caves in Co. Fermanagh.
He has written a book about cave diving called 'The Darkness Beckons' which will be published in February 1980.
He is an experienced lecturer with a nice easy style and lots of beautiful photographs, including underwater shots, which he takes himself.
As usual admission will be free. Those coming from a distance may have seats reserved for them, if they will write and give me the numbers in their party.
Oliver C. Lloyd, M.D., Trustee
Withey House,
Withey Close West,
Notices
Next month in the B.B. Solutions to the X Word in August BB; articles by Derek Sanderson; Martin Grass, Trev Hughes and Stu Linsey among others ..this Xmas issue promises to be a good read .
*****************************************
BELFRY FEES change of rates
Hut
Fees: Members
50p Guests
£1.00
Camping: Members
50p Guests
£1.00
Day
Fees: Members
25p Guests
£.0.50
CLUB OFFICERS FOR THE YEAR 1979/80 as elected at the Annual General meeting.
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Hon. Secretary:
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Tim Large
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Wells 73960 (work)
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Hon. Treasurer:
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Sue Tucker
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Radstock 35165 (home)
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Hut Warden:
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Garth Dell
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|
|
|
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(work ask for Garth)
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Hut Engineer:
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Nigel Taylor
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Wells 72338
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Tacklemaster:
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John Dukes
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Wells 75686 (work)
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Caving Secretary:
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Martin Grass
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B.B. Editor:
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Dave Irwin
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Priddy 369
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Committee Members
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Graham Wilton-Jones
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Aylesbury 28270
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|
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(Committee Chairman)
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Stuart Lindsey
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(ex-directory)
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Non-Committee Posts:
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Librarian:
Sales
Officer:
Publications
Editor:
|
Tony Jarrett
& Chris Batstone.
NB. All
postal deliveries to be sent as usual to D.J. Irwin, Townsend Cottage,
Priddy, Nr. Wells, Somerset.
Surveys:
Graham Wilton-Jones
Carbide: Hut
Warden - Garth Dell
Boots: Hut
Warden or Hon. Sec. - Tim Large.
To be
announced.
|
More club notes:
Key holders for the tackle store and Library will be listed in the December B.B.
To ensure that accurate accounts of sales of carbide can be kept will members please let Garth Dell have as many Marvel tins or similar, as you can muster. Members will remember that this is the way in which we sold carbide in the past. Each type of container can be weighed and the amount of your sale recorded in the paying-in book. Throw away your old bags but keep your tins!
A basic supply of tackle will be kept in the Belfry and the tackle store which will suffice for general needs. Members requiring large quantities for away trips should apply to John Dukes in the first instance. John is on the telephone or if that is not convenient then drop him a letter giving him plenty of warning so that arrangements for the pick-up can be made. When returning the tackle make sure that it is clean and dry and make sure that it is returned to John in person. DO NOT LEAVE RETURNED TACKLE IN THE BELFRY OR ELSEWHERE ON SITE.
Lifeline
..a regular column by our Hon. Secretary Tim Large .
The new Club year begins with 224 members in the Club. Of those 76 voted in the committee elections. The A.G.M. was poorly attended with only some 40 members being present.
A REMINDER ..SUBS ARE NOW DUE and should be paid by the 31st December 1978. To enable the club to function various projects it would be appreciated if you could all pay your sub as soon as possible. The new subscription rates below:
Full member £8.00
Joint member £12.00
Junior member £6.00
The Committee has three main items to action from the A.G.M.:
1. Fund raising scheme for Belfry Improvements.
2. Insurance to cover all members and Cuthberts Leaders when caving.
3. Mike Wheadon submitted some criticisms of the Club Constitution. A Sub-Committee is to be formed to consider it.
At the October Committee Meeting the Hut Fees were increased (the new rates are given on page 1). Over several years much has been said about arrears of Hut Fees by some people. I can see no reason why anyone should be in this position. You know what they are, so make sure you have got the money. Everyone always seems to have enough for beer, but never for Hut Fees!
The Digging Competition between ourselves and the
The Committee has been approached by the M.R.O. regarding installation of a radio transmitter/receiver at their depot in the Stone Belfry. It is proposed to have a base station there with remote unit wire to a position by the telephone in the Belfry. This was approved by the Committee. Included with the equipment is a mobile radio for car installation and a portable personal unit. This will greatly improve communication during rescue work and enable cavers and equipment to be summoned quicker.
ADDRESS CHANGE: Jim Smart, 73 Queen's Road,
*****************************************
BCA WINTER MEET in Teacher Training Centre, Wells. DECEMBER 8th.
Lectures commence at 2.00 with William Stanton on new information gathered from new bore holes; Chris Hawkes talking on Westbury Quarry; Fred Davies on the epic Cowsh Aven dig ending with a discussion on recent radio locations at Wookey. 'Prew' will be giving a talk on the equipment used in Wookey.
Bristol
Exploration Club - Membership List October 1979
828 Nicolette Abell Michaelmas
Cottage, Faulkland,
20 L Bob Bagshaw
392 L Mike Baker 10
Riverside Walk, Midsomer Norton,
901 Richard Barker 40b
295 Arthur Ball
892 Marlon Barlow 93
Norton drive, Norton tower, Halifax,
818 Chris Batstone
390 L Joan Bennett
214 L Roy Bennett
860 Glenys Beszant
720 Martin Bishop Bishops
Cottage, Priddy
364 L Pete Blogg
336 L A. Bonner Crags
Farm Close, Little Broughton, Cokermouth,
145 L Sybil Bowden-Lyle
883 B. Bowers 44
Manor way, Bagshot,
959 Chris Bradshaw
868 Dany Bradshaw 7
Creswicke,
751 L T.A. Brookes
891 Neil Raynor Brown 25
Lingfield Park, Evesham, Worcs.
687 V. Brown
756 Tessa Burt
777 Ian Calder 22
Greenways, Lydney, Gloucestershire
778 Penelope Calder 22
Greenways, Lydney, Gloucestershire
956 Ian Caldwell 44
Strode Road, Clevedon,
955 Jack Calvert 4
The Hollow, Dilton Marsh, Westbury, Wiltshire.
929 Jane Carson Basement
Flat, 8
902 Martin Cavendar The
Old Rectory, Westbury-sub-Mendip, Wells,
903 Francisca Cavendar The
Old Rectory, Westbury-sub-Mendip, Wells,
785 Paul Christie 7
The Glen,
782 Patricia Christie 7
The Glen,
655 Colin Clark
211 L Clare Coase The
Belfry, 10 Shannon Parade,
89 L Alfie Collins Lavendar
Cottage, Bishop Sutton, Nr Bristol,
377 L D. Cooke-Yarborough No known
address
862 Bob Cork 25
The Mead, Stoke St. Michael,
585 Tony Corrigan
827 Mike Cowlishaw 14
Plovers Down, Olivers Battery,
890 Jerry Crick Whitestones
farm, Cheddar Cross Roads, Compton Martin, Nr. Bristol
680 Bob Cross
870 Gary Cullen
405 L Frank Darbon
423 L Len Dawes The
Lodge,
449 Garth Dell AI
5 Printing, HQNI, BFPO 825.
710 Colin Dooley
829 Angela Dooley
164 L Ken Dobbs
830 John Dukes Bridge
Farm, Dulcote, Wells,
847 Michael Durham
925 Gillian Durrant 14
St. Andrews road, Broadstone,
779 Jim Durston Hill
View, Old Beat, Maidentown, Nr. Burlescombe, Tiverton,
322 L Bryan Ellis
232 Chris Falshaw
909 Helen Fielding 175
Bramley lane, Hipperholme,
269 L Tom Fletcher
894 Phil Ford
404 L Albert Francis
569 Joyce Franklin
469 Pete Franklin
835 Leonard Gee 15
warren Close,
265 Stan Gee
752 M. Glanville Jocelyn
House Mews, 18a High street, Chard
894 Bruce Glocking 213
St. Leonards,
647 Dave Glover c/o
Leisure,
927 Richard Gough
928 Jenny Gough
790 Martin Grass
432 L Nigel Hallet
910 Sandra Halliday
104 L Mervyn Hannam
4 L Dan Hassell Hill
House, Moorlynch, Bridgwater,
893 Dave Hatherley
942 Robin Hayler 39
Ditching Hill,
935 Lynne Hendy
691 Dudley Herbert
917 Robin Hervin 12
863 John Hildrick Tarngulla,
952 Robert Hill 32
Ridings Mead, Chippenham, Wiltshire
773 Rodney
373 Sid Hobbs Hokestone
Cottage, Townsend, Priddy
736 Sylvia Hobbs Hokestone
Cottage, Townsend, Priddy
905 Paul Hodgson 15
Cromwell Terrace,
960 Alicia Hodgson 15
Cromwell Terrace,
793 Mike Hogg 32
Birchley Heath,
898 Liz Hollis 1
Bugle Cottage, Milborne Wick, Nr Sherborne,
899 Tony Hollis 1
Bugle Cottage, Milborne Wick, Nr Sherborne,
920 Nick Holstead Little
Maplecroft,
387 L George Honey Droppsta,
19044,
808 John Hunt
923 Trevor Hughes Wardroom,
HMS Bulwark, BFPO Ships,
855 Ted Humphreys Frekes
Cottage, Moorsite, Marnhull, Sturminster Newton, Dorset
363 Maurise Isles 50
Warman, Stockwood,
954 Elaine Isles 50
Warman, Stockwood,
906 Annette Ingleton
73 Angus Innes 18
Davids Close, Alveston,
168 Margaret Innes 18
Davids Close, Alveston,
540 L Dave Irwin Townsend
Cottage, Townsend, Priddy,
922 Tony Jarratt Alwyn
Cottage,
340 Russ Jenkins 10,
Amberley Close, Downend,
51 L A Johnson
560 L Frank Jones
285 U. Jones Woking
Grange,
907 Karen Jones Room
63, New End Nurses Home, New End Hospital, Hampstead, London NW3
567 L Alan Kennett 9
Hillburn, Henleaze,
884 John King
316 L Kangy King 22
Parkfield Rank, Pucklechurch,
542 L Phil Kingston
413 L R. Kitchen Overcombe,
Horrabridge, Yelverton,
904 Calvin Knight Crossways.
Hillesley, Wootton under Edge, Gloucestershire
John Knops IDA Cottage,
946 Alex Ragar Knutson
874 Dave Lampard Woodpeckers,
667 L Tim Large 53
Portway, Wells,
795 Peter Leigh 5
Armoured Workshops, BFPO 126, Enkessen
958 Fiona Lewis 53
Portway, Wells,
930 Stuart Lindsay 5
Laburnum Walk, Keynsham, Bristil
574 L Oliver Lloyd Withey
House, Withey Close West, Westbury-on-Trym,
58 George Lucy Pike
Croft, Long Lane, Tilehurst,
495 L Val Luckwill
550 L R A MacGregor 12
Douro Close, Baughurst,
725 Stuart McManus 33
Welford Avenue, Wells,
106 L E.J. Mason 33
Bradleys Avenue, Henleaze,
957 Dave Morrison 27
Maurice Walk,
558 L Tony Meaden Highcroft,
Westbury, Bradford Abbas, Sherborne, Dorset
963 Clare Merritt
704 Dave Metcalfe
931
308
936 Dave Nicholls
852 John Noble 18
Hope Place,
880 Graham Nye
938 Kevin ONeil 99
624 J. Orr 8
396 L Mike Palmer
22 L Les Peters
499 L A. Philpott
961 Mick Phinister
724 Graham Phippen Rock
Cottage,
944 Steve Plumley 4
Rickford, Lane, Burrington, Nr. Bristol
337 Brian Prewer East
View, West Horrington, Wells,
622 Colin Priddle PO
Box 14048, Wadeville 1422,
481 L John Ransom
452 L Pam Rees No
Known Address
343 L A Rich
940 Chris Richards 11
672 L R Richards
945 Steve Robins 16
Hillcrest, Knowle,
921 Pete Rose 2
The Beacon, Ilminster
918 Richard Round
932 Theresa Rumble 29
Cotham Road, Cotham,
832 Roger Sabido 15
Concorde drive, Westbury-on-Trym,
941 John Sampson 8
Hillcrest, Knowle,
240 L Alan Sandall 43
Meadway Ave., Nailsea,
359 L Carol Sandall 43
Meadway Ave., Nailsea,
760 Jenny Sandercroft 5
Eastcroft, Henleaze,
747 D.R. Sanderson 2
Drake Close, Poulder, Ringwood, Hants.
237 L B. Scott Merrymead,
78 L R.A. Setterington
213 L R. Setterington
872 Mark Sherman Wood
View, Grey Field, High Litton
926 Steve Short Flat
6, 68
915 Chris Smart 15
Timor Close,
911 James Smart c/o
950 Steve Smith 39
Tintagel Road, Keynsham,
951 Roger Smith 39
Tintagel Road, Keynsham,
851 Maurice Stafford 28
Rowan Close, Sonning Common,
1 L Harry Stanbury 31
Belvoir Road, St. Andrews,
38L Mrs I Stanbury 74
Redcatch, Knowle,
840 G. Standring 71
575 L D. Statham The
Bungallow, North Barrow, Yeovil,
365 L Roger Stenner 18
Stafford Place, Weston super Mare,
837 Richard Stevenson Greystones,
Priddy
962 Christine Stewart 15
865 Paul Stokes
583 Derek Targett North
Hall Cottage, Chilcompton
772 Nigel Taylor Whidden
Farm, Chilcote, Nr Wells,
284 L Allan Thomas Allens
House, Nine Barrows Lane, Priddy,
348 L D Thomas Pendant,
Little Birch, Bartlestree,
571 L N Thomas Holly
Lodge,
876 Nick Thorne 20
Hawkers Lane, Wells,
699 Buckett Tilbury 15
Fernie Fields,
700 Anne Tilbury 15
Fernie Fields,
692 Roger Toms 18
Hoton Road, Wysemold, Leicester
803 R.S. Toms 18
Hoton Road, Wysemold, Leicester
80 J.M. Postle Tompsett 11
Lodge Avenue, Great Baddow,
74 L M.J. Dizzie Tompsett
381 L Daphne Towler 7
Ross Close, Nyetimber,
157 L J. Tuck 3
Crown Rise, Llanfrechfa, Cwmbran, Gwent,
382 Steve Tuck Colles
Close, Wells,
768 Tony Tucker 75
Lower Whitelands, Tynings, Radstock,
769 Sue Tucker 75
Lower Whitelands, Tynings, Radstock,
678 Dave Turner Moonrakers,
912 John Turner Orchard
Cottage, 92 Church lane, Backwell,
635 L S. Tuttlebury 28
Beacon Close, Boundstone, Farnham,
887 Greg Villis The
Oaks,
175 L D. Waddon 32
Laxton Close,
933 Dianne Walker 8
New Buildings, frome
949 John Watson
953 Jim Watson c/o
15 Farm Grove, Southfields,
592 Eddie Welch
397 Mike Wheadon 91
The Oval,
861 Maureen Wheadon 91 The
Oval,
553 Bob White Cedar
Hall,
878 Ross White PO38389Y,
5 Troop, B. Company, 40 Commando Royal Marines,
939 Wally Wilkinson
940 Val Wilkinson
934 Colin Williams Whitestones
Farm, Cheddar Cross Roads,
885 Claire Williams Whitestones
Farm, Cheddar Cross Roads,
916 Jane Wilson University
lab of Psychology,
559 Barry Wilton Valley
View,
568 Brenda Wilton Valley
View,
721 Graham
850 Annie
813 Ian
943 Simon Woodman Link
Batch, Burrington, Nr Bristol,
877 Steve Woolven 21
Three Acres,
914 Brian Workman 11
Moreland, 11 New
937 Sue Yea Bridge
Farm, Dulcote, Nr. Wells,
Please inform the Secretary of any changes of address anbs soon as possible so this list can be amended and to make sure of receiving your B.B.
Many thanks to Fiona for typing the members list.
Remember: send any address changes or corrections to Tim Large, the Hon. Secretary.
Dachstein 1979
by Graham Wilton-Jones.
The results of last year's expedition were published in the BB, vol.32, no.10, Oct. '78, no.366, and vol.33, no.2, Feb '79, no.370.
This year there were'" fourteen of us on the plateau,
including eleven cavers - Throstle, Mervyn and Dave of Valley Caving Club,
Buckett, Ann and Tina, Stu Lindsay, Chris Smart, Big Jim Watson, Andy Sparrow
and friend Dave, Trev Hughes, J-Rat and G. W-J. The main batch of us left
During the previous five weeks the region had suffered rain almost every day and the plateau was very wet, but it did mean that there was much less snow than last year. Our first task was to continue the exploration of C19, Maulwurfhohle, below the 10m shaft discovered last year. Early on Monday Thros, Dave and Merv set off to rig down to and re-bolt Dorisschacht, using the Hilti gear we had acquired from the Himalayan expedition. To their dismay they found that the threaded portion of the eyebolts was too long. J-Rat and Big Jim entered the cave a little later but Jim found the squeeze in Gargantuagang a little difficult to negotiate and backed out, minus parts of his Enduro suit. J-Rat went on to the head of Dorisschacht and. dropped 100' of ladder - to the bottom. Things were not starting out too well, it seemed.
Chris and I rigged a telephone line across 1500m of lapiaz to C19 entrance, and returned to the hut for some more wire (where did Buzby's profits go?) where we met Siegfried Gamsjager. Siegfried is the manager of the Dachstein show cave, an excellent friend and a useful contact. He came back with us into C19 as we rigged more line through the narrow, twisting Gargantuagang to the head of the first pitch, Platzlschacht.
Stu and Trev spent the beginning of this first full day on the plateau in finding and levelling a place to pitch their tent. Throughout the expedition, come rain, wind, storm and tempest, their tent stood firm, and empty! During their search for a suitable, site they had been diverted somewhat upon finding three holes - C33, C34 and C35. The last two were short shafts but the first went in 63m to a shaft about 10m deep, for which they decided a ladder was required. Much was their disappointment the following day when they descended the shaft to find a chamber with a cairn. Underneath was a note indicating that one Siegfried Mittendorfer had explored the cave in 1961. To cap it all S.M. turned up at the Weisberghous later in the week with his nine year old daughter, and together they descended the cave and both free-climbed down the shaft!
