EPC - Discovery of the Decade

danthecavingman

danthecavingman

Member
Afternoon,

Reading the latest updates on the Eldon digs in Cussey Pot, mention is made of digging a passage towards the 'Discovery of the Decade'.
Has something new been found in Stoney / Eyam that I'm not up to speed with?

Cheers,

Dan.
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
Unfortunately it's not our news to release, however i can confirm there will be a sneak preview in the next Descent issue...
 
Brains

Brains

Well-known member
Would this be the Stoney Mastercave as discovered by the divers and reported in Descent?
Is there a dry entrance yet?
 
2xw

2xw

Active member
The white rake dig probably plops you in an airbell if you're bubble club inclined.

Personally I can't wait for the Hungerhill - Rock Cottage through trip :p
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
2xw said:
... Personally I can't wait for the Hungerhill - Rock Cottage through trip :p
Click to expand...
Na, only ~300m of gap missing between Hungerhill and Doom. Much more enticing is Waterfall Hole.... 
 
Cantclimbtom

Cantclimbtom

Well-known member
I'm intrigued but patient, if the news is that big I'm sure it will be announced when ready. I was wondering if it was related to something  in the background of a photo in the previous Descent, but we shall see..?
 
Brains

Brains

Well-known member
Apparently so after a an additional 75m, then 250m of dry to a 27m sump into the master cave with extensive walking passage up and downstream...
 
2xw

2xw

Active member
It's clear to me that the master system is simply the downstream continuation of the dig in layby shelter, and we were only ever meters from glory.
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
2xw said:
It's clear to me that the master system is simply the downstream continuation of the dig in layby shelter, and we were only ever meters from glory.
Click to expand...
Just a shame you were digging upstream then...
 
martinb

martinb

Member
Rob said:
2xw said:
It's clear to me that the master system is simply the downstream continuation of the dig in layby shelter, and we were only ever meters from glory.
Click to expand...
Just a shame you were digging upstream then...
Click to expand...

:LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

So John Beck was right, there IS a Stoney Middleton Master cave - so Rob, are you going to call it 'Discovery of the Decade, John Beck was always correct'?  :confused:
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
Just to reiterate, this discovery was not by me or the Eldon. All congratulations go to the divers, primarily Rob Middleton  :clap:  :clap:  :clap:
 
A

Andy Farrant

Active member
Perhaps it should be called the 'Beck streamway' or the 'Stoney Middleton Beck', after all, Beck is another name for a stream.
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
That's a nice idea, but I'd guess that John would not want his name to this bit of cave, even if done subtly. Whilst he did dedicate his life to understanding the caves and hydrology of the Stoney Middleton catchment and importantly did an incredible job of documenting all manner of details along the way (some of which was helpful for this project in question), he probably was not the first person to presume that the passages of Carlswark continued further upstream beyond the known sumps and blockages.
 
Badlad

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
I remember listening to stories in the Miners Arms from Mark Noble, John Beck and co. about the 'boil up' and back end of this system but never really understood how things fitted together (all faded memories now).  Looking forward to hearing more about it now and congratulations to those involved - whatever it is.  :clap:
 
J

jasonbirder

Member
As someone who has spent far too much time in horrible muddy Stony Middleton caves and twisted my friends arms so many times to do Waterfall/Hungerhill trips...i'm looking forward to hearing more...

Though I do wonder why in the 21st Century a PAPER magazine (didn't even know they still existed tbh) gets to embargo what is essentially news and should be freely shared?
 
F

Fulk

Well-known member
Congratulations to all involed in this discovery.

Well, I don?t know what this ?embargo? is about, but I think that PAPER papers, magazines and books are great. You can pick ?em up and put ?em down at will, they don?t depend on external (or internal) sources of power . . . and in the event of a big storm that takes out your electricity, you can dig out your caving helmet/lamp and have a good read.
 
danthecavingman

danthecavingman

Member
As for naming the new streamway, surely "The Middleton Master Cave" or "Middleton's Master Cave" as an ambiguous reference to both the discoverer and the catchment?
 
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