CPC Newsleti oy A No.29 August 1991 GOUFFRE BERGER TRIP Everyone had a brilliant Belgians smoothly. Thanks must be given arranging time with loads of people geting to the bottom. The sustained two minor injuries but otherwise everything went reasonably Ade for all his efforts in planning and and to George and Kev who did a marathon rigging trip to the bottom. Hopefully, someone will write something up for a future Newsletter! RADON IN GIANTS HOLE Manchester doing a Polytechnical College are project which involves next twelve months. The trial will involve about six trips into the cave, monitoring radon in Giants Hole. They presumably at pre-arranged times. I'm want volunteers to assist them by | not sure who pays the ‘good-will! installing and retrieving detectors at fee. Auyone iuterested contact various sites in the cave over the Ralph. BOSCH DRILL By the time you read this we should be the proud owners of a new rechargeable drill. This will bring all you reluctant diggers out of the woodwork! XMAS DO This was held late as usual (or was it early?) at the Rifleman at Kidsgrove and thanks must go out to Nigel Cooper for arranging the do which proved to be very successful This must be one of the least enviable jobs in the club - once again Nigel, many thanks. Incidentally, Ross won the photographic competition which attracted a number of entries of a very high standard and Ralph won the ‘Wally of the Year’ award but suspects that the competition was fixed. CONGRATULATIONS TO KEV MOUNTFORD for being the second person in CCPC (and the only one this century) to obtain his "LOCAL CAVE LEADERSHIP CERTIFICATE". He also completed hi "NORTH SEA SURVIVAL COURSE" in the same veek! eee eE EEL ELELLELELE EEE EE EE EEE CONGRATULATIONS * to * PHILIP MARSDEN and MICHAELA BENTLEY * on the occasion of their wedding * on 13th July 1991. * Serre eee Ceet ret gece vec cecrcecncsrracg +e NEW ARRIVALS *BCRA Current Titles in Speleology' - if you want it, it's in. ‘Carma Revista it contains some surveys de Estudios Espeleoglogicos' Unfortunately it's in Spanish but Well, thats all the news for this issue, now for the rest of the crap:- ‘OXLOW CAVERN REPAIR PROJECT OXLOW CAVERN now has an interim pitch which requires ten feet of rope! Half way down the slope between the entrance pitch and the head of the second pitch is a drop into a mobile quagmire which is difficult to negotiate without a ladder and appears to be getting bigger by the week. No wonder that this place was originally known as Rickety Mine! The problem is a lot more serious than it first appeared. The top end of the chamber (and parts of the entrance shaft) comprises of a boulder choke of dubious stability (just look above your head next time you are at the bottom of the first pitch!) This choke, in turn, is supported by the boulder slope. Until a few weeks ago, the slope looked reasonably stable, having reached its angle of rest with the help of a few stemples and supports. However, the slope carries a small subterranian stream in wet weather which has undermined its foundations. Some time in Spring, the true state was revealed when a large chunk of the slope collapsed leaving the top end of the cavern held up by a wing, a prayer and four 8mm bolts. Had it not been for the reinforced stemple half way down the pitch, it is possible that the whole lot would have gone and what was the first pitch would have been a blockage in the second pitch. Two DCC members claim to have heard the actual collapse take place and as a result have turned to drink, narrowly missing turning to religon! At present it seems only a nh matter of time before more ! of the slope slips out from 1 ! underneath the —stemple | causing the structure of the J 4 slope to collapse and then the whole lot will come s down, 4 Various people _—ihave _ | TREEETS aieoeee noutder cnota) inspected the site and the plan is to build some sort of structure (depending upon materials/manpower ~, available) to arrest the ae, collapse. Final details : oe é will be decided when ae resources are known. - slope eas Sosa Ralph has volunteered our services to DCA and a plan Retnforced Stempie has been developed to prevent further deterioration. Mr Rowlands Area of Collapse seems quite willing to allow & us free access to do the work (at least he did last OXLOW CAVERN \ time I saw him). DCA will ik Mees wa) a) pen fund materials. All that is missing now is volunteers. west + + ust ee If you can help, please contact Mark on (0625) 426946 or (day) 513120. LE GROTTE D'ALIOU I remember this cave being the suggestion of Tipple yet again. After reading a description I thought it wise to take my diving gear for this trip. A 6mm wetsuit gave me all the buoyancy required, thus I loaned my life jacket to Paul Shenton. I was thus at an advantage over the rest of the party, all except Spud. What a man, hard as nails and swimming in wellies. Everyone quickly dissapeared into the cool gloom of the cave, leaving Paul and myself bringing up the rear. There were little screams and loud splashes echoing back down the tunnel. The water was cold and black and not inviting. Paul hesitated as the water reached his balls, memories of small wet Yorkshire caves were in his mind. No time to think about it, time to go. I put on ny fins, pulled on my hood and dived in, into total blackness. The cold water caused a sudden pressure drop in my carbide lamp, an ominous start. The only curer was to hand hold the generator - at least my hands would be warn! I cruised around two bends soon to catch up with the rest of the group.and as my eyes accomodated to the dark I became aware of the black mass above our heads. The