Drought....

Pegasus

Pegasus

Administrator
Staff member
Well we've had some rain, however it's been light and the ground's just soaked it up.  Still oh so dry...

Went down Swinsto on Saturday - and it was quiet, well apart from the chatter and laughter  :), no waterfalls cascading down the pitches, no being doused with icy water - marvellous if a bit unusual  :blink:
 
M

mudman

Member
Trip into OFD1 today was totally weird. Never seen the place so dry. The pots in the streamway had water levels well below the scaffold bridges and very still and clear that revealed that one is a helluva lot deeper than we thought, possibly 20 feet ish?
The sump before Boulder Chamber Is showing airspace and the sump reached by going beyond the Pluto's Bath passage is, well, not there.
 
pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
A couple of us had a trip round the back-end of Speedwell just over a week ago - Whirlpool Passage, Leviathan through to Titan, then back to the main streamway and then the Bathing Pool and finally upstream to Main Rising. Much of the Far Canal was dry, and even at Pit Props the water was only knee-deep. Whirlpool Rising was about 50-60cm below floor level. The crawl through to FSE was low, though still stinky in Cow Arse Worms pool. Titan had a little water running down the wall, but not much. The Bathing Pool was probably about a metre below normal level, though I'm sure that Secret Sump was still full.

However - when we got to Cliff Passage, water was still flowing happily over the lip into the main stream. So how come Cliff Cavern water is still flowing when nothing else is? Anyone have any ideas? Clay wayboards most likely, but where is the water coming from? Eldon Hill maybe?
 
2xw

2xw

Active member
the bogs have shrunk about an inch id give it a while of rainfall before we get any meaningful flow
 
alastairgott

alastairgott

Well-known member
2xw, where can I find Christmas aven?

I went up a muddy slope from sump 1 and then realised I went up in the wrong place when I traversed across and found some dig buckets and a handline going back down to the streamway.

From the Buckets and Top of the handline, where do you go?

I guess we got to stalagmite grotto at the top?
 
Tommy

Tommy

Active member
alastairgott said:
2xw, where can I find Christmas aven?

I went up a muddy slope from sump 1 and then realised I went up in the wrong place when I traversed across and found some dig buckets and a handline going back down to the streamway.

From the Buckets and Top of the handline, where do you go?

I guess we got to stalagmite grotto at the top?
Click to expand...

Alastair - you could have carried the kibbles through the crawl for us!

From where the buckets are you continue on at the low end of the aven at the top of the slope through a crawling passage for a short while.

See attached image showing the dig (X) and where you reached (O) above the handline (l).
 

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pwhole

pwhole

Well-known member
He's been very well trained, and is now quite useful, generally. With regular encouragement he'll dig for several minutes at a time without stopping.
 
martinb

martinb

Member
pwhole said:
He's been very well trained, and is now quite useful, generally. With regular encouragement he'll dig for several minutes at a time without stopping.
Click to expand...

Lightweight.  :LOL:
 
Rob

Rob

Well-known member
pwhole said:
However - when we got to Cliff Passage, water was still flowing happily over the lip into the main stream. So how come Cliff Cavern water is still flowing when nothing else is? Anyone have any ideas? Clay wayboards most likely, but where is the water coming from? Eldon Hill maybe?
Click to expand...
Maybe because:

Cliff Cavern & Titan = Autogenic
MR, BP, WR, etc = Mostly Allogenic
 
alastairgott

alastairgott

Well-known member
martinb said:
Lightweight.  :LOL:
Click to expand...

Pete O'Neill found that out too the other week, when I found many ways not to carry a bag. Many ways.

The classic was when he came back into Lost John's offering to help with some rope, I offloaded the Battleaxe rope from my bag. and derigged the last pitch into it. When me and Beth Knight got out, they looked at the two bags and surprise surprise mine had less rope in it. I sighted equality of the sexes... Equal opportunities.

But I wouldn't call it Lightweight, I'd call it work shy...
 
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