aricooperdavis
Moderator
Last weekend Exeter took a selection of cavers, new and old, to the SWCC to show them the delights of OFD. Usually we don't spoil our new members by showing them the spectacular pretties on offer until they've proven themselves worthy in good old Devon mud, but generosity overcame our trip sec and we got to do something clean for a change :bow:!
With the classic OFD1 round-trip enjoyed by all the previous day the group decided that a nice pootle around OFD2 to see some pretties was in order. We got up at the godforsaken hour of 07:30 so that we didn't get back too late, and were closing the cave door behind us by 10:30. Although the weather was blustery the sun was out, and we managed to drink half of our water before we'd even set eyes on the notice in the first chamber!
After turning left shortly after entering we found ourselves in The Big Chamber Near The Entrance. This was the first really big chamber that many of the group had seen (excluding Pi chamber in OFD1 the day before), but sadly photos couldn't really capture its magnificence; partly due to all the dust in the air, and partly because our measly 100 lumen Pixa 3's barely made a dent in the overwhelming darkness.
Leaving the Big Chamber Near The Entrance through a passage halfway along the right hand wall we came upon the short (but fairly deep) traverse that Reading had thrown a fresher down the previous day. This was passed without too much difficulty, and the passage on the right followed down for about 100m until it widened out into Gnome Chamber. Lots of nice pretties in here, with white stalactites and straws dripping from the roof and stalagmites on the floor resembling burned down yellowing candles.
We took the passage shortly on the left to meet the Wedding Cake, although we couldn't quite work out which formation that was supposed to be. Is it the huge sprawling stal on the floor that you walk right past, or the more delicate curtain topped by a couple of stals halfway up the opposite wall? We ploughed on regardless into chasm passage, and climbing steeply down the slippery passage on the left we dropped down the corkscrew to meet the Salubrious Streamway.
After pointing out the fine moon-milk floor which indicates where to leave the streamway on the way back up, we began following the water downstream towards the trident and judge. Playing water-is-lava kept us entertained, and the odd cry shortly followed by a splash echoed nicely down the streamway ahead of us.
It wasn't long before we saw the sandy passage leading off to the left that contains The Trident and Judge. I am always amazed by the length of the trident, and the length of time it must have taken to form, but yet again my poor camera operating abilities didn't do them justice. We had a quick drink, but didn't dwell for too long before splashing over past the Judge and on towards the Nave.
Clambering on we passed the sandy crawl on the left before the passage dropped down to meet Swamp Creek. We'd heard about some nice formations in here, and started wading our way up through the chilly water, but didn't have to go for long before we were met with one of the most spectacular curtains I'd ever seen. This glittering white curtainy mass fills the whole passage and fills a fossil meander below it with beautiful calcite flow. A quick photo was taken, then we carried on before bottling out when the water got to testicle depth, and turned around to have a look at The Nave.
A short climb up, and a little bit of passage later, I peered down a rift to the right and was taken aback when it dropped away 40ft to the stream below. This was The Nave, and after pointing out the bolts and introducing the concept of SRT we turned around for a further explore. After climbing back down to meet Swamp Creek we turned left down a little sandy crawl which soon dropped into a 2/3 meter deep rift. As we followed it down to the right it got deeper and deeper, and wetter and wetter until, squirming through a calcite squeeze, we found ourselves wading our way into Mud Junction. Here we had a little rest while we got our breath back having expelled it all in order to get through the calcited rift, and were lucky enough to spot a fine layer of fossils in the ceiling which we guessed were shells (bivalves?) and sponge (lithostrotion corals?).
We didn't really want to follow the rift back up, but not having brought a survey we didn't know how to navigate our way back through The Maze to the Salubrious Streamway, so, checking over our shoulders to ensure that we could retrace our steps if needs be, we followed our instincts and the polished bits, and turned right. This turned out to be a good move because, after another right and some other lucky route-finding guesswork, we popped back out in the Salubrious Stream. On the way, though, we saw some more spectacular formations, including a gorgeous curtain and perhaps the finest helictites that I've ever seen.
A short trudge later brought us back to The Trident and Judge, which we passed again towards The Nave. Just after the little sandy crawl on the right that had taken us down towards Mud Junction we turned right into another little sandy crawl that would take us back up towards the Helter Skelter and Chasm Passage. This is always a fun one to take novices through, and by the time I popped out into the chamber at the end, the little sandy crawl was billowing steam, groans, and expletives behind me.
But we didn't hang around for too long before climbing up into Chasm Passage where we met the other group who'd had an explore of their own, and together we left the cave into the lovely sunny afternoon; the trip had taken us about 2 and a half hours.
