Ogof Ffynnon Ddu 2 - Pendulum Passage Helictites

Over a Christmas meal the idea of searching out and photographing an amazing array of helictites, last seen by Clive Westlake in the mid 70s was discussed. A trip was planned for January in the hope that Richards upper arm, broken in an August fall in Daren Cilau would have healed enough to allow him to go caving once again. With cakes baked, photo gear packed and video gear prepared we headed off to OFD2 and Pendulum Passage. Rachel was sporting a super bright DIY lamp and Richard was feeling fit enough to make this his first caving trip since the accident. The trip went like clockwork and we were soon climbing out of the OFD main Streamway and up into the lower reaches of Pendulum Passage. Some interesting climbs and routes through boulder collapses led to an area of long but mud encrusted helictites that we had photographed on a previous trip to this area in 2007. Alas on the previous trip we had not found our way through the boulder collapses beyond this area.
Keith pioneered the route and we were soon in the last 30m of passage where the finest arrays of helictites are located.

Keith viewing some of the helictites

Richard viewing some of the helictites

We split into two groups to photograph and video the helictites as the delicate formations are contained in narrow rifts and alcoves, after an hour, film had run out, batteries were dead and memory cards full, it was time to make our way back.

Keith viewing some of the helictites

Keith viewing some of the helictites

See more photos of OFD 2 here

Present: Keith Edwards, Clive Westlake, Rachel Dearden, Richard Dearden and Brendan Marris

Eldon Hole - Derbyshire

Despite the horrendous gales on Saturday morning, the intrepid trio Graham, Mike & Em descended into Eldon Hole (although someone, who will remain nameless, got his north and south mixed up!). At times it was like being in a wind tunnel as we hung on the rope, but being a small team meant that we could at least move quicker. Afterwards, we headed to the new Derbyshire CRO HQ for a meeting and have got lots more ideas now!!

Present: Emma Porter, Mike Clayton and Graham Smith

Derbyshire Weekend

Had a good weekend with Shepton Mallet CC (including Jo C and Keith B, ex-DCC members) in Derbyshire. A quick visit down Rowter Hole for us, Knotlow for some on Saturday, followed by training at Total Access on Sunday.

Emma Porter & Mike Clayton

MCRO Rescue Practice

A great turnout of 35 at the MCRO rescue practice held on Sunday. Thanks to everyone that attended the event and a big thanks to those who provided the training.

Emma Porter

Maskhill Mine

This trip was 2 years in the planning.  A Maskhill/Oxlow exchange trip was the proposed Christmas trip for 2009, but on arriving in Buxton it started to snow heavily and we only just managed to escape home before the roads became impassible.

This time 10 members, or was it 11, signed up for the experience, but on the day the excuses came thick and fast and no better excuses had been heard since the infamous Jim Durr came up with the, "I can't go caving because I have to hang up a plate rack", excuse.  So the 10, or was it 11, became a mere 5.  The exchange was abandoned and the Maskhill only trip was agreed.

The videos tell the story.

Video Trailer

The Complete Video

The Team: Mark Burkey, Keith Edwards, Jessica Harding, Graham Smith and Steve Wallis.

