Tube opposite Pilgrims Way, Oxlow
- Thread starter Rob
- Start date
Rob
Well-known member
That plan survey looks to mistakenly put "Suicide Chamber" up the small crawl between pitches 1 and 2! It doesn't show the crawl off Pilgrims Way leading to it, nor does it detail anywhere they think it might be in the elevation. Bit strange to have included it in text form but nothing else...
On the 1969 survey it is shown (but not labelled) to the south of East Chamber, with the "332m" point in it.
On the 1969 survey it is shown (but not labelled) to the south of East Chamber, with the "332m" point in it.
pwhole
Well-known member
I think it might be in one of the earlier TSG Journals, which I have, or possibly one of the 70's Logbooks, which I also have. Leave that with me. I think JSB might have also mentioned it in his thesis in the explanation of the tube network of the Giants/Oxlow development.
Hmm...looking at it, the earliest logbook I have is '79, which is too late. Similarly the Journals start at 77, and John notes in the first one that it was Oct 26th 1976 that started the 'Oxlow epic', when BB traversed the roof, and presumably they dug out 'The Flue'. But I have read about this somewhere, as they used the flamethrower as part of the dig.
Hmm...looking at it, the earliest logbook I have is '79, which is too late. Similarly the Journals start at 77, and John notes in the first one that it was Oct 26th 1976 that started the 'Oxlow epic', when BB traversed the roof, and presumably they dug out 'The Flue'. But I have read about this somewhere, as they used the flamethrower as part of the dig.
alastairgott
Well-known member
Someone was talking about the use of a flamethrower at the weekend... aha! it was Colin Hayward.
I think he said it was used in Flamethower Hole in The Dales. but was advising Maj a potential use for one in Hobnail hole in Mendip. Dunno if this was used in Oxlow too?
I think he said it was used in Flamethower Hole in The Dales. but was advising Maj a potential use for one in Hobnail hole in Mendip. Dunno if this was used in Oxlow too?
Mark
Well-known member
Extracts from Johns logbook
Thursday 21st October 1976.
To Oxlow with Ted, Ben, Andy, Maggie, Alan, Carol and Pete Smith! Ted and I investigated upstream in Pilgrim?s Way, and found it to be a very promising push.
Ben and Andrew abseiled down Maskhill, and it appeared that there was a slight hitch when the rope was too short! Andrew came out with us, and Ben wen back up through Maskhill to de-tackle. He says it is safer than Oxlow.
We left Oxlow rigged for a return tomorrow.
Back to the Chapel, and home to Eyam.
Saturday 23rd October.
Oxlow again. Noel came and banged the choke. The prospect was then much better, but we?re still not through. A lot of calcite was shifted, and what remained was fractured, but a lot more work is necessary.
We returned to the Chapel in the early evening, again leaving tyhe cave rigged.
Sunday 24th October.
Ben and I returned to Oxlow, and spent a long time chiselling at the choke. We could see into the continuation, but could not get in.
Al Eaves and Bill were supposed to come and help us to de-rig, but they didn?t arrive, so Ben and I did it on our own. Four SYCC members |Including Tony Buckley and John Parker passed us on the way out. Al and Bill were on surface.
Saturday 30th October 1976.
Over to Castleton for another go at Oxlow.
Another party followed us down, and set off through the connection. With an observer/guard posted at Mecca Aven, Ted had another go at applying plastic surgery to the calcite choke,m but after two futile and noisy attempts we realised that it would have to be either fire-set or flame gunned. We set off out fairly late, re-igging for the Bristol party who were behind us. Timbers have either dropped out or been removed since last week; they are now at the bottom of the Second Pitch. This must be repaired.
During our trip up to Mecca Aven, Keith and I went to the Water Rift, an open joint at the junction of Oxlow with the Connection.
We also looked at Castle Aven, a fine aven reached by a short flat crawl from Pilgrim's Way. Water entering here sinks down the crawl and pitch known as Black's Folly.
