Shhh.... Cussey Pot had some new Bolts

[FabianE]

I am pleased to announce that the pitches in Cussey Pot have now been fitted with DCA Resin Anchors.

During four trips over the last month, the pitches leading towards Inglorious Bastard as well as towards Rocky Horror have been bolted with DCA Resin Anchors.
These new anchors have been tested and are now free to be used - all exploratory bolts and original ropes have been de-rigged and removed so bring your own tackle.

Entrance Pitch - 15m rope + 2 crabs
Shattered Dreams - 20m rope + 4 crabs
Inglorious Bastards - 30m rope + 4 crabs

NCA Pitch - 25m rope + 5 crabs
Rocky Horror - 30m rope + 6 crabs

The hand-lines towards Poetry Corner as well as the pitch head of Shattered Dreams have been kept as is, these are not meant to be load bearing and purely for assistance.
A rigging topo is in the pipeline and will be published in due course.

Thanks to Jon Pemberton (EPC), Chris Hibberts (EPC) and Jim Thompson (EPC) for the company and help during the trips!

Look out for a longer article in the upcoming DCA Newsletter to give you a little teaser of what is in stock for you in this amazing system!


Fabian

 

[MikeyP]

Thanks all for your efforts with the rebolting

Has anyone been through Loper Lust or done the freedive into SMMC yet this year? Wondering how the water levels are looking with all the rain we've been having...

 

[A_Northerner]

We went last night (just a quick evening bounce to Inglorious Bastards) and judging by the draught coming out of the entrance I'd imagine Loper is open. General conditions aren't super wet anyway, weather has been miserable for a while but no massive downpours.

 

[Rob]

We went last night (just a quick evening bounce to Inglorious Bastards) and judging by the draught coming out of the entrance I'd imagine Loper is open. General conditions aren't super wet anyway, weather has been miserable for a while but no massive downpours.

Where was the draught detected to infer that conclusion? At the entrance to Loper Lust of higher up?

 

[A_Northerner]

Where was the draught detected to infer that conclusion? At the entrance to Loper Lust of higher up?

Coming out of the bedding crawl from Inglorious that leads to the tube down to Loper. Couldn't be arsed going down and up that tube just to see if it was open so guessed from the air movement. If there are other places it could have come from then fair enough, I'm not super au fait with all the air movement in there. Entrance was blowing a hooley outwards as well if that's any sort of indicator, but I guess Black Draught could also cause that? Though not much air coming out of it last night.

 

[Rob]

Yes, if that bedding crawl towards Loper is blowing that means the sump is open!

Excellent news, thanks for confirming...

 

[danthecavingman]

Not much progress made in SMMC for a while I'm guessing? No chance of an all weather entrance via Doom?

 

[Rob]

Best chance to avoid Loper Lust would be to knock Black Draught through from bottom of Cussey into Race Against Time. This is still the wrong side of Boil Up Sump 2 from SMMC, but that is freedived all year round. Black Draught also bypasses Vulgarious, which is a bonus.

The only problem is Black Draught is a tough dig and whilst we have voice connection, there's still quite a way to go.

You can get to Doom (and therefore SMMC via Vulgarious) without doing Cussey via Moorwood Sough, but that's a long trip and also unpassable in very wet weather....

 

[The oil king]

 

[MikeyP]

Can confirm LL is now open. Was still very high on the way in, so we spent a good hour bailing it from the Doom end on the way back and it's now very comfortable.

The pipe and pump for Boil Up Sump 2 had been washed a good 20m downstream but we managed to get everything back up and running and it was syphoning nicely as we left

 

[JonP]

Can confirm LL is now open. Was still very high on the way in, so we spent a good hour bailing it from the Doom end on the way back and it's now very comfortable.

The pipe and pump for Boil Up Sump 2 had been washed a good 20m downstream but we managed to get everything back up and running and it was syphoning nicely as we left

Top work. How high was the water level at sump 2?

 

[MikeyP]

Just below the knot on the freedive line, so far too high for wimps like us. Water's still trickling in from the little tube above the sump atm too

 

[DCA]

The new Cussey Pot rigging topo PDF can now be downloaded from the PDCi website here:

Stoney Middleton : Cussey Pot : Details

Locations: Peak District, Location: Derbyshire, Location: Staffordshire, Caves, Mines, Potholes, Caving, Potholing, Guides, Surveys, Speleology, Hydrology

www.peakdistrictcaving.info

Thanks to Fabian and the other members of the EPC for completing the installation.
If anyone spots any errors in the topo (e.g. if the rope lengths need a tweak) please let DCA know.

Pete Knight
DCA Equipment Officer