Tuesday was met with low cloud initially but this cleared a little towards the end of the day. Merv, J-rat and Jim descended C19 and dropped TTFN shaft, left from last year. The passage continued, high but not wide, to a very narrow and damp 6m pitch almost immediately followed by a bigger pitch. They returned after a nine hour trip to make their way back across the lapiaz in the dark. This latter became a commonplace occurrence, poor weather keeping us in the hut until late, and lone trips meaning we came out at midnight or after as often as not.
We had been lucky to find a good file among the tools at the Wiesberghaus and were able to cut the bolts shorter, but we then found trouble removing the spent cones from the bolting tool. Clearly we were going to be beset with troubles. Chris and I descended Platzlschacht with the telephone line but I dropped a bag of gear, including precious and fragile jumars, all the way to the bottom. Thereafter began an inventory of dropped equipment, and it grew impressively long.
Chris and I came out and joined Stu and Trev in a search along the base of Niederer Grunberg near the region of an avalanche of huge, fallen blocks, which we nicknamed the 'Titans'. Stu climbed about on the cliff face and discovered C36, an enlarging bedding plane high up in the cliffs, and C37, a 7m snow plugged shaft, concealed from below by debris. Down below we found C38, a deep, angled shaft; C39, a horizontal tunnel in the west side of the valley and close to C38; C48, a m. shaft next to a 3m horizontal hole south of the Titans; and C49, a slope on snow, following the bedding, 100m north west of the Titans. Towards the end of the expedition Stu returned to C38 for a more detailed look and found the shaft to be at least 2 m deep and possibly wet.
Last year we had noticed a large hole in though south east face of the Niederer Grunberg about 100m from the summit and some 250m above the Schladmingerloch. We considered the possibility of abseiling to the hole from the top of the cliff. We felt that there was every likelihood that the hole would lead to the top of C19, perhaps into the big aven, Aufartz, above Platzlschacht. Early on the Wednesday, in beautiful weather, we climbed up through Schladmingerloch and on to the summit of Niederer Grunberg. After admiring and photographing the impressive views, we climbed down an obvious chute between the two summits and, directed by Thros and Chris we were on the scree slopes of Ochsen Kogel opposite, we attempted to reach the hole. We had tried this communication using walkie-talkies but found that shouting was clearer - we were 600m apart and the acoustics would have blown Wigs mind. Finding a distinct lack of belays, a lot of very sharp rock ideal for destroying SRT rope and those hanging thereon, and many loose boulders, Stu tried to sweep us all from the face with one the size of the Belfry stove, causing incredible echoes around the Schladmingerloch, I chickened out of the abseil. Everyone gave sighs of relief and we headed back to the top.
Stu had found an 8m shaft a little below the summit, C40, just too narrow to enter because of boulders at the head. We descended the hill via the north-west slopes, having to search among the cliffs for a safe route down. Here we came upon C41, a shaft over 10 m. deep, and a little bellow this was C42, a series of deep rifts curving in under the hill Halfway between here and the Titans, in the same valley we had been in the previous day, J-Rat found a shaft blocked with boulders at the top. Using another boulder he demolished this obstruction to reveal a deep, widish rift, C43. Five other sites had been found or looked at today; C44 is a 10m long 30O slope under a dead tree (there are not many of these) in the valley near the Titans. Its small entrance will probably be difficult to locate in the future; C45, found by Throstle, is a bell shaped 20 m shaft close to the edge of Herrengasse; half way along the north-west face of Ochsem Kogl a 2m by 1.5m entrance leads to 15m of passage heading 45O to the cliff face. This is C46; C47 close is by. A 5m high by 3m wide entrance leads past a waterfall to 12m of passage; Trev and Merv had a look at the obvious, large square alcove in the cliffs of Hoher Grunberg, behind Schladmingerloch, but it was snow blocked after only 6m. It was designated C50.
On Thursday we were to meet Siegfried for a trip into the further reaches of the Dachsteinmammuthohle. Once again it was a beautiful day and we set off for the Gjaidalm (ski school and alpine hut) where we sipped beer or tee-mit-citron while we waited for Merv, who had mistakenly headed towards the Simonyhutte. There are two cable cars form near the Gjaidalm the military seilbahn goes down direct to Obertraun (near Hallsatt lake) while the Dachstein seilbahn goes via Krippenstein and the Dachstaein show caves (our destination). Taking time over his tea and not knowing the geography of the area, Big Jim got split up from us and went to the military seilbahn. We would have not worried unduly only he had the 100 m rope required for a big shaft in the Mammuthohle (no-one else wanted to carry it). He finally arrived in the correct place about an hour late and we set off into the cave. Most of the section of the Mammuthohle that we traversed consisted of large phreatic tunnels (up to 10 m in diameter) floored with extensive mud fill. Passing through the show cave we followed the draught to the head of Theseusschacht, for which we used the 100m rope. We climbed out of the shaft just above the bottom, into a tube that is more than half filled with a dry and dusty clay. Here, on carbide blackened tablets of clay we found signatures, and occasional artistry, of the famous, the not so famous and the infamous. We added our own and Seigfried wrote his for the nth time - he leaves his mark every time he passes that way. We now followed the Minotaurusgang, the floor of which is completely covered in mud cracks. At one point the clay rises nearly to the roof and the wind whips up disturbed dust into one's face. Beyond the site of a small bivouac a few, ancient, dry stalactites and curtains wriggle down the sloping roof of a phreatic loop and some lumpy stal clings to the walls. Siegfried is of the opinion that many stals may be hidden beneath the mud. Finally we reached the 'Bock Stalagmit'. In 1913 Hermann Bock did a solo trip along Minotaurusgang and discovered a solitary stalagmite in a small chamber at one extremity. Choosing this sole stal, bless his soul, he put his signature and the date at the top - the vandal! Back at the base of Theseusschacht we made our way up an alternative route Edelweissgang. This is more homely, English passage with easily traversable and climbable rifts, followed by a long, steeply ascending bedding plane, coated with wet mud and peppered with 30 m deep holes to trap the unwary. Retrieving the rope from the top of the shaft we made our way to the west entrance, just for a look as Sigfried had no key for the gate there. At the junction between the main cave and the west entrance passage there is an ice lake, overhung by ice drapery. At the west entrance itself is an icy draught. Returning and passing underneath a roof of loosely packed pebble fill, no doubt thinking about becoming a conglomerate, we quickly made our way out to the East entrance. Unfortunately the restaurant had closed two hours previously, but when you are guests of the manager . After a good meal, many beers and a slide show we left six hours after closing time to stay in a hut nearby.
In the morning most people wanted to visit the ice cave. This done we made our way back up to the plateau, taking care not to lose Jim near the military seilbahn again. In Barengass (Bear Alloy) Stu and I had a look at some of the more obvious holes. Emerging from one I noticed some others that could not be seen from the valley pathway below. Climbing up an obvious gully I found one entrance, but it seemed a little narrow. Traversing round a ledge in the cliff, some 25m above the valley floor, I found two more entrances, and asked Stu to bring up a torch for them. One, running parallel with the cliff, became rather narrow after a short distance, but the other, Stu observed, had a draught strong enough to blow dust out of the entrance. It was designated C51 and the name is Barengassewindschacht. Collecting some gear from the Weisberghaus, only half an hour away, we returned with Trev and Jim. The entrance was rather low but the floor was only loose rocks and boulders. I kicked down some of the smaller ones into the shaft below and then the other three descended the first 6m shaft. Two ways down followed, joining via a chamber. Trev descended a further 8m to find a short climb down to the head of another 8m shaft. On the way out, knowing what a passion Trev has for breaking things, I persuaded him to push the remaining huge boulders down the first shaft. He was reluctant to do this as they formed the floor on which he lay. I told him to come out and I would do it. Actually I had no intention of doing it Im not that stupid but it did the trick. A few Hughesian blows and down plunged half a ton of floor, accompanied by screams.
Silence.
"Are you all right, Trev?"
Silence.
"Trev?"
"Yeeeusss", replied with a mixture of tremble, whisper and wail.
"Well push the others down then.
Two more tons and one hell of a din were accompanied by banshee howling. Trevor does not like boulders. He received no sympathy or concern over this time. We all retreated to the Weisberghaus for well deserved refreshment.
Saturday dawned wet, with more rain after a night of rain and storms. Added to yesterdays showers the plateau was very wet once again. Occasional rumbles of thunder could have easily put us all off caving for the day and sent us scuttling inside for numerous beers and peach cakes but we foolishly steeled ourselves against the elements. The first group set off into C19 to push the next pitch. They were followed around midday by another group, whose intention was to re-bolt Dorisschacht, again, but once more they were dogged by bolting tool trouble - the cones could not be removed once used. Several rungs slipped on the 100 foot ladder being used on part of Dorisschacht just to add to our difficulties. Chris and I rigged the telephone and line down to the head of the as yet un-named pitch in Many Meetings. Meanwhile the pushers had found the next pitch, Valley Schacht, to be 1 m to a ledge followed by an 18m drop into a, big, winding rift. They began to make their way out. Stu was the first of the expedition to reach the surface, just as a big thunderstorm was brewing. J-Rat 'phoned Chris at the entrance at the same moment as the lightning struck. Stu thought there was an avalanche off the big overhang of Grunberg and flattened himself against the cliff. There was a flash and an instantaneous explosion. Chris and J-Rat, the latter deep underground, were both knocked unconscious. Thros and I, fettling my carbide at the top of Platzlschacht, saw and heard an explosion beneath our feet (the wire was above our heads) and assumed it to have been a carbide explosion. We were somewhat surprised at the echoing rumbles from the passages below. Throstle's hand was scorched. Dave, halfway up the rope on Dorisschacht, saw an enormous flash below him but heard no explosion. Merv at the bottom saw and heard nothing. Trev, on the ladder below J-Rat and Jim, a little further into the cave, saw and heard nothing but reached the top to find J-Rat in a heap asking what happened and saying, I know you but I don't know your names. Chris and J-Rat's telephone hands were numb for several days afterwards and their ears stung for a long time. Exit was made successfully, the un-named pitch was christened Blitzschaeht, and Chris was thereafter known as Herr Blitz at the Weisbergerhaus. Although we had telephone communication from Blitzschacht to the entrance immediately after the incident we never again managed from the Weisbergerhaus to the cave. When the wire was being cleared from the plateau later Merv discovered a melted and broken section only 300m from the Weisbergerhaus. Well, Buzby. How do you avoid that?
The next day was really beautiful, the way it should be after a storm, and we lazed the morning away, sorting and mending gear, refreshing ourselves in the way the B.E C. knows best, and even having a midday meal in the Wissbergerhaus. In the afternoon Throstle wandered aimlessly and chased Gemsen (chamois) J-Rat continued to read his book, and Merv and Dave ascended both Niederer and Mittlerer Ochsen Kogel, finding a cave near the summit of one of them. They returned via the Simonyhutte. The rest of us went over to Barengassewindschscht where we found the first pitch to be an easy free climb now. We laddered down the second pitch, neither entrance of which had been obstructed by all the boulders thrown down, and I rigged and descended the third pitch. 10m along a narrow rift I came to a small hole at the top of a wide, 27m pitch. The rift continued, narrow and low, for a further 5m to curve round to the right to the head of a pitch, possibly part of the 27m. Jim and Trev prepared for the rigging of the 27m shaft while I made my way out. Part way down the valley side from the entrance of C51, I had a closer look at an entrance noted previously. A large boulder blocked the entrance but by removing the scree from around and underneath it I was able to push it to the bottom. The cave, C52, sloped downwards at 45O but unfortunately it was filled with boulders after only 4m. Hopes of another entrance to C51 were dashed though no doubt it could be dug at the point where the draught comes up through the boulders. We searched further along the cliffs of Barengasse, but found nothing else of note.
BARRENGASSENWINDSCHACHT (C51) 1543/6
Extended elevation. Sketch Survey BEC 1979 Scale 1:1000
The Valley lads went down to Hallstatt on Monday morning,
partly to replenish essential supplies - the dormouse had consumed more than
its fair share, even having tried human being, until human being tried it! Their other job was to meet and direct
Buckett and family. Meanwhile, on the
hill the rest of us were off into C19 again. Jim and J-Rat went to the big rift at the bottom, Bang Gang. The climbed up to reach a phreatic bore tube
some 30m above the floor. After 100m,
this ended at a pitch, Eric Schacht, which was free climbable to within 6m of
the floor. There was no sign of the
stream which had started at TTFN Schacht. At stream level the passage soon became rather narrow so they traversing
along the middle level. The sound of the
stream seemed to disappear after about 30m suggesting either that the rift was
closed or blocked below, or that the stream had turned into another course,
away from Gang Bang. Up above, Trev and
I put in a bolt at the head of the Valley Schacht, solving the problem of
removing spent cones by heating the end over a carbide flame. We returned to Gang bang with Jim later,
following the middle level, finding several wider spots in the traverse below
us, but decided that tackle was required to descend these. This would hopefully bypass the narrow
section in the streamway. On the way out
we measured, by constant estimation, both the length and the amount of descent
of
Buckett and Merv were the only two prepared to go down C19 on the Tuesday, the last day of July. Maulwurfhohle was becoming a very wearing trip, much harder than the Berger, for example, according to J-Rat, in spite of its comparative shallowness. Buckett pushed on at streamway level in Gang Bang and it was still going after 45 to 50m, much in the style of the entrance passage, Gargantuagang. Buckett objected to being told that he looked like a caver of the 1930s, with his black fibre helmet and his jumper stretched to around his knees But I am a caver of the 30s he replied. (Actually he started caving before Merv was thought of).
Trev and Stu headed for the top of the Dachstein. Unlike us last year; they had a rope and were able to lifeline up the non-existent via ferrata and abseil back down. The top of the mountains were clear early on but rain showers and mist came along in the late morning, and clouds filled up the valleys. This did not clear until the evening. Chris and I set off up the Niederer Ochsen Kogel, finding several holes near the eastern corner. Just as I reached the summit, getting a brief glimpse of the Weisbergerhaus far below, the mist shrouded us. We gave up the idea of going to the schacht, or schlund, that is marked on the map, and instead turned our attention to some of the holes nearer at hand. Close to the summit of Niederer Ochsen Kogel there is a large depression at the centre of which there is a snow patch on scree and a couple of deep rifts. We found another deep, snowy rift on the traverse route that we made down the south west face. Crossing the cliffs towards Wildkar Kogel the obvious, large, dark hole proved to be only a fairly shallow collapse. Below Wildkar Kogel there were several holes. One was a cave at the end of a large snow field, which I followed down as far as I could without a light. Nearby were deep shafts with snow at the bottom, and above those a phreatic tube, almost filled to the roof with cobbles, C57. To the east and south of Wildkar Kogel were many other tunnels, shafts and rifts worthy of further investigation.
On Wednesday August 1st we left Buckett and family in peace
and headed down to the valley via Herrengasse and the Tiergartenhutte. Some went to have a quick look at the
Waldbach Ursprung, the big resurgence for the area, and then we crossed over
the bridge over the Wildbach and walked through the forest to the old salt
mines at Salzberg. The oldest know
Celtic community originated here, 4500 years ago, salt being immensely valuable
in those far off days. A very rich,
bronze age burial ground has been excavated here. Hallsatatt is also reckoned to have its
origins in the third millennium B.C. The
salt mines themselves, which are still worked today, consist of a complex of
adits leading to, via short slopes off to the sides, to large wash out
chambers. The chambers are filled with
water and the salt gradually dissolves out of the rock. The brine is then drawn off, the chamber
re-filled with water, and the process starts again. Highlights of the trip are a slide, as on a
banister, down a special wooden slope which the miners seem to use as a quick
way down, and a ride on an open train, heads brushing the adit shuttering if you
lean too far to one side. It was too
late to look for the Koppenbrullerhohle show cave afterwards, so we spent the
late afternoon viewing the
Early on the morning, after the never to be forgotten night before, we were up, having stayed in an Alpine Club hostel. The previous afternoon Thros and Trev had dived off the balcony into the lake for a swim, and they chose to do this again to waken themselves. Ere long we were climbing up the steep slopes of the Achern-Tal, above the Waldbach, to the entrance of the Hirlatzhohle. This is situated at the base of the 1200m high Hirlatz-Wand and has some 9km of passages. There are many fixed aids throughout the cave, including wood and wire ladders in various states of decrepitude, and wires for traverses. A very strong wind howls through the blasted entrance, and makes it very easy to find ones way through the entrance series, especially in the labyrinth. Immediately after the entrance the passage spirals up a canyon with potholes in the floor, some of then filled with clear bluish water. Since one ladder was damaged we took a lower route through the labyrinth which included a damp grovel through a bedding plane, one of the few places where we were not able to stand up. Eventually we ascended a widened tectonic joint using a ladder, then down the beautifully shaped, phreatic, Gothic Passage and further ladders to enter the main system. At this point it is a huge, boulder floored, dry streamway. In one direction we were shown some superb limestone fluting the Organ Pipes, but were unable to go further as a ladder was required for a 60m pitch. In the other direction we dropped fairly rapidly down the boulder floor top reach a dark, winding lake with a waterfall entering one end. Traversing above the lake we soon entered wide, sandy chambers and the site of a bivouac, complete with ancient, rotting bell tent. From here we began a long but gentle climb, passing at one stage through the Black Chamber, where all the yellow-grey sand is covered under a layer of fine soot. This is believed to have been caused by a forest fire on the hill above. Further on the passage was nearly filled to the roof with clay, which stopped abruptly forming a wall. A narrow, vadose rift had been cut through the clay but the sides were too fragile to allow a safe traverse of the rift. Instead we had to climb up the wall using a fixed ladder. Finally the clay infilling met the roof, and a narrow, vadose canyon brought in an inlet from one side. We had taken four hours to reach this extremity of the cave, a very good time apparently. To make the exit we took a mere two hours, but we left Erica behind. She is a life size, and life like, image of Erics sister, or mistress, created in the sand beside the bivouac tent, much to the amazement and amusement of the Austrians. We did not see much of Eric after that. Dashing down the hill and round to the Dachstein seilbahn we managed to catch the last cable car back to the Gjaidalm. After a meal in the hut there we made the Weisbergerhaus in about an hour.
