Black Moss Passage, Meregill

[Samouse1]

Here I am once again, asking for yet more information about the finest cave in Chapel-le-Dale that has a lake in it.

I'm looking for stories/reports from anyone who has been to the absolute bitter end of this passage, which is the upstream of the Torrent (where the water from Black Shiver joins Meregill). I have been a little way up it, but it got quite low and miserable, and we decided to go resurvey something far more pleasant (We instead found the only muddy bit at the bottom of Meregill and wallowed around for a while).

There is a fair amount of passage beyond the initial wet section, including something marked on the old survey as "low". Given the good old Brook bros definition of low, I'd be very keen to have some more recent information before I go back to push it all the way to the sump, in order to resurvey it. The only story I've heard so far involves the sounds of a notorious diver trying to drown himself ahead...

So, anyone been to the sump?

 

[Pitlamp]

Isn't there an account of this in the ULSA Explorations Journal 1969?
If so that would probably be a good start.

 

[Sandy]

Here I am once again, asking for yet more information about the finest cave in Chapel-le-Dale that has a lake in it.

I'm looking for stories/reports from anyone who has been to the absolute bitter end of this passage, which is the upstream of the Torrent (where the water from Black Shiver joins Meregill). I have been a little way up it, but it got quite low and miserable, and we decided to go resurvey something far more pleasant (We instead found the only muddy bit at the bottom of Meregill and wallowed around for a while).

There is a fair amount of passage beyond the initial wet section, including something marked on the old survey as "low". Given the good old Brook bros definition of low, I'd be very keen to have some more recent information before I go back to push it all the way to the sump, in order to resurvey it. The only story I've heard so far involves the sounds of a notorious diver trying to drown himself ahead...

So, anyone been to the sump?

Sounds like you've spoken to Sam already then! I'd be surprised if anyone else had been up there at all recently, it's a bit off the beaten track

 

[Samouse1]

Mild resurrection of a thread, but could be useful information to some.

Yesterday evening, while the weather was glorious and sunny, I spent an hour or two wallowing in Black Moss Passage. Apart from moving some cobbles out the way to make going that little bit more pleasant, it wasn't too horrendous! Crawling, mostly flat out but occasionally raising up a bit higher, I got to here.

Initially I thought I'd only made it to the old outlet (small dimple on left slightly lower down), and scrabbled about in the shingle to the right. Having to move back and forth to allow the built up water to flow away around me kept me warm, and eventually I managed to get into a bit with a slightly higher roof!

I kept crawling a little way, untill I could see it was getting too low ahead. So back to the junction I went. I clawed my way up towards the "low" section, moving cobbles to make a space I could squeeze into, where there was a pool. To the left I could see the "low" section.

Clearly the Brook brothers don't know how to spell "passable only to twigs" and wrote "low" instead. I think I could maybe stand a chance of forcing my way through if I stripped out of my wetsuit, but in a frigid puddle that wasn't happening!

I'll be back in on Friday to survey as far as I can get, but unfortunately I think that may be as far as my resurvey effort goes without some chemical persuasion. I know some divers had an interest in it, and I can safely say that dragging bottles there would be the biggest pain in the arse imaginable.

Interestingly the flow coming from the West torrent was about the same as the main BMP water, which carries the Black Shiver water. A rough estimate would put it at a similar flow to that going down the far end of the Mere...

An interesting place!

 

[georgenorth]

Sounds like a good spot for a dye trace!