The inlet and outlet of the stream between here and West Antechamber must be impenetrable.
We returned to the Chapel fairly late, at about 6pm.
Wednesday 10th November.
Over to Castleton to meet Ben for another go at the Oxlow dig. The cave was tackled with ropes. Ladders were added at my request! Ben got the flame gun going on the dig, and a lot of material was removed. We?re still not through. West Chamber filled with smoke, so there must be a connection. We climbed out at about 4pm, fairly pleased with the day's work, but choked with paraffin fumes!
Ben in going again tomorrow.
Friday 12th November.
Over to Castleton for another go at the Oxlow dig.
Ben flame gunned and created quite an inferno in the dig. I tried to get through, but only got my head in. I could see that the passage winds away into the distance, black with soot!
A very strong draught passes from left to right on the far side of the squeeze. We returned to the Chapel, then to Glebe Cottage, where we arrived at about 9pm.
Saturday 13th November.
Oxlow again. The fire had done a good job, and we began chiselling and hacking at it. I removed my wetsuit jacket and managed to squeeze through. I emerged from a hole in the side of a passage identical in form to Pilgrim's Way, developed on the same bedding plane. the passage appears to have been filled with silt, and re-excavated by the miners. #The squeeze was enlarged, Ben came through, and we discovered that the tube opened into the loose stopes above West Antechamber. The pack here is loose and requires care. A silted passage ran back towards the other side of the dig - we could have excavated this in one session!
To the west, the tube continued as an excavated hands and knees crawl, finally becoming flat out before opening into an alcove high in the south wall of West Chamber. Stemples seen from below lay 10ft below us, and barely supported a pack of large rocks. The walls of the hole were natural. A large natural pothole extended upwards beyond the visible limit, and we were sure that we could see a large passage about 40ft up. Ben says he will bolt up to it. Rather him than me!
The tube continues beyond here, but is silted, with a fair amount of flowstone. Digging is planned here: we have all of West Chamber as dumping space! We were very pleased. Ted joined us, and went to investigate. He was also impressed. I went to West Chamber, which was still very full of smoke, to look up at the dig. Impressive.
I went out, stopping to talk to Paul Deakin, George Cooper, and Frank Shepherd, who were busy concreting the head of the second pitch, and making an excellent job of it.
I went over to Bill's as fast as possible, as we were supposed to be discussing the results of the Norway expedition. A slide show ensued, until pub time. Dorothy had to scrub my head, and even then couldn't get rid of all the soot!
Saturday 20th November.
Keith and Mark arrived, and we set off to Castleton for an Oxlow trip. Ben, Mark, Keith, David and I set off and were soon down at the squeeze. Mark and Keith passed by removing wetsuits, but David wouldn't try. He went into West Chamber to watch from below.
Ben climbed to his previous upward limit, and bolted across a traverse to a continuing upwards rift passage in the vein. Another climb presented itself, and he turned back shortly after. We removed some of the dangerous deads, and cleared out the entrance to the tube continuation. Keith and I returned through the squeeze, but it turned out to be impossible for Mark. Keith sat on the outside singing "You can do it....... we can help. Just one calorie, one calorie.....!" but to no avail. Mark got quite mad, and we tried feeding skin through bit by bit, but it didn't work and he had to pioneer the pitch down into West Antechamber with a rope borrowed off Ben's climb. Keith was delighted.
We arrived back at Glebe Cottage at 9pm, ate and went to the Stags.
Tuesday 23rd November.
Over to Castleton for an Oxlow trip. Ben talked me into climbing the first fifty feet to a bridge of deads, from which he is continuing his climb. Part of the ledge was solid, but I wasn't happy on it. Ben continued over the traverse into the passage, where a survey station was set up. I became very cold. Ben did well today, and we emerged late. There was a scattering of snow round the entrance in the morning, and it stayed all day where the sun didn't reach. We had trouble starting the car.
Thursday 25th November.