Andy and Dave had arrived on the plateau and spent some time with Buckett looking around Schladmingerloch. Hidden behind a shoulder of rock on the northern slopes of Ochsen Kogel they found a small rift from which issued a cold draught, strong enough to chill the air several metres from the entrance. The entrance passage of Andys Roaring gale Hole, C55, led, after a short distance, to a pitch, which was not descended. They also managed to reach the hole in the south east face of Niederer Grunbereg by traversing around ledges and then doing a short abseil, C60 quickly led to a pitch with a draught. Above it and to the right a small, C19 type rift, designated C61, was followed for a few metres but was thought to lead into C60.
Siegfried arrived on the plateau again in the morning and
six of us made our way up into the Schladmingerloch, where we spent some time
watching a herd of chamois. These
animals seem to feed out on the open screes when there is no-one about, and
also play on the snow, making slides. They are very wary, however, and quickly disappear onto the grassy
ledges of the cliffs with amazing agility. We could do with a few chamois to reach some of the caves. I put in a bolt at the head of the pitch in
C55, the Gale hole, and Siegfried and I descended it to a depth of about 30m,
passing some massive jammed boulders on the way. The shaft appears to be a widened section of
a deep, winding rift. Over the floor of
boulders I squeezed and traversed down a narrow gap to a final choke of gravel
and peat with no sign of the draught. A
little way up, though, the rift continued, too narrow, running parallel with
the face of Ochsen Kogel. I climbed straight
upwards for about 10m and came upon a widening of the rift through which most
of the wind came and beyond which I could see an inviting, black space. Unfortunately the route is very narrow and I
did not like the look of it. About 8m
below the head of the pitch a passage seems to lead over the top of the black
space, but an unprotected traverse is required to reach it, perhaps requiring a
couple of bolts to negotiate. Opposite
where the entrance passage opens onto the head of the pitch is yet another
passage, T-shaped and similar in size to the entrance passage that is about 2m
high and varying in width from 30cm to over 1m. In the entrance passage there were some very largo calcite crystals
which had grown in layers that had subsequently broken. The individual crystals were up to 10cm long
and several had a hole down the centre. Siegfried said that these were very rare, being known at only three
other sites in
J-Rat, meanwhile, had climbed the cliff ledges across to C60. A few metres inside he climbed down the pitch and followed about 50m of narrow passage, gradually descending, and suddenly emerged on the cliff face again, some 30m lower down and to the left. A great disappointment, dashing our hopes of a higher entrance to C19. In the grassy slope above C60, near the abseil point, a tight bedding plane entrance, C54, led to a roomy chamber with two ways on but both were boulder blocked, making the total length about 15m. Buckett and Andy looked at various holes below Ochsen Kogel. One of these, C53, has a large entrance but the two ways on inside both lead to crawls, one of them flat out. There are at least 50m of passage but no draught in either branch.
On our way back from the Schladmingerloch Andy and I had a look at C20, a left over from last year. This year the snow was well clear of the entrance, Andy found that it was possible to squeeze and free climb down, especially with the help of a rope, while I climbed down the 5m pitch where it was wide enough to require a desperate straddle. Another drop led to the choked bottom of an inclined rift but straight ahead was a fine, cylindrical, phreatic tube, about 70m in diameter. After about 10m a large chamber with an aven was reached, a rift with breakdown leading straight onwards, while below was a climb down to a short pitch. Things looked promising, and it was particularly disappointing to find, later on, that all ways soon stopped.
Merv and Dave had gone to the top of the Dachstein for the day, and the remainder of the expedition went to push Darengassewindschacht. They descended the 27m pitch to find what they described as a 'Swildon's type streamway dropping in steps for 16 or 17m to the head of a very large pitch. The exaggerated claims of stones dropping free for six seconds (170m) were gradually whittled down to a more reasonable two seconds free followed by several seconds of clattering', which later proved to be correct.
We prepared to do C19 the next day but, after a clear early morning, cloud and mist came up, followed by rain accompanied by occasional thunder. The rain continued until three in the afternoon so we occupied ourselves in the Weisbergerhaus, gradually become more and more crushed by ill equipped hordes from a church youth club, who arrived through the chill drizzle in various states of exposure and exhaustion. By 1630 the skies had cleared but C19 was out of the question so Stu, Trev, Thros, Buckett and I went over to Barengasse and C51. I put in a bolt at the head of the next pitch, after many problems and descended, feeding the 100m rope from the bag as I did so. Having passed several ledges, two of them substantial, without using rope protectors (very bad practice, but then so is abseiling of one bolt) I asked Buckett to join me, and I continued down a slope and a further pitch, using 63m of rope from the bolt. The rope now hung over some particularly vicious flakes, some of which had been broken by the rope. I felt the rope bag and there seemed to be little rope left (in fact there was still 37m) and I could not be sure if the last person to use it had put a knot in the end (as it turned out they had not). I was becoming wet and cold from the constant drip in this pot, and quickly decided to forego the pleasures of the next, inviting looking pitch and make for the surface. In short, I chickened out. We de-tackled the whole system and made exit in about five and a half hours.
Our final push into C19 began early on Sunday. As the youth club gathered together for an
outside mass, Merv, J-Rat, Jim and Andy set off to the cave to push beyond the
bottom of Eric Schacht, survey out and begin de-tackling'. Merv turned back after a short while as he
did not feel up to the trip, so he busied himself clearing telephone line from
the plateau. The other three reached the
bottom without difficulty and descended Eric Schacht to find a boulder floor
with no sign or sound of the stream. High up on the far side of the phreatic tube could be seen continuing,
but a hairy, exposed and difficult climb or a bolt traverse are the only means
of reaching it. The rift continues,
tight and awkward. They decided to
finish exploration at that point and began to survey out along Bang Gang. Buckett and I set off down the cave in the
afternoon, having said our fond farewells to Trevor, and we all met up at the
top of TTFN Schacht. We chain ganged the
tackle, enormous amounts of it, along
Sparrow and Co and the Valley lads had returned home leaving six of us to remove the remainder of the gear from C19, which we did early on Tuesday. The expedition was over. As I write this, early September, the temperature at the Weisbergerhaus has dropped to -3OC and the snow is already down to 300m below the hut. We have not achieved what we had expected or hoped for this year, although we still have good cause to return in 1980. Barengassewindschacht (C51) has better potential for striking an old, horizontal system of large phreatic tunnels than anything else discovered, and is the most likely possibility so far of reaching the main drain. Maulwurfhohle (C19) is most certainly not played out and a hard, super enthusiastic team including a good climber could do something with it yet. Most of the new sites found were not explored this year due to lack of time, and there are still some holes left unexplored from last year. C29, an ice cave, is one of these. It lies in an ideal position to enter C19 beyond Eric Schacht.
Insofar as we enjoyed ourselves this year the expedition was a success - we do after all do it for fun, or so I am led to believe. Much greater success in terns of length or depth could well be in the offing for next year.
QUODCUMQUE FACIENDUM : NIMIS FACIEMUS
The Discovery & Exploration Of Wookey 23 - 25
by Chris Batstone
The numbering of sumps in Wookey can for some seem strangely
complex. From one to nine the system is
relatively easy to understand, there being airspace between the sumps. From 9 to 22 things become slightly obscure. To clarify this however, the reader should be
aware that between 9 and 22 the cave is totally submerged, except for the 20th
chamber the numbering is merely to signify stages in exploration. The conventional sump numbering system is
used beyond the 22nd chamber.
Discovery
By early 1976 the Cave Diving Group attempts to find the
continuation of the cave system beyond the 22nd chamber had been
fruitless. Despite this a number of
divers were still enthusiastic enough to keep up the search.
On February 21st1976, Colin Edmunds and Martyn Farr had gone
in to 22 to investigate the far sump. Previously Parker had reported that "it was static and did not
go." During their investigation of
the sump they found an opening much like the "slot" in 15. They explored the passage beyond until the
line ran out. They had explored 300ft of
passage down to a depth of 65ft. The two
divers were forced to return to base having no more line with which to explore
further.
A day later on the 23rd February, two more divers Oliver
Statham and Geoff Yeadon went in to push the sump further. Statham led the dive, he followed Edmunds
line to the limit of the previous dive. Then tying on his own line pushed on to surface 60ft further in Wookey
23. He was soon joined by Yeadon who was
following behind surveying as he went. They had found a passage 40 x 25ft with a sandy floor.
The next sump did not seem very inviting so they spent some
time investigating an aven for alternative routes, none were found. Statham dived sump 23. This he found to be a series of short
sumps. Each time he surfaced he found
deep water high rifts with dry passage leading off, but steep mud banks to make
his exit difficult. He found that
exiting from the pool in "24" was difficult due to its steep mud
bank. He was soon joined by Yeadon who
helped him out of the pool onto the mud bank.
Yeadon wandered off along the large sandy passage they had found, looking for the next "inevitable sump". Excitedly he shouted to Statham to "de-kit". The passage was not going to end in a sump just yet. The two explored up the passage, where they heard the roaring sound of a large amount of water. Climbing over some boulders they found the subterranean River Axe flowing in a passage 40ft high and 5f. wide. They swam upstream against a very strong current, for approx. 150ft. The passage opened out into a large Chamber, with a high level route leading off. They stayed in the river passage which had narrowed to 2-3ft wide and about 50ft high. After about 300ft they came to a cascade which they climbed, into a large chamber. Here the high level passage mentioned earlier joined the river passage. This chamber opened out to a lake. The divers swam across the lake to investigate a rift, but no way on could be seen. The water in the lake came up from under the left wall this then was the next sump (24).
On their return they made a quick survey and explored the
high level passage; the total passage length was 2,000ft plus.
A week later on the 27th February Martyn Farr and Colin
Edmunds were back. Arriving at Sump 24
Farr dived reaching a depth of around 85ft. The way on was up a steeply inclined dip. On his second attempt he reached an air
surface. His dive had been 350ft long
finishing at a chamber (25) covered in thick deposits of mud. He swam across it until he came to what he
thought to be a bridge of rock. Pulling
himself up about 3ft out of the water he could see into another pool approx.
30ft in diameter. He returned to Edmunds
in 24 where they explored some side passages. They returned to 9:2 after 6¼ hours in the cave.
Farr and Edmunds returned to Wookey on the 10th April aiming
to photograph the new extensions and have a look at the terminal sump
(25). On reaching 25 Farr christened the
chamber the "
It was now apparent from the last pushing attempt that
considerably more support would be needed to push any further. With a dive of over 2000ft long and 80ft deep
to 25. The problems of high air
consumption had to be considered, a large amount of extra air cylinders were
needed. The problems of decompression,
too, had to be considered. Decompression
stops in cold water can be very wearing. To offset the cold, constant volume, drysuits were acquired. These dry suits had the advantage of keeping
in the body warmth, and counteracting the negative buoyancy at depth. The major disadvantage of these suits is that
they tend to cause overheating when the diver is not in the water. A large amount of the equipment was obtained
from sponsors who donated either equipment or money to the project.
Many weeks were spent practicing with the new equipment and
techniques associated with it. Numerous
artificial aids were transported into the extensions; this included two lengths
of rigid steel ladder to 25 to aid the scaling of the barrier wall. To facilitate easy passage of the canals and
climbs, these were roped up to assist the divers in high water conditions.
A water tracing exercise was also carried out on November
the 27th. Two tests were made. One using rhodamine dye from 25. This was detected at the resurgence after 9
hours. The other test was made from St.
Cuthberts Swallet. 140 grams was put
into the sink and followed through the cave to sump 2. But the dye was not subsequently detected at
the resurgence after 56 hours. It may be
supposed that the amount of dye used was too small.
The Push
The 11th June 77 had been set for the assault on Sump
25. In the preceding weeks the essential
equipment had been transported to various parts of the cave ready for use. The 9th Chamber was crowded with divers,
supporters, television film crews, newspapermen and tourists. The divers were Martyn Farr, Dave Morris,
Colin Edmunds, Brian Woodward, Richard Stevenson, Paul Atkinson and George Bee.
Due to high water conditions the dive was postponed,
although a performance was put on for the benefit of the media. This also gave an opportunity to put the
finishing touches to the final preparations.
The same team of divers were back at the cave on the 18th
June. Farr dived with Morris as back up
diver. The others went to 24 to help
ferry and check the back up equipment. Leaving Morris in the
Although the main objective of the dive to push the final
sump failed, the exercise has been useful, several lessons had been learnt. Decompression and use of open circuit
breathing mixtures have been established in cave diving, besides setting a new
British cave diving depth record.
To the authors knowledge no further pushes have been made on
sump 25 nor are any further planned, at the time of writing. The story does not stop here, the events of
the 1976-77 dives are just another chapter in the story. As diving equipment and techniques improve,
so divers will be able to push even farther and deeper into the sumps of Wookey
Hole.
It is hoped this article has provided a clearer picture of
events at Wookey Hole to date.
References: -
C.D.G. Newsleters No's '39 to 45
(new series)
B.C.R.A. Bulletin No 17 Aug 77. Recent developments at Wookey Hole.
The Descent Of King Pot
a new find on Scales Moor,
by Martin Bishop.
On Friday 22nd June, Trev Hughes, Tim Large, myself and
Rocksport's own Fiona, set forth for
Saturday morning 'dawned' about 8 a.m., and after breakfast
a short discussion and some cider (we always take the necessaries) Trev, Tim
and myself and Dave Gallavar (NCC) set off for the cave, sorry - pothole. Our journey was to be interrupted by watching
the fanner and friend castrating sheep using an amazing tool which resembled a
miniature hatchet! From this point to
the entrance, Trev made Tim quite ill by insisting on a sheeps nuts kebab at
the barbeque. Eventually we made the
entrance end after a quick check of our gear we began the descent. Enough of this frivolity, I'll now get down
to the business of describing certainly one of Yorkshires best trips and
certainly one of the most impressive.
The cave consists of an awkward 25ft entrance pitch,
followed by a 10ft rope descent into a small chamber. From this chamber a 35ft pitch leads into a
series of crawls through boulders to the head of a 10ft pot. This crawl marks the end of the 'old cave'
and the scene of the breakthrough in early June. Beyond a 10ft climb leads into 25ft of rift
passage to the head of the 5th pitch. A
30ft ladder dropping through boulders takes you into a few hundred feet of passage
to an exceedingly loose choke. About
halfway along this passage a climb takes you into a grotto full of straws which
rivals Easter Grotto in the Easegill System. Once past the unstable choke you enter, what was for me, the worst part
of the system A short rift passage leads
into a flat out crawl in a narrow phreatic tube with a 3ft deep, 6-8" wide
trench cut in the floor. After 100ft the
passage (still small) goes through a tight 'S' bend and through a tight squeeze
to the head of the next pitch, 25ft ladder required. At the bottom of the pitch a 2ft wide,
meandering stream passage continues for 700ft and up to 40ft high, at the top
of which is a 8ft dia. phreatic tube full of pretties. At the end of the meanders, a 10ft pitch
quickly followed by a 15ft pitch leads to a loose climb up a slope to a large
chamber beyond which is an even larger chamber entered via a 45ft pitch - King
Henry's Hall (150ft long, 100ft wide and 100ft high) - so named after the
boulder at the head of the pitch which is about the size of a mini-car and has
no visible means of support. At the end
of KHH a 35ft pitch down a narrow (Cuthbert's style) rift leads through 200ft
of rift passage to two very large un-named chambers. From this point about 600ft of canal passage
with a good stream, takes you to the head of the 70ft pitch. The pitch is really superb and has a rock
bridge which spans the head of this 30ft dia. pot. After a fine descent the stream passage below
leads 300ft to a sump. Back under the
70ft pitch, a 10ft climb over a rock barrier leads to a muddy, flat out and wet
crawl to some small chambers and an inlet junction on the right of the main
passage gives was, after a climb up a mud bank, to a chamber with some fine
abandoned gours about 8ft wide and 100ft long.
Dropping back into the main passage, 700ft. of canal leads
into the Scales Moor Main drain. Downstream from the junction about 450ft of superb stream passage with a
hell of a lot of water, ending at a big, blue and very deep sump pool. Upstream of the junction 300ft of passage
ends at another sump of the same calibre. So we start out, breaking the journey by looking at two inlets, one
halfway back through the canal and the other at the far end. The first leads to a lake and a passage
beyond that has a strong draught issuing from a choke and looks a promising
site to push.
The other inlet is gained by a 5ft climb up into a classic
12ft dia. phreatic passage. This
continues for about 220ft and stops at an abandoned lake chamber; the acoustics
in this passage are phenomenal. On the
return trip we split into two parties, Tim and Dave racing on while Trev and
yours truly taking our steadier pace. About three and a half hours later we gained the surfaced knackered but
dead chuffed at being the first non-NCC cavers to be allowed down. My next
visit to this cave will be with two NCC members to dive the terminal sumps, to
do this must involve a 10-15 hour trip, so I could be after some bottle-boys
- any offers?
To conclude this article we go on to the barbeque which
proved to be a very good night with stacks of beer and food; to Trev's
disappointment no Sheep's Ball Kebabs but after a few beers he was not
bothered. Tim Large must be getting old
- he found it necessary to go to bed at about 11.30p.m. SOBER! Trev finally disappeared by 2.30am and I
strolled (or staggered) along Kingsdale with the dawn, rising behind me. So come Sunday. Cider for breakfast, then to the Craven
Heifer for lunch where Trev and I thrashed the NCC and (commiserations to Funky
Dibben) the Derbyshire C.C. at darts after a few more beers at Dave Gallavers
house in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, we made our way home. A great weekend.
A No Name Article
By Michael Palmer
A White Scar Caving trip was arranged for 14th Jan. '78 by
Martin (how green is my) Grass and so, to use a well worn phrase, a small band
of BEC members drove the boring Motorway route to Horton-in-Ribblesdale to be
the guests of the Bradford.
