Boxhead Pot

Today's objective was Boxhead Pot, with it's 70m main pitch. Not having done such a large pitch before (and not having honed SRT to perfection yet) I was unsure how hard I’d find climbing back up from the bottom. A good challenge is always fun, however, so three of us (Bartek, Jon and myself) set off after meeting up with several other club members for a good breakfast.

Bartek was up first, being the designated rigger, followed by Jon and myself. This was a great trip from start to finish: a lovely first pitch to a large floor covered in cobbles with the most impressive rock architecture (fluted columns in the rock - very beautiful). From there, the main pitch plunged down 70m, passing through a fair bit of spray en route. Add in a couple of rebelays and deviations on the first pitch, and it all made for a really enjoyable trip.

Landing at the bottom of the main shaft, I recall thinking what fun dangling over 70m of void had been, until Jon reminded me of the stiff climb up and out! Bartek shot up the 70m in what must have been 7 or 8 minutes, Jon took slightly longer (maybe 15), however I think I took at least half an hour. A fast and efficient caver I will never be, but I can plod till I get there. After Bartek and Jon’s patience, it was my turn to be patient, as Bartek engaged in a spot of photography with Jon dangling from a rebelay on the first pitch. The end result was definitely worth it, though, and before long I was prussiking up the entrance (exit?) pitch and struggling up the narrow sewer pipe to daylight. Here Bartek choose to engage in some more photography, successfully capturing my struggle and incompetence for posterity. This was a fantastic trip, and I’m already looking forward to the club’s next Yorkshire weekend in August.

Cavers: Bartek, Dave & Johnny
Trip Report: Dave
Photos: Bartek

County Pot to Wretched Rabbit

3rd Trip for me, saw me venturing into a Yorkshire Cave for the County Pot to Wretched Rabbit trip. It makes me laugh because before I'd even entered the cave, I freaked out due to the entrance after the slate being a straight vertical drop, requiring me to use full body weight to lower myself into it.

Once I got in with Mark's help, it was fantastic, he had mentioned that it wasn't exactly a newbie trip, I don't mind it though, it's good for me to experience caving as it is and I would feel guilty if the trip wasn't fulfilling for everyone else involved.

New experiences - ladders and tight spaces, not too bothered by these, so wouldn't mind some more tries at these.

Not so good with crawling though, I wonder if there's anything I can buy to help with these, I have had problems with knees in the past. And then there's the drops.. the dreaded drops, few times I found myself on the edge, travelling over an edge, traversing only once or twice which i powered through. And then the end finale, a 1-2m2 square hole to pass over with only a small stalagmite for footing and meant having to lean over and into the drop to be able to secure hands.. most frightening moment of the trip.

Mark, Jess and Mel we're all so supportive and on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It's not going to defeat me, just making me more determined to up my fitness and confidence levels in any way I can, so I'm going to the gym and I'm going to take up rock/boulder climbing. I may still get scared, but if i can build external knowledge and confidence of how to deal with certain situations, it may help in the cave.

Cavers: Mark & Jess B, Mel B, Rebecca Guy
Trip Report & Photos: Rebecca Guy

Rowten Pot

Having never been caving in Yorkshire before, I was keen to get stuck into some of the classic trips. Bartek and Paulina were my guides for the day, and opted for Rowten Pot. The choice was an excellent one! After a quick lesson in setting up y-hangs, Bartek slithered over the edge of the pot, and shortly after shouted up to let me know that the rope was free. I dropped down to the second rebelay, relishing the void beneath my feet and the water spraying down the shaft. It was a good thing that the position was spectacular, since I managed to get hung up for about half an hour or so at this point. Not judging the length of the rope in the rebelay, realising I'd attached my ascending gear incorrectly, and getting in a tangle was an impressive number of mistakes, however with time - and more importantly Paulina’s advice - I eventually passed the rebelay and dropped down to Bartek.

From here on, I'm pleased to say, things went a lot more smoothly. There was an interesting abseil into a tight (ish) rift with another rebelay, a good swing across to the opposite wall as the cave bellowed out, and then another couple of pitches down to the bottom of the cave. Here we had a quick look at the sump, which is one of three. Apparently they are committing but relatively easy; nonetheless, they definitely weren't on the agenda for today. After poking around for a few minutes, we started the climb up out of Rowten. Fortunately the way out was trouble free, and before too long I picked my head over the top of the pot. This was an excellent trip, made even better by poking our heads into Yordas and Valley Entrance.

