C r a v e n P o t h o l e C l u b RCRr a veen cPco tooh o l errCddl u b IISSN 1463-6131 Number 130 (Apriill 2018) Craven Pothole Club Founded 1929 www.cravenpotholeclub.org President Alan Pedlar Chairman Paul McWhinney [email protected] Secretary John Helm [email protected] Membership and Assistant Glenn Costin [email protected] Secretary Treasurer Rob Scott [email protected] Editor Patrick Warren [email protected] Recorder and Librarian Pat Halliwell [email protected] Tacklekeeper Pete Jones SRT Tacklekeeper Gordon Coldwell Cottage Warden John Webb [email protected] Conservation Officer Rowan Worsman Committee Helen Gray Ric Halliwell (SeniorVice-President) Dave Hoggarth (Junior Vice-President) Tracey Jones Steve Kelley SteveKirk (ITspecialist) Ian Patrick Terry Shipley Jeni Smith FrontCover: Dave Ellacotton the 176m entrance pitch to Harwoods Hole – Takaka Hill, New Zealand South Island. Photo: John Helm (see article pages 8-11) BackCover: Toktogui and its reservoir and the spectacular views of the Fergana Ridge – Kyrgystan. Photo: Kevin Gannon (see article pages 5-7) Craven Pothole Club Record April 2018 Number 130 Contents Editorial Patrick Warren 4 Kyrgystan 2017 Kevin Gannon 5 Going under, down-under (a trip to the Antipodes) John Helm 8 Birks Fell Cave (50 years ago) Howard Beck 12 Alum Pot in the Thirties Ric Halliwell 16 More of Jingle Pot, Chapel-le-Dale John Cordingley 20 Resurgences at Grange-over-Sands John Cordingley 22 Meet Reports Hagg Gill Pot – 11th November 2017 Dave Headley 23 Boundary Pot – 13th January 2018 Patrick Warren 23 Short Drop / Gavel Pot – 14th January 2018 Dave Ramsden 25 Llangattock, South Wales – 19th-21st January 2018 Simon Ashby 25 Alderley Edge (West Mine) – 4th February 2018 Glenn Costin 26 SRT Training Weekend – 10th-11th February 2018 Ian Patrick 28 Swinsto Great Aven via Valley Entrance – 25th February 2018 Tom Thompson 30 Roaring Hole (Sunset) – 11th March 2018 Patrick Warren 31 "Spot the Famous Geologist" (JR Nield Trophy 2017) Pete Jones 31 Library additions for January 2018 Record Pat Halliwell 32 Brief digging update 32 Report from CNCC Meeting – 14th January 2018 Pat & Ric Halliwell 33 The Back Page – Notices, Correspondence, etc 34 The Club Rules, Constitution and related matters are incorporated in the Craven Pothole Club Handbook. The Record is published by Craven Pothole Club Limited, Registered Office: Ivy Cottage, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Settle, North Yorkshire, BD24 0HF. Registered in England No. 31935R. No part of this Record may be reproduced without permission from the Committee of the Craven Pothole Club. The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the Editor or the Craven Pothole Club. For further information on the CPC see www.cravenpotholeclub.org Send all material for publication to: Patrick Warren, 11 Bryony Way, Rock Ferry, Wirral, CH42 4LY Tel: Evening 0151 644 1525 Mobile 0779 256 4734 E-mail: [email protected] Typeset in Scribus 1.4.6 with URWPalladioL, URWClassico, and Luxi Sans. Craven Pothole Club Record 130 (April 2018) 3 Editorial he Record is ... delayed. I know! I've been busy, not Tleast in grabbing an underground trip when I can. As well as a couple of Meets (Boundary Pot in Easegill, and RoaringHole inChapel-le-Dale), Ialso gotto the GIS workshop in Penwyllt in February. Whilst this was an opportunity to get up to speed on the latest thinking in geographical information systems and cave surveying, just as important for me was the chance of an afternoon (?!) trip into OFD. Yes, navigating the complexities of Top Entrance, teetering on the infamous Traverses, and wading up the streamway of OFD III, I finally got to Smith's Armoury – a rite-of-passage trip which had escaped me for nigh on 30 years. There was more though, as we pulled through down Pendulum Passage to follow the magnificent OFD II streamway all the way downtotheConfluenceandoutofCwmDwrwithnarya hitch (err, glossing over going around in circles trying to find the startofthe Cwm Dwr choke). Emerging around 10.30pm, we staggered back to the hut (well, I did; the others still seemed to be walking normally) for a late ▲ Gypsum 'wool' and selenite needles in Cueva Vallina, Arredondo, meal, and gin and tonic (thanks Becka!). Fine trip! Cantabria (photos: Carmen Smith / Matienzo Caves Project) The other reason the Record is delayed was a week in Matienzo. The sun shone (mostly), and despite winds strong enough to turn tent poles into bananas, we managed to pack a lot in: surface walks, recording and ticking off undescended holes (yes, there are still plenty of those). The highlight for me was a 'proper' 6hr+ trip into Cueva Vallina above Arredondo south of the main Matienzo depression (big thanks Christine and Matthias for taking Tom