Hunting for gold on the Black Mountain

With fine weather forecast we decided to make the most of it and plan a walk to a couple of remote caves on the Black Mountain. We parked up at the track to Llyn Y Fan Fach packed our caving gear and cameras into back-packs and headed off on our journey in our walking clothes. Within 100m of setting off we had a small stream to cross and Mark hopping across the stepping stones, misplaced his footing and ended up falling into the stream. With the prospect of spending the day in wet gear we returned to the van for Mark to change his wardrobe. Re-kitted we then joined the tourists in the walk up towards the picturesque lake. Once at the lake we then traversed around on the contour to take us across to our target area, the limestone exposure of Carreg Yr Ogof.

Ogof Carreg Yr Ogof

After a couple of hours of enjoyable walking we arrived at our first target - Ogof Carreg Yr Ogof, the cave lending its name to this section of hill. We changed and dropped down the entrance located beside an old lime kiln. The lush green entrance gave way to a bouldery passage that sloped down to a constriction that then opened out to reveal the Main Chamber. This chamber was finely decorated, no doubt assisted by minerals leaching out of the old lime kiln above. We then made our way through a tight crawl that ran alongside a boulder collapse to enter the final chamber, at the bottom of which is a fine lake. Mark returned for his camera and a couple of photos of this clear blue-green lake was photographed before heading back to photograph the Main Chamber. After an hour or so of photos we emerged to glorious sunshine and made our way to our second target - Ogof Y Garimpeiros.

Mark in Ogof Carreg Yr Ogof

Mark in Ogof Carreg Yr Ogof

Brendan chills out in the final chamber

Ogof Y Garimpeiros

We arrived to find some evidence of collapse at the entrance, and the wheelie bin lid (used to cover the entrance) some way down in the entrance hole. Half an hour of pulling out loose rock and tidying up the top of the entrance shaft followed before we felt confident to tackle the entrance. Mark entered first and after passing a committing squeeze declared that the entrance was totally collapsed and would take considerable digging to pass. Brendan was then persuaded to go down for a second opinion, which turned out to be wise at the way into the cave had been behind Mark's head and so we entered the start of this large passage. The cave has a distinct character and may not be to everyone's taste! The passage although large is over and through boulders for its entire length. There appears to be not a lot holding the boulders together and it is a little bit of a test of nerves. Route finding is easy and we were soon at the end of the cave, some 50m or so beyond the end shown on the survey. We then made our way back taking a couple of photos as we went, watching the time so we had enough daylight to see us off the mountain. On our way out we had become somewhat accustomed to the shaky nature of the cave, it felt very much less oppressive than on the way in.

Mark in Ogof Garimpeiros

Brendan in Ogof Garimpeiros

Mark in Ogof Garimpeiros

Brendan in Ogof Garimpeiros

Emerging from the cave, things looked a little darker than we expected, the sun was only just above the horizon. It was at this point that Brendan realised that he had not changed his watch to BST and it was clear that it would be dark before we were down off the mountain. We headed back on a more direct route making the final descent to the carpark in darkness with our way lit up bay caving lamps.

A long, tiring but enjoyable day on the mountain.

Present: Mark Burkey and Brendan Marris

Hidden Earth 2015 - Churchill, Mendips

Hidden Earth - the UK's National Caving Conference runs on the weekend of 25-27th September 2015.

This year's poster features Lucy and Mike in a photo from a Dudley Caving Club trip to Illusion Pot in Kingsdale Yorkshire.

There will be a strong contingent from the club attending. Link to Hidden Earth website for details

Peak Cavern.......A Dudley CC Trip In To The Devil's Arse

Those that hadn't stayed at the TSG met up with the others Sunday Morning.

After bacon sandwiches all round washed down with a couple of cups of tea we headed up the hill to the impressive Peak Cavern entrance.

We arrived just as the show cave was being opened and made our way in. 

There were the usual squeals as we made our way through the chilly Mucky Ducks and then along Upper Gallery. 

At the climb up to Pickerings Passage Keith began filming the gang as they navigated the crawls, squeezes and contortions on their journey to the sobering but beautiful Moss Chamber.

After making our way back to Upper Gallery we headed down Surprise View for a look at Buxton Water Sump.

Keith and Ian accompanied Mike and Loz as far as Squaw's Junction, then Mike and Loz continued on to take a look at Lake sump. 

Meanwhile Jess, Lucy and myself had a play with the camera at Surprise View. 

Re-grouped we made our way out, giving each other the customary scrub down as we exited. 

Back at the TSG it was time for tea and the biggest slice of chocolate cake you've ever seen compliments of Mr Edwards.

Peak Main Stream Way

Peak Main Stream Way

Surprise View

The Video

Present: Lucy Collins, Mike Bonner, Loz Appleby, Ian Millward, Keith Edwards, Mark Burkey & Jess Burkey

Like a streak of lightning through Middleton Dale

With only occasional visits to Derbyshire, we had got into a habit of visiting just a select few classic sites, and so we picked out Streaks Pot from the guidebook - something a little different to have a try out. After breakfast in Morrisons we sent Jess off on her bike and then headed to Stoney Middleton following instructions for Mark's Sat Nav, that must have been in 'Taxi Driver' mode as it took us on a tour of the Peak District. We finally arrived in Stoney Middleton and then took the GPS and had a walk to locate both entrances. This duly completed we kitted up and headed to the Top Entrance. A short crawl led to a fine 11 metre pitch that we laddered , and then down we went led by Mike down through rifts and shafts to meet a squeeze at the bottom, that features as the cover photograph for the Derbyshire guidebook. I took two attempts to get through and then we crawled to meet the trickle of water that made stream at this point. Mark then led the way to the upstream passages calling us all through as he had scouted some fine locations for photos. We explored up to Lu-blu sump and then took a handful of photos on our way back to the junction at the bottom of the entrance series.

