Best Yorkshire Caving Photograph to date?

paul

paul

Moderator
oldcaver said:
I would like to put the record straight on this thread as I was a member of St Albans Caving club from 1972 until the mid- 1980s.  I was actually on the trip with Ian and other club members when this photograph was taken.  The other people I can remember who were also on this trip are:  Graham Mosley, Ray Bains, Clive Westlake, Malcolm Lloyd and Ian Davidson .
The caver on the ladder is not Nigella Ballard. I am still in contact with Neil and Nigella and they have confirmed that they were not club members at this time.
The trip took place in December 1972 when the club was staying at the Bolton Speleo Club Hut at Upper Winskill, just above Stainforth.  (Sadly this site no longer exists as it has become houses).  Early in the morning we had ladders set up in the barn just to get a bit more practice on ladder work before going into the cave later that morning.  There was some debate at the time the picture was published as to who was on the ladder, it came down to either Graham or Ray and the consensus of opinion was that it was Ray.
Paul is right about Clive firing a flash gun.  There were in fact five of us involved in taking the picture.  We were all operating flash guns for that one photo with 5 x PF5 flash bulbs going off at the same time.  Electronic flash guns were not powerful enough in those days. All lights were turned off and a shout of ?fire? came from Ian and we could see all the way up the shaft for a brief second. The climb down and up the ladder were very memorable, being such an impressive pitch, there wasn?t a feeling of loneliness at all. But I can say that I agree with mudman that caves I now visit in South Wales are ?laid on their side?, especially as cavers tend to slide down bits of string these days.
This was an outstanding trip and I have fond memories of caving with Ian on many occasions.
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Ah, thanks for helping to clarify the details. I can't remember where the info came from that it was Nigella on the ladder now - it was many years ago! It is still an excellent photo.

Clive still uses flash bulbs as well - I've had to hold hiw flash gun a few times.
 
blackshiver

blackshiver

Member
What an excellent post by "oldcaver" - as I said with the previous historical questions about Goat Inlet in Langstroth Pot - UK Caving is a great resource for people to learn from the people involved as to what actually happened "on the day"and "during exploration" from events long in the past that deserve recognition. I have had an original print of this hanging in my house for most of my life and your reply made my day. Thanks.
 
chunky

chunky

Well-known member
Inspirational shot. The skill involved to capture this at that time is breathtaking.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 
T

tamarmole

Active member
It beautifully encapsulates a pre SRT world of ladders and wetsuits  in much the same way as some of the Sid Perou films do; you can almost hear the jingle of the ladders as they are unravelled down the pitch.  Wonderfully evocative.
 
oldcaver

oldcaver

New member
Glad you enjoyed the Post ? Blackshiver?, it brought back some memories while I was writing it.
Nigella contacted me to clarify how she felt about using ladders.  She sometimes had slight concerns at the pitch head getting on and off.  However, as soon as she was on the ladder there was no problem, as the photograph of Nigella on the Centipede Pitch in The Lost Johns System demonstrates.
 

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Clive Westlake

New member
According to my logbook Ian took this photograph on 1st December 1973.Apart from Ian and me,the St.Albans cavers were Graham Mosely,Alan Gahagan,Malcolm Lloyd,Ray Baines and Jim Wynn.The caver on the ladder appears to be holding a flashgun and may be Graham Mosely:I wrote "Next Graham went up carrying Ian's electronic flash." The pitch was drier than usual because the weather was particularly cold and snowy and I wrote of the last pitch "The stream was smaller and the spray far less than last time.".
 
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