Oxlow again. Phil picked me up at home. I showed Phil round while Ben began climbing, and we went and started the dig in the tube off the Eyrie. Good progress was made, and Ben reached new heights on his climb. He estimates that he is now about 250ft above the floor of West Chamber, with probably a maximum of 60ft to go to the base of the Nettle Tuff, the horizon of the Flats (Lower Millers Dale Lava?). (See original typescript for drawings).
The dig is a lot easier than we expected, and Phil and I removed a lot of spoil. Phil had great fun throwing this spoil over the edge of the void!
Ben returned at 4pm, and we headed out, reaching the surface quickly and efficiently. It was cold, very windy, and changing was uncomfortable.
Saturday 27th November.
Over to the Chapel in Tony?s van for another Oxlow trip; Keith, Mark, Tony, and me. Ben had gone already. We descended, and Tony and I went to the Eyrie, and Mark and Keith began digging the by-pass to the squeeze.
Ben had made friends with two cavers from Westminster Speleo Group, one of them female, and had taken them up Oxford Aven! Tony and I dug for a long time in the continuation of the tube, and at last went to see how Mark and Keith were doing. They weren?t.... they were lying in the Devil?s Kitchen singing!
We finished their dig for them, dropped the dangerous deads into West Antechamber, and became cold. There was no sign of Ben?s party, so we left. We found later that Ben reached the horizon of the Lower Millers Dale Lava, where blocked and unstable bedding passages were found. The aven was later climbed for a further 50ft, but no more passages were found.
Shortly after this the Big Dig saga started
I don't how the various digs were left ?
Thursday 21st October 1976.
To Oxlow with Ted, Ben, Andy, Maggie, Alan, Carol and Pete Smith! Ted and I investigated upstream in Pilgrim?s Way, and found it to be a very promising push.
Ben and Andrew abseiled down Maskhill, and it appeared that there was a slight hitch when the rope was too short! Andrew came out with us, and Ben wen back up through Maskhill to de-tackle. He says it is safer than Oxlow.
We left Oxlow rigged for a return tomorrow.
Back to the Chapel, and home to Eyam.
Saturday 23rd October.
Oxlow again. Noel came and banged the choke. The prospect was then much better, but we?re still not through. A lot of calcite was shifted, and what remained was fractured, but a lot more work is necessary.
We returned to the Chapel in the early evening, again leaving tyhe cave rigged.
Sunday 24th October.
Ben and I returned to Oxlow, and spent a long time chiselling at the choke. We could see into the continuation, but could not get in.
Al Eaves and Bill were supposed to come and help us to de-rig, but they didn?t arrive, so Ben and I did it on our own. Four SYCC members |Including Tony Buckley and John Parker passed us on the way out. Al and Bill were on surface.
Saturday 30th October 1976.
Over to Castleton for another go at Oxlow.
Another party followed us down, and set off through the connection. With an observer/guard posted at Mecca Aven, Ted had another go at applying plastic surgery to the calcite choke,m but after two futile and noisy attempts we realised that it would have to be either fire-set or flame gunned. We set off out fairly late, re-igging for the Bristol party who were behind us. Timbers have either dropped out or been removed since last week; they are now at the bottom of the Second Pitch. This must be repaired.
During our trip up to Mecca Aven, Keith and I went to the Water Rift, an open joint at the junction of Oxlow with the Connection.
We also looked at Castle Aven, a fine aven reached by a short flat crawl from Pilgrim's Way. Water entering here sinks down the crawl and pitch known as Black's Folly.
The inlet and outlet of the stream between here and West Antechamber must be impenetrable.
We returned to the Chapel fairly late, at about 6pm.
Wednesday 10th November.
Over to Castleton to meet Ben for another go at the Oxlow dig. The cave was tackled with ropes. Ladders were added at my request! Ben got the flame gun going on the dig, and a lot of material was removed. We?re still not through. West Chamber filled with smoke, so there must be a connection. We climbed out at about 4pm, fairly pleased with the day's work, but choked with paraffin fumes!
