DerbysErfine Caver No. 113 D !i\ at-rc*l \ The newsletter of the DERBYSHIRE CAVING ASSOCIATION TITE DERBYSHIRE CAVER SPRING 2OO2 No.113 EDITOR: Alan Keen, 130, Whitehitl Road, Ellistown Coalville, Leicester, LE67 lEp TEL: 01530-264199, lil4obile:07967979081, E-MAIL: [email protected] COPY DATE FOR TI{E NEXT ISSI]E IS 25ih MAY 2OO2 Material for inclusion can be sent hand-writteq phoned irL sent on disk (Word format ifpossible & Jpeg pictures) or e-mailed. Subscription to this publication is €7 for four issues, see back page for details. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those ofthe Editor or ofthe DCA. The DCA website is at www.theDCA.org.uk Cover Picture: Admidng stemples in Odin Mine, Castleton. Photo by Anthony Botham CONTENTS PAGE PAGE I Jug Holes shaft restoration project 7 Clean ups/Eco-Hangers & Ropes 3 Mandale Mine 9 DCRO callout rcports and information Peak Cavem round-up 10 Going Quackers! 4 DCA policy on CroW 2000 11 Late News: Peak Season extended 6 Jug Holes/Hillocks/F&M news Dowsing in the Hamps & Manifold DAVB EDWARDS & ASSOCIATBS OUTDOOR ADVENTT]RE ACTTYTTY PROYIDER & CONSI]LTANT 1 Sycamore Barn, OffMain Road, Taddington, Buxton, DERBYSIIIRE, SK17 9TR TeVFax. 01298 85375 Mobile 07808 181E0r E-rnail. [email protected] Website. w*ry.dave.edwardsandassociates.net CAVING TECHNICAL SKILLS TRAINING TO THE HIGHEST PROFESSIONAL STANDARI) FOR INDMDUALS, cROUpS AND CLUBS. sRT, RIGGING & SELF RESCUE LADDER AND LIFELII\E CLASSIC CAVING COIIRSES (in the UK & France) TRAINING AND ASSESSMENT FOR TIIE CIC AND LCMLA SCIIEMES Just give me a call to discuss your training requirements. November 24th and 25th 2OO1 ot far from the end of the adit in Jugholes is a 'l3m shaft to surface. Shafts dropping onto horizontal passage such as this are rare and offer ideal opportunities for training, but the heavy concrete sleepers covering the shaft top made access difficult and the ginging was becoming more and more dangerously loose and unstable. Consequently it has seen little use in recent years. During the recent restoration of the Adit (Derbyshire Caver 112) a small team was despatched to make good the ginging, but a close inspection revealed a perilous state of affairs with significant deterioration and much "hanging death". lt was obviously going to need a lot of work, so the sleepers were carefully shuflled back into place and plans made to return later in the month with appropriate materials and equipment. Fortunately John Wilmot, who had greatly assisted with fixing the gate on the adit, agreed to lend his expertise for a second time and a small team assembled for work to commence on a damp and overcast day at the end of the month. Accompanied by stalwarts Jon Scaife and Ray Marsh I arrived to flnd that John Wilmot had risen early and with the help of Tim Powell had already driven over with a Landrover full of cement and what those in the know called "3/4 to dust'. John had also produced an incredibly well-engineered steel lid assembly and although they had driven as close as they could the huge pile of material still had to be transportei a couple of hundred yards uphill to the site. We gingerly approached the task like contestants in 'The Worlds Shongest Man' secretly hoping that younger and fitter volunteers would gallop over the hill and push us aside. No such luck, and not since the pyramids was so much moved by so few and at such cost in human suffering. The lid required the most effort as it had to go right to the top of the hill. I came up with a harness arrangement made from ropes and was fooled into demonstrating it's potential as a labour-saving device. "Show us how it works Dave... ' says Jon as he followed my instructions to lace my ageing shoulders to the heavy steel shafts. , He looks like a donkey .. ! " "Yea, he does..." somehow all the stuff finished up in the right place. Real work commenced. First the concrete sleepers were lifted and re-sited to create a gap just large enough- to take the lid and frame assembly, which was itself positioned to enable a rope to hang from ringion the frame and clear the shaft sides. Next lengths of thick timbers were hammered into place against the solid shaft walls to take cross planks which were nailed on securely. This formed a safe working platform from which John was able to create shuttering, behind which concrete was poured to form a lintel. When the lintel had set (the next day) other stones were jacked back into place and new ones built up on the lintel until