Who closed it? Both ULSA Journal 2 and Race Against Time suggest that the Coroner's Office made the determination to seal the cave. But those "concrete" (sorry for the pun) measures were removed in the three years following the tragedy. ULSA went in, buried the bodies of their friends, and continued exploration.
The access problem with Langcliffe and Mossdale is that the resurgence, Black Keld, is also the water supply for the farm it is located on. The farmer had contaminated water for some time after the Brook Brothers and ULSA were "rescued" from Langcliffe. Obviously, anything decomposing in a cave system will also contaminate the water source. It is the farmer who is the one against, and controls, any access to the systems on the fell (the guidebook indicates someone else other than the farmer).
I have been into Langcliffe on three occasions. The first time we went in through the Langcliffe Pot entrance and battled with the tangle of telephone wires in the Craven Crawl... on that occasion we navigated as far as Boireau Falls Chamber, but I wasn't overly commited to the constricted squeeze down into the passage above the Nemesis pitch. We ate a soggy sandwich and exited the system.
The second time we used the Oddmire entrance and found this to be a much easier option and far less strenuous in nature. On this trip I commited myself to the squeeze and found ourselves navigating both boulder chokes at the base of the Nemesis Pitch.... once passed, it is an easy slog to the Sacred Way and eventually, the Fearnought Streamway. You are a very long way from the surface at this point. It is a long slog out!
On the third occasion, we were guiding some cavers from Derbyshire into the system... it wasn't forecast to rain, but while we were underground it did!! We made rapid progress through the cave until we reached the boulder chokes... the choke does move periodically and the route through isn't the same twice... or at least that's what we found. A few boulders did need to be moved to regain the route through the choke. On the return from the end of the cave we found the water to be literally "spraying" from the second boulder choke and essentially blocking the way out :shock: . It was cool to see apart from we were on the wrong side of it. We returned to the dry chambers of the Sacred Way and slept in sleeping bags left by ULSA at their abandoned camp. Six hours later the water levels had dropped sufficently to allow us an exit... but it was still pretty wet. We exited the cave 24 hours after we had entered it and a call out was an hour off!!
There are lessons to be learned through my little tale. We always entered the system under the cover of darkness and always watched the weather forecast. My trips into Langcliffe occured in 1991 and 1992 (I was 21 and full of piss and vinegar). The cave has HUGE potential, but getting to the end is a challenge and the entire cave is dark and ominous. I wish that we did not need to enter the cave without permission, but we did and we justified it in the way cavers do. We went there because we though we would be the ones who would find a way on... now I believe the way on is from the bottom up or through digs.
Yours,
CN.
PS. I had my appendix out on Friday night and have been wandering the Internet instead of going to work - I found this
Letter while wandering. Sadly, if you are in this game long enough you will be able to relate to it!