Ben in going again tomorrow.
Friday 12th November.
Over to Castleton for another go at the Oxlow dig.
Ben flame gunned and created quite an inferno in the dig. I tried to get through, but only got my head in. I could see that the passage winds away into the distance, black with soot!
A very strong draught passes from left to right on the far side of the squeeze. We returned to the Chapel, then to Glebe Cottage, where we arrived at about 9pm.
Saturday 13th November.
Oxlow again. The fire had done a good job, and we began chiselling and hacking at it. I removed my wetsuit jacket and managed to squeeze through. I emerged from a hole in the side of a passage identical in form to Pilgrim's Way, developed on the same bedding plane. the passage appears to have been filled with silt, and re-excavated by the miners. #The squeeze was enlarged, Ben came through, and we discovered that the tube opened into the loose stopes above West Antechamber. The pack here is loose and requires care. A silted passage ran back towards the other side of the dig - we could have excavated this in one session!
To the west, the tube continued as an excavated hands and knees crawl, finally becoming flat out before opening into an alcove high in the south wall of West Chamber. Stemples seen from below lay 10ft below us, and barely supported a pack of large rocks. The walls of the hole were natural. A large natural pothole extended upwards beyond the visible limit, and we were sure that we could see a large passage about 40ft up. Ben says he will bolt up to it. Rather him than me!
The tube continues beyond here, but is silted, with a fair amount of flowstone. Digging is planned here: we have all of West Chamber as dumping space! We were very pleased. Ted joined us, and went to investigate. He was also impressed. I went to West Chamber, which was still very full of smoke, to look up at the dig. Impressive.
I went out, stopping to talk to Paul Deakin, George Cooper, and Frank Shepherd, who were busy concreting the head of the second pitch, and making an excellent job of it.
I went over to Bill's as fast as possible, as we were supposed to be discussing the results of the Norway expedition. A slide show ensued, until pub time. Dorothy had to scrub my head, and even then couldn't get rid of all the soot!
Saturday 20th November.
Keith and Mark arrived, and we set off to Castleton for an Oxlow trip. Ben, Mark, Keith, David and I set off and were soon down at the squeeze. Mark and Keith passed by removing wetsuits, but David wouldn't try. He went into West Chamber to watch from below.
Ben climbed to his previous upward limit, and bolted across a traverse to a continuing upwards rift passage in the vein. Another climb presented itself, and he turned back shortly after. We removed some of the dangerous deads, and cleared out the entrance to the tube continuation. Keith and I returned through the squeeze, but it turned out to be impossible for Mark. Keith sat on the outside singing "You can do it....... we can help. Just one calorie, one calorie.....!" but to no avail. Mark got quite mad, and we tried feeding skin through bit by bit, but it didn't work and he had to pioneer the pitch down into West Antechamber with a rope borrowed off Ben's climb. Keith was delighted.
We arrived back at Glebe Cottage at 9pm, ate and went to the Stags.
Tuesday 23rd November.
Over to Castleton for an Oxlow trip. Ben talked me into climbing the first fifty feet to a bridge of deads, from which he is continuing his climb. Part of the ledge was solid, but I wasn't happy on it. Ben continued over the traverse into the passage, where a survey station was set up. I became very cold. Ben did well today, and we emerged late. There was a scattering of snow round the entrance in the morning, and it stayed all day where the sun didn't reach. We had trouble starting the car.
Thursday 25th November.
Oxlow again. Phil picked me up at home. I showed Phil round while Ben began climbing, and we went and started the dig in the tube off the Eyrie. Good progress was made, and Ben reached new heights on his climb. He estimates that he is now about 250ft above the floor of West Chamber, with probably a maximum of 60ft to go to the base of the Nettle Tuff, the horizon of the Flats (Lower Millers Dale Lava?). (See original typescript for drawings).
The dig is a lot easier than we expected, and Phil and I removed a lot of spoil. Phil had great fun throwing this spoil over the edge of the void!