Cavers: Bartek & Paulina, Dave
Trip Report: Dave
Photos: Bartek

Mostly Mudlust

The Dudley were back at OFD, with their sights set on the Northern Lights (the subterranean version). Through the entrance series we went, into Gnome Passage where we picked up the start of Edward's Shortcut. Here Jonny went first, slithering down the polished climb with ease and aplomb, before I followed somewhat less gracefully. We made quick progress over the traversy bit before taking a detour into Frozen River, which has some very impressive formations, including a copper pillar - very beautiful.

Having ooed and ahhed sufficiently, we made quick progress towards Cross Rift where we took Midnight Passage and followed it up to the Skyhook. Being new to this part of the cave (and having forgotten a copy of the survey), I guessed most of the key navigational decisions, and got them consistently wrong. I was consistently put right by Loz, however, and before long we had found the wet grovel followed by a vertical climb up through a boulder choke which leads to the start of Lavender Way.

Having squeezed and crawled through this, we arrived at the tight squeeze through into the Vault. This was a bit of a struggle, as it was stepped upwards and had to be entered on one's side. Getting my hips over the steps necessitated pushing my torso up vertically; of course the passage got thinner the higher it got, making this somewhat of a challenge. Nonetheless, after 5 minutes or so, it was challenge met and I was through. Jonny was next; he too found the same problem as me and decided he wouldn’t defeat the squeeze. No bother: he and Loz went to find the bypass while Anne and I pushed on.

The next obstacle was the chimney climb with handline. I had heard this was awkward, and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was simply a case of easy (but thrutchy) chimneying, with a good sideways push off the wall to force my body weight over the top of the climb. We waited for a few minutes in Mudlust Hall for Loz and Jonny to catch us up, however we quickly began to feel cold and pushed on, figuring that they would catch us up sooner or later.

The second section of Mudlust Hall has the most impressive moonmilk tide mark; this was definitely the highlight of the trip for me! Next we followed a crawl at the end of the chamber over some amusing slippy mud, to arrive at a sump. Back we tracked, and found the wet crawl that's the way on into the rest of Northern Lights. However, not wanting to get too far ahead, we went back to Mudlust Hall to see if Loz and Jonny had arrived.

We found Loz, who said that Jonny was waiting for us back at the squeeze. They had found the bypass, but after some deft climbing had decided not to push on. I thought this wise: looking at the traverse from above the squeeze, it involved a big stretch over a big hole with a big drop but without big footholds! Not a great combination.

Having all met back up, it was time to reverse our route, but this time at the Cross Rift we went out via Shatter Pillar and navigated the standard “tourist route” to the entrance. Having learnt this route recently with Caver Keith ( aka the Wily Cave Wizard), I'm pleased to report that Anne and I were able to follow it without error, and we all emerged after several hours underground.

Overall, this was a great trip, and some of the best bits of Northern Lights still remain to be explored on a future trip!

Cavers: Loz, Jonny, Anne & Dave
Trip Report: Dave
Photos: Jonny

Peak Cavern Novice Trip

For February's Dudley Caving Club trip, our destination was set to be Peak Cavern. With regular check-ins on the weather and water levels, it wasn't always a given, but we got the green light Friday evening and assembled at the TSG at 9am Saturday.

There were four of us on the team today, Becky, Myself, Mike, and Mark Burkey - Super we might get some snazzy photos! 😃 This was Becky's second outing with the DCC, so the plan was to take it steady through Peak Cavern and see as many of the beautiful phreatic tubes as we could. Snapping some photos along the way.

After kitting up at the TSG, we took the short walk up to the Peak Cavern entrance - and what an entrance. Britain's biggest according to the survey chart! We'd managed to beat a gaggle of Uni Student cavers bound for the same cave and steadily made our way through the show cave entrance. The trip started on a high, with the theme-park-style slide down to a lower level of the cave. After a short walk following the streamway, the roof starts to lower and the trip officially becomes my wettest cave trip yet. We wade through waist-deep water (Mucky Duck Choke), as Mark explains this area had been dug out by past cavers to extend the passage. At the same time, divers were looking at other routes to continue the cave. Once we get through this watery walk, we arrive at Surprise View. Apparently, this is where both the divers and cave diggers breakthrough into the same "new" section on the same day.

If my memory recalls, the cave passage opens up a little more, into a mixture of winding paths, keyhole tunnels, and of course the awesome phreatic tubes. There were a few key areas Mark wanted to photograph, so we stopped and got a few shots. Not the first time I've been photographed in a cave, yet I still don't know what I'm meant to do with my face - 🥴. After trying my best to look "normal", photos are taken in this section, and we continue on through the passages.

