New year's day 2011, Ken & Burt, Swildons climbing frolics

So as neither of us had hangovers of any sort rfom the night before, we trundled off to Swildons to find there was nobody else on Priddy green or in the cave. Bonus!
Down to the 20 and we rigged a top rope insead of a ladder and attempted to traverse across the top of the pitch, an dwith a bit of jiggery pokery made it down to the ledge and thus the streamway. Getting back up was another matter though as neither of us had the stretch to bridge across the stream and climbing up proved v diff without pulling up on the rope. In the past we had both climbed up under the waterfall but this time wanted to stay dry. So  a traverse back across the top as another group approached saw us up and off the pitch.

We then headed to the old 40 and rigged a similar setup, abbed off the top and then enjoyed a simple climb back up on a top rope. Both agreed that this would be do-able without a rope , but ballsy.

By now the cave had got quite busy so we scarpered to the pub. Happy new year!

January 5th 2011
G.B Cave

Keith, Anna, Neil, Brendan, Martin, Lynette.

Finally the snow had melted, so we were all able to get to G.B.
We all headed into the cave, and planned to do a round trip and have an explore. We first headed to the bridge and tried to remember which way we had gone on a previous trip. We soon got our bearings and headed for the passage which took us to the bottom of the stream way, well after getting a little lost. Once we were at the bottom, we all had a look around at how big this chamber was and had a little look at the chain where the cave continues- thinking we wish we brought a ladder. We then headed back up the stream way and up the waterfall and had a look around before eventually making our way out of this awesome cave, thanks to Annas good memory!

Keith.

[center]Sat. 8th Jan 2011 Eastwater  Cavern[/center]
Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Rich Hobbs (WCC).
As we are being asked to enter our trips on the forum here?s a small tourist trip on which 66.66 recurring people were ChCC members.
We took our lives in our hands by getting into the Canyon via the Woggle Press, going down to the Crossroads and left to the first vertical. I?d not been here for a great many years; I think my last trip was to help Andy S install the bolts. We were soon down and on to the Second Vertical where I had difficulty locating the bolts; I was too low and they are quite high up. A swing across part of the way down brought us to the junction of the Mud Escalator and the 13 Pots. A 30m rope is only just long enough. Down the Pots, and as we were slow, back up again.
One thing to note is that it is a serious mistake to wear SRT kit through the cave, and then shove it all in one bag for the return so that it weighs a ton.
Chris

Sidcot Swallet - Wednesday 2nd February 2011

Tricia, Lynette, Dani, Rowan, Martin and Jamie (guest)

A nice gentle meander around Sidcot, introducing Jamie to the delights of the Lobster Pot.  Still some work to do on my part working off some of the Christmas dinner, but managed to unwedge myself after a bit of jiggling. Thankfully we didn't put Jamie off entirely and is hoping to come out with us again soon.

Thanks to all for an enjoyable trip

Attborough Swallet 9th Feb

Martin, Rowan, Lynette, Tricia

A return trip to this very interesting and muddy cave.

We reached a large chamber which Rowan and I decided to use for a chat, whilst the girls headed off down a tight and muddy crawl!

A great trip all round.

Swildons Blackhole Series 11th Feb

Keith Milward, Neil Rayment

A very last minute decision to do a bit of late night caving, we both decided to check out the Blackhole Series. We only took ropes so we could have a bit of srt fun.
Once down and through the extremely cold sump 1, we were soon on our way to the start of the Blackhole Series.
After a explore around and looking at a very tight pitch(summer challenge), we headed for the pitch(the one with the bold step across), and soon decided to srt down for a explore. We then headed back up the pitch and back to the even colder than before sump 1, and made a quick exit up the stream way and out for midnight.

Overall a very good trip.

East Twin / Spar Pot
Wednesday 2nd March

Dani, Dan, Tricia, Rowan, Steve P, Neil, Keith, Anna, Jamie, Gary (guest), Rachel, Chris C, Nicki

A cast of seemingly thousands for this trip down East Twin to admire the engineering then a poke around Spar Pot.  At one point I think we managed to get eight of us in a 'chamber' near Long Crawl, which gave the newer members a good chance to get up close and personal and for us all to get to know each other a little better.

