Photos: Brendan Marris and Mark Burkey
Video: Keith Edwards
Showing posts with label Fernhill Cave. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fernhill Cave. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Highlights of the Caving Year 2016
Dudley Caving Club 2016 Round Up. What another eventful year it has been. Join us on our underground adventures.
Photos: Brendan Marris and Mark Burkey
Video: Keith Edwards
Photos: Brendan Marris and Mark Burkey
Video: Keith Edwards
Sunday, 15 May 2016
Fairy Quarry .......The Return
After a short tip in OFD Keith felt ready to return to the scene of his unfortunate accident 6 months before.
This time Keith went fully harnessed and belayed down in to Fernhill accompanied by Ian and John to take in the splendid curtain formations whilst Kermit, Brendan and I waited at surface.
With this demon put to rest we headed in two groups in to Withyhill for an afternoon of pleasant caving and pretty formations, pausing often for photo opportunities.
At Green Lake chamber Kermit saw me struggle in through the awkward squeeze and muttered under his breath words to the effect of.....if that larger fellow can do it then so can I!......perhaps not the exact words he used ;)
With a little puffing and panting he emerged victorious in to a chamber he hadn't visited in 40years! After some smiles and photos we continued on to the end of our trip, Column Chamber, before making our way out again.
Keith was feeling a little sore by the time we exited and little dehydrated and so this was used as a good excuse to stop off for a drink in the pub before heading off our separate ways.
Present: (Party 1: Brendan, Kermit & Jack) (Party 2: John, Mark, Kieth & Ian)
This time Keith went fully harnessed and belayed down in to Fernhill accompanied by Ian and John to take in the splendid curtain formations whilst Kermit, Brendan and I waited at surface.
With this demon put to rest we headed in two groups in to Withyhill for an afternoon of pleasant caving and pretty formations, pausing often for photo opportunities.
At Green Lake chamber Kermit saw me struggle in through the awkward squeeze and muttered under his breath words to the effect of.....if that larger fellow can do it then so can I!......perhaps not the exact words he used ;)
With a little puffing and panting he emerged victorious in to a chamber he hadn't visited in 40years! After some smiles and photos we continued on to the end of our trip, Column Chamber, before making our way out again.
Keith was feeling a little sore by the time we exited and little dehydrated and so this was used as a good excuse to stop off for a drink in the pub before heading off our separate ways.
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| Ian admires a magnificent curtain just before Pearl Chamber (Photo Mark Burkey) |
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| Keith and John in Column Chamber (Photo Mark Burkey) |
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| Kermit admires the formations in the entrance series (Photo Mark Burkey) |
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| The Baobab Tree (Photo Brendan Marris) |
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| Jack at Elephant Trunk Chamber (Photo Brendan Marris) |
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| Jack admires a curtain in Elephant Trunk Chamber (Photo Brendan Marris) |
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| Kermit back in Green Lake Chamber (Photo Brendan Marris) |
Sunday, 22 February 2015
Withyhill & Fernhill Caves
For our second day we were left with just Chloe, Jess and Myself.
Todays adventures would be in Withyhill cave and then a quick romp in to Fernhill.
We met for a very civilised 10am start with Martin, our trip leader for the day, at the quarry car park. The heavens opened as we changed and we were all glad to get out of the cold and wet and in to one of the prettiest caves in the quarry.
We took in Broken Curtain Chamber, Pearl Chamber, Elephant Trunk Chamber, Helictite Corner and Column Chamber via a mixture of walking, aqueous crawling before reaching the squeeze up in to green lake chamber. There had been some doubt as to if I'd manage to get through this awkward squeeze, but after a lot of pushing and wriggling I was finally in and I must say the view was well worth the effort! Fortunately getting out was actually easier than getting in and the rest of the trip was spent clicking away with the camera as we made our exit.
Fernhill was a short ladder climb to a single chamber which has some of the most stunning curtains I have ever seen. I was fortunate to be offered a chance of photographing these before we headed back out to more cold wet weather.
A great end to a fun weekend.
Present: Chloe Burney, Jess Burkey & Mark Burkey
Todays adventures would be in Withyhill cave and then a quick romp in to Fernhill.
We met for a very civilised 10am start with Martin, our trip leader for the day, at the quarry car park. The heavens opened as we changed and we were all glad to get out of the cold and wet and in to one of the prettiest caves in the quarry.
We took in Broken Curtain Chamber, Pearl Chamber, Elephant Trunk Chamber, Helictite Corner and Column Chamber via a mixture of walking, aqueous crawling before reaching the squeeze up in to green lake chamber. There had been some doubt as to if I'd manage to get through this awkward squeeze, but after a lot of pushing and wriggling I was finally in and I must say the view was well worth the effort! Fortunately getting out was actually easier than getting in and the rest of the trip was spent clicking away with the camera as we made our exit.
Fernhill was a short ladder climb to a single chamber which has some of the most stunning curtains I have ever seen. I was fortunate to be offered a chance of photographing these before we headed back out to more cold wet weather.
A great end to a fun weekend.
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| Chloe in Broken Curtain Chamber |
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| Jess near Barabobath's Bath |
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| Chloe in Green Lake Chamber |
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| Martin at the Fernhill Curtains |
Present: Chloe Burney, Jess Burkey & Mark Burkey
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