Throughout the journey, Mark points out various offshoots, and potential sump dives. As a budding cave diver, I'm loving the insight into all these potential dive locations. Even more so, given how crystal clear the water is! We made our way down a ladder into a really cool whirlpool room. The water flowed in and around the beautifully cylindrical room and then exhausted the other side. It's surprising how forceful the water gets when it's funneled into such a small opening.

We took the phreatic tubes all the way along Lake Passage to Ink Sump. Once again, we were met with crystal waters and I felt an overwhelming urge to go diving. Although I'm sure I'd feel a little more exhausted if I'd had to carry all my dive gear in this far. We opted to take the dry muddy section to Ink Sump, versus the head-under-water shortcut, probably wise as some of the party were starting to get colder.

As we made our way back through the tunnels, we stopped again for a photo at a small junction. Thankfully I was instructed to look away from the camera (should I be offended?) and Mike had his modelling turn.

I've probably forgotten some details in this section, but eventually, we made it back to the ladder, and it was Becky's turn to model. Proving that the back of my head is more appealing than the front, I once again gave the background a sense of scale - desperately keen not to drop Mark's strobe in the flowing stream way.

After we all safely ascended the ladder, it was a case of retracing our steps up and out of the cave system. One final stop at the (weir?) to have a little scrub and de-mud ourselves to walk back through the show cave. Heaven forbid the cave tourists find out there's mud inside the caves! 😱

After a mixture of delight, shock, and bewilderment on the tour group's faces, we made our way back to the TSG. Everyone was safe, happy, and somewhat warm!

Trip Report: Jon B
Photos: Mark B
Cavers: Mark, Mike, Rebecca & Jon

How Not to Get Lost in OFD 2

The ever-welcoming staff in Luigi’s were surprised to see Caver Keith back again on Monday 12th February - the very next day! He had spent Sunday 11th leading a series of exploits in OFD with a very proficient caving team. This time he was back with a couple of cavers who really do need some supervision. Dave and Anne had asked Keith to teach them the trade routes around OFD 2. They were keen to learn the first lesson of successful caving: make sure you have a decent breakfast.

The next lessons were much more complicated. After successfully locating Top Entrance, the pupils went exploring along the usual tourist trails, trying to remember which turn goes where and becoming thoroughly confused. They think they went through the Brickyard, into Gnome Passage, past the Wedding Cake, down the Corkscrew, along Salubrious to the Crossroads. They took a diversion down Maypole Inlet to see where the streamway connects for a possible future through trip. Back on the normal round trip, they went into Cross Rift and were dutifully shown the ways on into Moonlight and Midnight Chambers.

After going to Selenite Tunnel via Shatter Pillar and hopping over President’s Leap, the pupils were then left in charge of finding the way back out. After much head scratching, and one correction from the Master Caver we’re mostly pleased to report that all three made it successfully back to daylight.

The final lesson of the day was how to get the heavy metal door to shut – it turns out you need some brute force…

Cavers: Keith, Dave, Anne

OFD 2 to The Trident and Judge

Just inside the Labyrinth

The day started at Luigi’s cafe at 9:00 there was a big breakfast to fill me up for the cave ahead. After we finished up for breakfast we drove an hour to the caving club here is where we were greeted by Asha, our caving companion to help us for the trip ahead. We got changed and geared up. The hardest part was up climbing the hill -this would be easy if it was not for the massive warm fluffy suit I was wearing. As we unlocked the door to the cave, light filled the dark gloomy passage as moths flew from out of it.

We entered the passage with our head torches on, as we walked further into the cave system we spotted the Wedding Cake, this is a beautiful rock formation, the sight of the cake gleamed at me in my torch light and made me hungry! The pot hole was up next, we got helped down this hole to what looked like a 30 metre drop down next to it. This was not a trip for the faint-hearted as we traversed, crawled and climbed, but it was all worth it to see The Judge. My torch light brought out colours I had never seen before. This was not some dirty old rock, this was beautiful. Pinks, purples and reds had been illuminated by my light.  Next was The Trident, this was a huge stalactite with lots of pointy ends. Here is where we had are half way break.  

The way out must be the easiest, but in fact it was the hardest. After resting your body aches and you cannot be bothered to go on yet you still persevere, you go on and as soon as you see the exit your eyes light up brighter than any torch glad of the fact of you didn’t get lost as the sun light filled my face my heart began to play a tune of resting and tiredness.

PS. This was so much fun. Please can you take me again. Finn your favourite grandson.

The Trident

The Judge

A crystal pool in Salubrious Streamway

Traversing in Salubrious

Traversing in Salubrious

Glad to be out

Let me out!

The Team