The party consisted of two groups, the Palmer family with
Greg Villis and Christine, and Martin, Glenis, Pat and Paul Christie. Martin had hoped for slightly better support
of the trip but as it transpired the numbers were adequate.
En-route the Palmer group were fortunate enough to stay the
Friday Night at Fred Weekes' Paddiham 'put you up', where they enjoyed fine
hospitality. The other group made it to
the Bradford Cottage in time to find enough space for their sleeping bags.
Saturday morning, early but not so bright, saw the groups
assembled in the
The route at this point is upwards through a naughty
corkscrew squeeze, emerging into an extremely large chamber. From this chamber the leader took us to the
caveable extremities of the Western Front and the Northern Front to look at
very nice formations and a wonderful crystal pool which unfortunately was
dry. On the trip out Paul Christies
wonder light failed again and to cap it all he later lost the Carbide lamp,
loaned by Greg, while negotiating a swim in the cold streamway.
At the entrance the women had prepared welcome hot cup of
tea, having returned early from their shopping in Settle. After a quick change and a thank you to our
leader we made a hasty return to the Bradford Cottage for a shower and hot
food.
The hut warden had made a double booking, so bunk space was
scarce. However, after a little
bartering and swearing sufficient room was found for the women, Martin and
Paul, while Michael and Greg slept in the van. At the
A trip to Swinsto had been organised with Fred Weekes for
Sunday morning, which found the men once again standing by the roadside in the
freezing cold changing into wet wetsuit. The women folk did a more sensible thing by going walking from Ingleton
to see Thornton Force, which is a very impressive sight after wet weather.
Except for Fred this was everyones first trip into Swinsto,
so there was lots of speculation about the sort of trip it would be. The arrangement was that we would abseil
through the system, pulling the rope down behind us, into the Kingsdale Master
Cave and leave by the Valley entrance.
Sufficient articles have already been written about this
trip so enough said, but it is relevant to record that this is a fine sporting
pothole and the grand finale of the Kingsdale Master System is worth the
effort. The only bad spot of the trip
was when the rope nearly didn't free itself from the top of the main pitch
We were all by this time on the ledge which divides the
pitch into two; we were also being blown by an icy cold wind, caused by the
swollen stream descending the pitch. After only a few minutes we were all very cold and subsequently decided
in the warmth of the hut that it would not take very long for exposure to set
in if trapped on the ledge under such conditions. So, as a safety measure it was considered
advisable to take a second rope of about 60ft, to avoid the danger of getting
stuck should the main rope become stuck in any belay. Feeling very pleased, with ourselves we
returned to the hut for a hot meal before saying our good byes.
The weather was not too kind and the accommodation was
overcrowded, but two fine caving trips made the weekend worth while and thank
you to those who came and to Martin for organising the main trip.
Lifeline
by Tim Large
whose address is c/o Trading Standards Dept.,
The year marches on so quickly these days, before we know we
are at the A.G.M. and Dinner will be upon us. Already I can hear the usual rumblings of discussion. I hope these rumblings will be aired in the
proper place - the A.G.M. It often seems
to happen that various moans develop before the A.G.M., but those concerned air
their grievances everywhere but at the meeting.
DINNER: As you have
already probably read in previous B.B.s, the Dinner is to be held at the
Caveman, Cheddar and the meal will include Roast beef, Yorkshire Pud, wine and
a drink before the meal (either a pint or a sherry) all for £3.50. The management of the Caveman have been
grilled by myself and Ive been assured that a) the meal will be over in
about one and a half hours and b) no-one will need to complain about the
quantity of the food. The veg., etc.,
will be laid out in dishes on the table. I hope that this year the Dinner will be memorable one and that there
will be no repetition of the food throwing that occurred last year we do not
wish to stoop as low as the
ADDRESS CHANGES AND NEW MEMBERS: -
New members
Dave Nicholls,
John Knops, Ida Cottage,
Changes of address:
Roger Sabido (832) 15 Concorde
Drive, Westbury-on-Trym,
Buckett Tilbury (699) 15 Fernie Fields, Aylesbury, Bucks.
John Dukes (830) Bridge Farm, Dulcote, Nr. Wells, Som.
Sue Yea, Bridge Farm, Dulcote, Nr. Wells, Som.
Richard Knight (904) Crossways, Hillesley, Wotton-under-Edge, Glos. GL12 7RD.
Nigel Jago (753) West Cottage,
Derek Targett (583) Norton Hall Cottage, Chilcompton, Midsummer Norton,
Mike Baker (392) 10 Riverside Walk, Midsummer Norton,
U. Jones (Jonah) Woking Grange,
Leaders for
Dave Irwin, Townsend Cottage,
Priddy, Nr. Wells,
Mike Palmer, Laurel Farm, Yarley Hill, Yarley, Wells,
Max. no. in party is 5, electric lamps only, 25p per head
into the coffers of the C.S.S. and give the leaders about 4 weeks notice
please.
MORE ADDRESS CHANGES received by the Editor:
Teresa Humble, 71 Chiltern Close,
Warmley,
Colin Priddle (Pope) 15
Colin writes '
its good to hear of new caves being found on
Mendip. I have taken a step nearer
caving again by moving to
ON MENDIP recently has been Jonah who turned up at the
Belfry on his motorbike and when being asked by Trevor Hughes if he was a caver
replied My boy, Ive been caving for 35 years! Trevor quickly shrank from sight! Also seen at the Hunters - the one and only
Steve Grime recounting tales of his travels abroad. Incidentally, Jonah has donated a quantity of
material for the club library including a rare copy of 'Historia Rievallensis'
by the Rev. W. Eastmead published in 1824. The book contains an account of the recently discovered CAVE AT
KIRKDALE. Many thanks Jonah.
A.G.M. Due to the
committee proposals as a result of the work of the Constitutional Sub-committee
it has been decided to hold an EGM on Saturday 7th October starting at 10.00am
at the Belfry. The A.G.M. will commence
after this E.G.M. This will conform to
the spirit of the resolution at last years A.G.M. which requested this work to
be carried out - namely that the revisions should be accepted before the 1978
A.G.M.
Caving In
Gibraltar
By Trev Hughes
The Rock of Gibraltar is a limestone peninsula approximately
3 miles long by 1 mile wide. The Rock is
triangular in cross section and the ridge reaches 900ft above sea level.
Due to continued military interest and the limited area of
level ground the rock has, over the years, become honeycombed with mined
passage ranging from 250 year old gun batteries to present day command
centres. The total length of mined
passage is now nearly 35 miles at many different levels. It is perhaps less well known that there are
176 known natural caves on the rock, all are very old and are of phreatic or
fault origins, there being no surface streams on the rock. The highest entrances are at 750 ft above sea
level (I know because its a long beer initiated slog up the water catchment
steps).
Probably most people have heard of St Michael's show cave
which is two thirds up the western side of the rock. The large chambers in this cave led to its
wartime use as a hospital. The largest
chamber in the show cave was a ward; it is now used for concerts, seating about
500. The lower chamber was adapted for
use as an operating theatre.
During the latter part of the war the Royal Engineers drove
a tunnel horizontally into the hillside to connect with the operating theatre
providing a convenient wheelbarrow route for bits of broken soldiers. During these blasting operations instead of a
pile of rubble at the end of their tunnel the Sappers found a large hole, so
the lower and lower lower series of St Michaels cave were found.
The lower series is formed along a large fault with a
considerable vertical down throw, it connects with the lower lower series in
the blasted entrance passage and in a 100ft pot within the system. Stream action appears to have played no appreciable
part in the formation of cave passage. The lower series like the show cave is extremely well decorated with
large areas of flowstone and columns; cave mud is noted for its absence. Although fairly short (660ft) the lower
series has a vertical range of 80ft and provides some sporting climbs and an
interesting 1-2 inch wide traverse around a 20ft deep lake.
The only interest in caving on the rock is a small group of
resident Army cavers and a few local people who comprise the rocks only caving
club! However, they are always willing
to provide a guide for non-local cavers such as a visiting naval caver like
myself. Most of the caves on the rock
are short but some are relatively sporting such as the lower lower series of St
Michaels cave.
Letter To The Editor
To the Editor of the BB
Firstly the thoughts of 'Chairman' Alfie, if only others
could have been prepared to write articles I am sure that Alfies thoughts may
have been a bit watered down. I think
you should give him a round of applause for keeping the B.B. going so long.
As far as the B:B. is concerned you in the Bristol area are
lucky in that you can read through the Bulletin and then throw it on the fire
if you feel like it. Other people
overseas look on the B.B. as a God-send, which reflects the good old times in
the Belfry, when it was the Old Belfry, before it burnt down.
You should ask yourselves, what are we trying to do? You have a wonderful club on Mendip dedicated
to caving and I say OK to the social activities of the older members (I myself
included) who can't go caving (I'm blind and can hardly walk) and like to sit
around and talk about the good old days (were they? wifes comment).
An idea for an article in the B.B. Could a rough map of Mendip be produced
showing where new caves have been discovered.
By the way, there's a second Belfry out here - a log cabin
similar to Belfry 1. In a good winter
(not green) you can ski miles through forest, so why not pitch your strength
against this nature and not against older members of the B. E. C.
Yours, George Honey,
Notices
CAVING BOOTS (CRANGE TYPE). There are still some pairs left - mainly sizes 8, 9, 10. PRICE £8.75. For those not familiar with them, they have external steel toe caps and
commando soles. Contact Tim Large
(address see LIFELINE).
CAVING EXHIBITION: Arrangements are being made to hold this in the autumn at
Proposed Exhibition of Caving Equipment at the
Mr. Cook, Curator of the
How To Avoid Caving Trips
By Annie Wilton-Jones
You may have noticed a distinct absence of I. Wilton-Joness
on Mendip in the last couple of years. Weve certainly noticed an absence of Lukin's cheese and cider in our
diet so we cant have been in the area for a while. It would seem that we have developed quite a
talent for avoiding caving and it is only fair that we should pass on this
expertise to other would-be defaulters.
One of the first things to do is to get married. As every married caver knows, this entails
not so much the loss of your freedom as the gaining of a second set of
excuses. A frequent result of taking
this first step along the road of avoidance is the purchase of a house. This is a very good avoidance method in its
own right. It gives you two let outs: -
1) Mortgage repayments should easily high enough to reduce
your ability to pay for petrol to a minimum. Trips to Mendip will therefore be similarly reduced. 2) There's always so much to do in the
house. A new house will be of faults
and an old one will require extensive renovation and then there's the garden! Of course the single caver can always try the
house purchase without bothering with the marriage method. It still works just as brother-in-law G. W-J
will, no doubt, testify.
After a while, of course, your pay will go up a bit so the
mortgage repayments will not cut down your spending money as much and, at about
the same time, the house and garden will reach a comfortable condition. The new house excuse will, therefore, be less
effective so a fresh one must be found. Might I suggest the development of a second interest a least as time
consuming as caving? Running is a good
example, this will require that a lot of time is spent in training and a lot of
money is spent getting to races. It is also something that cannot be ignored
for a week or so as you will lose your fitness. There will, of course, be the odd weekend when theres no race and you
will have a little money your pocket but youre bound to be able to think of
something you need for the house that will cost money and take the whole
weekend to install.
Now is the time to introduce a further excuse. Why not start a family? This is a good excuse
for the wife to stay above ground - a large stomach is very cumbersome and gets
in way in crawls and on ladders - but, on its own, is not sufficient excuse for
the husband to stay in the daylight. The
answer is 'blood pressure'. A nicely
raise blood pressure will put the wife in bed for months at a time, maybe even
in hospital, until the baby is born. Marvellous excuse! How can the
husband go caving when he has to look after house, garden and pets on his own
while also trying to find time to go to work and visit his wife? One point. On this excuse, though, is to time
it correctly. If you misjudge it you may
end up missing the BEC Dinner which somewhat spoils the effect.
Of course, once the baby is born (in our case a daughter, Clare)
you have a ready made excuse. The baby
is too small for you to take on long journeys and your wife is too tired for
you to leave her to cope on her own. However, as wife and baby settle into a routine caving might become a
possibility again so why not break your ankle? It's a bit painful at the time but it can be quite fun hobbling around
on crutches and every one feels sorry for you.
When the ankle heals you could go into hospital for a minor
op, but this won't last very long so you'll soon need a better excuse. I don't recommend the following one but it
works very effectively:
Get knocked down by a car. The main problem with this excuse is that you cant control the
seriousness of the accident. Assuming
that you are not killed, you may well be so badly injured that not only will
you never cave again but you may also never do anything active again
either. If you are lucky your injuries
will eventually heal but you won't know the final outcome for many months. You will spend these months in hospital
and/or attending painful physiotherapy sessions while hobbling about, once
again, on those crutches. At the end of
all this treatment though you may still be able to cave so just in case you
find you can, it might be an idea to start a second baby now so you'll have an
excuse ready when the time comes!
Seriously though, Ian will still be on crutches for quite a
while and we don't yet know how well his leg will heal. However, you will see us on Mendip again in,
we hope, the not too distant future, along with one or two babies, one dog, two
cats and two or more gerbils!
Annie W-J.
Additions To Cliftworks Passage, Box Mine's
by members of the
Cotham Caving Group.
In Mendip Underground (1) the description says of Cliftworks
Passage
enters the most recent workings, much blackened by diesel fumes.
The object of this article is to try to describe Cliftworks
Passage in more detail, so that the visitor to the mine will be fully able to
appreciate a most interesting part of the mine.
Follow AO route from the Backdoor to Cliftworks Passage as
described in the guide. Turn right at
the water tank at the junction, pausing to look down the Well opposite. Proceed along Cliftworks Passage, passing B11
and WO Passages on your right. Passing
under several dry stone arches and through a doorway, you will now be in an
isolated part of the mine from which the only connection is back through
Cliftworks Passage.
About fifty feet past the door on the right is the first of
several side passages. This one is
roughly five hundred feet long and along its length, on the right side, you
will find a well, tools and finally a crane. At the end are natural springs. Just short of the end, on the left, is a connection through deads to a
passage which runs parallel to it. In
the area of this connection passage are some examples of the large tongs which
were used on the cranes to pick up the blocks of stone. After passing through the connection turn
left to return back to the main route.
Cliftworks Passage goes for about another three hundred and
fifty feet past the side passage, when you come to a 'Y' junction where, on the
right, is an air shaft of approximately four feet in diameter. Straight on, over a large roof fall, is the
main passage. To the left is a
complicated series of passages forming an oxbow to the left of the main route,
rejoining it at the far side of the roof fall.
Climbing over the roof fall, you will have a walk of about
six hundred feet to where the passage takes a sharp left turn; here some tools
can be seen placed on a block of stone on the right side of the passage, with a
low roofed passage ascending behind. This is the exit of the second side passage, from near the doorway in
Cliftworks Passage. About one hundred
feet past the first side passage is the entrance to the second side passage,
also on the right. Nearly two hundred
feet on, on the right, is the connection with the first side passage described
earlier. Passing over the roof fall (in
the Cliftworks Passable) you come to a "Y' junction, stood in the middle
of which is a rail mounted, hand powered winch. To the right is a side passage along which can be seen tools; a saw
sharpening bench - a very good example of a crane with chain and stone tongs in
position; this is the crane which appears in the 'Mendip Underground'
photograph.
Straight on from the junction is the main way on to rejoin
Cliftworks Passage at the point where the tools are on the block of stone. There ore several interesting passages off
this route and at one point you can make an earlier connection with Cliftworks
Passage, rejoining it near the large roof fall.
Standing near the tools in Cliftworks Passage, and looking
forward, the end is three hundred feet further on where one can see the first
signs of pneumatic drill working (these drills were known as 'windy drills' by
the miners). The main way on is to the
left, soon reaching a three way junction. Taking the right hand passage, passing the remains of a hut on the left
to reach the final working face after some five hundred feet. At the face are more tools, springs and
another crane.
Length of Cliftworks Passage from
entrance on the A4 road = 2,500ft.
Length of second side passage
(Original Cliftworks) =1,350ft.
Survey of the main passage by T. Meek, P. Marshall and A.
Type (of the C.C.G.). Other parts of the
survey by P. Marshall, B & L. John, A. Tye and D. Marshall (of the
C.C.G.).
NOTE: Some parts of the roof are showing signs of age and
should be passed with care.
PLEASE LEAVE THE CRANES, IMPLEMENTS etc. UNDISTURBED FOR
OTHERS TO SEE.
(1) Mendip Underground by Irwin & Knibbs, Mendip Publishing, Wells, 1977 (Price £2.95).
Additions to the Library:
Shepton Mallet Journal, Series 6 No.4 Autumn 1977 includes
Wessex C. C. Journal No. 172 including Cuckoo Cleeves
extensions; Water Tracing Mangle Hole and Swan Inn Swallet; Swildons
Renascence Series (survey) and the Black Cavern Pwll Du Gwent,
Cave Diving Group Sump Index, 2nd Edition 1977 revised by
Ray Mansfield. Potted histories,
descriptions and diving log on all sumps in the Mendip region. Copy donated by Ray Mansfield with thanks.
Yeovil Caving Club - Sump Nos 7 and 8. No.8 includes article 'Caving a safe sport! This is full of inaccuracies - the author
must research his material more fully.
Cave Diving Group A Cave Divers Training Manual by O.C.
Lloyd, 1975. Donated with thanks by
Martin Grass.
Patent Specification No.1481303. Taken out by Dave Sweeting
on the swaging method of attaching ladder rungs to the wire rope. Published July 1977.
Climbing Magazines those that we have in the collection
have been bound into volumes and where they are not complete they have been
filed into loose paper files. Many
thanks to Kay Mansfield for undertaking the task of binding and to Stu Lindsey
for a good supply of binding materials.
Library List Part 2 will appear in the September B.B. March
1978 B.B. Part 1 appeared in the March
1978 B.B.
During a recent check of the Library a number of items were
found to be missing - anyone with library material should let the librarian
know as soon as possible (Dave Irwin] Townsend Cottage, Priddy, Nr. Wells) so
that a check can be made against the register. Books include Darkness Under the
Earth and Limestones and Caves of NW England. A full list will appear in the September B.B.
