Badger Pot, 22 July 2022

Team: Petie, Becks

Time: 6 hours

Aim: Survey the crawls heading off from the bottom of the pitches

On the last trip to Badger, when we’d made the connection to Fenagh, we left one big task outstanding - exploring and surveying the low craw that is found at the bottom of the main chamber. The weather was perfect for this - after a long dry spell there was only a very slight dribble of water making it’s way down through the cave meaning we stayed dry pretty much all the way to the end of the ropes. Our progress down through the cave was steady - though due to a slight mis-communication Becks ended up approaching the first pitch head-first. As she was dragging a tacklesack behind her, reversing was pretty much impossible so she had to crawl out and vertically down to get on to the ledge. I was hanging on the rope just below, ready to stop her plummeting to an early death. While Becks was questioning her life and hobbies I coaxed her down by seranading her with Cindi Lauper’s ‘Time after Time’ (If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting). And catch her I did.

Further down at the main pitch I took out the drill and did a bit of additional rigging, putting in an additional screw to create a Y-hang for the main drop, and placing a bolt to put in a proper deviation.

Once at the bottom we got surveying into the crawl. This had originally been pushed by the ICC back in 1974 to a mud and boulder choke. Since then only person here was Steve Muh, who had had a brief solo trip to the end when we bottomed Fenagh cave in 2020.

The crawl starts off by going through a series of shallow static pools. With a bit of effort you can keep your torso out of the water, but legs and arms got soaked. After about 15m a T-junction was met, with the left-hand passage heading back towards the main chamber and blocking after about 3m. To the right the crawl was over mud and gravel, relatively comfortable, and briefly opened up to a standing section. Just beyond this the crawl doubled back on itself, and reached a low bedding squeeze. This is where the ICC survey ended at the mud and boulder choke. Now it was somewhat open. I cleared a few armfuls of gravel and tried to squeeze forwards but my helmet jammed. With a bit of effort I retreated. Beyond the squeeze was a low pool of water and another squeeze which looked like a job for another day. The most enticing thing though was the draft, which was quite strong, enough to chill you. A slim wetsuited caver with a hammer and chisel might get through here. The passage is heading south, into the valley, and potentially could go for a long way yet.

Covered in muck and slop, we headed out. I left all the screws in place - I counted eleven on the way out. Three for the first pitch, one at the top of the climb just after it (not necessary to rig), five for the main drop, and two for the short drop from the ledge onto the floor of the main chamber. 55m surveyed, and only 1m added to the depth of the cave, bringing us to 65m deep and 310m long.

-Petie

Below: The before and after photos.