drainrat
Member
Team: Myself, Oggy
Location: Eastwater Cavern, Mendip
Objectives: Primrose path to the bottom of Primrose pot, Unlucky Strike, Twin verticals to terminal rift, Ifold's series
Fuelled on sausage baguettes from Budgens in Churchill, we arrived at Eastwater farm at 0930 sharpish. Had a nice chat with Mrs Gibbons and entertained the dog for a while before changing and heading over to said cave. This being only our second visit, we thought we would keep it short by trying the already mentioned route!
Having only the 1954 survey and a few snippets from the BEC website, it was always going to be more of a route finding trip than just bombing around with precise route details. We located the Woggle Press easily and passed through the 5 kit bags which we then proceeded to wrestle down the canyon. I pointed out the passage to the crossroads and then slid down an ever tightening descending tube only to find it blind - bugger. It was now that I realised we had come completely the wrong way. We'd forgotten that we should have ascended Baker's chimney and had now taken a wrong turning on the wrong route. I struggled to slither back up the tube to the crossroads area.
We decided to sack the idea of Primrose Pot as we were in completely the wrong area so headed downwards and soon found the first and then second rift chamber. Looking at the climb up to Unlucky Strike, I wouldn't have given it a second glance if knowledge of it's destination were unknown. Being slightly out of caving shape, it was a bit of a battle but Unlucky Strike was eventually gained, soon followed by it's extension. This area had seen very little traffic and the formations were pristine. We'd left all our kit in the first rift so couldn't descend down the Mellow Chamber pitch - is this an active dig? I know there has been some talk of it heading in the direction of St. Cuthbert's. One for another trip.
Next plan - the verticals. I rigged the first off naturals and bombed down the rift right to the bottom. Unclipping, I chimneyed downwards only to find it was again blind. By now Oggy was halfway down so after a bit of communication he found the way on at half height. I climbed back up and we got ourselves established at the head of the second pitch. Not wanting to break from tradition, I yet again hit the bottom of the pitch only to find I should have headed down the parallel rift. After an embarrassing prussik (I'm the one who's supposed to know the way) we slithered down and found an active stream issuing from a pipe above.
We were really into the unknown now, the upper and lower series surveys didn't seem to tie in together in any obvious way so we followed the stream downwards. We encountered 13 pots on the way down, with differing difficulties of bridgeability until we found ourselves at an apparent terminal rift. Consulting the survey, these two features are conveniently called 13 pots and terminal rift respectively. The rift looked hideously unstable so we swiftly departed via the Muddy Oxbows.
Time was against us so we couldn't venture into Ifold's series, had we even managed to find the way, so we climbed back up the two pitches and straight out of the cave. Terminal rift to daylight took about 90 mins. A fantastic trip, we will be back to Eastwater many more times for sure having not even scratched the surface yet.
Q+A:
1) At the bottom of the Muddy Oxbows there was a low passage on the right (facing updip) that looked like an on-your-side crawl. Is this the start of Jack Brownsey's passage and if so is it worth a look?
2) Is the water issuing pipe at the bottom of the 2nd vertical the start of Harris' Passage?
3) Is Mellow Chamber in Unlucky Strike an active dig?
Location: Eastwater Cavern, Mendip
Objectives: Primrose path to the bottom of Primrose pot, Unlucky Strike, Twin verticals to terminal rift, Ifold's series
Fuelled on sausage baguettes from Budgens in Churchill, we arrived at Eastwater farm at 0930 sharpish. Had a nice chat with Mrs Gibbons and entertained the dog for a while before changing and heading over to said cave. This being only our second visit, we thought we would keep it short by trying the already mentioned route!
Having only the 1954 survey and a few snippets from the BEC website, it was always going to be more of a route finding trip than just bombing around with precise route details. We located the Woggle Press easily and passed through the 5 kit bags which we then proceeded to wrestle down the canyon. I pointed out the passage to the crossroads and then slid down an ever tightening descending tube only to find it blind - bugger. It was now that I realised we had come completely the wrong way. We'd forgotten that we should have ascended Baker's chimney and had now taken a wrong turning on the wrong route. I struggled to slither back up the tube to the crossroads area.
We decided to sack the idea of Primrose Pot as we were in completely the wrong area so headed downwards and soon found the first and then second rift chamber. Looking at the climb up to Unlucky Strike, I wouldn't have given it a second glance if knowledge of it's destination were unknown. Being slightly out of caving shape, it was a bit of a battle but Unlucky Strike was eventually gained, soon followed by it's extension. This area had seen very little traffic and the formations were pristine. We'd left all our kit in the first rift so couldn't descend down the Mellow Chamber pitch - is this an active dig? I know there has been some talk of it heading in the direction of St. Cuthbert's. One for another trip.
Next plan - the verticals. I rigged the first off naturals and bombed down the rift right to the bottom. Unclipping, I chimneyed downwards only to find it was again blind. By now Oggy was halfway down so after a bit of communication he found the way on at half height. I climbed back up and we got ourselves established at the head of the second pitch. Not wanting to break from tradition, I yet again hit the bottom of the pitch only to find I should have headed down the parallel rift. After an embarrassing prussik (I'm the one who's supposed to know the way) we slithered down and found an active stream issuing from a pipe above.
We were really into the unknown now, the upper and lower series surveys didn't seem to tie in together in any obvious way so we followed the stream downwards. We encountered 13 pots on the way down, with differing difficulties of bridgeability until we found ourselves at an apparent terminal rift. Consulting the survey, these two features are conveniently called 13 pots and terminal rift respectively. The rift looked hideously unstable so we swiftly departed via the Muddy Oxbows.
Time was against us so we couldn't venture into Ifold's series, had we even managed to find the way, so we climbed back up the two pitches and straight out of the cave. Terminal rift to daylight took about 90 mins. A fantastic trip, we will be back to Eastwater many more times for sure having not even scratched the surface yet.
Q+A:
1) At the bottom of the Muddy Oxbows there was a low passage on the right (facing updip) that looked like an on-your-side crawl. Is this the start of Jack Brownsey's passage and if so is it worth a look?
2) Is the water issuing pipe at the bottom of the 2nd vertical the start of Harris' Passage?
3) Is Mellow Chamber in Unlucky Strike an active dig?
