Valentines Sump, East Canal & The Filthy Five

After something of a lie in (as our alarm didn't go off), Jess and I finally arrived 15 min's late to meet up with Andy and Mel in Buxton before heading off to an empty Giant's Hole car park.
There was some wardrobe debate before I decided on a rather fetching neo-fleece with matching knee high wet socks, then set to stripping my SRT kit to a minimum to fit in the kit bag with the 4 pitches of rope.
We made short work to Garland's where it was rigged for SRT, followed by a stomped down the crab walk. Pausing at the vice I had a go at going through rather than under, much to Andy's amusement when I got stuck with legs waving in mid air! After finally admitting defeat......for now, I popped back  through and we headed off to Valentine sump. I crawled through the initial damp passage to the dam where the bellows are for the syphon and then went in to the sump to check on the pipe work. After some coaxing Andy came through to take a look, and after quarter of an hour of playing we found the bellows were sucking air and stubbornly refused to play. Andy pointed out at this point that the girls would be getting chilly by now so we re-grouped and continued on over bad step traverse and on to the climb down and Geology pot.
We soon found our selves at the ducks, which although water levels weren't too high, were very refreshing for those who hadn't donned neoprene. Foam lines on the walls to the east canal showed the passage certainly wouldn't have been a place to be a couple of days before and we were all grateful for the few days of fine weather since.
We finally arrived at the canal where, whilst Andy began wading in, I traversed above him and around the corner to the first climb up of the Filthy five where I quickly found out why they were called this as I sank in thick mud up to my shins. I heard Andy start swearing as he discovered just how deep the canal was and even after some coaxing he refused to go any further without a rubber ring :)
Mel had been feeling a little rough before we'd entered the cave and was now looking grey and shivering so we decided enough was enough for one day and swiftly headed out.

Back in the sun and out of the wet gear Mel had begun to look a bit better, so we headed off to the pub for a quick pint before the drive home.

Another great day out with all routes now discovered ready for a future return with some repair kit for syphon and perhaps a little more neoprene and a rubber ring for Andy, and a sherpa to carry the kit for me on our return!

Present: Mel Wakeman, Andy Grimes, Jessica Harding & Mark Burkey

Giant's Hole - Waterboarding

After meeting up with Andy on Sunday morning myself, Andy & Jess set off for my old nemesis: Giants Hole round trip.
We arrived with 3 cars in the car park and a group of half a dozen cavers heading off. We changed quickly and were just setting off for the cave when another six cars came down the track. Eager to get in ahead of the crowds Andy led off toward the entrance with myself and Jess in tow.
At Base Camp Chamber we caught the first group and went on to Garlands Pot where Andy rigged the ladder & the 3 of us were down and in the Crab Walk in short order. Andy took the lead, pointing out spots where I’d need to either drop to the water or climb up the slightly tighter sections. At The Vice Andy went through without a problem followed by a slightly more hesitant me. Andy decided it would be easier if I were to face the opposite way to get through so I backed up and sent Jess through first to show me how it was done. Watching her slip through with ease I launched myself at the opening, sliding, sliding, sliding, stuck. With Andy shouting to just relax and that it wasn’t like I could drown or anything, I turning my head left to see if I was positioned in the widest part, water poured over my shoulder & into my nose and mouth. Spluttering I turned my face away to catch my breath. Now the more intelligent caver would have learnt from this, for some reason (perhaps my intelligence level?) I decided that doing exactly the same action would result in a better outcome. Needless to say I managed to water board myself a second time…. Doh! Again spluttering as I tried to drown myself I reached out for Andy and he grabbed a hand and I was through in no time. The rest of the cave was a joy, up through the climbs, doused in the Wind Pipe, through the calcite polo and over the traverses with ease. Out of the cave after only a couple of hours the sun was shining and it was back to the car. Changed and ready to go another half a dozen cars rumbled down the track, obviously they’d heard that the famous cave diver was returning to Giants, though I think my fear of the squeeze has now been conquered & from now on I will take the slightly less lofty approach to The Vice in future.

Jessica at the Windpipe

As ever I couldn’t have done this without the cussing and encouragement of my team mates.