A circular advertising the 2nd International Caving File
Festival at
Wig
Library list
|
CAVE &
CRAG
|
Newsletter:
Vol 1 (1,2,4,6,7,8); Vol 2 (2-8, 10, 11); Vol 3 (1, 3-10); Vol 4 (2-11); Vol
5 (1-3); Vol 6 (1-3); 1959 Mar/Apr; May/June; July/Aug; 1960 Jan/Feb;
Mar/Apr; May/June; Sep/Oct; 1950 (Autumn); 1951 Jan; July; Aug.
| ||
|
CAVE DIVING
GROUP
|
C.D.G. Review
1955-1957
Newsletters
1965 (Dec); 1967(Oct/Nov); 1968(Apr/July); Nos 9-12,14-19, 21, 23,3 4, 35.
Newsletter (
Misc. papers:
Divers, log Sheet; (Wookey) Jan - May 1949
Divers Plans
- Swildons and Stoke Lane.
Sump Rescue Equipment,
O.C. Lloyd, 1965
Newsletters
1st Series 1 - 20, 25, 29, 30, 33 (NB Nos 21-24 not published)
Notice of operations
at Wookey 9/48 - 4/49.
Derbyshire
Sump Index, 1968.
| ||
|
CAVE RESEARCH
GROUP
|
Publication No.
22, 14
Newsletter
128 - 133 (end of run- followed by merger with BSA)
Index of
Newsletters to 129.
Transactions
Vol.5 (1); Vol.7 (3); Vol.11 (1); Vol.14 (4); Vol.14(1, 4); Vol.5 (1-4)
Constitution
of CRG
| ||
CRG/SPORTS COUNCIL - Technical
Aids in Caving Symposium (March 1972)
|
B.C.R.A.
|
Conference
Programme, 1974
Proc. of the
7th. International Speleo. Congress,
|
CERBERUS S.S. Newsletter 18-22, 24-36, 38-49, 51-54.
|
CHELSEA S.S.
|
Newsletters
Vol 1(complete); Vol. 2(Complete); 11 (12); 13 (1, 2); 14 (3, 11, 12); 15(1-11);
16 (9); 17b (1-7, 9); 18 (1-6, 8, 9, 12); 19 (1-2); 20 (1-2).
|
COTHAM C.G. Newsletters Vol. 5 (1-3); Box Stone Mines,
reprint, 1973
|
COTHAM S.S.
|
Some Notable
Quarrymen, 1973.
Box Quarries,
Vol. 1, 1976.
Memoirs, Vol.
4, 1968-1969.
Box Stone
Mines, 1st. Edition, 1966.
|
CRAVEN P.C. Journal Vol. 3 (1-3), 5, 6); Vol. 4 (2-4).
CROYDON CAVING C. Pelobates 17, 24
Mersham Firestone Quarries, 1976.
DERBYSHIRE S.G.: Bulletin Vol.
1 Part 1, 1975
DERBYSHIRE C.C.: Dodgers Despatch 1-8
DESCENT: Nos 7-9, 11, 37
Dates For Your Diary
Friday niters meets. Details from Richard Kenny, Yennek,
|
August 18th
September 1st
September 15th
September 29th
|
St. Cuthberts
all meets at 19.39 hrs..
Lamb Leer
Browns Folly
Mine.
Mangel Hole &
Sandford Levvy.
|
For those interested in joining Dave Metcalfe in
|
August 26th
September 23rd
October 29th
November 18th
December 16th
|
C.P.C.
Winch meet at gaping Hole
Gingling
Hole, Fountains Fell.
Notts
Pot.
Top
Sink.
Swinsto/Simpsons
Exchange.
|
OCTOBER 7th
at the BELFRY E.G.M. at the Belfry at
10.30hrs to discuss the rev' Club Constitution. If adopted by the meeting this revision will be in operation for the
A.G.M. which will start immediately the E.G.M. is concluded - most probably
after lunch break.
ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING Once again the year
rolls on and the call for nominations is out again. Of the existing Committee the following
people have stated their wish to resign at the end of the current club year,
Nigel Taylor, Russ Jenkins. Nominations
must be handed to the Secretary by the 9th September.
Advertisement
8ft x 11ft GOODALL FRAME TENT for sale - £30.
Phone
The views expressed by contributors to the Belfry Bulletin,
including those of club officers, are not necessarily the views of the
committee of the Bristol Exploration Club or the Editor, unless so stated. The Editor cannot guarantee that the accuracy
of information contained in the contributed matter, as it cannot normally be
checked in the time at his disposal.
Editor: D.J. Irwin,
Townsend Cottage, Priddy, Nr. Wells,
QUODCUMQUE FACIENDUM : NIMIS FACIEMUS
The views expressed by contributors to the Belfry Bulletin, including those of club officers, are not necessarily the views of the committee of the Bristol Exploration Club or the Editor, unless so stated. The Editor cannot guarantee that the accuracy of information contained in the contributed matter, as it cannot normally be checked in the time at his disposal.
Editor: D.J. Irwin,
Townsend Cottage, Priddy, Nr. Wells,
Dates For Your Diary
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July 7th
|
|
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July 21st
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North Hill Friday niters trip.
|
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August 4th
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Stoke Lane Slocker Friday niters trip.
|
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September 9/10th
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BCRA National Caving Conference,
|
A letter from David Metcalfe states that he would be pleased to see ant BEC members at the following meets arranged for the Northern Dales Speleological Group.
|
August 6th
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Giants Hole, Derbyshire.
|
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August 26th
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C.P.C. Winch Meet Gaping Gill.
|
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September 23rd
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Marble Steps Pot.
|
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October 1st
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Gingling Hole, Fountains Fell.
|
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October 29th
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Notts Pot.
|
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November 18th
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Top Sink.
|
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December 16th
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Swinsto/Simpsons Exchange.
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Late News And Notes
As we go to press news has been coming over the radio and
making headlines in the daily press of a rescue taking place in
ST. CUTHBERTS Work has commenced again after a lapse of 8 years in sump 1 area. Wig, Dave Turner, Brian Workman et al are digging under the roof (theres no walls or floor!) on the left, upstream of the sump. A nylon, 8 dia tube now carries the water through the sump and empties it into the '2' streamway about 200ft further on. Please take care not stand on the pipe or cut it. The eventual move is to dig out the sump and investigate the bedding plane on the right of the crawl into the sump itself.
Lifeline
by Tim Large
New members:
Sue Yea,
Clive Parkin, c/o P.O's Mess, H.M.S. Daedalus, Lee-on-Solent
CONSTITUTION SUB-COMMITTEE has now met and much fine work carried out by Martin Cavender has resulted in the sub-committee sorting out a revised constitution based on the existing one, but being much more readable and less ambiguous. It will be for the A.G.M. to decide if it is to be accepted. (Copies will be circulated with the August B.B. as a BB Supplement, as was the A.G.M. Minutes. Ed.)
BELFRY more work has been done around the hut, including an inspection pit to investigate the septic tank (no', it's not a cave dig!). During the working weekend the showers required repairs as the hot water pipes sprung a leak.
MIDSUMMER BUFFET - This event was well attended and a good time had by all! It was good to see many of the old faces including Mike Baker,' Kangy," Maurice Iles among many others. It just might be a regular mid-year event in the future. About 100 members were milling about the room; almost as good as the dinner!
A few weeks earlier, at the same venue Jane Kirby and Sue Yea held a joint birthday party. Ross White had to be rescued from the bog by Roger Dors and Jane as he fell asleep - or was it into a drunken stupor?
BELFRY continued - The modifications to the Old Stone Belfry have nearly been completed. The MRO have been allocated a little more room and the age old problem of the guttering on the roof cured once and for all.
We are now the proud possessors of a battery charger which will probably be housed in the remaining part of the Stone Belfry when it is fitted out as a workshop cum storeroom.
B.E.C. SWEATSHIRTS - If there is sufficient demand for these the Club will buy a quantity suitably inscribed with the Club emblem. Any ideas on a design would be appreciated. Let me know if you are interest to give me some idea of numbers to order.
A CAVING NOTE - Recently Northern Cave Club dug into a new
system at the bottom of the 500ft long and 160ft deep King Pot
(Yorkshire). Now they have uncovered a
master cave system about 1 mile long and 450ft deep which includes 15 pitches
and makes it a classic
Camera Raffle - The camera was won by Bob White the draw for which took place at the Midsummer Buffet. The winning ticket was drawn by Jackie Dors. As far as can be gathered about 30 pounds has been raised for club funds.
Pope has written to say that he is leaving his current address and will let us know his new one in the near future.
Officers reports will be presented to the August C0mmittee Meeting and they will appear (hopefully) in the September BB.
Charterhouse Committee have passed a resolution stating that permits will be valid for one year. BEC, WCC, SMCC and others have objected. Meeting asked to be called soon. More details later.
Sunto Instrument Bracket And Maintenance
By Chris Batstone
Many Suunto users will be aware of the few minor faults with these superb instruments for cave survey use. The major disadvantage being the fact that both instruments are separates and the surveyor has to waste valuable time sorting out which instrument to use, particularly when they are hanging from the neck on their carrying cords. To overcome this problem the two instruments may be combined together with the aid of a simple 'L' shaped bracket, using the screw holes for the 1anyard attachments.
Thus the surveyor has both instruments to hand at every which effectively speeds up the survey work.
Construction of the bracket is quite simple provided one has as drill and files and a suitable vice for holding the work. Anyone with a little skill in metal working can make the bracket quite quickly.
The bracket must be made from a non-ferrous metal or alloy such as brass or aluminium to ensure that the compass is not influenced by magnetic effects. The shape of the bracket should first be marked out on a piece of 1" thick sheet (see fig.1 for dimensions). Two holes are drilled for the screws that attach the instruments. The bracket can then be cut from the plate and filed up to remove any sharp edges. The bracket is then bent slightly, as shown, in fig. 2 to align the instruments.
FIGURE 1. Suunto
Instrument Bracket.
Scale - Twice full size. Dimensions in
inches.
Note: Soft aluminium will bend easily with the bracket assembled the instruments thus making the alignment easier.
Brass and hard alloys. These may have to be annealed before bending in a vice. The bends should be made carefully, in stages, testing the bracket up against the instruments for fit. (The best bend radii for this type of material should be in the order of 3t Ed)
Once the bracket has been bent to a suitable shape it can be attached, to the instruments using either the old lanyard screws or compatible round or cheese headed screws of the same thread (these are probably No.8 UNC - Ed.) The instrument was first used with great success on the Tyning's Barrows Swallet survey - see April, 1978 BB - and has proved its worth on other trips, Wigmore and Rocket Drop.
Figure 2 Bracket assembled
Sealing the Instruments.
Although the Suunto instruments appear to be proof against all things, including nuclear attack, they are prone to leak when expose to wet, muddy cave conditions. If allowed to continue for any length of time, the optics will soon become obscured by a thin film of mud. Prevention is better than cure, so owners of Suunto equipment would be well advised to seal their instruments before taking them underground.
METHOD OF SEALING
The grub screw hole may be sealed with paraffin wax or plasticene this will only be necessary if the original sealant has been removed.
Dismantling And Cleaning
If the instrument develops a leak and the optics become dirty internally, it will become necessary to dismantle it. The construction of both the compass and clinometer is identical (with the exception that the compass unit is liquid filled). The body is an accurately machined alum alloy block housing, the compass or clino cards sealed in a Perspex unit and the lens for reading the graduations on the instrument. The sealed unit is held in place by a press fit alum alloy back plate and a grub screw to prevent the unit from moving in the body when assembled (see Fig. 4)
Figure 4 - showing method of construction. (lateral cross section)
|
1 lens
1a Perspex
lens integral with sealed unit
2 plastic
window
3 compass
or clinometer in sealed unit
|
4 grub
screw
5 back
plate
6 - aperture
|
Dismantling is a fairly simple job:
A 3/32" or ⅛" diameter hole should be drilled in the edge of the back plate, no more than ⅛" deep to avoid damaging the sealed unit. A small watchmakers screwdriver is inserted into the hole and the back plate prised off. With the screwdriver, the grub screw is removed and the sealed perspex unit can be taken out. The lens assembly has no obvious means of removal and should be left in situ. To attempt to remove the lens could ca»se irreparable damage; it can be cleaned without removal.
Cleaning
Dirt can be removed from the inside of the lens with a fine sabre artists brush of good quality. If the dirt is 'stubborn', a few drop of distilled water may be sufficient to loosen the dirt which can be cleaned off with the brush. The unit should then be rinsed with distilled water and left to dry in a warm atmosphere. The perspex unit may be wiped clean using a lens cloth but take care not to scratch the perspex lens on the outer rim.
Re-assembly
Once all parts are clean and thoroughly dry, re-assembly may commence. This procedure is a straight reversal of the dismantling procedure. Ensure that the re-assembly of the unit is carried out in a warm and relatively low humidity room to avoid subsequent condensation on the optics.
The small hole drilled in the back plate may be sealed with epoxy resin. The sealing operation, previously described should then be carried out.
NB: IT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA TO SEAL THE MATING SURFACES OF THE BACK- PLATE AS IT MAY PROVE IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK THE SEAL FOR FURTHER CLEANING OPERATIONS IF IT IS NECESSARY.
All of the operations described in this article have been carried out by the author and found to be satisfactory. Readers are warned that these recommendations are not those of the manufacturers and may therefore invalidate any warranty or guarantee agreement. Further the author accepts no liability for inaccurate information. At the time of publishing (June 1978) the information was correct for Suunto KB14 and PM5 clinometer. Further information on renovation and repair of Suunto equipment may be found in BCRA Bulletins.
References:
BCRA Bulletin No.3. Feb. 1974. G. Stevens
Grampian S.Gp. Bulletin No.2 Series 2. J. Batstone.
*****************************************
Next month in the B.B. - an up-to-date account of the recent
pushes in Wookey Hole by Chris Batstone, a club trip into
The Austrian trip is on with about a dozen or so BEC and
Grampian members seeking out deep caves in the Dachstein area. It is hoped to be able to publish their work
as soon as it is received from them by post from
Why Ski in the
Pyrenees ?
Kangy
One of the advantages of the
The
It is particularly important not to be committed to one
station because in general they are small and at a lower altitude than the
Alps, and if from far off
Lucheon would be a reasonable place to stay it's not too
dear en pension and it is possible to visit a number of interesting ski
stations easily from there. Superbagneres was one of the earliest stations to be established and is
the nearest to Luchon. It has the
advantage that the road goes to the highest point, so that the beginners
slopes always have the best of the snow. The biggest French station from here is Les Auges/Peyresourds, two
stations linked by high level routes. There is a superb descent at Peyresourds - if only the dreaded T8
teleski doesn't break down! It drops
directly from the highest point and curves leftwards following a valley out
into the sticks away from the station. Once out of the valley the route winds back to the station and the
infamous T8! The T8 is symptomatic of
French Pyrenean skiing. It's not very
well maintained. The ski tours are rough
and bumpy under ski because they don't bother to flatten them and the pistes
are as nature intended. I rather like
it! Luchon also gives access to the Val
d'Aran and the most important Spanish station, Solardu. The Spaniards make an effort and it is almost
up to Alpine standards. Certainly the
Val D'Aran, the upper valley of the
Up and down the chain of the
If you do decide to ski in the Pyrenees then call into
Snakes Of
Italy
Translated from the Italian with added information and advice for walkers climbers and campers by Stan Gee
Due to certain changes in environment in. the mountain areas
of
The following is a translation of the booklet "Vipere
Italiane" published by the Instituto Sicroterapico Vaccinogeno Toscano and
is meant to publicise their snake bite vaccine "Sclavo" but at the
same time it provides a useful guide to the snakes and their habits,
identification, safety first and simple first aid. However, before considering the aspects of
the various types of European snakes it should be understood that all the
poisonous snakes of
However, from the point of view of the mountaineer or walker etc., the normal grass snake and the rarer smooth snake are both very easy to identity and all others may be considered to be dangerous, to some degree.
The following is a direct translation from the booklet "Vipere Italiane" but only insomuch as the information relates to mountaineering and outdoor life:-
The Vipers in
All of the poisonous snakes in Italy fall into the viper family and are found in all parts of the country with the only exception of Sardinia (the book does not state what snakes, if any, are to be found in Sardinia) and form 4 main groups.
|
Vipera Aspis
Vipera Berus
Vipera
Ammodytes
Vipera
Ursinii
|
or
or
or
or
|
Common Viper
Marsh Viper
Horned Viper
Bear Viper
|
The second of these species is found in almost any situation, plains, Hills, mountains, woods, stones in areas that are damp, humid or marshy and in the walls that line country roads. Due to this facility to live anywhere they are the most prolific of the snakes and are easily found and are thus the most dangerous to open air people.
Common Viper
Is found all over the country in areas of scarce vegetation and stones where they love to lie in the sun. The male is about 65-75 cm long and the female 75-85 cm long. The body colour is very variable ashy grey, grey-yellow, dark brown or rose coloured. The back has a zig-zag mark that can be continuous or interrupted sometimes standing out vividly sometimes less vividly from the colour of the body. The end of the tail is generally yellow-orange.
The Marsh Viper
Is a snake of extreme irritability i.e. is always ready for
aggression. It is found all over
The extremity of the head, seen in profile appears round and on the top of the head are some shield like marks usually 3 and of different shapes, instead of the fragmented scales as on the asp. The size of the adult marsh viper is generally longer than the Asp and its length is between 60 & 80cm long.
The body and scales are grey, brown yellow or rose coloured and the dorsal has a symmetrical design consisting of brown spots along the length and alternate vertical zig zag marks. Generally these marks are darker than those of the Asp and in the mountains snakes are sometimes found that are almost completely black.
