SRT and discoveries

[langcliffe]

Yes I think Slanting Cave fits my criteria.  The Ghar Parau expedition is a good explanation too.  I?m very surprised. 
So I wonder which cave was the last to be explored using ladders? Perhaps can we see th3 pitch needs to be  longer than 10 metres.

I think that most surface digs start off as ladder pitches - relatively (from the point of view of someone of a very advanced age) recent examples I have been involved with include Shuttleworth, Cup Cake and Bloat Pot.

 

[Duck ditch]

Yer it doesn?t work the other way round does it.  Never mind. 
Slanting certainly cut out any debate.

 

[mikem]

Seems to have been popular down under, even before Slanting: https://www.wildplaces.co.uk/descent-21

Apparently Red Rose have a book on it from 1971: B228 - THRUN, Robert - Prusiking

& BCRA had published an article not long after:
Eavis A.J. 1974 The Rope in Single Rope Technique Caving Vol 1 (4) pp 181 - 198

 

[Groundhog]

Not a discovery descent but I think probably an early use of srt. In February 1970 Alan Gamble, Glynn Edwards and I did Meregill on 4 150ft 9mm climbing ropes with 2 cloggers and figure of eights. No rebelays, just tied off at the top chucked down. It was dry of course! we had to slide the cloggers back down on each pitch having only one pair. The stretch on a 9mm rope is quite entertaining.

 

[Groundhog]

I tried googling "three pronged abseiling device" and found the Scottish Mountain Heritage Collection with some pictures of something called a Brevete Pierre Allain abseil device.

Try googling "Brevete Pierre Allain"

I had one of those. Very bulky and I think a bit dangerous. The rope could come off easily. Quickly swapped it for a figure of eight

 

[Pitlamp]

Not a discovery descent but I think probably an early use of srt. In February 1970 Alan Gamble, Glynn Edwards and I did Meregill on 4 150ft 9mm climbing ropes with 2 cloggers and figure of eights. No rebelays, just tied off at the top chucked down. It was dry of course! we had to slide the cloggers back down on each pitch having only one pair. The stretch on a 9mm rope is quite entertaining.

Gulp!

The original (YRC) descent of Meregill was done on a single rope - a length of thick tarred hemp if I remember rightly. There's an excellent account of this in an early Ramblers Journal. (I think it's called "The Seige of Meregill".) But there were no descenders or jammers of course; it was all done hand over hand!

 

[Ian Ball]

I read these reports and think either everyone must have weighed about half my body weight or been three times as strong.

 

[crickleymal]

Pitlamp:

There was also that three pronged abseiling device available from at least the early 60s (well before my time)

Wasn't there some poor soul who died abseiling down a deep mine shaft many years ago in the Forest of Dean when his rope broke? I've a feeling that the (hemp?) rope used had been just chucked in the back of someone's car, where it got contaminated with battery acid . . .

That was Rex Keane in 1967, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't during an original exploration.

I believe he used a nylon rope which melted due to the heat of the descender.

 

[paul]

Pitlamp:

There was also that three pronged abseiling device available from at least the early 60s (well before my time)

Wasn't there some poor soul who died abseiling down a deep mine shaft many years ago in the Forest of Dean when his rope broke? I've a feeling that the (hemp?) rope used had been just chucked in the back of someone's car, where it got contaminated with battery acid . . .

That was Rex Keane in 1967, but I'm pretty sure that it wasn't during an original exploration.

I believe he used a nylon rope which melted due to the heat of the descender.

Nope - it was a hemp rope:

Attaching himself to the heavy hemp rope he launched himself into the shaft and 60 ft down disaster struck ! The rope parted
and Rex plunged down the remaining 240 ft to his death,
[snip]
The rope was found to be in a very bad way, Rex had had it for some time and it was discovered that he had kept it in the rear of his Mini at the same time as he was missing the top off his battery, the battery being also in the rear. For descending he used a small crab through which he twisted the rope, this caused the lay of the rope to open and at the first weak spot the rope parted.

From: http://www.zen159313.zen.co.uk/rfdcc/resources/newsletters/Newsletter_035.pdf (THE ROYAL FOREST OF DEAN
CAVING CLUB SEPTEMBER 1971 NEWS LETTER No 35)

 

[Kenilworth]

Seems to have been popular down under, even before Slanting: https://www.wildplaces.co.uk/descent-21

Apparently Red Rose have a book on it from 1971: B228 - THRUN, Robert - Prusiking

& BCRA had published an article not long after:
Eavis A.J. 1974 The Rope in Single Rope Technique Caving Vol 1 (4) pp 181 - 198

Bob Thrun was a US caver. His book is very thorough given the existing gear at the time. NSS recently published a book on Bill Cuddington who was doing srt in the early 60s, maybe even 50s. If I remember correctly, Bill and some of his gang were body rappelling into some deep pits and getting pulled out with a winch around the time that he started to convince them to try prusiks.

 

[Pitlamp]

Thanks Kenilworth; I remember when Bob Thrun's book appeared in the UK and I would say it was very influential in the development of SRT here.

 

[Fulk]

I remember meeting Bob and his girlfriend when they came to the International Congress held at Sheffield many years ago; he was a very amiable, knowledgable guy.

 

[mikem]

The original (YRC) descent of Meregill was done on a single rope - a length of thick tarred hemp if I remember rightly. There's an excellent account of this in an early Ramblers Journal. (I think it's called "The Seige of Meregill".) But there were no descenders or jammers of course; it was all done hand over hand!

http://www.yrc.org.uk/yrcweb/index.php/journal/vols1-5/volume4/55-no12/204-v4n12p30

 

[Fulk]

Hi mikem, what an amazing story; I loved this bit:

I was the first man to be lowered, and by a marvellous fluke managed to keep a candle alight through the splash and spray of the 90 ft. descent.

Interesting that they refer to Alum Pot as Helln Pot.

 

[Pitlamp]

Isn't that due to the Scandinavian origin? Hel was the goddess of the underworld in Norse mythology. Early settlers would have considered a deep pothole like that to be an entrance to hell. I think the original Scandinavian word is thought to have been corrupted (over the >12 Centuries since the Viking invasions began) via "Helln" to "Alun" and / or "Alum".

Hell Hole near Appletreewick was probably also considered as an entry point to the underworld. There's also a Hell Hole in the Bowland caving area.

 

[Fulk]

Thanks, John. I was more thinking that as late as 1912 it was being refered to as Helln Pot.

 

[Pitlamp]

Yes, that's interesting. Maybe they got the name from what the farmer referred to it as, rather than what was printed on (late Victorian era) Ordnance Survey maps?

 

[langcliffe]

In Cave Hunter (1874) Dawkins says: "The very name 'Helln Pot,' = 'Aellan Pot', or Mouth of Hell, testifies to the awe with which the Angles looked down into its recesses. " There is then a footnote which states 'On the Ordnance Maps it is wrongly printed as Alum Pot.'"

 

[Pitlamp]

Well done Langcliffe. 

 

[Duck ditch]

Thanks Mikem.  Posting the YRC report on the first exploration of Meregill. A superb read. God they were hard in them days.