• Descent 302 is published on 15 February and it will soon be on its way to our subscribers.

    In the newsdesk, read a review of the underground events at Kendal Mountain Festival, plus tales of cannibalism and the Cavefish Asteroid.

    In regional news, we have three new connections in Ogof Agen Allwedd, a report on the iron mines of Anjou, an extension to Big Sink Cave in the Forest of Dean, a new dig in Yorkshire's Marble Steps Pot, student parties, an obituary for Tony Boycott, a tight find in the Peak District and a discovery in County Kerry with extensive formations.

    Click here for details of this edition

WIN 10 x DMM Perfecto Screwgate Karabiners!!

Pegasus

Administrator
Staff member
WIN 10 SHINY DMM PERFECTO SCREWGATE KARABINERS

WORTH £160!!

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(y) (y) Many thanks to DMM for this generous prize of 10 lovely Karabiners 👍👍

Manufactured in the UK by a company renowned for quality.

Read more about DMM here:
About DMM
There's an excellent video too: DMM video

When I first received the krabs I thought they looked like Christmas decorations which gave me an idea for this competition 💡

To enter, post a photo or tale on the subject of 'Christmas and caving' - be as imaginative as you like! Tenuous links welcome 😁

3 entries per person.

Closing time/date Friday 3rd January 2025.

Thanks, All for supporting the competitions - good luck!​

Cheers, Pegasus 😁

 
Don't know if poetry is allowed, but here goes.

The Trip Before Christmas

T’was the trip before Christmas, when all through the club
Not a caver was stirring, not even a bat;
The wetsocks were hung up to dry with great care
In hopes the smell soon wouldn't be there;
The cavers were nestled all snug in their pits,
While visions of caverns danced in their heads;

(With the deepest apologies to Clement C Moore for mangling his work)
 
Not sure if the lights, tinsel & ornaments will survive being dragged through a tight passage, but I suppose it's worth a try, right...? Worst case, we get a highly decorated climbing pole at the end of it.... :D
 
Santa hard at work on Portland...
If ever you needed proof, Santa really does abseil down the chimney to deliver toys.
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Perhaps I modified the photos a little, but they were taken on Christmas day 2021 when somebody had a new headlight they wanted to try out.
 
Christmas day 2024 by Lily Patrick aged 5 1/4.

Santa had visited me and I had opened some presents at home, but I left the rest as we were off to meet Nanny and Grumpy Gramps to go **CHRISTMAS CAVING** oh yeeeeees 😃.

After hot buttered crumpets with lots of Peanut Butter in Gramps van, it was off to Valley entrance, one of my favourite caves.

I went in first, I love to slide down the entrance pipe. Off we went down the cave, splashing in puddles and looking at the pretty bits.

We got to some deep water where it came up to my waist 😱. Gramps carried me for a short section as it was getting too deep for me.

We got to the end of the cave, where I was disappointed not to be abseiling, but apparently the water levels were too high, oh well.
We went back a short distance and found a nice spot to have a snack and hot chocolate. Gramps set up some pretty lights and played some Christmas music, we had a cave party and enjoyed some dancing.

Gramps suddenly stopped the music, he had just got a text message from SANTA himself. The message explained that 2 of his best Elves had hidden 20 plastic balls along the passage, the balls had numbers on them, apparently when we got back to the cottage I would be able to swap them for matching number of presents, wow I was ready for off, keep up grown ups.

I really enjoyed looking for them, I missed a couple, but Nanny seemed to know where they were 🤷‍♂️.

At the deep water, I decided to have a swim as I hear some people swim on Christmas day, not sure how many people do it in a cave though.

We got out of the cave where the weather wasn’t very nice, it was much better underground. We got dressed and went back to the cottage at the caving club, here I could match the numbers to presents and stick the balls on a tree.

Happy Christmas everyone
Lily Patrick

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Not very exciting, but I spent some of today (Christmas Day) writing our (overdue, sorry) short expedition report for the Ghar Parau Foundation...
 
I spent Christmas with family this year, so no caving for me. I did, however, gift myself some nice new caving gear (or at least plan what I will get for myself shortly):

- First, some new dynamic rope for my cowstails/tethers. This year I am buying it by the meter from Inglesport, in two colours to make it easy to distinguish my three tethers.

- Secondly, I'm going to get a new personal kit tackle sack. I had a lovely blue 28L landjoff but I accidentally chucked it off a sea cliff a couple of years ago 🤦‍♂️ I currently use a 15L AV instead, but it's a little small, and has been patched up so much that I no longer really trust it not to spontaneously disintegrate mid-pitch. I think I'll get a 22L landjoff as a nice middle ground size, in green.

- Finally, after a decade of using a 1L nalgene for my water, and pouring most of its contents down my front when taking a drink, I'm going to get one of those easy sip adapters that clips in and limits the orifice size. I love how bombproof nalgenes are, and the wide mouth has come in handy for many a frog rescue, so I'm still a believer, even though they are objectively a nightmare to drink from.

Happy Christmas all, and here's to an excellent year of caving ahead! 🍻
 
- First, some new dynamic rope for my cowstails/tethers. This year I am buying it by the meter from Inglesport, in two colours to make it easy to distinguish my three tethers.
If you're hyper organised (or suffer OCD!!) you'll notice that DMM shadow screw gate come in a blue and a yellow that matches your cows tail rope colour. So the blue cows tail can have a blue krab and yellow a yellow krab.
 
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