under their wing!). Vallina is a cave that I think I will never tire of, and I can't resist quoting what Ali Neill wrote about the Avinguda de la Sorra in the heart of the known system: "... a large elliptical passage in sandy-coloured limestone containing large transverse ribs in the roof. Passing along the sandy floor is so effortless and following someone with a good carbide is mind-blowing, just like floating along in some huge, crystal-clear sump. I found this stunning passage a moving experience, which did not diminish after a summer of long trips into the cave." Matienzo aside, the Record this time has a definite international flavour, with reports on trips to Kyrgystan, Australia and New Zealand, and an invitation to a joint Wessex-CPC trip to Maras in northern Greece in August (page 34). Back within the bounds of Sheet 90 we have Howard Beck's thrilling tales of the breakthrough trips in Birks Fell Cave, surely the jewel in the crown in Upper Wharfedale and one of the finest discoveries in the CPC's long history of pioneering cave exploration. It even beats the OFD streamway, in my opinion! Patrick Warren ▼ Tom in the entrance to Cueva de Coberruyo overlooking the Vega arm of the Matienzo depression (PBW) 4 Craven Pothole Club Record 130 (April 2018) Kyrgyzstan 2017 UK Team Members: Malcolm Foyle (Wessex & CPC), Bryan Day 2: Bishkek to Kerben Norton (Dylan) (CPC), Michael Thomas (Wessex), Kevin Gannon (CPC). This was a long day travelling from Bishkek to the Chatkal area via Tash-Komur. Traveling through the outskirts of Kyrgyzstan Team Members: Alexey Dudashvili (Guide), Ulan Bishkek was a great experience as we edged our way through Rakhmatov (Interpreter), Vladimir Leshunov (Driver), Elena the hustle and bustle of markets and street vendors. We Vasilyeva (Cook). stopped for personal supplies at a small supermarket and took our lead from our hosts and purchased bottles of vodka he prime objective of this initial reconnaissance trip was each. Tto locate areas for future exploration along with making good contacts with the local population and hopefully forging We needed a gas bottle fill and this was obtained outside a potentially good on-going working relationship. By working from a street merchant who decanted gas into our smaller alongside the local cavers we hoped to gain an area or areas bottle whilst our driver watched on with a lit cigarette in his for ongoing exploration for future years. It has been a good mouth. We then headed south-west towards Toktogui and opportunity to enhance the reputation of British caving. its reservoir and the spectacular views of the Fergana Ridge (see photo back cover). The road climbed steadily as we reached Travelling to Kyrgyzstan is quite straight forward from the a height of over 4000m, where the van pulled over in the UK with regular flights from Heathrow via Istanbul with snow and Alexey poured each person a vodka and just said Turkish Airlines. As we tried to land at Bishkek we hit a "it's tradition". heavy snowstorm which meant the pilot had to abandon his approach and try again. Its funny how all of us plane Chatkal is one of the most speleologically unexplored area passengers go silent when the engines start to roar and the in Kyrgyzstan. It is located in a remote, hard to reach area plane banks sharply to one side. on the South-Western Tien-Shan. This remote location is bounded by high mountain ranges on three sides, the fourth Due to this heavy heavy snowfall on our arrival in the capital, being bordered by Uzbekistan. The elevation difference in Bishkek, our original exploration plans had to be altered as the upper part of Chatkal river basin is about 2200 metres, manyofthe isolated highlevel road passes were closed. More and in the lower part about 1600 metres. The heights of the accessible locations were chosen however this still entailed watersheds are more than 4000 metres. There are high altitude a lot of road and gravel track travel and the crossing of high plateaus, which are located at altitudes of up to 3000-3200 level passes which required our van to be dug out ofthe snow metres. a few times and having to use snow chains on a couple of occasions. This all added to the feeling of remoteness and No explorationwas undertakenonthis trip due to the weather made for a very exciting and enjoyable trip. conditions, however at our many stops we could clearly see that this was an area that would warrant further examination Day 1: Bishkek in the future. This was spent in Bishkek resting and meeting our guides We spent the night in Kerben, in a local's house that had and driver, sorting kit etc. We also viewed a presentation rooms to rent out and where we were able to cook our own from Alexey Dudashvili, our leader guide, on the geology of food.