Thanks for a nice trip and a great turn out!

27/feb, OFD dry ways

Andy, Rachel, Chris, Nikki, Neil R & me

We went to these places:






[I loved it!

Saturday morning brought every cave leader & scout to the bottom car park in Burrington Combe it seemed. We managed to group on the edge before heading to the top of Link Road to change & get our first briefing. The kit was brought out & I was introduced to bondage with the canvas stretcher wrap. After a bit of 2 to 1 rigging practice we trooped along to Rods to be halted by another scout group. We wiggled past them & sat in the top of the pots while they slithered by.  We then split into 2 groups, Neil & Andy staying at the top to rig with Tom while Burt Trish, Martin, Barry, Keith & I went to the bottom of El Capitoff Pot with Mak to wrap our victim (casualty) in the canvas stretcher.  The first pull through the crawl went well & then we put Barry on the frame to do a carry to the bottom of the first pot.



At this point we replaced Barry with several bags of spoil.  Trish Barry & I climbed back to the top (after I had gone & scooted down a side hole Trish had said was interesting only to find getting out was a bit of a challenge.) We then assisted the hauling team (I can?t say I was very effective) & by altering the pulleys the bags came up quite quickly. 



The tricky bit was getting them up over the pitch head & dragging them round the top bolder.  I do hope we would look after a person a bit better then the bags of spoil as they got a bit bashed bent & squashed. It was about then that we called time as we where into the afternoon & hadn?t eaten. We scrambled out with kit almost gaining a scout rope but left a MCR bag at the bottom of the pitch. Keith was brilliant & scooted back down & out again before we were changed.  Tom & Mak gave a debrief, several expressed an interest in going to the MCR practice meets & we departed with very muddy kit into the sunshine. Thanks to Andy for organising it, Tom & Mak for instruction & guidance & everyone else for making it an enjoyable practice.

Andy and Rachel Sparrow, Nicky Dennis, Ian Burton, Neil Rigiani, and Me, Chris Castle

I suppose I?ll have to write this up as no one else has. You may have seen Burt?s photos and Andy?s enquiry and have some idea of what we did. It was a visit off the trade routes to the area around Deja Rue, in the north-central part of the cave system ? a very complex area and so there?s no point in giving a detailed description; you need the survey, although there are so many overlying passages that it?s difficult to read.

We got to Deja Rue via Gnome Passage, Edward?s Shortcut with it?s nice traverse, Shatter Pillar and Midnight Passage to a passage heading due west to a crawl through Haydn?s Dig which brought us into the northern end of Deja Rue. This becomes a pretty passage ending at a soapflake pool. Retracing our steps a short way the survey suggested that there was a route to our left, which was a flat-out wet crawl. There was a bit of a flaff here as we were not at all sure whether it was worth getting soaked, but Andy went through and we all had to follow. It was unpleasant but short and led to a series of passages of varying dimensions with interesting sand formations and fossils. We found a pleasant waterfall with a beach behind and nearby  ropes hanging  which we think is one way to the rest of this area. Returning to a junction we soon found the top of the waterfall, making a short but pleasant round trip. Neil and Burt climbed down and quickly did this bit again.

We exited via Selenite Tunnel as Burt had not been to OFD before and ha deserved a bit of sightseeing, and so the usual way out along Salubrious Passage.

Chris

Wed March 16th St Cuthberts Swallet​

Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Brendan Hanley, Tricia Denning-Kendall, Steve White, Barry Hulatt.

A nice wander around to see the fine stal in the Traverse Chambers area.

Our route in was to Lower Mud Hall where we all free-climbed down Mud Hall Pich, which is easy enough but looks nasty, then along to Lower Traverse Chamber. Right at the top of this is an ascending rift passage to Upper Traverse Chamber from where we took the September Series route as far as High Chamber for a look at the pearls in a side passage there. I went off under the boulders to try and locate Purgatory and Echo Chamber, where I was taken a great many years' ago. I think I found it but it doesn't really match the description in the book.