Lucy upstream in Streaks Pot

Lucy upstream in Streaks Pot

Mike upstream in Streaks Pot

From here there could only be one way on it was an awkward squeeze up between blocks, followed by more awkward squeezes as we worked our way by trial and error through Nervous Breakdown to meet the stream proper on the other side. This was followed until we paused at a inlet where the water increased and progress was decidedly aqueous. With more rain forecast we wanted to be sure we were on route before heading any further downstream. We identified our location as Donkey Dong Inlet (the Donkey Dongs hanging from the roof). We then headed with a little trepidation towards the Mousehole, which we thought from the name was going to be the deal breaker of the trip, but we must have passed it without realising. Spirits raised now as we knew we would not have to retrace our steps, and we headed to Route 66. Here we made a navigational error and headed through a tight awkward squeeze into a boulder choke with no way on. We backtracked to a junction and then found the right route. Following the draught up a tube to the lower entrance we encountered the tightest squeeze of the day as we broke through into the bottom of the short entrance shaft. In summary - a fine through trip with plenty of squeezes, crawls, mud, water and tight bits - whats not to like?

Present: Mark Burkey, Lucy Collins, Mike Bonner and Brendan Marris

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

A long walk to Carreg Lem

We decided to make the most of the fine weather on Sunday to take a walk and have a look at Ogof Carreg Lem. The cave is located a few hundred metres north of Sinc Y Giedd which makes this quite a walk in from the carpark at Dan Yr Ogof. We set off on the 4km walk taking a scenic route to pick up a few cave features as we headed up the mountain and then round to the large shakehole the cave in located in. The entrance was uncovered and we made our way one by one down through the massive boulders of the entrance choke. The cave was remarkably dry with only a small trickle of water passing through the choke. The long flat ceiling of the large entrance chamber was covered with thousands of water droplets giving the effect of a starry sky above you. We first explored the two branches of the left hand series, but found that Mark was the only one who could post his legs around a very tight corner in one of the passages. We waited for him to report back that this ended at a crawl under a massive boulder propped up by sand. We then took a few photos in the entrance chamber before heading off down the main right hand series. This was followed past some extensive digs to find a flat out crawl Mark and Jess both tried to get through, but was going to need a little digging to get us through, so was left for another day.

Jess in the Entrance Chamber - Ogof Carreg Lem (Photo - Brendan Marris)

Jess in the Entrance Chamber - Ogof Carreg Lem (Photo - Mark Burkey)

Jess in the Entrance Chamber - Ogof Carreg Lem (Photo - Brendan Marris)

Jess in the Entrance Chamber - Ogof Carreg Lem (Photo - Brendan Marris)

We headed back via a slightly different route taking a look at Sinc Y Giedd and Pwll Dwfn on the way.

Present: Mark Burkey, Jess Burkey and Brendan Marris

The Waterfall Series. A Heavenly Caving Trip In Ogof Draenen

Brendan had mentioned a couple of times that he fancied going back to visit the 'Waterfall Series' in Ogof Draenen. An area of the cave he hadn't visited for several years.
Tony and Rob had expressed an interest in the trip and Jess and I liked the sound of it so our team of five was formed.
Brendan arrived at ours trying that old chestnut of he'd forgotten his wellies, but I was having none of it and produced a spare pair for him ;)
 We met up at Luigi's for breakfast with Rob and Tony before heading off to Pwll Du where we kitted up in sunshine for a change.
The entrance series was drier than I've seen before on my previous visits and it made the crawl in almost pleasant.
We soon dropped through the rift and made our way down the 4m roped climb to Cairn Junction. Here we headed left, past Big Bang Pitch, and over the choked boulders in to walking passage with the occasional crawl.
 This turns in to a rift and deteriorates in size until becoming an awkward thrutch through to the foot of an overhanging roped climb next to an inlet.
I went up first trying not to look at the rusted mallion and then rigged our ladder to drop down for the others.
We continued on through the stream passage until reaching another dubious looking rope climb which I popped up whilst the ladder was retrieved from the first pitch.
With everyone up we were rewarded with some very delicate gypsum formations at the end of Outcast Passage. Carefully we made our way past following the passage to a climb up on the right were the going became mostly crawling.
 At one junction we squirrelled around at multilevel before continuing past a dig bucket and up through an awkward squeeze on an uphill slope to more of the same.
Eventually we entered a stooping rift and a couple of traverses before finally being able to stand upright again in Knees Up Mother Brown. We continued along this impressive flat roofed phreatic passage to its junction with Lost river passage and on to 6th Heaven where I could wait no longer and opened up the camera box to take in the beautiful aragonite formations.
Our exit was laid back due to Brendan wanting to take a couple of choice photographs and me wanting to photograph everything! We exited to a twilight sky with not a sign of hail, snow or gail force winds (for a change!) and finished the days adventures with a couple of drinks in the Lamb and Fox Inn.

Tony and Rob in 6th Heaven Chamber (Photo Mark Burkey)

Jess admires the aragonite formations (Photo Mark Burkey)

Jess in 'Knees Up Mother Brown' (Photo Brendan Marris)

Gypsum Flowers (Photo Mark Burkey)

Jess In Outcast Passage (Photo Mark Burkey)

Looking to the Big Bang Pitch (Photo Brendan Marris)

Present: Rob Campbell, Tony Ferran, Jess Burkey, Mark Burkey & Brendan Marris