Horned Viper
This is considered to be the most dangerous of European
snakes, due to the quantity of Venom it injects and the speed of action of this
venom (about 15 mins). It prefers to
live in rocks and sunny arid areas and it can be found also in woods that are
not dense or on the edges of forest glades. It is present in the pre alp (
It is the easiest to recognise of all the other species of viper due to the presence of a small horn at the front of the head. This horn is about 5mm high and renders this snake recognisable at first glance. Other recognisable features are its size, in which it is larger in diameter than the other snakes and longer, 90-100cm. Apart from this it has the general characteristics of the Asp but the colours of the dorsal marks are much darker in contrast to the rest of the body.
Vipera Ursini
Is found generally only in the central Italian mountains, Sibillini and Gran Sasso areas. In general appearance it differs little from that of the Marsh Viper but is much, smaller, about 50cm at most. It is considered by some to be a sub species of the Marsh Viper and is recognisable from the Marsh Viper by its smaller head and by the presence of a dark spot on the neck.
General Identifications
Apart from the colouring which can sometimes be confusing there are several other points that will enable the reader to differentiate between a dangerous and a non dangerous snake.
The Eyes
A grass-snake has perfectly round eyes and pupils whilst all of the viper family have vertical slit pupils.
The Head
The grass-snake has a long tapered head covered with large scales, the viper is more triangular and snub nosed and has smaller scales.
The Body
A grass snakes body tapers gracefully to the tail, the viper thins down abruptly thus giving the impression of a fat body and a short thin tail.
Movement
When disturbed the grass-snake moves away with a great flurry of movement and sometimes threshing movements. The viper glides away usually with the head some 3 inches above the ground.
Simple Safety First observations particularly for campers, walkers, climbers and cavers:-
1) Always wear boots and heavy woollen socks.
2) When walking announce your approach by using a stick to occasionally tap the ground.
3) Before sitting down on grass or stones, use a stick to strike the ground and surrounding grass.
4) Do not lean against tree trunks that are covered with foliage or piles of logs.
5) After resting, thoroughly shake out discarded clothing before putting on, watch particularly insides of rucksacks.
6) Do not leave car doors open if you are leaving the car for any reason.
7) Pay particular attention if entering abandoned cottages or climbing stone walls.
8) Especially cavers should beware of horizontal passages or holes with little depth which may be the home of hibernating vipers.
9) Pay particular attention during the summer months and early autumn when the females like to hang in trees or bushes 4 or 5 ft above ground level, as a bite in the head or neck is nearly always fatal.
10) If you should have need to kill a viper for any reason, use a stone or a stick and stay at a safe minimum distance of 1 metre,
This then is the essence of the booklet "Vipera Italiane" which goes into mulch more detail; most of which is not of interest to the mountaineer.
The details and advice given above can be applied to all of
the mountain areas of Europe and to much of
The first aid information was dealt with in the April 1976 edition of "Climber & Rambler".
First Aid
Should you or a friend be unfortunate enough to be bitten
the following advice, taken from an article by W.J. Wright in January edition
of the
Most people, when bitten, think they are going to die and as a result develop shock - cold clammy skin, feeble pulse, rapid shallow breathing and perhaps semi-consciousness. A person bitten by a viper may have blood-stained saliva followed later by non-clotting of the blood and perhaps blood coughed up. A striking snake does not always inject venom but if swelling above the knee or elbow occurs within two or three hours then venom has been injected and it is a severe case. Local swelling in the area of the bite will occur within a few minutes if venom has been injected. In this case the area round the bite should be cleaned, preferably with soapy water, and a dry dressing applied. Do not use a tourniquet but a firm but not tight ligature above the bite helps to compress the tissues and delay absorption into the system.
The St. John First Aid Manual continues, support and immobilise the limb concerned, and should breathing fail, commence artificial respiration. In all cases seek medical aid. The manual also states that many people die from fright, after being bitten.
The dangers of snakebite are recognised by the Club Alpino Italiano and most of their larger Rifugi hold stocks of serum and many of the larger villages as well.
* Translators note (from previous page)
Snakes of the viper family can, to some extent, control the amount of venom that they inject, depending upon the size of the victim. The Horned viper usually injects all at one go.
Into The Devil's Arse
or A trip into Peak Cavern
An account of a club trip by Martin Grass
Our first attempt to enter Peak Cavern was in November of last year but due to flood waters throughout the show cave (necessitating swimming along normally dry passages) the trip had to be abandoned. In march of this year we were luckier and were able to walk through the whole show Cave without getting wet. The main attraction of Peak as a show cave is the large entrance where rope-makers once worked and lived. A short, low passage at the end of the entrance chamber leads into the Great Cave, another large chamber, with fascinating, glowing formations which on inspection proved to be 'cats eyes' which had been embedded in the rock!
A large dry passage enters Roger Rains House, the third and last large chamber in the tourist section, with a waterfall entering from high up on the, right side of the passage. The cave now changes to an almost horizontal stream passage to a 'T' junction where the show cave ends. Left at this junction quickly ends in the Buxton Water Sump which was first successfully passed by Don Coase back in the early 50s. Right at this junction leads past old mine workings (lead) at Victoria Aven onto Speedwell Pot which feeds vast quantities of water from Speedwell Cavern into Peak. It was interesting to learn that this pot was caped a few years ago with a giant concrete plug, the intention being to extend the tourist season by keeping some of the flood waters out of the cave. Various muddy climbs over boulders and a sandy crawl ends at the Muddy Ducks which are nothing more than large puddles. Once through these the passages become a larger phreatic tunnel called The Upper Gallery with two side passages leading off, one to Pickerings Passage and the other to a pot completely filled with fine sands which greatly impressed Mr. N who had visions of exporting it all to Mendip to make cement and other such solid materials. Easy going down, the Upper gallery turns to a short traverse to the Surprise View a 20ft fixed ladder down into the Main Stream Passage, the famous phreatic passage which is up to 50 feet high. This magnificent passage can be followed up stream to the down stream end of Buxton Water Sump or up stream to Squalls Junction where the main Peak water enters at three waterfalls. Near the junction we took a high level muddy crawl to the left which led to Lake Passage and Ink Sump, a beautifully clear green sump which has not been dived to any conclusion (at present unfortunately diving has been banned by the owners of Peak).
Back in the main stream the large tunnel continues past some very high evens to Far Sump which is about; 200 feet long. As diving has been banned BCRA are trying to construct a large dam and lower the sump by bailing- such is their determination to extend the system.
After a soggy Mars Bar or two we returned to Squaws Junction and made our way via some of the muddiest passages I have ever been in, back to the Surprise View thus completing a very pleasant round trip. A quick wash off in the streamway and we started to make our way out.
On the return journey some of us visited Pickerings Passage. This awkward free climb is similar to Marble Pot in Cuthberts but larger and not so tight. At the end of this passage is Moss Chamber where the unfortunate Neil Moss is still stuck in a narrow fissure half way up a steep stal flow. Ironically the only formations in the whole cave are here.
Throughout the whole of this series and particularly in Moss Chamber are rusty relics still left from the attempts to rescue Moss from his fissure. Thermos flasks, food tins and telephone wires are scattered about giving the place a morbid atmosphere.
We exited after a pleasant 5 hours underground and although not a hard cave, Peak makes a very satisfying and sporting trip. Our thanks go to Pete Smith from BCRA who led the trip.
Another trip has been planned for later in the year, any member interested contact me as numbers are limited. The exact date will be published in the B.B. as soon as it has been confirmed.
Cadbury Camp Mineshaft
By Tony Jarratt
On the weekend following the Great Snowstorm the Belfry regulars were contacted by archaeologist and ex-club member, Keith Gardner, who wanted a mineshaft investigated. The hole had appeared after the snow, on the wooded fortification of Cadbury Camp hill fort overlooking Yatton (NGR: ST 439650) immediately above the Country Club. Bob Cross, John Dukes, Rog Sabid; and Wig bravely answered the call and John and Rog found the shaft to be approximately 150 feet deep, 8 - 10 feet in diameter at the top, tapering to about 5 feet at the bottom.
The first 8 feet or so is stone-lined and the rest is in solid limestone with a floor of rubble and earth at least 4 feet deep. The shaft was partly covered with old railway lined and rotten timbers placed there after a previous collapse earlier this century. No passages lead off the shaft and there are no signs of haulage marks on the sides or of any other mining remains in the immediate vicinity. Shot holes were noticed in the shaft sides.
Various theories as to its use have been put forward, the most probable being that it is a trial shaft in search of iron ore, which was mined all along the hills as far as Winford, the nearest group of workings from Cadbury being in Kings Wood, half a mile away. Here there are many shallow shafts and levels driven insooth limestone and earth. Suggestions as to its being a well are made doubtful by the dryness of the shaft, its position of only 50 feet from the steep hill-side and the fact that shaft bottom is about 85 feet above saturated moor level.
A dig at the bottom would prove interesting but rather difficult due to lack of dumping space - all spoil having to be hauled to the surface. A few years ago a similar, though only 40 foot deep shaft opened up in the grounds of the Country Club and two others are rumoured to exist further along the ridge towards Claverham, though have not yet been investigated.
The Cadbury shaft is an excellent SRT practice site and the
local council and commoners association have jointly paid for its capping and
the provision of a manhole for access. A
1 ring spanner and lifting key are required (a set will be kept in the
Belfry). Best access is from the No
Through Road (
From the Tacklemaster
Ladders and ropes, too many to enumerate, are missing from the tackle store, with no indication of the borrowers or whereabouts in the tackle log. Particularly annoying is the removal from the library a length of new super-braidline nylon before it had even been coded. Somebody must know where it is. Please return any tackle you have borrowed, whether booked out or not, as soon as possible, for checking.
REMEMBER the tackle log has six columns:
Name; Tackle description or number; Cave/area; Date out; Signature; Date in;
Code numbers are on ladder end rungs, on metal rings on ropes and on tags on tethers and spreaders.
Jottings
compiled by Nipha
LONGWOOD SWALLET The Bristol Waterworks Company are fitting a new automatic pump into the pumping station above the entrance to farm. The pump will automatically switch on and off according to the water level in the reservoir not the local conditions of the stream. Previously it has been manually operated. The B.W.W. is placing a notice inside the cave entrance as shown below:
LONGWOOD SWALLET, AUGUST, CAVE
WARNING
DANGER OF' FLOODING
Under certain conditions this cave can be flooded without warning if pumps stop at the nearby pumping station.
Persons entering the cave do so at their own risk. They must be in possession of a current Charterhouse Caving Committee permit.
BRISTOL WATERWORKS COMPANY
This will pose quite a problem for cavers as the stream under wet conditions will rise suddenly and without warning. Though the blockhouse will divert a lot of the surface stream down the valley to the blocked Water Chamber entrance, it is probable that the water will seep through the boulders above the entrance shaft. I am led to believe that a similar pump is to be installed at the pumping station above Swildon's entrance. This could cause the M.R.O. to have quite a headache! One only needs to remember the days when the pipe was removed from the 40 there was a callout every Saturday night for at least 6 weeks after at about 10.30pm.
The B.W.W. have issued the following warning to clubs:-
DANGER !
SEVERE AND SUDDEN
FLOODING IN THE
That danger is even greater now because the cave is likely to flood more often.
Pumps that take water from the springs at Charterhouse will now stop working automatically.
This can cause a sudden flood wave, making some passages impassable and the exit and entrance extremely difficult to negotiate.
There are warning notices stressing this danger at the cave entrance.
Access to the cave is controlled by the Charterhouse Caving Committee, and only cavers holding a current permit should enter the cave.
T A K E C A R E !
BRISTOL WATERWORKS COMPANY,
Ten Years Ago ..
A subject, still much talked about on Mendip, is the July Flood of 1968. Ten years ago when many of the current bunch of cavers hadn't even thought of going caving on Mendip. They certainly cannot remember the horror on the faces of cavers about at the time when they heard that the '40' had gone. Anyone not realising the extent of the damage in the caves should read the July 1968 BB for a fairly comprehensive coverage of each affected cave.
LAMB LEER
The C.S.C.C. now control access to the cave through the S.C.C. under licence from the Somerset County Council. Keys to BEC members can be obtained at the Belfry (the BEC will shortly be a shareholder in the SC Company. Member clubs of the CSCC will have to pay £0.50 for access and non-member clubs of CSCC will be required to pay £2.00. A £5.00 deposit is required from either type of club, this is, of course a returnable deposit. The BEC and any other club who is a shareholder in the company will not have to pay the tackle fee.
Clubs wishing to obtain a Key, if not arranged through one of the shareholder clubs should write to
J. L. Thomas,
A CAVING ORATORIO
One has heard on several occasions stories of caving operas
made up by cavers, now a modern composer Klaus Cornell has written an oratorio
entitled Oratoria Spelaeologica after his visit to the well known Swiss
show-cave Beatus Hohlen. The work is in
5 movements and is a musical impression of the underground scenery and his
personal feelings at the visit. A record
has been issued of this work that apparently has received several concert hall
performances, complete with genuine underground sound effects (hopefully not
those of genuine cavers!) Milch (SMCC)
came across this reference in a Dutch (?) motoring magazine, dated 8-7-76 and
it is also mentioned in the 'Lquipe Speleo Bruxelles (73) p22 for December
1977. At the moment, Milch, Ray
Mansfield and Wig are desperately trying to find out who has made the recording
and of course get a copy. The owner of
the shop frequented by Wig was last seen scratching his head and burrowing
into his great pile of import listings. It may be that the record has been issued locally in
Mendip Dig - news flashes:
WCC are digging at Limekiln, an old John Cornwell site;
Lionel's Hole - Andy Sparrow et. a1. are still pushing the new extension. Pete Moody has dived the downstream sump for about 15-20ft. The underwater passage is quite roomy, about 3ft square. The terminal choke is being dug, a fair ol draught is reported to be whistling from it.
Viaduct Dig is progressing slowly but they are working towards an active stream passage. A lot more banging is required before the 'Thrupe' diggers can get there. The cave is now about 400ft. long and 90:ft. deep.
Wigmore Swallet - Tony Jarrett and Stu. Lindsey have been putting the finishing touches to the Winding Shaft ready for the capping and gating operation. The BEC Committee have allocated £50 toward the cost of gating.
Box Mines - Stu Lindsey reports that the Cotham C.G. have found about 3,000ft of new passage, off the Clift workings.
SELF PORTRAIT
In a letter from Stan Gee is a self portrait Ready for a mountain walk, here it is: reproduced faithfully by the BB editorial staff:-
AN UNUSUAL CAVE RESCUE
'Pope'; our Rhodesian correspondent
has sent through a newspaper cutting from the Rhodesia Herald,
"Valour award for Cave Action"
The following is a shortened version of the account:-
"A 40 minute fire fight inside a cave last September has earned a temporary lance corporal with the Rhodesian Light Infantry the Silver Cross Of Rhodesia for displaying, supreme valour in action ..... !
The Lance Corporal was in charge of a group of four men sweeping a hillside feature of reported terrorist presence. The press report continues. During the sweep the officer commanding the troops followed a terrorist into a cave. Firing followed, and Lance Corpora1 Phillips realised the officer was lying injured inside the cave. He and another non-commissioned officer made an attempt to rescue the wounded officer, but because he was inside the cave lying wedged between rocks, this was not possible. It was apparent to the Lance Corporal that there were at least three armed terrorists inside the cave. Because it would have been a hindrance, he put his rifle to one side, and armed only with a borrowed pistol entered the cave in another attempt to rescue the officer. Lance Corporal Phillips was subjected to heavy fire from a range of less than 5m ...... When Lance Corporal Phillips ran out of ammunition he withdrew from the cave to reload. Back in the cave, he moved further inside, beyond the critically wounded officer, and provided covering fire against the remaining terrorists so that a medical orderly could enter the cave and remove the wounded officer. Before this could be done the terrorists opened fire again and Lance Corporal Phillips moved deeper into the cave, killing one terrorist and wounding another. When the officer had been removed, Lance Corporal Phillips then used grenades to dispose of any remaining terrorists. The cave was searched at first light and three terrorists were found dead. A wounded terrorist left the cave by another exit during the night."
Apart from the stabbing incident between two cavers in
New Mendip Surveys:
Wigmore Survey is ready and will be published in the BB as will Rocket Drop.
Dye Tracing At Wookey Hole
By Dr. W.I. Stanton
This article has been reprinted from the CDG newsletter with permission of the CDG Secretary
These experiments were devised in response to a suggestion by Martyn Farr that a repetition of the 1967 Cuthbert's - Wookey trace, with added detail, might allow prediction of the nature of the unexplored passages between the two known systems. It was hoped in view of the very fast flow through time of eight hours, that the deep sump beyond Wookey 25 was the last. Vadose passages like those of Cuthbert's 2 might begin immediately upstream.
The plan was enthusiastically supported, and there were volunteers enough for all sampling (at 15 minute intervals) to be done manually. Samples were run through the flourometer every two hours. On 27.11.76 150 grams of flourescein were added to the Cuthbert's stream at the cave entrance, and the dye was followed underground. Travel time to Sump 1 was about 1.5 hours. Soon after, Martyn Farr poured 40cc. of 20% Rhodamine WT solution into the Well at Wookey 25. This began to appear at the resurgence 7 hours later. The flourescein however did not come through, although sampling continued for 80 hours after input. It might have been absorbed en-route by the peaty water that we had stirred up in the Mineries swamps during the input. There was considerable despondency.
One thing was clear; flow-through was very much slower than in the 1967 test. It was natural to suppose that this was because the river was at medium stage, whereas in 1967 it had been in flood. Theoretically if the volume of ponded water back in the sumps (phreatic storage) is very large, as is obviously the case at Wookey, the total amount of water in the system decreases by a rather small percentage, as the flow drops from flood to draught conditions. In this system when the flow halves, flow-through time will almost double (twice as slow). In a vadose streamway like Cuthbert's the converse applies; the volume of water in the system shrinks very considerably as the flow falls, so that flow-through time lengthens only slightly.
Bristol Waterworks has a continuous flow measuring station on the River Axe downstream of the resurgence. Flow during the 1967 test was about 40mgd. (million gallons per day) whereas in the 1976 test it was (roughly, as the gauge was malfunctioning) 1.5mgd. Another trace was attempted on 4.6.77 using Rhodamine W.T. for both inputs. Dave Morris poured 40cc. of the dye into the Axe at Sting Corner and a few hours later I added 100cc to the stream at Cuthbert's entrance. To avoid more caver frustration a mechanical sampler was used at the resurgence but the result was operator frustration, as the clockwork timer worked in fits and starts. Nevertheless enough data were obtained for conclusions to be drawn.