Back to Upper Traverse Chamber and through the low arch to see the Crystals, and out the usual way up Wire Rift.

Chris

Caving trip 30/03/2011 Fairy, Hillier?s round trip.
Tricia Denning-Kendall, Sam Denning-Kendall, Chris Castle, Brendan Hanley, Rachel Sparrow

(Written by Trish but posted by me due to some technical difficulties. Brendan is involved)

Great evening! After we entered the cave, quick progress was made to the first squeeze where Chris approached the hole head first, then head first on his side, then the other side and then hooray-feet first and he was out in a jiffy!
The duck was decidedly wet and cold, not too bad as we went through but the following squeeze and contortions made the water move trickle around your whole body. Chris had fun in the next squeeze, finally removing the top of his oversuit to get through to Hillier?s cave.
The struggles and wiggles were all worth it as we dropped down the rift and along to Cambridge grotto-not sure if we made it all the way to Brenda?s (or should that be Brendan?s chamber) but the sparkly formations we wonderful.
We made set off to make our exit along tar hall and just before the rope we found a bright green frog and 2 newts. These were carefully placed in a bucket and later set free near a pond-all in a night?s caving.

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Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Rachel Sparrow, Trish Denning-Kendall, Jamie Smith, Gary Wong and potential members Kay Chambers and Neil Turner.

A members' training evening. Handlines down the Tradesman's, getting up and down the Coalchute with shared belays, bits and pieces around the boulder chamber and knot-tieing practice.

A very worthwhile session. Gary seemed to have a natural ability to pick up tieing knots, but everyone ended up tieing bowlines and fig 8s to safe belays.

Chris

After several requests and getting replies of: too far away; eeerrr don't know where it is; only a shrine; men only; too high up; I have finally been in a cave.
We met at 8.00 to cross the lake and then climb a hill to 1113mts but the only thing up there was the World Peace Pagoda. Another hours walk down hundred of steps brought us to the top end of Pokhara. A main road with shops on either side and a magnificent arch declaring Mahadve Cave.



Except you first had to run the gauntlet of bazaars through narrow alleys first



before paying 80p adults & 30p students.
We descended 50mts (possibly) to a concrete platform.



A shrine sat in the middle which we bypassed down some side steps where the roof was running with water so we got dripped on before ducking into a tunnel for 20-30 meters. This opened out into quite a sizable cavern with light streaming in at the other end. The left wall is covered in dry rivlets of flow stone. A post and string stop you from going any further but a rickety set of metal steps allow you down to water level. I frightened a gecko away but the crab stood and looked at me. 50+ meters across a foaming (no you don't want to know what is in the foam!) pool an impressive amount of water is falling through a 'grottoed channel' called Devi's Falls. (A Swiss woman called Devin was supposed to have drowned in 1961 while skinny dipping with her boyfriend)



I had  a reasonable torch with me so poked about either side of the pool. One side had a large amount of rubbish obviously thrown from above. The other where you could squeeze through to another chamber an impressive amount of flood debris was in the roof. My guide for the day Bhima just wanted to see bats so having found a large amount of guano I shone into the roof about 40-50 meters above to a dark mass which I couldn't see quivering so not sure if it was bat or rock. We exited as an excited party of Indian's came in with mum and granny hanging onto the children.
Not quite up to Gough's standard but going by the debris the whole lower part up to the shrine must flood in the monsoon which would be impressive to see.
Sorry about the quality of the photo's and I am out of time so no more cave hunting for me.

A number of firsts on this trip.  It was the first time in this cave for Barry, Neil and Keith; the first Cheddar CC trip into the new part of the cave (as far as I am aware), my first trip as a leader, and after two years as a member my first non-digging trip with the Cheddar.  As with most trips into Upper Flood, we did have a couple of jobs to do.  However, we got off fairly lightly with transporting in a couple of large pelicases to West Passage and a new kibble to Mud Out Dig in East Passage.