all the gaps were closed and the ginging looked pretty much as it would have done the day it was built 200 years or more ago. The second day brought foul weather but the work was completed despite a soaking, and all that remains to be done is a coat or two of paint to finish off. Special thanks must go to John Wilmot who has made an excellentjob, not only of repairing the ginging but making and fitting a lid that will enable us to access the shaft for training for many years to come. Also to Jon Scaife and Ray Marsh who laboured valiantly mixing and lugging loads of concrete up the steep hill. And of course to others including Tim Powell, Jim Roberts, Andy Williams and Ann Bottrill who turneU ufito tena a hand where needed or even just to keep us company on a cold and wet November weekend. NOTES: 1. You will need a large adjustable spanner for the lid. 2. The shaft is close to a public footpath - please replace the wire fence and close the lid after you. 3. Lower the heavy lid gently back when you open it - don't let it fall under it's own weight. 4. Back up to the nearby tree and belay from the twin rings that are bolted to the frame. The shaft is approximately 13m (4Oft) deep. 5. The work was completed on behalf of the DCA with the help of a grant from English Nature Hlahdale [rline Someone greased has recently the bolt threads on the grllle at Mandate Mine, Lathkill Dale. I know this was meant well but of course it means that the bolts can now be undone by hand. The reason for fitting the grille and bolts was to make access difficult for casual passers-by, whilst cavers should be aware that they need to bring a spanner. l'll take the grease off with some petrol, so please remember your spanner if you want to visit this site. When Pete Mellors and I fitted the grille the frame was twisted slightly, which means that one has to push the left-hand side of the grille with your foot to line upthe bolt. lt's not a difficult manoeuvre for a caver but more often than not I find that this side isn't being bolted up. Ben Le Bas, Enqlish Nature. PEAK CAVERN ROT]ND.UP: By Wayne Sheldon The weather has been the downfall in the last couple of weeks with heavy spells of rain sweeping the country; with water levels being constantly high. This resulted in Five Arches being ponded on i regular basis, with the weather_ outside making any trips risky, the hips that did takJpilace were quick triPs to Far SumP and back. This is in sharp contrast to the previous iouple of months when water levels have been very 1ow due to a cold spell that begun in early December, lasted into the first couple ofweeks of January; subsequently allowing the trips to be has long as you wanted. on the 22nd of February, the biggest flood of the current season occurred when the Spiedwell water overflowed via Treasury, through upper Gallery, Five Arches and out of the showcave. This may have possibly opened up the route to Speedwell for divers through Treasury. Ralph Johnson and a team fiom Crewe aided by myselfcleared the last remains of the ladder and scaffolding from the site of the Maypole Inlet, this was the ladder that was dismantled during November, and we took them out of the cave. The scaffolding has been reused at another site while the ladders will be reused in Peak. Two sections ofthe laddeiwere left together and dragged firther upstr_ eam- towards Far Sump, to be used to access another dig on the north wall of the strJimway in Boulder Hall. A dig has been started in the north wall ofthe Peak Streamway, this is located in the oxbow that begins opposite the ledge within Picnic Dig and bends around to a voice connection to a passage offBoulder just Hall, a bit upstream from thepoint the- Crystal Inlet Rope begins (when it is riggedl Several trips were undertaken from the Picnic Dig side but after these initial trips access was a ma;oi factor, wittr the connecting crawl being flat out and an awkward traverse acrois to the passage being required. It was therefore decided that we would dig through the voice connection to make access easier, with a ladder from Boulder Hal1, and using the recycled ladder from Maypole Inlet. The main dig goes offthis oxbow, heading in the north-west direction, towards the space between Far Sump, the Trenches and towards Far Sump Extensions. The aim ofthe dig is hopefirlly to locate the route of the water that flows from the outlet in Far Sump, the Moose Trap water and the water fiom Stemple Highway, as it all resurges at Main Stream Inlet.