Moss Chamber Peak Cavern

Moss chamber sunday 4th of December

Earlier in the year (January) we had a club trip into peak cavern but due to illness i wasnt able to go to moss chamber and had to do one of the easier trips, so this time i was adament i was going to go and see where poor neil moss was entoomed, even if it ment i may of had to go solo.
Now poor mark and jess had decided that thay wouldnt be coming to Moss chamber as some body had told them it was tight (i think some one was exaggerating) as in my opinion there was plenty of room.
In the end Steve,Mell and myself set off to find Moss Chamber, now bear in mind that Steve and Mell had been to the chamber earlier in the year so navigation should of been quit simple, Steve led the way with a nice easy hands and knees crawl to a large boulder wich was easy to hop over, closley followed by a junction where we where sopost to turn off somewhere on the right, but we missed the turn and ended up in a wet muddy flat out crawl wich took us to cohesion sump (not a nice place) so we backtracked to the boulder and consulted the survey, and Mell quickly found the right way on, wich was quit nice after that crawl up to cohesion sump as there was very little crawling if any and Moss Chamber was soon reached, now the awkward bit was on the way back out through the eye hole, as there is a bit off a drop to the hand holds, and as you come through it head first you think your going to slide through and miss the holds, if you did you would end up droping about 10 feet head first, now that would be painfull, but we all managed it without any problem, and a steady exit was made from the cave back to the caving club for a nice shower and to await the other groups who had gone on different routes in peak cavern

Present : Andy G, Mell and Steve

Swildon’s Short Round Trip

Trip Report by Mark Burkey

After a trip earlier in the year to sump 1 and then the greasy chimney, Andy, Mel, Jess and myself had been planning on going back to have a go at the short round trip.
This time we were minus Jess (after she decided to jump off her new scooter before actually stopping) and plus Dominic.
We knew it was going to be busy as soon as we arrived by the number of cars at the green. Sure enough as soon as we got in the entrance cavers begun appearing from everywhere!
We made swift progress to the pitch head only to have a half hour wait as there was a traffic jam of cavers waiting to descend.
At Tratman's Temple we again caught up a group who were also doing the short round and as we had already lost a lot of time we decided to tag along rather than jump ahead and risk navigation errors.
Everything went smoothly with no surprises to the greasy chimney. Andy went first.....grunt, grunt "I'm nearly there"...THUMP!! “Strike 1”...THUMP!! “Strike 2!”... Fortunately Andy flew up on the fourth attempt as I’m not sure there were anymore swear words left for him to use!
Again with our guides we swiftly made our way through to the Troubles where the other group decided they wanted to get some pictures of everyone going through. Andy was first up.....”Exactly how long IS this?”.......”THAT’S not much airspace”.....”What do you mean on your BACK?!?!”  In the end Andy showed us how it was done and just treated the whole thing as a sump and swam under it! Next went Mel and then Dominic who, after a ‘moment’, took to the ducks like, well like a spluttering duck to water. I myself had been so focused on the Birthday Squeeze ahead that I hadn’t even given any of the other obstacles a second thought. At least not until I wedged tight through one of the later ducks with my head half submerged and had to be dragged through. It was at this point I decided I really, REALLY wanted to fit through the squeeze and not have to do the Troubles in reverse.
Andy and Mel flew through the Birthday Squeeze, and I followed family tradition by first stripping off down to my furry. Following advice from Paul (an experienced caver who swore he’d got “corks” through the squeeze before)  I eventually went in on my back and was just thinking to myself how well I was doing when everything came to an abrupt halt. I’d reached the tightest part of the squeeze and no matter how hard I pushed I wasn’t going anywhere. I would just like to say that I was very manly at this point and took it in my stride, but unfortunately I can’t.  I begun to panic, making some very un-macho noises! However, with Paul wedged in behind me to push against, & Andy telling me there was no way he was going back through those bloody troubles and to suck it up, I eventually popped through like a champagne cork through to a slightly wider part, managed to turn full circle, and actually wound up having Andy pull me feet first out of the squeeze. I’m reliably informed this is a manoeuvre that has never been performed before and certainly gave cause for a few giggles!
With nothing more than a couple of minor navigational errors we were through the sump, back up the pitch and out with no further events.
In conclusion I think it is important for a caver to approach such a challenge with guts and determination, though I do feel a little less guts on my part would have made the whole experience far easier :)
My thanks go to Dominic, Mel, Andy & my new foot-rest, Paul, for getting me through my hardest challenge to date. The ribs are a little sore and tender, but I couldn't have done it without the whole team.

Present: Dominic, Andy, Mel, Mark & around 200 other cavers popping out from everywhere!!!