We had a fantastic weekend, so thanks to the SWCC for their hospitality, to the committee for all the time put into organising it, and to Andrew and Chris for getting us there
!
With the classic OFD1 round-trip enjoyed by all the previous day the group decided that a nice pootle around OFD2 to see some pretties was in order. We got up at the godforsaken hour of 07:30 so that we didn't get back too late, and were closing the cave door behind us by 10:30. Although the weather was blustery the sun was out, and we managed to drink half of our water before we'd even set eyes on the notice in the first chamber!
After turning left shortly after entering we found ourselves in The Big Chamber Near The Entrance. This was the first really big chamber that many of the group had seen (excluding Pi chamber in OFD1 the day before), but sadly photos couldn't really capture its magnificence; partly due to all the dust in the air, and partly because our measly 100 lumen Pixa 3's barely made a dent in the overwhelming darkness.
Leaving the Big Chamber Near The Entrance through a passage halfway along the right hand wall we came upon the short (but fairly deep) traverse that Reading had thrown a fresher down the previous day. This was passed without too much difficulty, and the passage on the right followed down for about 100m until it widened out into Gnome Chamber. Lots of nice pretties in here, with white stalactites and straws dripping from the roof and stalagmites on the floor resembling burned down yellowing candles.
We took the passage shortly on the left to meet the Wedding Cake, although we couldn't quite work out which formation that was supposed to be. Is it the huge sprawling stal on the floor that you walk right past, or the more delicate curtain topped by a couple of stals halfway up the opposite wall? We ploughed on regardless into chasm passage, and climbing steeply down the slippery passage on the left we dropped down the corkscrew to meet the Salubrious Streamway.
After pointing out the fine moon-milk floor which indicates where to leave the streamway on the way back up, we began following the water downstream towards the trident and judge. Playing water-is-lava kept us entertained, and the odd cry shortly followed by a splash echoed nicely down the streamway ahead of us.
It wasn't long before we saw the sandy passage leading off to the left that contains The Trident and Judge. I am always amazed by the length of the trident, and the length of time it must have taken to form, but yet again my poor camera operating abilities didn't do them justice. We had a quick drink, but didn't dwell for too long before splashing over past the Judge and on towards the Nave.
Clambering on we passed the sandy crawl on the left before the passage dropped down to meet Swamp Creek. We'd heard about some nice formations in here, and started wading our way up through the chilly water, but didn't have to go for long before we were met with one of the most spectacular curtains I'd ever seen. This glittering white curtainy mass fills the whole passage and fills a fossil meander below it with beautiful calcite flow. A quick photo was taken, then we carried on before bottling out when the water got to testicle depth, and turned around to have a look at The Nave.
A short climb up, and a little bit of passage later, I peered down a rift to the right and was taken aback when it dropped away 40ft to the stream below. This was The Nave, and after pointing out the bolts and introducing the concept of SRT we turned around for a further explore. After climbing back down to meet Swamp Creek we turned left down a little sandy crawl which soon dropped into a 2/3 meter deep rift. As we followed it down to the right it got deeper and deeper, and wetter and wetter until, squirming through a calcite squeeze, we found ourselves wading our way into Mud Junction. Here we had a little rest while we got our breath back having expelled it all in order to get through the calcited rift, and were lucky enough to spot a fine layer of fossils in the ceiling which we guessed were shells (bivalves?) and sponge (lithostrotion corals?).
We didn't really want to follow the rift back up, but not having brought a survey we didn't know how to navigate our way back through The Maze to the Salubrious Streamway, so, checking over our shoulders to ensure that we could retrace our steps if needs be, we followed our instincts and the polished bits, and turned right. This turned out to be a good move because, after another right and some other lucky route-finding guesswork, we popped back out in the Salubrious Stream. On the way, though, we saw some more spectacular formations, including a gorgeous curtain and perhaps the finest helictites that I've ever seen.
A short trudge later brought us back to The Trident and Judge, which we passed again towards The Nave. Just after the little sandy crawl on the right that had taken us down towards Mud Junction we turned right into another little sandy crawl that would take us back up towards the Helter Skelter and Chasm Passage. This is always a fun one to take novices through, and by the time I popped out into the chamber at the end, the little sandy crawl was billowing steam, groans, and expletives behind me.
But we didn't hang around for too long before climbing up into Chasm Passage where we met the other group who'd had an explore of their own, and together we left the cave into the lovely sunny afternoon; the trip had taken us about 2 and a half hours.
We had a fantastic weekend, so thanks to the SWCC for their hospitality, to the committee for all the time put into organising it, and to Andrew and Chris for getting us there
!
