Knotlow Cavern and Hillocks Mine

I had wanted to lead a novice SRT trip into Knotlow and Hillocks for a few months now and on Saturday 28th of March five of us met up at the old smithy café in Monyash to do just that. The aim of the trip was to consolidate the training on the outside of the mill with some SRT in a real underground environment.

Mark had only spent a few hours on the mill but was confident with his rope work and Rich had been practising for a little longer but neither had descended underground before. Loz joined us as an experienced vertical caver having completed Titan and several other SRT trips who just wanted to play underground and Andy G joined us as his planned trip for the day fell through.

I had talked about our options with Mark and Rich at the mill and we had decided to go in and out on the same ropes to practice passing rebelays and deviations but without any other cavers experienced in rigging we would not be able to set up anything else. So when Andy G joined us that meant we could get stuck into a bit more than we had originally planned.

 After a brief reminder of the procedures for passing rebelays, we left the café and headed up to the parking spot near the entrance. Once changed we headed into Knotlow cavern via the ‘Climbing Shaft’. I rigged the route in followed by Loz, then Rich and Mark, with Andy G bringing up the rear. Andy G was the only member of the group who had been in the system before and he had already said that we would most likely get wet on the final pitch into waterfall chamber. When I got to the pitch head I decided that if I rigged all of the bolts into a traverse line I could rig the route so we descended clear of the water. But this could present quite a challenge to the other group members as they would need to traverse a long way out on their cows tails before being able to clip into the rope down the pitch. I decided that this would be possible for this group as we were all fairly fit (or fitter than average) and so I rigged the pitch and then returned to the pitch head and waited for the others to join me. I explained that this would be challenging and then demonstrated how to move along the traverse line and descended. With Andy G at the pitch head giving moral and motivational support (I could only just make out the occasional word of shouting over the noise of the waterfall) the other three joined me. We briefly talked about how to reverse the process and Mark volunteered to de-rig the pitch back up. The movement across the traverse line was smoother heading back and we then all headed back out of the cavern.

Andy G took the brunt of the weather by descending into Knotlow last and so I lead out first into a windy but sunny Saturday afternoon. I jumped into my survival bag and ate my sandwiches waiting for the others to get out and then we all headed over to Hillocks.

 We utilised Andy G and his experience to set up a mini exchange trip and so he lead through the oil drum entrance into hillocks with Mark and Rich and I descended down Whalf Pipe Climbing Shaft with Loz. We met up in the main shaft and then had a brief squirrel around before Andy and I reversed our way back out of the system but with the other group members. Rich was feeling the physicality of the SRT work and Mark again volunteered to de-rig on our way out. Loz followed Andy G out through the oil drum entrance and Mark and Rich headed with me back up Whalf Pipe Climbing Shaft. Once out and changed at the cars we headed back into Monyash to the pub for a well earned pint. Mark and Rich enjoyed the exposure to SRT in a cave environment and I am sure that this is only the first of many future vertical caving trips. Loz expressed a keen interest in having a go at rigging some SRT pitches in the future so all in all everyone had a good trip.

I must thank Andy G for his support which made it possible for us to push the group a bit harder and I am sure he enjoyed the trip as well as he got to shout at some novices in a different environment from the mill!!

With the Gapping Ghyll winch meet coming up I would encourage all of the club members to give SRT a go and make the most of training on the mill. Being proficient in SRT can open up more potential caves to be explored especially in areas like the Yorkshire dales. Andy G and I will always help any novices who want to give it a go and I am always willing to go out and rig any caves for other club members who want to use ropes but don’t feel confident in rigging.

 Cavers present: Andy Kempster, Loz Appleby, Mark Burgess, Rich Gibbons and Andy Grimes

