Peter Burgess
New member
Ditzy asked for an EXACT height, and you only said 'about' 18 feet. Do you not know the exact height?
chamber of horrors in giants?
- Thread starter ditzy 24//7
- Start date
Mark
Well-known member
Did the connection in the 70s when they were trying to make Giants into a show cave, through trips weren't allowed but we went anyway, going through the last duck at the giants end with one eye and nose above water, bumped head first into a load of barbed wire, couldnt get through and had to reverse it
SamT
Moderator
I was wondering about the access issues - in the old COTPD guides - its always stated that through trips exiting Giants are not allowed.
However - Im pretty sure that this is just a hangover from when Tom was trying to turn Giants into a show cave and access from Oxlow was an issue.
However - things have changed, so is it worth re-assessing that particular issue. Are the current owners even aware of that arrangement.
Does anyone care. Its not like you get regular weekend trips doing it. More like twice a year in a good year.
Not that Im advocating the breaking of access agreements, just wonder if it still applies really.
However - Im pretty sure that this is just a hangover from when Tom was trying to turn Giants into a show cave and access from Oxlow was an issue.
However - things have changed, so is it worth re-assessing that particular issue. Are the current owners even aware of that arrangement.
Does anyone care. Its not like you get regular weekend trips doing it. More like twice a year in a good year.
Not that Im advocating the breaking of access agreements, just wonder if it still applies really.
Katie
Active member
I have always just assumed you weren't supposed to exit thru giants as then you do not pay the farmer two pounds! Although thats just a guess
I assumed as long you paid it wouldn't be a problem. It is not really one anyway cos it hardly done and when it is done it is mostly done not as a thru trip.
Almost everyone i know who has done COH has gone in giants, gone thru and then gone back out giants
I assumed as long you paid it wouldn't be a problem. It is not really one anyway cos it hardly done and when it is done it is mostly done not as a thru trip.
Almost everyone i know who has done COH has gone in giants, gone thru and then gone back out giants
jasonbirder
Member
jasonbirder said:
CORRECTION: 16 stone, 44 inch chest caver with no brains, no balls, one wife, one mistress, a huge ego and crap in bed! Everyone has concerns about my size - how's that for being totally self-deprecating!
Did the exchange one and a half times in the early 70's and pretty sure is was not called the COH then. I remember it as the 'Connection' I have no memory of access problems or barbed wire in the crawl.
First trip was a with a mixed BUSS/SWCC and Cave and Crag, ladders of course. I was on the Oxlow party and remember the trip as a fairly hard slog, only real problem was one of our party getting a eyeful of mud that had to be removed with a matchstick and flushed with spare water for the carbide. Passed the other party on the Oxlow side of the Connection.
Second trip about 3 months later was a bit more eventful. I led the Giants party and no trouble until the Connection. We had passed our other party on the Giants side.
I could not get through - on my back or front. Then I got seriously wedged, face down, and was on the very edge of a severe panic. Fortunately one of the SWCC lads, Hywel Ball, was small enough to get past me and shove me back with his feet. Don't to this day know why I could not get through from the Giants side and am still very grateful to Hywel.
I was certainly no bigger or less fit. I don't recall the approach from either side being different but I think there was more water or gravel (subconscious excuse?) Once free we went back out of Giants. Little epic coming out into Giants as someone had tipped carbide into the crawl and it went down the front of my wetsuit leg leaving burn scars I still have. Greatest joy was having to then de-tackle Oxlow in a snowstorm with just three of us - the other party had long since gone home.
Driving back to Brum we were stopped at 1am in Sutton by the police who looked in disbelief at the pile of muddy ropes and ladders in the boot and told us to piss-off. They never noticed the string through the quarter lights which worked the windscreen wipers.
Never written about this before but nearly 40 years later am somewhat amused that the trip still gives pause for thought with some of this generations cavers, who are of course 'much harder' than we ever were!
The experience did not give me a fear of tight stuff but instead a intense dislike of caving on my own.
Out of interest. Who did the first through trip?
Jopo
First trip was a with a mixed BUSS/SWCC and Cave and Crag, ladders of course. I was on the Oxlow party and remember the trip as a fairly hard slog, only real problem was one of our party getting a eyeful of mud that had to be removed with a matchstick and flushed with spare water for the carbide. Passed the other party on the Oxlow side of the Connection.
