Post date: Sep 30, 2012 8:48:26 PM

Cavers: Jock and Al

Trip time: 7 hours

A trip before Les' birthday to finish off the Deep Pot survey by adding Jock's link to the sink (Jock's Jolly?), and to attempt to push the bottom of the cave a little deeper.

Laden with about 1 km of rope for the rigging and expected breakthrough, bolting kit, lump hammer, chisel, large crowbar, 4 m of scaffold, and survey kit it took us 40 minutes to hike up the hill, in the rain. This included a short detour as we overshot the turn-off for Deep Pot a little.

Surveying was speedily commenced from the head of pitch 1, and soon we entered Jock's connection. From just before the pitchhead it is possible to climb up 2 m to a high-level rift, from which a 4 m climb down takes one to the head of the entrance chamber waterfall; it is also possible to traverse on a ledge around the top of the entrance chamber to below the pitchhead (exposed). At the top of the waterfall the stream enters from a tight tube, but above this a little climb leads to a tight squeeze (SRT kit off) downwards to a little chamber where the stream sinks in a small pot. From here a small passage leads to Fossil Hall, a large (relatively) rift chamber which some really fine fossils eroded out of the limestone on the north wall - shells, tube-worms both large and small. A geologist might find these interesting; certainly worth a photograph. From Fossil Hall a 7 m climb up the loosest chert in the cave (the sort one has to rummage around in to find a bit that's still attached) leads to another small passage to the entrance pot; the water enters from the north wall/roof just before the daylight shaft rather than the actual pot. Petie's added the centreline to the Survex file and Deep Pot is now 96 m, with a surveyed length of 350 m. We did get a little excited as the GPS gave us an altitude fix of 308 m, just what was needed to reach 100 m depth.

After surveying we re-entered by the main entrance, Jock grabbed the SRT kits while i rigged. I took the four bags, Jock the 2 long scaff bars and the crowbar, and nearly impaled himself at the bottom of the pitch. The first rope bag was emptied at pitch 2, and became a rope protector. Jock rigged the Window Series, while i took the scaff bars down; Jock had a near miss when the scaff dislodged a large rock which ricocheted down the tunnel where he was sheltering and over the next climb, missing his head by a few inches. At the bottom we passed through the Phantom Disconnect, dekitted of our SRT kits and took minimal kit into Jenga - tools, long scaff bars and tape. At the bottom of the 5 m pot we took a look at the entrance to the dodgy chamber. Actually it wasn't all that bad, although it looks horrible the roof actually seemed pretty solid on close inspection - over half of the chamber anyway; the other half is a detached slab which one can recline comfortably on top of! Avoiding the slab we took a look at the 8 m downwards lead. Not hugely impressive, and certainly not easy digging. A large sleeping troll at the top right awakened and amused us for most of our time there as we tried to heave it back into its original position and secure it with scaff bars. The clips of course had been left at the end of the Phantom Disconnect so the two scaff bars placed are not secure. The troll would be better broken up and removed completely. The lead here was plumbed at 3 m vertically, with at most another metre visible off at a slant at the bottom. Whether it goes it can't be said until one gets down among the boulders. We noted mud bands in the walls of the chamber, which probably accounts for the ceiling breakdown. There is a faint outwards draught from the hole.

Dig inspection completed we left in a hurry to get back to Les' birthday for food. I found another used flash bulb on a ledge at the base of the Phantom Aven. Jock managed the bags while i derigged and we headed off the moor in the dusk, taking two wrong turns on the laneway back to the quarry.

We didn't have time to make an inspection of the similar breakdown chamber at the end of Snakes-and-Ladders. From my original visit: this would need a bit of shoring or good brave-pants to push at the minute, but once over the offending sleeping troll there (passable at present but it's held up by nothing of substance), there is a 3 m (estimated) downwards hole in the breakdown which is person-sized without any digging. When digging starts in Deep Pot, i would be inclined to start shoring and digging at the end of Snakes-and-Ladders. It is going in the same direction as Jenga, is already slightly deeper, and from the presence of the mud bank at the end of the left-hand branch i suspect the stream overflows from Jenga and enters Snakes-and-Ladders. The passage is already large enough, and once shored may present an easier route downwards to Steve's 60 m pitch..

Al

PS - i found a different rigging point for the start of the traverse through the window to the window series - a large flake (i think, neither of us could budge it) in the streamway near the original boulder rigging point. Only unidirectional so the traverse out to the 3rd pitch on the Waterfall Series will still need to be rigged from the boulder, which i didn't think was best supported, although if it shifts it'll only trap the rigging (probably).