Ben returned at 4pm, and we headed out, reaching the surface quickly and efficiently. It was cold, very windy, and changing was uncomfortable.
Saturday 27th November.
Over to the Chapel in Tony?s van for another Oxlow trip; Keith, Mark, Tony, and me. Ben had gone already. We descended, and Tony and I went to the Eyrie, and Mark and Keith began digging the by-pass to the squeeze.
Ben had made friends with two cavers from Westminster Speleo Group, one of them female, and had taken them up Oxford Aven! Tony and I dug for a long time in the continuation of the tube, and at last went to see how Mark and Keith were doing. They weren?t.... they were lying in the Devil?s Kitchen singing!
We finished their dig for them, dropped the dangerous deads into West Antechamber, and became cold. There was no sign of Ben?s party, so we left. We found later that Ben reached the horizon of the Lower Millers Dale Lava, where blocked and unstable bedding passages were found. The aven was later climbed for a further 50ft, but no more passages were found.
Shortly after this the Big Dig saga started
I don't how the various digs were left ?
In reply to Alastair
The choke in Winnats Head at the bottom of Fox chamber was too tight when first passed to get the diver plus diving kit in, so we used a gas blow torch to enlarge it to fit.
There was plenty of airflow, but we wanted to be careful due to being low down in the choke.
We took the nose off a key rock by repeatedly heating and then pouring cold water on resulting in chunks cracking off.
At the time it was a simple and effective option, but you do need a lot of airflow and fortunately we were not using a Parafin version as John describes.
Things have moved on now though and I would be surprised if there was a place where it was still the best option available.
The choke in Winnats Head at the bottom of Fox chamber was too tight when first passed to get the diver plus diving kit in, so we used a gas blow torch to enlarge it to fit.
There was plenty of airflow, but we wanted to be careful due to being low down in the choke.
We took the nose off a key rock by repeatedly heating and then pouring cold water on resulting in chunks cracking off.
At the time it was a simple and effective option, but you do need a lot of airflow and fortunately we were not using a Parafin version as John describes.
Things have moved on now though and I would be surprised if there was a place where it was still the best option available.
alastairgott
Well-known member
Thanks Wardy!
Haven't tried it, but it may be an option on Calcite?
Only needed to break calcite once, and conservation was in no way a consideration.
Calcite seems to form in a random lattice structure, which makes breaking off with Hilti caps impossible. we settled on small but wide (16mm) drill holes and plugs and feathers. when pre-stressed the calcite can be broken by hitting it with a lump hammer.
But If I needed to do it again I might like to try using a flamethrower!
Haven't tried it, but it may be an option on Calcite?
Only needed to break calcite once, and conservation was in no way a consideration.
Calcite seems to form in a random lattice structure, which makes breaking off with Hilti caps impossible. we settled on small but wide (16mm) drill holes and plugs and feathers. when pre-stressed the calcite can be broken by hitting it with a lump hammer.
But If I needed to do it again I might like to try using a flamethrower!
Rob
Well-known member
Excellent recording by JSB, and many thanks Mark for finding and typing it up.
I knew i'd read somewhere about a report of people digging to the left in Pilgrim's Way, but took me a while to remember it was filled in my Crusader folder:
This recounts a BSA trip that discovered the avens with the Crusader squeeze, which the Eldon recently pushed and found +300m. However before that very trip they had been digging in Pilgrim's Way, 11 years before Ben, JSB and co.
Still no details of the tube opposite Pilgrim's Way though....
I knew i'd read somewhere about a report of people digging to the left in Pilgrim's Way, but took me a while to remember it was filled in my Crusader folder:
This recounts a BSA trip that discovered the avens with the Crusader squeeze, which the Eldon recently pushed and found +300m. However before that very trip they had been digging in Pilgrim's Way, 11 years before Ben, JSB and co.
Still no details of the tube opposite Pilgrim's Way though....
