Makita drill - Hanging death don?t show no mercy

AR

Well-known member
SamT, Pwhole, and AR 28.04.16

Following on from the Bradwell symposium, I?d got out and about to take another look at various mines on surface with an eye to finding ways underground. One particular site proved to be a winner when I found a hole lurking at the back of an opencut; I didn?t have a torch but there was definitely a shaft going down and a snap taken on my phone looked promising. On emailing this to SamT and Pwhole, it turned out Sam had discussed this very site with T-Pot at the symposium ? he?d been in with Ben Bentham and Tony Revell about 25 years ago and they?d found natural passage in the depths of the mine but he did describe it as dangerously loose with deads on old stemples everywhere.

A date for revisiting was fixed, and on an unseasonably bitter April evening, we met up with intent to drop the shaft. There was a certain amount of trepidation given that Sam had been sent the write-up of the site from an old Descent which concluded with the comment that the site was ?dangerously unstable? ? if a caver as fearless as the late Ben Bentham thought the place was dangerous what sort of death-trap were we proposing to throw ourselves into?

A short walk got us to the site and we began with a quick look around the surface features. A small possibly natural choked hole in the vein cheek of the opencut was peered into and marked as one for a future poke at, the remains of the engine shaft were also located, probably backfilled during sparring operations. With this done we turned our attention tom our access hole, probably once a climbing way into the mine, a scaff bar was set up as back belay and my trusty 65m rope brought forth for action. Sam offered to do the honours and got out his drill to fix some anchors. Did I mention it was a Makita, not unlike the prize one, and fits very neatly into a pelicase?

Whilst Sam was sorting out the pitch, it began to hail. Phil and I waited while it rattled off our helmets, then the hail turned to snow ? don?t you just love the springtime weather in the Peak? The call of ?rope free!? echoed up the shaft so Phil pushed himself through the awkward slot to get to the pitch head while I huddled in the back of the opencut to get whatever shelter I could from the falling snow which was now starting to settle. Phil called up the he was off the rope, so it was my turn; I clipped on, turned sideways and pushed myself through the slot and awkwardly perched on a tiny ledge while trying not to put weight on the stacked deads on the outbye side. Descending the shaft, I tried not to look at the stacked deads on either side, and having briefly looked up after passing the first rebelay I decided looking down was a better idea.

A second rebelay was necessary to avoid yet more rocks piled on ancient timber, then I landed on the remains of a level. I say the remains, because although there were clearly continuations both ways, there were large gaps where there had once been a floor. Phil had climbed down one of these into a stope looking for the continuation, but over the top of this hole the level was timbered. Sam and I took a look at this, and we didn?t like the look of it much, and I held my breath while Sam gingerly crawled forward under the timbers a short distance before retreating and reporting there was a total collapse dead ahead, but at about the right distance to be the choked engine shaft we?d seen at surface.

In the other direction, a large section of floor was missing except for some dubious-looking deads resting on more old timber in the middle; before this a short climb down looked to land on a lower level. I headed downwards while Sam traversed out, only to see that this level was blocked or ended about where we?d landed, and the timbers that held the deads up in the other direction were really horrible. However, the description we?d had was that a sketchy SRT route lead to another pitch so Sam roped himself up again and took his trusty Makita out into space.

Here, there was the first sign we were heading in the right direction in the form of an old spit in the wall. Sam reckoned it was sound, Phil and I were willing to give it a go on the grounds that the deads above the pitch were far more of a threat so one hanger went into that wall, an anchor was quickly drilled in on the other side and another y-hang set up. At this point I thought it relevant to mention that I couldn?t remember if I?d put a knot in the end when I?d coiled the rope in the bag and it might be worth having a quick look? Fortunately, there was a knot so Sam began the careful descent into the deeper levels, before putting in yet another rebelay to avoid more hanging death.

Sam shouted up that he?d found the way on, so Phil dropped the pitch then I followed, again looking with trepidation at t?owd man?s leavings all around us that were staying up more through force of habit than anything else. Shortly before the end of the rope, there was a step-off onto another false floor and a traverse across some holes, where another pitch could be seen going down. At this point, I regretted leaving my 30m rope on surface and when Phil started voicing reservations about getting back up the climb, I volunteered to stay at the pitch head in case someone needed to go back to surface and retrieve the other string.