The Sting Corner dye resurged in about 15 hours and the Cuthbert's dye in about 68 hours. Flow was fairly low at the time: about 5mgd. I concluded from this result that the volume of water in the Cuthberts Wookey system upstream of Sting Corner was roughly three times the volume downstream of it. The time differences between traces, as already mentioned, show that much of this volume is sump. Probably therefore large deep sumps continue for a long way upstream of Wookey 25.
The theory outlined above does not take into account of diminishing bore sizes as the channel is followed upstream past, confluences, such as that of the Swildon's and Cuthbert's waters. However it seems not unreasonable to suppose that the ratio of average phreatic bore size to average flow remains roughly constant, in which case the argument would still apply.
QUODCUMQUE FACIENDUM : NIMIS FACIEMUS
The views expressed by contributors to the Belfry Bulletin, including those of club officers, are not necessarily the views of the committee of the Bristol Exploration Club or the Editor, unless so stated. The Editor cannot guarantee that the accuracy of information contained in the contributed matter, as it cannot normally be checked in the time at his disposal.
EDITOR: D.J. Irwin, Townsend Cottage, Priddy, Nr. Wells,
*****************************************
Next month will see in the start of a new club year and of Course the AGM and Annual Dinner. What follows is all the paperwork you will need for the EGM and AGM including the Officers Reports that have been vetted by the committee at their August meeting.
E.G.M. of B.E.C. to be held at the Belfry at 10.00 (not 10.30) a.m. on Saturday 7th October 1978. This meeting has been called by the 1977/1978 Club Committee.
1. Election of Chairman
2. Motion proposing a revised club Constitution (a draft copy was circulated with the August B.B.)
*****************************************
Annual General Meeting of the B.E.C. to be held at the Belfry on Saturday 7th 1978. Time - to commence on conclusion of the E.G.M.
AGENDA:
1. Election of Chairman
2. Election of Minutes Secretary
3. Collection of members resolutions
4. Minutes of the 1977 AGM
5. Matters Arising from the Minutes of the 1977 AGM
6. Hon. Sees Report
7. Hon. Treasurers Report
8. Auditors Report
9. Caving Secs Report
10. Climbing Secs Report
11. Tacklemasters Report
12. Hut Wardens Report
13. B.B. Editors Report
14. Election of B.B. Editor
15. Librarians Report
16. Publication Officers Report
17. Election of Club Trustees (dependent upon EGM)
18. Election of Officers (dependent upon EGM)
19. Members Resolutions
20. A.O.B.
Hon. Sec's Report
This year has been a busy one; in committee and within the Club, both on the caving side and socially.
The Committee has, been involved with setting up the sub-committee to review the constitution and much good work has been done by this body, particularly Martin Cavender, who without his help on the legal side many problems could not have been overcome. Martin has also helped solve the problems of Club Trustees and this should be overcome in the near future. The club has maintained its membership numbers with one or two exceptions, but we have been pleased to welcome some new members. The committee has been more selective regarding new members and several were deferred, mainly because they were not known well enough. It is interesting to note that the average age of new members is rising, and is about 24-25 now.
Socially, the regulars have enjoyed several (!!) of the usual 'Belfry Barrels' on Saturday night. Together with one or two birthday, celebrations and the midsummer buffet, these have made for an enjoyable year fitting in with, but not deterring the main activity of the club, caving. As indicated by Nigel Taylor's report, the caving scene has been encouragingly active both on and off Mendip. The Club now appears to be functioning much more happily and hopefully will do so in the future.
I have been in attendance at various CSCC meetings and it now looks as if the south is getting some sense from other regions which the club supports and we shall continue to pressure NCA into what we believe is the correct way of doing things.
At the CCC meeting, some nonsensical proposals were passed regarding the restriction of the time limit on permits, but the club now opposes these and action has been taken to remedy the situation.
Our activities, both caving and social have involved us with other clubs - liaison with our friends near and far being most welcome. I hope we can look forward to continued progress during the coming year.
Tim Large
Hut Engineer's Report
I was co-opted on to the Committee in the middle of May this year, as a result of the resignation from the post of Engineer of Martin Bishop. At that time, the hut was in a reasonable state bearing in mind the considerable use it had been put to by the club and the Royal Navy. Maintenance has continued piecemeal since then, with minor jobs being attended to whenever time and help was available.
A brief summary of work done, not necessarily in order: Clothes line re-erected; double-drainer sink fitted under water heater; heater removed, cleaned, refitted; wall to window ledge under heater tiled; outside guttering repaired; hole adjacent to drinking pool backfilled and re-turfed; window frames painted outside; septic tank excavated and inspected (work in hand); lockers painted, inventory of Belfry tools and possessions made, ventilator fitted above cookers.
A lot of work still needs to be done, mainly: alterations to tackle store, providing a larger store/workshop; soak away needs finishing; Belfry drive and car park needs some chippings; large amounts of walls, doors and ceilings need repainting and the showers need some efficient form of ventilation.
I hope that, if I am re-elected, or indeed if someone else is voted Engineer, the regular members will help continue the work on our most valuable asset.
Bob Cross
Hut Wardens Report
General
In general, running the Belfry has been relatively easy this year; numbers staying at the hut have been evenly divided between members and guests. A noticeable drop in the bookings from groups bring large parties to the hut has occurred. This, I think, is party due to the introduction of the three tier system. The introduction of the three tier system has caused a few misunderstandings amongst a number of our members but I hope these have now been cleared up. Admittedly there are areas for improvements.
During the course of the year the Belfry has been used as a venue for NCA, CSCC and ISC meetings. A number of foreign cavers were made very welcome by the Belfryites during the ISC and it is hoped made some useful contacts. Its really amazing how quickly Australians pick up Anglo-Saxon.
The hut has been reasonably clean and tidy over the past twelve months although there have been occasions when things have lapsed. Much work in and around the Belfry is still to be done and I feel that it is rather a pity that more attention is not paid to this part of club activities. A good deal of tidying up has been done but once again by the same old people who are doing the work and sacrificing much of their time in the process. The excuse that no-one knows what needs doing does not carry any weight you only have to ask.
Financial
This year, hut takings are upon last year but this is chiefly due to the Navy groups from HMS Daedalus who have increased their number of visits. The financial position is as follows: -
Hut fees, publications and spares, showers and tackle fees etc £670
Navy parties (paid up) ...£170
Navy parties (due up to 31st July) .....£190
£1050
The above figures are shown simply as monies paid over to the Hon. Treasurer after day to day expenses for repairs and maintenance of the hut they are exclusive of overheads such as electricity, gas and rates.
From an inspection of the books for 1976-77 it may be seen that the hut fees and scales are approx. the same this year as last years figures. As I have already explained the Navy mid-week parties have provided our largest increase, in the region of £250 on last year.
Still on the subject of money overdue hut fees are still outstanding. At last years AGM, my attention was drawn to the large amounts of outstanding fees. Of these I have managed to collect a fair proportion, what remains I have brought forward on to this years of outstanding fees to ensure that these debts are not forgotten. It is hoped that a large proportion of these will be paid up by the time of the AGM.
It now remains, in conclusion, to thank people who have helped out on various occasions and made my job easier in the past twelve months reign of terror.
Chris Batstone
Caving Secs Report
I am pleased to report that the club has had a good and active caving year. To give you some idea of the members activities I have examined all three caving logs and the following figures may be of interest to members. These are based on the period 1st October 1977 to 23rd July 1978 and obviously are only those recorded by obliging and dutiful members,
St. Cuthbert's
32 general members trips, 4 club digging and 32 guest trips of whichs 7 were private Cerberus Speleo Soc; 2 WCC; 1 SMCC giving a total of 68 trips.
The Leaders Meeting was held on the 30th October 1977 in Cerberus Hall, St. Cuthbert's and was attended by 11 BEC and 5 guest leaders of which 2 were S:MCC and 2 Cerberus with the fifth being an independent leader.
General Mendip
The log records some 90 Mendip general trips and 30 digging trips not surprisingly Swildons was favourite showing 25 visits, GB - 16, Manor Farm -9, August Longwood - 5 and Eastwater - 7 whilst the remainder covered the other smaller Mendip caves with 28 associated visits.
Wigmore Swallet, the only BEC official club dig bore the brunt of much fevered digging activity and was to a small extent a minor success with a fine 30ft entrance shaft some 15ft x 10ft at the top and some approx. 200ft to its name. Lionel's Hole at Burrington is proving a good success but these details have appeared in the BB also some work has been attempted at Sludge Pit renewed activity has restarted in St. Cuthbert's at Sump 1.
16 trips have been made in this period to
Derbyshire
6 trips have been made to this area, the caves visited being Speedwell Cavern, Giants, Oxlow Cavern, Peak Cavern and P8.
Other Areas
Two Otter Hole trips are recorded in the Forest of Dean area and to prove that the BEG get everywhere there has been one trip to Sutherland end a visit to Fingels Cave, furthermore at the moment several of our members are abroad on expeditions to Austria and France amongst other areas.
During my year of office there has been much political activity on both National and local level - but though same of this is allegedly associated with caves and caving I have no intention whatsoever to mention any of this in nor report simply for personal reasons. I neither enjoy nor indulge in such activities as I feel these are best left to others and not to the club caving sec.
Initially, at the start of my year of office, I attempted to arrange some regular meets and jointly with the Climbing Secretary, several requests for ideas were put in the B. B. - the response was overwhelming nil!
Accordingly I decided and made public my intentions not to
make any arrangements, several of us instead making known locally our
intentions of away trips to Derbyshire and
One point of issue that I wish to bring before the AGM is the somewhat dubious state of the fixed tackle in St. Cuthbert's of which I believe next years committee should be made aware, Arête Pitch ladder and fixing chain, the positioning of a proper rawlbolt in the entrance rift are just two of the problems.
Also I wish to suggest to the persons to whom it concerns that when any dig is undertaken, it is not an official club dig until a request for such has been made to the club committee for insurance and other reasons. Furthermore, much of our digging gear has been abandoned around disused digs and sites thus depriving others if its use and also leaving the club open to possible criticism.
Lastly I must state that I stood last year for election to the club committee and was obviously successful, however my belief that a members who stands as such must be prepared to tackle any job of elected was truly tested as no other person at the tie wanted the post! However, I am now aware of the fact, I will return to regular uniform duties as of May 1979, I cannot guarantee that if I were to stand and be elected to the new committee that I should manage to attend every monthly meeting therefore I am now putting myself forward as a general candidate for the new committee only on the clubs acceptance of that position.
May I wish my successor well with his endeavours.
Nigel P. Taylor
July 1978
Librarians Report
It is gratifying to be able to report that the library is being used to a fair degree as a reference source and for general reading. During the year the usual additions have been made from various club exchanges but I feel that a major overhaul of our exchange list is overdue. Several clubs have stopped publishing and until they resume their publications, the BB exchange should be dropped.
Several items have been purchased and many donations have been received including maps, club journals and books. To all who have contributed our thanks. Members who have caving material that is gathering dust on their shelves could possible consider donating this material to the club collection before disposing of it into the dustbin. The black side is the loss of several items mainly CRG Transactions and a couple of books. Personally I believe that they have been taken out without the borrower recoding the details of the relevant book. Would people concerned please return these items or inform next years Librarian of their whereabouts.
Space is now a major problem and the wardrobe in the Library is to be revamped to house a larger part of the collection. This will cost a few pounds but considering the value of the collection, both from a monetary point of view as a reference source, this will be money well spent.
I would like to records our thanks to Kay Mansfield for binding up a large number of the club periodicals which incidental, she has been doing for a number of years now.
Having done this job for six years I feel that it is time someone else should take over. Six years is too long in any Club post. However, having said that I am prepared to continue if the Club so wishes.
Dave Irwin
Climbing Secs. Report
The Climbing section whilst almost, grind slowly to an
imperceptible crawl over the last year. BEC members visited
Russ Jenkins.
B.B. Editors Report
It is with some concern that I give this report as I know that several club members do not approve of the style of the BB's I have produced in the last year. Having said that I do not intend to enter into a long dissertation on the matter except to say that I seriously believe that the BB must reflect the activities of the current active membership of the club and be a source of information on caving and climbing matters generally. It should also be to a standard requested by the active membership - if it fails to meet this demand we might as well resort to the armchair. The position of the BB in its relation to the Caving Reports including 'Cave Notes' has been very much misunderstood by several members over the last few years. The BB contains articles of a general nature, whereas the single topic material of a more serious and original nature left placed in the Caving Reports.
The club purchased a new batch of covers at the beginning of 1977 when the format changed from A5 to A4 but these have only lasted until August this year. To get us off the hook, Garth Dell printed a number of covers, sufficient for the next 18 months or so.
The Club should also investigate the possibilities of purchasing a printing machine. Up to date we have survived by individuals owning such a machine. Alfie bought the off-set litho machine some years ago and gave me the Gestetner. When Alfie stopped printing the BB last year so went the use of the offset litho machine. The Gestetner is currently being used and as far as I'm concerned this is club property but it will not last forever.
During the course of this year, the Committee sanctioned the purchase of 100 reams of paper at £1.12p per ream. This is not ideal paper for the duplicator but it prints adequately though perhaps not with the same clarity if we were using the good quality Gestetner paper. But events forced us to make such a purchase as the cost of Gestetner paper rose from £:2.50 to £3.60 in less than five months.
I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all members who have contributed material and ask them to be patient if their material is not published immediately - topicality is given first priority. I've been fortunate this year in that there has not been any shortage of material - so keep it up please. Secondly I must thank those members who have helped in many ways - typing, printing, collating at the Belfry. There are a few names I must record in my thanks, Maggie Large for a considerable amount of typing; John Dukes for printing and Mike and Pattie Palmer for the postal and distribution. Incidentally, Mike has done a grand job in the hand distribution - he has reached 30% of the club membership.
The BB Editor is now in a unique position as he is elected by the AGM after the precedent set by the 1977 AGM. If anyone is prepared to take over the job they are welcome but in not I'm prepared to continue if members feel that the end product is to their requirements,
Dave Irwin
Publication Editors Report
There have been no publications this year and no new ones ere envisaged for the immediate future. I have not been able to put sufficient time into the job, and none of my anticipated timetable worked out in practice. The facilities available to me are no longer in existence.
The Cuthberts Reports have progressed a little, and thanks are due to Glenys Bezant for typing proof copies for photocopying offset plates.
It has been decided to alter the format of the Burrington Atlas, since there are several alterations or additions to be made to this publication.
I hope that someone with more energy, time and enthusiasm will be prepared to take on the post next year, as I do not think it fair to hang on to a job which I have not done well.
Graham Wilton-Jones
Tacklemasters Report
My report this year is one long moan.
I have spouted enough on previous occasions about taking proper care of equipment we have, about using the tackle log correctly and keeping the store neat and tidy. The moan is about missing tackle this year. In particular we still have five lifelines missing, one being a brand new length of superbraidline nylon left in the Library until I could label it. At one time all the older tethers were missing, though one turned up recently in a totally useless condition. Several ladders are also missing. For a short period of time, even the tackle log went missing. The missing equipment cannot be accounted for by going through the tackle log to find who borrowed it, for it just has not been signed out. After I mentioned the loss of certain items of tackle in the BB some months ago, two ladders and a rope, in a disgusting state, were returned. That was all.
Thanks once again to Mike Palmer for the plentiful supply of C links. Most of these have been used for the manufacture of new tethers which have now gone into circulation.
The superbraidline that was not stolen has been cut into lengths of 50ft, 100ft and 150ft. It is kept in the roof along with other reserve store tackle such as the lightweight ladder. During the last weekend in august the roof was broken into again yet again. How long will the reserve tackle be safe?
Reserve tackle has been mixed up with equipment from the ordinary store, and lightweight ladder has been used for general trips on Mendip. The arguments against this practice should by now be well known. The lightweight gear is not substantial enough to withstand constant use, and is reserved for the use solely away from Mendip.
To return to the original moan, I cannot see the Club sanctioning the expenditure of further monies on tackle while the current phase of misuse continues, nor can I justify any request from me for extra equipment. That I can see is the restriction of tackle by removing it from the Belfry site, a very sorry but seemingly necessary state of affairs.
Graham Wilton-Jones
Nigel Jago
Members will be shocked by the tragic loss of Nigel Jago who was fatally injured at work on Friday 1st September 1978. His work for the Club as Climbing secretary and climbing generally are well known to members of the club.
Our deepest sympathies to Sue and the children.
Twenty Years Ago In The BB
Memory Joggers
compiled by Martin Bishop
I decided a few weeks ego, to dig back through some old BB's and see what I could find. After awhile I thought, why not sort out a few articles and republish them. So, I've picked out a few from the year of 1958 to start with. I feel that these snippets will not only jog a few memories, but also bring home to some of the new members that things at the Belfry really aint so different today.
Mat 1958 'Cooking for Cavers I
Baked Beans a la
Ingredients: 1 tin baked beans
1 bottle Coate's Triple Vintage Cider
Method: Stagger from bed. Cast bleary eye around kitchen. Locate ingredients. Imbibe sufficient liquid from bottle to find tin opener. Open tin. Imbibe more liquid to fortify constitution. Wait until floor becomes steady before lighting gas. Catch sight of beans. Close eyes and reach for bottle. Swallow. Repeat as necessary. Turn beans out carefully into saucepan. Finish bottle to settle stomach. Throw beans into rubbish bin.
*****************************************
You really don't change, do you Sid!
October 1958 Extract from the Log. 22-23 Sept 1958. St. Cuthbert's.
