Eldon hole ice

Toby.w wrote:

"Ahhh interesting, so it will probably be gone quite soon then given this week's weather"

It depends to what extent the cave draughts, I guess.
I don't remember noticing much of a draught when I've been there but if my own visits coincided with the temperature outside being similar to cave temperature, there would be no reason for there to be a draught. (Unless it was barometric [i.e. related to atmospheric pressure changes] rather than convectional.)
 
It seems counter intuitive to suppose that warm air descends, but I guess the explanation is that if there is a lower entrance, cold air (further down the system) will tend to flow out of the bottom as it sinks, dragging warm air down with it . . . which implies that there must be a lower entrance to Eldon Hole – ?
 
It seems counter intuitive to suppose that warm air descends, but I guess the explanation is that if there is a lower entrance, cold air (further down the system) will tend to flow out of the bottom as it sinks, dragging warm air down with it . . . which implies that there must be a lower entrance to Eldon Hole – ?
There must be.. but it's blocked.
The water cutting that slot had to have gone somewhere.. but WHERE?? 🤔
 
It seems counter intuitive to suppose that warm air descends, but I guess the explanation is that if there is a lower entrance, cold air (further down the system) will tend to flow out of the bottom as it sinks, dragging warm air down with it . . . which implies that there must be a lower entrance to Eldon Hole – ?

Yes - quite possibly Peak Cavern, although there is no known cavers' connection at present.
But air can get through chokes of course.

I know what you mean about warm air generally ascending but your explanation here of why it can sink down a shaft seems fine to me. It's a reversed chimney effect, as air in the chimney / shaft is cooler than the air ouside the house / cave system.

It's the same reason why people with wood burning stoves may notice a sooty smell inside the house in really hot weather.
 
Windle and Rush Mine, on the eastern edge of Eldon Quarry (shaft gone sadly), went down over 200m from the surface, apparently to flowing water, possibly the P8-Speedwell stream/sump route, reputed to pass under, or close to the pothole. I was at the top of a deep shaft (but inside a chamber rather than surface) two weeks ago and the air was most definitely going down that.
 
I'm afraid I'm now screwed for that trip, sadly - unless something dramatic happens in the interim, I'm working away :(
 
I'm pretty sure there'll be something down there still... You should be able to throw some mud and stones with a bit of "snow" mixed in at each other, but don't expect much.
 
Seems there is a FB page for this sort of thing, showing some from last few days:
 
Anyone checked Eldon? Hillgoers FB page reported yesterday
longest lying snow patches in the Cairngorms. Sadly today the last patch (the Sphinx) was confirmed as gone after a visit by Joe Glennie.
Vanished for the 10th time in recent history, 5 of which since 2017 and 3 years in a row for the 1st time.
Previous link has some pics from 4 days ago & a newspaper report from 1933 (the first year all snow was noted as gone, although that wasn't until the end of Sept)
 
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Anyone checked Eldon? Hillgoers FB page reported yesterday

Previous link has some pics from 4 days ago & a newspaper report from 1933 (the first year all snow was noted as gone, although that wasn't until the end of Sept)
Was down there 3 nights ago, definitely all gone now!
 
Was down there 3 nights ago, definitely all gone now!
You'd need persistent heavy (drifting) snow in the winter for it to fill it up enough to stay this long (or even stay year round).

We've not had any winters like that for a while.
 
You'd need persistent heavy (drifting) snow in the winter for it to fill it up enough to stay this long (or even stay year round).

We've not had any winters like that for a while
Our village is a few miles south of Eldon Hole and we were cut off by deep snow drifts last winter.
 
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