 Trip report by Andy Kempster

SRT Trip to Hillocks and Wharf

Having promised Ian and Becca a novice SRT trip into P8, as the day approached and weather warning started, a back up plan was devised,  to do an exchange trip from Wharf mine to Hillocks. Although the weather seemed reasonable on the day, group discussion over breakfast came up in favour of the mines exchange, as we could park fairly near and the trip would be fairly dry.
It turned out to be an excellent plan with something for everyone - except Phil, who broke down on the way and had to spend the day sorting his vehicle! From the Wharf end, Chloe did her first lot of rigging, under supervision from Mark, which included a difficult deviation and rebelay, and Ian abseiled right down to the bottom of the Engine shaft. From the Hillocks end I rigged the pitches (for the first time in ages, but didnt want to worry Becca with that information!) and Becca coped admirably with the SRT.
We all met up under the Engine Shaft and had a poke around all the tunnels, then realised we had a perfect opportunity to practise more SRT so we girls went back up the rope, past deviation and rebelay, across the ledge and back down the straight engine shaft rope, where Mark made the girls practice changeovers.
Once Mark had derigged the extra rope we all made our way out of Hillocks. The ascent is awkward to say the least, but Ian made short work of it with a little help from Mark and some excellent coaching from Chloe at the awkward pitch head. Becca took it all in her stride, in spite of the fact that her chest croll sprung open twice on the ascent - she just swore, snapped it shut and carried on.
Once out we pulled up the last rope, jumped in the cars and we were in the pub with hot drinks within minutes. A very successful day!

Present: Mark B., Jess H., Chloe B., Becca K., Ian M.

Grimes Caving Tours Are Back!

5 Cavers, 3 SRT Trips, 1 day.

Water Icicle:
A quick cuppa at the Old Smithy Café in Monyash and the team set off for its first SRT trip of the day at Water Icicle Close Cavern.  The road to the cavern turned out to be more like an off road rally course than a track and after a lot of mud and puddles (Carl even managed to go through a particularly deep puddle with his window open!) our 3 cars all looked an identical mud grey!
At the entrance Andy swiftly rigged and descended the 100ft pitch followed by Jess, Carl and myself. As I reached the bottom of the shaft I found I was struggling to catch my breath and Andy called me over to check if my lighter would light as his would not. Neither of our lighters would hold a flame so we swiftly decided to exit and leave the cavern for another day. With the lack of air the 100ft ascent felt somewhat arduous and I for one was quite glad to be out in the fresh air. Carl found out the hard way of the joys of getting one of your ‘Jewels ‘ trapped in an harness strap and would go on to complain of his bruising the rest of the day ;)
Upon exit we found Wal informing another group of the situation and they also decided a different trip would be in order. We found out from them that a large group had been in the day before which may account for the bad air in the bottom of the chamber.

Andy about to descend in to Water Icicle Close Cavern

Knotlow Cavern:
Next up was Knotlow, after a little more mud splashed all over the cars we were soon heading for the climbing shaft entrance where again Andy rigged the first couple of pitches and Jess, Carl, myself & Wal Followed. At the base of the second pitch Carl posed for the fallen caver picture with the bolted boulder on the floor and then we were off for Waterfall chamber. I took over the rigging and Andy instructed to me to do the Y-hang off the closer 2 p-bolts. Knowing no better I did what I was told and sailed down the line straight into the spray from the impressive waterfall. After a quick poke around the coffin passages we headed back up and out with Wal ensuring Andy getting a good soaking on the prussik back up.

Jess in Waterfall Chamber

Hillocks Mine:
Finally the most awkward of the 3 trips, and my personal favourite. The Hillocks entrance is a concrete tube which soon opens out to walking and stooping passage which again degrades to crawling and finally flat out wet crawling passage to the head of the first pitch in a coffin passage. After rigging this I dropped down the shaft to a smaller hole before (after a little jiggling around with the SRT kit) popping out in a low passage. After this there was an awkward climb before heading down the 2nd pitch and through for a quick look at the Climbing and Engine shafts in Whalf before heading back out.
De-rigging as I went Andy called out to let me know to pull up the rope bag as I went, as the angles of the pitch would make it impossible to pull it up after. Andy then went on to tell Carl of the time he did this and then knocked the bag back down the pitch and had to do the entire pitch again to retrieve the bag……..just as……yep you guessed it…….I had pulled the kit bag up, got to the head of the pitch and decided to undo the rigging before pulling up the bag. After undoing the y-hang, enough slack was given for said tackle bag to fall back down the hole and wedge tight enough that the only thing I could do was re-rig and go and retrieve it! Doh 
Aside from Jess once again clambering all over me and giving me another set of bruises at the awkward climb out and another soaking in the flat out section, we exited without further issue and were soon back at the pub for a well-deserved drink before our drive home to wash the cars!

Carl, Andy & Jess at the bottom of the 1st pitch.

Present: Carl Knot, Steve ‘Wal’ Wallis, Andy Grimes, Jessica  Harding & Mark Burkey

Hillocks and Wharf Mines, Monyash, Derbyshire

The Team: AnGr, MeWa, HeSi, StWa & CaNo + Graham and Evan (NWCC)