Digging, Things that should be looked at again ?

[Pitlamp]

Hello Mark; I just read your comments on a different topic about the old Pegasus hostel. Yes, a real shame; that was a fine place and a great deal of valuable exploratory work was done from there. Makes me wonder if there are any surviving hut log books?

But I digress - Cohesion sump is a steeply sloping large tunnel going down to something like 30 m depth where it's blocked by sediment. However I seem to remember that the most recent dive there met a blockage at much shallower depth resulting from spoil falling down the slope from that dig in the tube straight across the sump close to water level. This isn't a particular problem because I think CDG members had come to the conclusion that the end of Cohesion Sump is pretty much a no hoper. But the obvious question is where does that big tunnel actually go? Does it loop back up beyond the point reached by CDG members; in which case does that dig across the water offer a possible way into a continuation?

I remember several generations of SUSS members doing a great deal of work in there, aided and abetted by folk such as Norman.

The Peak system still has so many secrets left to unravel . . .

 

[pwhole]

So the deepest (west) end of the sump must be just below the main Peak and Speedwell streamway beddings? The top of the sump on the main model is about 23m above the downstream end of Treasury Sump.

 

[Jenny P]

Re. Pitlamp's query:

"I just read your comments on a different topic about the old Pegasus hostel. Yes, a real shame; that was a fine place and a great deal of valuable exploratory work was done from there. Makes me wonder if there are any surviving hut log books?"

The British Caving Library holds a compilation publication called "Pegasus Caving Log Books from 1963 onwards", which includes other items: newsletters 1975-1989, expedition reports Grotte de la Cigalere and Turkey and other items.  It has a photo of the original Hut in pristine condition and includes a number of colour photos. 

The Log Books are listed as "1963 to 2004-Infinity" and also include a few entries up to 2011.

 

[Pitlamp]

Bless you Jenny! 

 

[danthecavingman]

The Cohesion dig is probably part of the Colostomy / Windpipe / Cadbury / Maypole Dig tube network and would possibly emerge in Colostomy at what Ben Bentham called 'Cigarette junction' - part way along Colostomy there is an airspace above a clay filled tube on the right hand side as you head uphill towards Speedwell. It's on the correct horizon anyway.

I heard a theory that the Cohesion sump was a washed out Pipe Vein on the bottom end of New Rake and probably wasn't heading anywhere.

Dan.

 

[Pitlamp]

What's the evidence for this idea of the big tunnel not going anywhere? When I dived it I thought it looked like a fairly major phreatic passage. It reminds me of the large sloping tunnel seen up the Pit Props workings in nearby Speedwell in some ways. I'd not disagree about Colostomy Crawl being a possible destination for the small tube over the sump pool though.

Anyway, as the late and great Mr.P.B.Smith always took delight in pointing out: "Caves is where you find 'em.".

 

[pwhole]

What's the evidence for this idea of the big tunnel not going anywhere? When I dived it I thought it looked like a fairly major phreatic passage. It reminds me of the large sloping tunnel seen up the Pit Props workings in nearby Speedwell in some ways. I'd not disagree about Colostomy Crawl being a possible destination for the small tube over the sump pool though.

That's what I'm thinking - it could have gone somewhere once upon a time if it's phreatic. It seems to be going in the 'wrong' direction, but that may just be as there's not enough exposed yet - or it's following another vein for a bit before turning. The large one in Pit Props (now named Ford's Cavern I assume you mean) does seem to dome out at the top though, with no obvious way on, so that could just be an upward solution cavity. There's still that huge empty space to the north on the system though, beyond Moss Chamber, which can't all be solid rock - so many veins converge at the base of Middle Bank Gully, near the eastern corner of the Speedwell Vent, and surface water sinks rapidly in Cowlow Nick too - and somewhere in there is also the Blue John/Treak Cliff conduit. which must bring a lot in winter. So there could well be more large passage around there.

This is all in the area that conveniently sits under the info panel on the current printed Peak-Speedwell survey, and which may have to be moved for the next edition.

 

[Pitlamp]

Nay, that's what I thought when we dived Cliffhanger Sump and took the cave westwards off the paper; there was a joke at the time that John Beck would have to redraw the whole system. When he produced the next edition he cunningly put the new bit into an inset, which we always said was cheating!

 

[Mrs Trellis]

Surely the basalt chucked out by the vent will have filled the open bits around the Speedwell vent.

I agree about the blank area north of Moss Chamber but the fp from Speedwell to the Stones needs plotting against the Peak/Speedwell survey. Note a passage (walled up?) on the east side of the Speedwell adit before Half-way House.

 

[Pitlamp]

Good point about that walled up passage.

Didn't the "open bits" around the Speedwell vent only become open long after the volcano (as it's normally interpreted) became dormant?

 

[alastairgott]

Surely the basalt chucked out by the vent will have filled the open bits around the Speedwell vent.

Dunno, But I'm sure we'll find out.

 

[pwhole]

If the vent is a vent, then it's likely to be 300 million or so years old, whereas the top karstified surface (previously covered with shale) will only be a million or so I guess, so plenty of potential for voids. The current shale margin is only about 30m away, and there's also that whopping great phreatic tube at the west end of Peakshole Sough, just sat there right under the shale, minding its own business, at 201m AOD. That's a good horizon for large tubes not that far south, so couldn't this be another fragment of the undiscovered section? Isn't it the same tube as Goosehill Cave?

 

[doughobbs]

There could be a "Digs of the Peak District" book here!

 

[Tommy]

I will be heading down Fatigue Pot late afternoon on the 18th if anyone would like to join. Looking at enlarging the south east end rift which heads towards (but well underneath) the dale's beck.

If anyone has a suitable pelicase or drybag arrangement for a drill it would be much appreciated, the last trip caused a bit of mud ingress I'd like to avoid...

 

[alastairgott]

Mine works OK, but is heavy on the drybags if you remember. 1 good drybag inside another aldi drybag.

Also a cheap rollmat from decathlon or the like can be fashioned into a pouch for the drill, with liberal use of duct tape.

 

[Pitlamp]

Lorry inner tube, with ends folded over and sealed with inner tube loops.
Make sure you cut it long enough to allow adequate folding.

(The thing can be made neater by cementing one end closed, especially if compressed between two lengths of wood in a vice whilst the cement sets.)

Even with this the drill wants wrapping in something soft, to stop it nipping through the inner tube at sharp edges; an old towel is good because, if you do spring a leak, it absorbs water.