Simon Beck said:
... Had he read what was written ...
What I wrote:
Simon Wilson said:
Since my Descent article in 2015 in which I reported that we could not get through, the blockages have been removed and there have been quite a few trips. In particular there were a series of diving trips in summer 2016. I guess that the "rumours of capping" might refer to the clearance of the blockage in 2016.
The clearance of the blockage has to be applauded. The route through the boulders was opened up by digging and was bigger in the past. Because it is only there because it has been dug open it is perfectly ethical to make it bigger than it is at present. Anybody who wants to go and enlarge it would be doing the caving community a favour. If it is done it should be publicised.
I did not advocate capping. I maintain that 'in my opinion' (obviously) there is no ethical reason why an
entirely artificial and unstable route through a boulder choke should not be enlarged/improved.
I'll give Simon Beck the benefit of the doubt and say that perhaps I did not explain what I meant well enough. I will explain more fully.
In 2015 Oddmire Pot entrance was blocked by fallen boulders. As well as being an important entrance that was blocked I also knew that it had old rusty Spits that were in a dangerous state. I gained permission, dug out the entrance and installed resin anchors within the CNCC anchor scheme. I made a lid for the entrance which supported covering rocks and I asked people to replace them in order to keep the farmer happy. People left it uncovered - but hey.
Bob Riley and I then enjoyed several more trips and we had the intention of installing resin anchors on Nemesis Pitch. When we got to the Boireau Falls Chamber boulder choke we could not get through. It was around forty years since we had been there before and it was nothing like either of us could remember it. We both agreed that it appeared to require some digging to get through but we weren't sure about where the route through was.
What we did was done at our expense and for the benefit of all cavers. I decided to publish what we had done and thought that somebody with more recent knowledge might assist in the project.
I now know that in the following months there was a flurry of activity which was not made public (to the best of my knowledge). Only in the last few days have I found out that in 2016 digging was carried out which reopened the boulder choke. This was the clearance of the blockage that had stopped us and that blockage had occurred by movement of the unstable boulder choke sometime between the last publicly recorded visit in 2008 (https://ulsa.org.uk/rants/rant.php?rant_id=605) and our visit in 2015.
It was the clearance of this blockage that I applauded.
I definitely do not applaud that whoever cleared the blockage did so without reporting it publicly.
Caving is a collaborative effort in which we progress by people making steps forwards and sharing information. Sharing such as Andrew Wilson and Rob Watson (thanks again). Obviously this is only my opinion and some people choose not to share information. You are only able to go down Langcliffe Pot because people have explored it and published what they have done over a period of eighty two years. You are only able to go beyond Boireau Falls Chamber because a route through the boulders was created by digging in 1970 then the route made bigger and easier before becoming more difficult again and the knowledge of it freely given for the benefit of others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langcliffe_Pot
Some friendly communication with your fellow cavers might be better than getting your knickers in a twist about imaginary capping.