As the sound of footsteps disappeared, I settled down and started studying an uncut portion of vein in detail. This was a very nice example of multi-phase mineralisation; initially the vein fracture had been infilled with layers of barytes and galena but subsequent movement had detached some fragments, then a further episode of mineralisation had deposited fluorite in the middle of the vein surrounding the detached fragments of barytes which appeared as triangular lenses in the cut face. Elsewhere, the fluorite seems to have gone down the cheek of the vein and crystallised out in vughs.

The occasional faint echoes of voices from below showed that Phil and Sam were still exploring and I?d not heard the dreaded sound of a collapse. Having spotted a possible continuation below when I got off the rope I decided to fill some more time by taking a look. My faithful old 65 didn?t reach to the bottom of the pitch but I could see a possible level below, as it was only a few metres down I went for reverse-prussiking rather than abseiling and doing a changeover at the knot. My instinct was right and there was another level below, possibly choked but worth another look if we were to return with a slightly longer rope, it also looked like there were possibilities to either side of the collapse cone at the bottom of the winze but that could wait for another day.

Eventually the sounds of climbing came up from below so I moved back from the pitch head and waited; Phil appeared and gave me the low-down on the lowest section of the mine. The miners had indeed hit natural passage, and quite a sizeable one at that. Sam was starting to climb up so given the general lack of space I got on the rope and headed back up. Going up seemed significantly more awkward than going down, there were loose packs everywhere and even with a rebelay some wedging and shuffling in the stoped vein was necessary to avoid them, and looking up at what was above the pitch head didn?t help!

I shouted down that the rope was free, and Phil started his ascent but then he called to Sam to get well clear; some of the deads had started moving, he was holding them back but couldn?t get them stable again and they were going to have to drop. I held my breath and watched the stacked nasties over the winze head as the clatter and rumble of falling rocks echoed through the mine but luck was with us (and Phil especially!) as they stayed still. After a tense few minutes, Phil appeared at the pitch head and I could breathe easy again, Sam headed up and started to derig so I clipped on and started the first pitch ascent.

It had been nerve-racking enough coming down, passing huge stacks of deads that looked to be staying up through force of habit alone, but on going back up and seeing them from beneath the only consolation was the thought I was on the way out. In particular, after passing the lower rebelay I could see that the towering stack next to the upper rebelay was apparently held up by three elderly toothpicks. Changing carefuly onto the final section, I headed towards the top y-hang then pondered how best to get out.

The problem here was getting off the Y-hang and through the slot; this involved balancing on a tiny ledge, shifting hand jammer and cowstails onto the rope leading out and unclipping my croll then trying to turn sideways and push myself through the entrance slot while feeding the hand jammer forwards, except it stopped at the rope protector so I had to bodily haul myself out and collapse onto the snow outside. Yes, the Peak District had turned into winter wonderland while we?d been underground, see the photo of the cars on Antwan?s trip report (http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=20349.0)  to get an idea of what we came out to that night!

I shouted ?rope free? and in due course, Phil appeared at the slot; I took his bag off him and stood by to offer a hand if needed as he fought his way out of the slot and flopped into the snow pretty much as I?d done. Sam was following on doing the derig and soon we were taking bags off him as he ratched out. Maillons were quickly stripped from the rope and chained together; unfortunately in the hurry to pack up they were left on the ground though I?m pleased to say they were there a week later. With the scaff bar retrieved, the rope bagged, and the wonderfully compact 18v Makita stowed back in its pelicase, we set off back to the cars through the snow. The temperature was below freezing and I found that the snow had frozen on to my car; I had to put some significant effort in with the scraper to clear the windows enough to be able to drive home.
Postscript ? Sam and Rob returned a week later with the DistoX to get a quick line survey done and as mentioned, the missing maillons were where they?d been left. They also took the time to carefully remove the Damoclean mess above the head of pitch two?..

 

Katie

Active member
Good write up! I have often walked the dog past this hole (in fact we did this morning) and wondered what was down there. Any good leads to go back to?
 

AR

Well-known member
Certainly full of potential, as is the next rake to the north - Sam, Phil and I have had discussions about finding a way into that one though I fully expect if we do get in it'll be another rickety death-trap...
 
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