CandnPearce
New member
Charterhouse cave, Dave Lossl, Christopher Pearce, Peter Hall, Mike Kushy
As I had finally turned 16 after over 3 years of caving I asked Pete if he wouldn?t minding leading me on a trip to the end. As he agreed we were soon struggling into a caving kit at 8am in the morning, once done we headed into the cave. This starts with a series of climbs and rifty squeezes which is very similar to Devils Elbow in GB except tighter in places and with better formations, soon we popped out in larger walking passage which we followed down past Splatter chamber to the start of Chill Out Choke. This was a series of descending climbs and short crawls with the occasional acrobatic manoeuvre to turn around thrown in, alike many boulder chokes except this one just goes on and on and certainly must have been a brutal digging effort. However it eventually ends in comfortable walking passage that was followed to the start of the narrows which I had heard could be a problem for the longer legged so asked Pete what was so bad about them? and was promptly handed the ladder. However they were easily passed and no worse then the ferret run in Thrupe lane swallet, they ended at Dragon pitch where we used the ladder and slightly ?feathered? krab that were already there. At the bottom the gradient changed, becoming much more like a welsh cave instead of something like Eastwater, we carried on past the blades and several fine flowstone curtains where more walking passage led to sand dig which had seedlings growing out of the sand. Soon after we reached the start of the siphon for portal pool where we paused for a short break, when we continued the extent of the siphon system became clear, definitely a complex and impressive system . Portal pool itself was a crawl with a wet ear dunking leading to a steep slope up to a horizontal crawl. Beyond the crawl soon became walking and the cave continued as a varied mixture of walking/stooping and crawling with the odd climb thrown in. Eventually we reached diesel duck which had plenty of airspace but deposition of sediment had created a sandbank resulting in a beached whale manoeuvre to pass. Next we stopped at quicksand chamber to check the groundwater which was far too high and further on the U tube was sumped to 3m deep. So it was back the way we came (with a few side trips), Pete did mention Skeleton passage but his description of as a nasty crawl did little to sell it. On the way back we passed diesel aven where after to listening to what was up there I gave it a miss and so did Mike as he had already been but Dave was up for it. A fact I?m sure he regretted later as the next 15min was spent listening to steadily more and more curses before he emerged knackered and both him and Pete plastered in mud. After a photo and thorough wash we entered rip passage via a gravel slope where Mike found a slightly worse for wear ladder which he decided to climb, as he then said the ladder was worse at the top me and Dave decided to head back a bit. Next we headed for chocolate chamber which was a unique experience traveling through virtually pristine cave passage with plentiful loose rock and delicate mud formations demanding care with every step. The chamber was a lake and a small foot ledge (reached by a climb down with flexible mud holds) gave a good view out while I contemplated that probably more people had been to space or the top of K2 then here. Then we headed through Rip passages which had unique ?mud cities?, sculpted by drip water into towers and canyons, a truly unique experience to go with so few had been before. Once through we gave Rhino passage a miss and headed downstream to the wash point and a quick look at the upstream sump feeding it. Afterwards an uneventful return was made to the other side of portal pool where Mike amused himself by attempting to start the siphon pump which Pete soon joined in, however as one end of the drain rod came off we picked up the 2 broken ones and headed out. The journey out was uneventful except for Pete giving us a quick tour of the citadel, then a return to sunlight after 8 hours underground. Overall a excellent trip and thanks again to Pete for taking me, it contains an astonishing variety of passages and formations. all photos are Pete's
As I had finally turned 16 after over 3 years of caving I asked Pete if he wouldn?t minding leading me on a trip to the end. As he agreed we were soon struggling into a caving kit at 8am in the morning, once done we headed into the cave. This starts with a series of climbs and rifty squeezes which is very similar to Devils Elbow in GB except tighter in places and with better formations, soon we popped out in larger walking passage which we followed down past Splatter chamber to the start of Chill Out Choke. This was a series of descending climbs and short crawls with the occasional acrobatic manoeuvre to turn around thrown in, alike many boulder chokes except this one just goes on and on and certainly must have been a brutal digging effort. However it eventually ends in comfortable walking passage that was followed to the start of the narrows which I had heard could be a problem for the longer legged so asked Pete what was so bad about them? and was promptly handed the ladder. However they were easily passed and no worse then the ferret run in Thrupe lane swallet, they ended at Dragon pitch where we used the ladder and slightly ?feathered? krab that were already there. At the bottom the gradient changed, becoming much more like a welsh cave instead of something like Eastwater, we carried on past the blades and several fine flowstone curtains where more walking passage led to sand dig which had seedlings growing out of the sand. Soon after we reached the start of the siphon for portal pool where we paused for a short break, when we continued the extent of the siphon system became clear, definitely a complex and impressive system . Portal pool itself was a crawl with a wet ear dunking leading to a steep slope up to a horizontal crawl. Beyond the crawl soon became walking and the cave continued as a varied mixture of walking/stooping and crawling with the odd climb thrown in. Eventually we reached diesel duck which had plenty of airspace but deposition of sediment had created a sandbank resulting in a beached whale manoeuvre to pass. Next we stopped at quicksand chamber to check the groundwater which was far too high and further on the U tube was sumped to 3m deep. So it was back the way we came (with a few side trips), Pete did mention Skeleton passage but his description of as a nasty crawl did little to sell it. On the way back we passed diesel aven where after to listening to what was up there I gave it a miss and so did Mike as he had already been but Dave was up for it. A fact I?m sure he regretted later as the next 15min was spent listening to steadily more and more curses before he emerged knackered and both him and Pete plastered in mud. After a photo and thorough wash we entered rip passage via a gravel slope where Mike found a slightly worse for wear ladder which he decided to climb, as he then said the ladder was worse at the top me and Dave decided to head back a bit. Next we headed for chocolate chamber which was a unique experience traveling through virtually pristine cave passage with plentiful loose rock and delicate mud formations demanding care with every step. The chamber was a lake and a small foot ledge (reached by a climb down with flexible mud holds) gave a good view out while I contemplated that probably more people had been to space or the top of K2 then here. Then we headed through Rip passages which had unique ?mud cities?, sculpted by drip water into towers and canyons, a truly unique experience to go with so few had been before. Once through we gave Rhino passage a miss and headed downstream to the wash point and a quick look at the upstream sump feeding it. Afterwards an uneventful return was made to the other side of portal pool where Mike amused himself by attempting to start the siphon pump which Pete soon joined in, however as one end of the drain rod came off we picked up the 2 broken ones and headed out. The journey out was uneventful except for Pete giving us a quick tour of the citadel, then a return to sunlight after 8 hours underground. Overall a excellent trip and thanks again to Pete for taking me, it contains an astonishing variety of passages and formations. all photos are Pete's
