Uaimh na Spideoige update (Oct 2021- Feb 2022)

Following the initial breakthrough descent trip (19 September 2021) Spideoige was descended to an estimated depth of 45m in October to December 2021. This was a more prolonged descent than hoped for as incipient instability around the entrance developed into significant rockfall which threatened anyone descending the cave. Additional scaffolding was installed, the ginging was improved, and descending recommenced. Three pitches through the entrance lead to a scree slope to the head of the fourth pitch, which was heavily gardened though it still presents a hazard. The fourth pitch (c. 10m) drops to a shallower slope and a large boulder pile, which runs back under the entrance, before the cave sidesteps through an awkward (albeit enlarged) window to the fifth pitch in a cross-rift. Here the chert bands end and the fifth pitch is a fine 19m descent past a bridge. This ended in a clean limestone floor, where the stream sinks into a small 1.5m deep, boulder-floored, pot. Beyond this, and back on the major axis of the cave, the rift continued downwards, but significantly smaller. A decent draft can be felt, though it blows both in and out at times (depending on the weather?).

Aileen and Steve Muh were the first to tackle the constriction, with caps, but left only slightly scarred rock.

Crystal Messing

The rock bounding the rift is shot through with veins of calcite, making rock breaking tedious. Three further digging trips (Aileen & Al 08/01/22; Aileen & Al 23/01/22; Les & Al 03/02/22) using plug and feathers have excavated an estimated 400-450kg of rock, and the halfway point may have been reached...