A party of four, including Mike Wheadon, Mike Palmer, Albert
Francis and Prew went down at 8.30pm and went straight to Catgut
Extension. Went into the chamber found
by Mike Wheadon on the 21st September. SIZE IS SIMILAR TO THAT OF QUARRY CORNER. THE FORMATIONS AT THE TOP END ARE PROBABLY
AMONG THE FINEST IN THE
November 1958 re Old Stone Belfry. New Hut
We still need willing hands to build this new hut. When you next use the Belfry, think of those past club members who put it up so that YOU could be comfortable on Mendip. Nows your chance to do your bit! Remember there are FREE bed nights for all who WORK at this job.
For those who prefer to sing their notices, we have:-
Cavers sitting in a daze
By the stoves heat-giving rays.
Foremen form the building bawls,
Stop flipping rays and raise flipping walls.
The Grand Tour - Caving Style,
by our
For the last two years, a course at Manchester University has seriously limited the amount of caving that I have been able to fit in (cries of AH! from the wings). So to make up for, this, I arranged not to start work until late August end to get five weeks on the Continent beforehand.
The symposium in
I left for
Back at Matienzo, the first group of cavers arrived on Tuesday so the serious business of caving began on Wednesday. MUSS technique is quite simple and very pleasant; every day starts at the bar at midday, no cave is entered until at least 2p.m., exit around 8 - 10 p.m. and then keep the bar open until 1 or 2 a.m., or later every other day or so. By this method, we spent nine out of the next ten days underground pushing and surveying 1.5km in Solviejo (the local name meaning Old Sun) discovering and surveying in a large a cave 300m long by 50+m deep (Torca Mustajo) revisiting sites found previously but never before entered and doing a few pleasure trips.
Undoubtedly the best of the latter was a trip into the massive Uzueka system which at present consists of about 15km of passage most of this forming the length of the cave as opposed to being maze work as in some other long systems. The particular aim on this trip was to visit an aven about halfway along the cave. Named the Astradome, this aven is certainly the most spectacular that I have ever seen being perfectly cylindrical and about 60-70ft in diameter. The echo in the oven is quite incredible us the sound reflects straight up from a pool of on the floor, and down from we presume - the roof. For some time there had been a considerable amount of speculation about how high the aven was: - 100ft, 100m, 1000ft? Various estimates had been made. It was certain that the top could not be seen with a spot-focus beam so at least it must have been more than 100ft. Our technique was novel, to say the least; a bottle of helium had been obtained together with some weather balloons kindly donated by their manufacturer. Being the only diver on the party, Salford Pete (Bolton Speleo Club) was volunteered to carry in the bottle which was the size of a 40 (I think). The balloon was sent up with a length of light string attached and a definite roof was reached against which the balloon bounced. Unfortunately the roof must be decorated with straw stals, one of which punctured the balloon which descended a bit more rapidly than was intended. (There was still enough helium left to give some fun breathing it in and speaking with Mickey Mouse voices, although we decided to stop that when we became dizzy 3 miles from the surface!
Anyway, to cut the story short, the string was measured outside the bar that night and found to be EXACTLY 100m long which, with the height of the holder, gave an overall height of 100m to the aven.
After this period of activity, I felt I was due for a bit
more relaxation so I joined Stan in
This fine system had been the target of a number of expeditions by the DCC in the late 60's and early'70's and in 1973 I had done the through trip from the original entrance to the lower entrance - Buca del Serpente. The BPC split their assault into two days, the first spent tackling as far as the stream passage, which is only reached after a couple of hours in dry passage; the second day was spent bottoming the cave in 13 hours and de-tackling completely. The cave is best appreciated in this way as the tackling trip can be taken at a leisurely pace in dry kit with time for a visit to the fine Stalagmite Gallery whereas the second day is taken a bit more rapidly in wetsuits down the very sporting streamway to the bottom. The biggest pitches are 100ft and 140ft, all the rest being 25 to 30ft and the trip involves every sort of caving except the worse sorts of flat out crawling. I highly recommend it as a sporting cave with depth.
After the Corchia, I rejoined Stan and two Italian cavers from Gruppo Speleologico Verona (who had been to Mendip last September). For two days we went caving in the area around the Rifugio at Buca del Cane (visited by DCC in 1973) and some little known shafts on Monte Freddone. Caving with Italians is an education in itself - but when one of them is known to have some rather unusual ideas, about pitch-rigging, it becomes a bit hair raising too. We were prussiking on alpine ropes (i.e. knicker-elastic) using the continental technique of rigging pitches designed: -
a) to ensure that the trip takes as long as possible (add at least half an hour a pitch)
b) to ensure that the safety of every member of the party is put at the greatest possible risk possible
c) to ensure that as much equipment is required as possible and that preferably as much is damaged or left in the cave as can be.
In short, I did not really approve. The technique amounted to putting a new bolt at the top of each pitch over 50ft (whether necessary or not) and belaying a loop of the rope to it so that, one had to change ropes, often 100ft from the floor. In one case, at the top of a 140ft pitch, this supplementary bolt pulled out when I was 10ft below it - 20ft from the TOP of the pitch. After a 10ft free-fall and a few well chosen words, it was necessary to prussic up past the knot that was all that remained of this safety device. The moral is to avoid continental rigging (they didnt seem to use any natural belays or rope protectors) and to carry a 'cow's tail on your sit-harness.
However, after two weeks in
My gratitude must go to the members of MUSS, DCC, BPC, GSV and WVCC with whom I caved and to divine providence that allowed me to cover over 4,000 miles in a Bedford van without any breakdowns!
G.G. Winch Meet Whitsun 1978
By Glynis Beszant
(Ed. note: I feel, after the thoughts of Chairman Wilton-Jones in the last few issues this article reflects the female mind when the men are underground!! Still its good to see the girls writing their side of the caving saga!)
A party of three BEC members which comprised of G.W-J, Martin Grass and myself arrived rather late at the BPC dump; the lateness was due to us sharing the idea of going north with half the populace of London. However, we, got there to see Rich Websell and Rob Palmer of the Wessex and as it was 2 a.m. we thought wed be friendly and phone the Belfry just to check that the rest were coming up next day - as well as speaking to the Wessex, of course!
Next morning the condemned (me) ate a hearty breakfast
before we drove to Crummock where wed start the walk to G.G. After packing our rucksacks so that we could
carry more beer and less clothes, we set out with a full pack apiece and Graham
with an additional suitcase. He would
insist that it was what the best dressed walker carried. After walking up and down dale in the
blistering sun with a stop every twenty minutes or so for Graham to relieve his
suitcase arm and for me to reduce to a grease spot we were diverted by the
sound of banging. Arriving over the next
hump we saw various BPC members digging away at a small shakehole (
After a very disbelieving welcome from the
After hanging around for a couple of hours Tim L, Andy
Sparrow and Backbone turned up with one rucksack full of compo rations I
wonder where they got them (?). After
eating we decided to go and identify some holes. Graham, guidebook in hand, led the way. We had an uneventful time chucking rocks down
holes until we got to Marble Pot when after lobbing down huge boulders Andy
heard a noise. A lamb was at the bottom
of the pitch. The more athletic hacked
back to camp for ropes. On their return
the ropes were lowered, the lamb fixed into slings and hoisted to the
surface. We returned to the beer tent
and went to bed. We were all wakened,
except Martin, at 3am by the
Martin, Sparrow and Batstone went down the winch next day to look at Mud Hall and Sand Caverns and came up the winch much later to sunbathe. Chris Batsone had warned them of unusual formations in Sand caverns before the trip and sure enough there was a pile of t..ds just waiting to be discovered by the BEC. Tim and Bassett in the meantime decided to take a million foot of rope that Graham had brought up back to the camp back to the car and to replenish our beer stocks. On their return the variety of beer cans acquired from the pub put the idea of collecting empties to decorate the Belfry into Tims mind. This had alarming results as he promptly jumped into the rubbish pit to collect various cans only half an hour after the elsans had been emptied there. Tim and G.W-J then went down Disappointment to Far Country and planned to come up on the winch. However due to the drive wheel on the winch breaking (they had a spare) the queue was 3½ hours long and so our errant heroes came out Bar Pot. During this time Martin had become Red Cross Brigade sending soup down to the frozen cavers in the windy bottom of the Main Chamber.
Dinner was late that night and the beer tent was first priority. In the night Martin was awakened to Bassetts bare buttocks protruding in the tent - he'd been woken by a sheep rummaging in the rubbish pit and had got up to chase it out. I must add that the sheep had proved a bit of a problem this weekend. Apart from being brazen enough to filch food from around the tents and falling into caves AND the rubbish pit, they also had a curious effect on people. Pete Faulkner was seen running a complete circuit around the top of GG shouting obscenities at woolly beasties and even Backbone was heard to shout 'mint sauce' at frequent intervals.
Next morning we woke to find that Tim had already walked to the top of Ingleborough and back in time for breakfast (mad fool). After breakfast is when my purgatory began. I had used every excuse not to go down the winch - even the lack of the £1 needed. So they had a whip round (I think Tim footed most of the bill) to send me down. The hour of torture began and I was, sent down after Tim. The first 20ft over the overhand was alright but the speed after that convinced me the cable had broken. A scream rent the air much to the amusement of those on the surface and I ended at the bottom an embarrassment to the BEC being in tears and calling for help to get me out. A slightly nonplussed Tim hoiked me out and when I'd recovered showed me round the majestic splendour of GG Main Chamber! Why isn't there an easier way down?
On the way up I decided that the speed down, if not right, for descent would be bloody marvellous for the ascent. Still I tried to be stoic and fixed my eyes ahead, not looking up or down. On reaching the surface a stream of abuse issued from the winch chair much to the amazement of Martin who was so sure I would have enjoyed it. Tim got into the chair next and spent the next minute blowing his whistle for ascent - he didnt' know the winch was broken - again. Eventually Tim was brought up only to be showered with water by Graham.
Camp was struck, loaded into rucksacks and we walked back to Crummock rescuing two more sheep from Car Pot on the way. There's something most peculiar about that route - it, took three hours to come up and 45 minutes to get back! We loaded up the cars and sped off to Austwick and the Fighting Cocks where we were refreshed with ale and sandwiches.
Kingsdale was next port of call and martin, Sparrow and Bassett sweated up to Heron to abseil through and exit at the lower entrance. Batstone and Tim investigated Yordas cave while I caught up oh my suntan. When the Heron crew joined us it was decided to abseil down Yordas Pot and out the cave. Much discussion followed as to which rope to use on Tims 160ft pitch. Graham had a 120ft rope which he was prepared to use but Tim wanted to try his new 160ft rope. Just as well the later was used as the pitch turned out to be 80ft! A quick brew up and we zoomed down to Keld Head for the lads in black rubber to wash and cool off. By this time Sparrow was becoming very agitated about the time he would get back to Mendip as it might be too late to get his leg well its a bit personal, you know what I mean!!
At last we were squeezing ourselves into cars already full to bursting with tents etc., and began the long haul down the motorway back the smoke - all slightly overdone with suntan but otherwise rather satisfied with the weekend.
Letters To The Editor
To the Editor, B.B.
Arriving at the Belfry on the 28th July (Friday afternoon) I was somewhat staggered by the absolute chaos and filthy mess within.
The furniture, such as it is, was completely soaked and thrown about the room, every article of cutlery was dirty and left in a heap on the worktop. The whole hut smelt like a cow shed with rotting food, stale air and a general smell of filth.
I'm not saying that the type of piss up that resulted in this mess should not happen in the shed but the members involved (some of them of many years standing) should ensure that the place in cleaned up afterwards. I hope other members will support any action that the Committee might care to take. If anybody thinks this is the pot calling the kettle black, I clean up, my mess.
Trev Hughes, Aug 1978.
*****************************************
To the Editor, BB - A letter to the Pigs
(Pigs being the obnoxious members/non-members/guests using the Belfry)
On 3 or 4 occasions during, the past couple of months the Belfry has been left in a deplorable state. On one occasion during midweek it took about an hour to clean the hardened spilt food and grease from, the table and cooking areas, clean the sink and do the, washing up. NOW this weekend 27th-28th July, the Friday night arrivals found they not only had to wash up partly cleaned cutlery etc., but after their labours found the furniture soaking wet, also the bunkroom backdoor was left open, a good job the recent invasions of undesirables were off to parts further north! With attitudes such as these no wonder the Hut Warden has found it necessary to remove the greatest part of the cooking utensils only leaving a few tea-mugs out.
It also appears that an apathy of doing things in half measures is becoming incumbent amongst Belfryites, half the tackle store done and half the half made cess pit has been started.
Stu Lindsey.
Lifeline
by Tim Large
The lifeline can finally be belayed this month. I hope it has been able to keep members, particularly those absent from Mendip, in touch with the clubs activities.
The Club has had the offer of some very cheap foam mattresses end has decided to purchase 100 of these to keep the bunkroom well provided for. Also Tom Temple has donated a small number waterproof mattresses which will come in useful for the more incontinent amongst us.
At last we have the details for the purchase of Club sweatshirts. The price will be about £5 being in one colour - NAVY with a white design incorporating Bertie. A limited quantity will be purchased to begin with so if you are interested contact John Dukes - cash with order - sizes are small, medium and large.
I understand that the Cambrian Caving Council intend to vote against any NCA Constitutional changes proposed by the CSCC at the forthcoming NCA AGM in January 1979. It appears that again they are not taking any notice of the views of the grass roots cavers. If this is the case the Club will support any action intended stop this unacceptable attitude. This could involve a boycott of the NCA AGM by CSCC which would mean that the meeting would be inquorate and no decisions could be made.
Ben Lyon of Whernside Manor has sent out a questionnaire on
cave usage in the Dales. Apparently the
If any cave is only visited once per year, does it make it less important than one that has weekly visits by the hordes? We would oppose closing of any cave regardless of its popularity. What may be a lesser known cave today could be the King Pot of tomorrow.
The Committee have decided to publish the attendance record of this years Committee meetings they are as follows: -
|
Committee
member
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
|
Dave Irwin
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
|
Tim Large
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
|
Martin Bishop
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
A
|
A
|
A
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
|
Graham
Wilton-Jones
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
|
Russ Jenkins
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
Resigned from
attending meetings in February with committees approval.
| ||||||
|
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
|
Nigel Taylor
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
|
Alfie Collins
|
A
|
+
|
resigned
| |||||||||
|
Chris
Batstone
|
A
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
|
John Dukes
|
(co-opted in
February)
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
A
|
+
|
+
| |||
|
Martin Grass
|
(co-opted in
February)
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
A
| |||
|
Bob Cross
|
(co-opted in
June)
|
+
|
+
|
+
|
+
| |||||||
|
Sue Tucker
|
(co-opted in
July)
|
+
|
+
|
+
| ||||||||
+ present, A Absent
*****************************************
If elected to the Committee next year I would be prepared to undertake the secretarial task again, having thoroughly enjoyed nyself despite the various problems. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the AGM and Dinner.
Safe caving,
Cheers,
Tim Large.
Library List
Number #3 - additions to the Library List published Sept. 1972.
Parts 1 & 2 were published in the March and August 1978 B.B.'s.
Newsletter May 1965; Feb. 1968; July 1968; Oct & Dec. 1968
1969 - Jan - April; 1972 - Nov/Dec
1973 J/F; Ap; My; Jy; Sept.
1974 J, F, Mar, A, My; Sept; Nov; Dec.
1976 Jy/A; B/Oct.
1977 J/F; Mar/Ap; My/Ju; N/D.
GRAMPIAN S.G.
Bulletin 2(4, 5)
Index to Bulletin Vols 1 - 5 (1974)
Bulletin, 2nd Series 1(1-2; 4; 5)
Bibliography of Technical Articles
Caving Songs of Mendip; Occ. Pub No.3
IRISH SP. SOC.
Journal 2 (1) (2).
KENDAL C.C.
Ladder Construction - Epoxy Resin Process
Journal (14)
MENDIP CAVER
Index to all volumes.
MENDIP CAVING GROUP
Newssheet Nos: 2 - 8, 10 - 17, 19 Journal Nos 5 & 6
Newsletters Nos: 2, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 20, 21, 24, 29-31, 35, 38, 39, 41, 42, 50, 55.
M.N.R.C.
1958 (Jy, Au, D)
1959 (May, Jy, D)
1961 (Jy, O)
1962 (Mar, Ju, S, D)
1963 (Mar, Ju, S, D)
Development of Artificial Climbing
Journal 2 (1)
NORTHERN CAVE CLUB
Journal (3)
NORTHERN CAVING CLUB
The Northern Caver 2 (1)
Newsletter (41); Journal 2(3); 3(1)
Annual Dinner
The 29th B. E. C. Annual Dinner SATURDAY 7th OCTOBER 1978 at the CAVE MAN REST., CHEDDAR
PRICE £3.50 each includes a free pint or glass of sherry before the meal and a bottle of plonk (between two) with the meal.
Meal includes Roast Beef nod Yorkshire Pud. Silver Service is definitely OUT this year. The veg. will be placed on the table; only the meat will be waitress service. So, hopefully the meal will be over in about 1½ hours.
Send your reservations and money to the Club Treasurer Sue
Tucker, at 75 Lower Whitelands, Tynings, Redstock,
All bookings should be in with Sue by the 2nd October at the latest.
Vale
It is with great regret that we have to report the death of two of Mendips well known cavers - 'Digger' Harris after a long illness and Prof. E.K. (Trat) Tratman. 'Digger' was a Hon. Life Member of the BEC and will long be remembered for his lack of smell that enabled him to gain an entry into the well known Cow Hole and his efforts in the exploration of Wookey Hole in the 1930's. 'Trat' whose caving activities date back to 1919 caved extensively through out Europe but will forever be associated with the caves of Clare in Eire, Swildon's Hole and for his study of the Burrrington Coombe caves.
News in brief:
Rock and - Fountain,
New stock of carbide ordered for supplies at the Belfry.
Don't forget to send in your order for a BEC sweat shirt to John Dukes.
ADDRESS CHANGE: Teresa Rumble, 71 Chiltern Close, Warmley,
Meets in Yorkshire organised by Dave Metcalfe:
Oct. 1st. Gingling Hole, Fountains Fell.
Oct. 29th. Notts Pot
Nov. 18th. Top Sink
Dec. 16th. Swinsto/Simpsons exchange.