Gour Chamber, BPotW

[Brains]

Following on from @langcliffe Wezzit, I was reminded of my first trip here years ago (young, slim, fit...). I think with an effort and possibly a push up I followed most of our group up into the chamber. Returning down the squeeze my oversuit ruckled up, trapping me in the narrows! Another member of our group who remained below managed to pull my "turnups" and straighten out the fabric... I dropped through like a sack of potatoes. Ironic really as that is now my current shape, and has been the majority of my mass for decades!
On another more recent trip, both of us that tried it failed miserabley. Obviously the rift has calcited up and it's nothing to do with me being old, chubby and unfit! Seems a shame the caving community has lost access to this beautiful chamber via this shrunken route. I believe in drought it can be accessed from the other end.
Given it's relatively shallow depth, what caused this specific chamber to develop so much flowstone? The rest of the cave is not so heavily decorated

 

[hannahb]

I think calcite is definitely accumulating there, perhaps because fewer people are going that way.

 

[Brains]

I think calcite is definitely accumulating there, perhaps because fewer people are going that way.

Most definitely
Soon it will close up completely

 

[Lankyman]

This may have something to do with plate tectonics. I have noticed in recent years that the hills are definitely becoming steeper and longer. Perhaps the nearby Dent Fault is shifting stuff around. I should add that I am not a geologist.

 

[flakey]

I don’t think it’s very fair to say it’s Dent’s fault!

I am not a geologist either.

 

[Lankyman]

I don’t think it’s very fair to say it’s Dent’s fault!

I blame it all on Adam Sedgwick

Adam Sedgwick - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

If only he'd not mucked around with all those rock layers!

 

[samueld]

Following on from @langcliffe Wezzit, I was reminded of my first trip here years ago (young, slim, fit...). I think with an effort and possibly a push up I followed most of our group up into the chamber. Returning down the squeeze my oversuit ruckled up, trapping me in the narrows! Another member of our group who remained below managed to pull my "turnups" and straighten out the fabric... I dropped through like a sack of potatoes. Ironic really as that is now my current shape, and has been the majority of my mass for decades!
On another more recent trip, both of us that tried it failed miserabley. Obviously the rift has calcited up and it's nothing to do with me being old, chubby and unfit! Seems a shame the caving community has lost access to this beautiful chamber via this shrunken route. I believe in drought it can be accessed from the other end.
Given it's relatively shallow depth, what caused this specific chamber to develop so much flowstone? The rest of the cave is not so heavily decorated

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding, but I wouldn't categorise it as lost access (yet) - I've made a number of trips up there in recent years (including to the upper chamber) without issue, most recently in November last year.

You are also correct though that it is accessible via "The Trap" in drought.

 

[langcliffe]

Apologies if I'm misunderstanding, but I wouldn't categorise it as lost access (yet) - I've made a number of trips up there in recent years (including to the upper chamber) without issue, most recently in November last year.

You are also correct though that it is accessible via "The Trap" in drought.

I think that you're replying to self-deprecating humour...