Second trip about 3 months later was a bit more eventful. I led the Giants party and no trouble until the Connection. We had passed our other party on the Giants side.
I could not get through - on my back or front. Then I got seriously wedged, face down, and was on the very edge of a severe panic. Fortunately one of the SWCC lads, Hywel Ball, was small enough to get past me and shove me back with his feet. Don't to this day know why I could not get through from the Giants side and am still very grateful to Hywel.
I was certainly no bigger or less fit. I don't recall the approach from either side being different but I think there was more water or gravel (subconscious excuse?) Once free we went back out of Giants. Little epic coming out into Giants as someone had tipped carbide into the crawl and it went down the front of my wetsuit leg leaving burn scars I still have. Greatest joy was having to then de-tackle Oxlow in a snowstorm with just three of us - the other party had long since gone home.
Driving back to Brum we were stopped at 1am in Sutton by the police who looked in disbelief at the pile of muddy ropes and ladders in the boot and told us to piss-off. They never noticed the string through the quarter lights which worked the windscreen wipers.
Never written about this before but nearly 40 years later am somewhat amused that the trip still gives pause for thought with some of this generations cavers, who are of course 'much harder' than we ever were!
The experience did not give me a fear of tight stuff but instead a intense dislike of caving on my own.
Out of interest. Who did the first through trip?
Jopo
Yep thats the way we used to do it Dickie. Even when Giants was closed we used to park for Oxlow run over the hill, remove the top breeze block to the right of the gate and gain access that way, do the connection and back out the way we went in. Only problem was on the way back up the hill in cold weather, wet suits froze and very often the farmer would be chasing you so no time to change, into your vehicle and away.
T pot
T pot
Bit out of date- it's ?3 now!!
The connection is pretty grim at the best of times but it's well worth doing if only once. (it DOES sump occassionally, I speak from experience!) In T'owd days we used to do Maskhill-East Canal trips on ladders just for hell of it!
That's when men were men!! (and women weren't invented)
T'owd Mon!
The connection is pretty grim at the best of times but it's well worth doing if only once. (it DOES sump occassionally, I speak from experience!) In T'owd days we used to do Maskhill-East Canal trips on ladders just for hell of it!
That's when men were men!! (and women weren't invented)
T'owd Mon!
COH - not tight at all, bit of a grovel at Oxlow end but can be excavated easily for the fat. Wet bit is about 4m careful float on your back with small usable airspace. 3 lower curtain bits. You are unlikely to find a helmet useful if on your head. The light will be irrelevant as your eyes are submerged. There is a good chance that I have over-egged it as I do not like tight spaces and am cautious with water. Above all, just get on with it. Give it a go. If you do it feet first you can always back out (yes you can turn around before the crawl). You will enjoy the beer afterwards.
Groundhog
When I stated wet suits I should have pointed out that these were purchased from Maggie Aldred of Lightwood Road Buxton they came in kit form with glue and tape. Many the times you would see Eldon members with a tin of glue sticking the split suit together whilst wearing it before a trip, needless to say these on the spot repairs did'nt last very long. Somewhere I have a picture of the poison dwarf and Albie who are virtualy naked wearing said suits on completing a trip in Perryfoot Cave.
Talking of the Poison Dwarf did'nt he get marooned in Oxlow Cavern for a length of time after doing the Connection (COH). I seem to remember that it was some 3 days before anyone noticed him missing.
T pot
When I stated wet suits I should have pointed out that these were purchased from Maggie Aldred of Lightwood Road Buxton they came in kit form with glue and tape. Many the times you would see Eldon members with a tin of glue sticking the split suit together whilst wearing it before a trip, needless to say these on the spot repairs did'nt last very long. Somewhere I have a picture of the poison dwarf and Albie who are virtualy naked wearing said suits on completing a trip in Perryfoot Cave.
Talking of the Poison Dwarf did'nt he get marooned in Oxlow Cavern for a length of time after doing the Connection (COH). I seem to remember that it was some 3 days before anyone noticed him missing.
T pot