Trip Report by Mark Burkey

Present: Mark Burkey, Andy Grimes & Jessica Harding

Giants Hole Round Trip

This trip was originally arranged for a friend of mine, but unfortunately he couldn’t come. So that left me all alone with three women, luckily I had been caving with them in the past so I knew what to expect and we all had a good laugh. Now for some reason Heather and Jess decided to duck down into the water going threw the vice, which seemed a bit strange to me as they aren’t exactly on the large side, and we all got a good soaking as Jess came down the steel ladder and the water sprayed off her back which set us all off laughing again. Now the rope climbs were fairly amusing, especially as Heather's “dangly bits” (her tackle bag) got tangled up in the hand line making it a bit awkward for her to stand up at the top, and the water level in the wind pipe was fairly low so there was no danger of drowning in there either. The calcite boss on the traverse was a bit off fun, watching them all come through head first, staring straight down to the water below, with an anxious look on there faces. That was it then, just the ladder to go and we where out, now have a guess whose “dangly bits” got in the way again at the top of the pitch, while I was there getting soaked making sure she was safe on the life line. Not to worry it was all good fun……. 

The Team: AnGr, JeHa, HeSi & MeWa

Giants Hole, Derbyshire

We went to Giants with two tackle bags full of rope and SRT kit. As we approached Geology Pot some kind person had left the traverse and Geology Pot rigged, but not trusting their rigging we rigged our own. Not long after Geology Pot is a small climb followed by what's called the Duck and when we came in it was raining so we decided not to carry on any further and decided to leave. For a change we went out up the Crabwalk. Carrying bags full of heavy wet rope is not much fun when every two minutes they get stuck, mine even managed to get wedged in the Vice. Even Mel started to moan she has had enough, and that's never happened before, so you can guess how relieved we where to be back at Garlands Pot and almost out. 

The Team: AnGr & MeWa

Giants Hole, Castleton, Derbyshire

Arranged as a taster trip for new member Russell Allison. This was the standard round trip with deviations to the top of Geology Pot, St. Valentines Sump and Poached Egg Passage. The whole enterprise took around 3 hours 40 minutes and in spite of not liking the look of the climb down into Crab Walk, Russell is talking about coming caving with us again!

Chris in the top of the Crab Walk.

Wal climbing Garlands Pot

The Team: RuAl, KeEd, BrMa, StWa & ChWe

Giants Hole, Castleton, Derbyshire

The standard round trip arranged for Derek. A surprise member turned up while we were eating breakfast in the Woodbine and joined us for a rare sighting underground. The route was completed it just 2.5 hours.

The Team: JiDu, KeEd, BrMa & DeRo

Giants Hole, Castleton, Derbyshire

The standard round trip with out that many deviations (we only got lost once or twice).  There was a fair amount of water in the system, due to the volume of rain they had had in the area over the past few days.  The only real problem we had was that after we had de-rigged the ladder pitch on the way out, it was observed that the tackle bag was still at the bottom of the pitch - oh dear someone has to go down again!

Present: ACr, AGr & MWa

Giants Hole, Castleton, Derbyshire

Present: SAn, BMa & CWe

Giants Hole, Derbyshire

A trip to Geology Pot and round the Round Trip to show Chris what Derbyshire caving is like (well minus most of the mud). The day started with some reluctance to get started probably due to the freezing temperatures and icy wind. Eventually we'd exhausted the joys of the Woodbine Cafe and 'Hitch and Hike' and had to get changed. A highly entertaining trip. The more senior members of the party took us to some of the more rarely visited sections of the cave. In return they got the opportunity to play with rope and a triaxion getting the more knackered member out, followed by a quick freeze on the surface.

Present:  MCa, BMa, KEd & CWe

Giants Hole, Derbyshire

The Round Trip arranged this time for new members, Peter, Juliet and Nick. Rumour has it that last week's epic lasted 7 hours.  This jaunt was completed in 3 hours 8 minutes, so we went back in and knocked off Upper East and Upper West passages.  Then just for good measure we polished off both ends of Giants Cave.
A good time was had by everyone.

Nick descending Crabwalk.

Present:  ACr (+ friend, Neil), KEd, JGo, NGo, PLi & BMa.