Good progress was made through the old cave, allowing plenty of time to admire the formations in Midnight Streamway.  The water in the Lavatory Trap and the Canal was the lowest I have ever seen it, and for once the water in the canal was not bitterly cold.  We soon arrived at the Red Room and had a quick rest before embarking on the traverse of the notorious choke. This involves about 20 minutes of awkward contortions and squeezes before popping out into the awesome Departure Lounge.  From here the next 500m or so is mostly easy walking along the finely decorated streamway of Malcolm's Way, before climbing up out of the stream at the Halogen Loft.  From here a large fossil passage leads to Royal Icing Chamber and its profusion of pure white formations, and a quick glimpse into the entrance of the "forbidden" Neverland.  We made a bee-line down the slope into West Passage, dropping off the peli-cases at Chuckle Choke.  Neil and Barry descended the squeeze and climb down to the Chuckle's Joke Streamway, Keith and I waited at the top for them.  We then went to the end of West Passage, having a quick bite at the terminal choke before heading back to Ropyal Icing Chamber.

We picked up the kibble we had left in the chamber, and transported it along East Passage, leaving it at Mud Out Dig, followed by a quick shufti around the rest of East Passage.  On the way out we had a good look at the narrow rift down which the stream sinks below the Halogen Loft, and then headed upstream to Threadneedle Street.  We had a wander around as far as t junction with Wall St, and were about to head out when another party came out of Wall St, and suggested we go and have a look - so we did, and very worthwhile it was too!

After this, we started the long journey out.  This was somewhat easier than the way in due to having got rid of the load we had carried in.  We exited to heavy rain after 7 hours underground and headed back to the MCG cottage for tea and Pizza. 

What was the consensus re. Chuckle's Joke streamway Ed? Worthwhile prospect or fools errand?

Hello Kev, what are you doing gatecrashing the Cheddar forum?  Not after joining a proper club are you?

As for Chuckle, I do not think it is a fool's errand.  There was a significant stream flowing on Saturday, despite the rest of the cave being very dry.  However, my view is that the point where the main stream disappears below the Halogen Loft is a better bet.

2nd June 2011 .
Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis, Ken Passant, Simon (Ken's nephew), Andy Morgan

Due to lack of equipment, knowledge and common sense we made a rather shambolic descent of this magnificent dig to reach the formally flooded passage called the Skye-way and the chambers beyond. A large bouldery and very loose chamber did not seem to go anywhere so we descended to the left to a couple of chambers with formations and a climb down to Black Rift Pitch, for which we had no tackle. This leads to the far reaches of Claonite, beyond the sumps, so we will try again another time. I think it would be easiest to descend on one long rope with a couple of rebelays.

3rd June 2011

Uamh An Claonite, Assynt.​

Andy Morgan, Nicky Dennis, Chris Castle

This proved to be an absolutely magnificent wet cave. After an awkward (for me) entrance we came to a fine waterfall, easily climbed down, and the first sump with it's by-pass to the left. I went first and emerged covered in foam which gives a clue to why you don't enter this cave in wet weather. A straight rift passage called Cavity Wall Passage had deepish water and we negotiated a series of fine cascades, deep water and waterchutes to the second sump. An extensive dry section led to the right via a crawl called Mud Passage leading to some large sandy chambers - the East Block. We did not explore all of it and on our return missed a climb up a slot called- oh, I didn't write it down, someone will know; and fumbled around for a while on uncomfortable rocks until Andy found it. We were soon back in the water and at the entrance, which had mysteriously got tighter while we were down.

Great fun was had by all, well worth the 650 mile drive!

Chris

5th June 2011
Chris Castle, Nicky Dennis

We stopped off to break the long drive back from the north of Scotland, and had a refreshing walk up Ingleborough in the rain. After a look at Gaping Gill surrounded by odd patches of yellow grass from the winch meet's tents, we made a straightforward descent of Bar Pot and crawled to Main Chamber. Nicky was a bit wound up after reading about the traverse around SE Pot but in the event hardly noticed it.
The rain had made the waterfalls in Main Chamber worth seeing, and Nicky was most impressed. We spent a long time on photography, but could not do justice to the cave with our equipment.

Chris