roof was moving. Thousands of bats swirling back and forth indignant at our intrusion into their normally quiet world. The water was grey with their droppings and decaying dead. I strained my neck and head a little higher out of the water and began to spit at regular intervals, not wishing to spend the next few days vomiting and worse. We soon gathered at a narrowing in the passage and realised that this was going to be a long swim. Spud and I took the lead. I'm sorry to say Jane, you had only gone # third of the distance down the canal, however your description is valid for the entire length. The water continued cold and full of bat shit, but the number of bats flying decreased. Spud had to abandon his wellies half way down - even he found it hard work! The passage was essentially a straight rift with water of unknown depth and the roof soaring to 100 - 150'. Huge curtains of stal flowed down to water level, narrowing che canal down to two feet in places. The best way to observe all this was to swim on your back, looking up. Eventually the floor was met and the huge rift came to an abrupt end. Water flowed into it from a small stream on the left. We followed this up some small waterfalls to a sump with a line in it. The water was crystal clear. I could see the gleam in spud's eyes. He was wishing that sumps back in England could be like this! With nowhere to go we headed back down greasy moonmilk flowstone in wetsuit booties for the canal and headed for the long swim out. Spud retreaved his wellies and we soon joined our friends at the entrance. We were in a dilema now. No transport for hours (the trip had taken much less time than we had anticipated), very little money, what were we to do? We packed up and set out walking yet again in che baking sun. Half a mile down the farm track and yet another half a mile down the road we found a small village. There appeared to be no cafe or anything!! Tipple in his excellent French found a small farn/cafe/pub/wine bar. The first beers were ice cold and didn't touch the sides so to speak. The second beers were warm and followed in similar style. They only had six beers in the fridge; they were not expecting customers, certainly not beer swilling English cavers! only one solution, out with the wine direct from two huge barrels in the cellar. The trapdoor was in the main room and had to be heaved up each time a refill was required. I took some photos of this priceless place. We all got totally stoned, Not much more to say. (Continued) CCPC ARCHIVES : KNOTLOW (Part 2) The article extracted from the club log caused quite a few comments. The possibility of a safe way into the Knotlow series beyond Crimbo Pipe would amongst other things be a boon for cave rescue, but it may be a while (if ever) before the farmer can be approached. Sifting through the log I came upon the following further information about the Knotlow area. "It (?) lies about 2/3 way from the bung to Great Rift at the second cross rift in the floor. A passage - not at all obvious goes off to the right with a couple of small climbs. Eventually progress is blocked by a suspended boulder. ‘A couple of half-hearted attempts have been made to remove this." Ralph (undated) "This has now been banged by persons unknown, Now possible to pass boulder to a choke." Ralph 10.11.78 “Steve Knox and I were doing an elementry survey in this area, getting involved in conversation with an old farmer. At one time, this farmer drew water up ‘Fourvays' using chain and bucket until it became to shallow (presumably due to rubble falling down the shaft). “They then started drawing water up a shaft to the West of ‘Fourways’. This can be seen in a small copse capped with concrete in about 1917. Further to the West a shaft can be seen now filled with farm refuse. This shaft used to be about 40' deep and was oresumably the clinbing shaft for this engine shaft." Ralph 06.04.78 Neen en ee inEInEE SE EnENERSnEEieIatenan ‘LE GROTTE D*ALIOU (Continued) During this time a young local lad © Much to my suprise, non of our party came in and joined us with Tipple | suffered from stomach upsets (the translating for us. He told us of polite phrase). There are tvo some more local caves and left us with possible reasons for this, the first two large jars of his own honey. is that we were all of cast iron Simple, kind hospitality which made constitution. The second could be this afternoon one which will live | that the excess alcohol consumed long in my memory. immediately after the trip killed not only half our brain cells but also the Luckily the bus arrived before we had invading bacteria. I much favour the to pay for the booze. Again total second explaination and see it as a shock at the bill, less than fl each valid excuse for a good piss-up after for getting smashed, Great end toa all caving trips. caving trip with a difference. Bonber <-+-—0000—- = eee Mr Rowlands of Oxlow Farm is gently simmering again after DCRO drove a Landrover over his fields during a rescue practice against his wishes and a caver tried to give him some advise about farming! It is in everyones interest to tread very cautiously around this particular part of Derbyshire at the moment. eee MEETS 1991 We have the following meets organised for the remainder of the year: August 11 September 14 Eldon Lost Johns 14/15 *GG/Bar Pot/Stream Passage October 5 Otter Hole 12. Juniper Gulf November 24 Peak Cavern * Subject to confirmation The permit for Otter now covers only 4 people + guide. If you have any requests for 1992, see Lionel. take 12 months to book so don't complain if there's no so far and some trips next year! He's not had many requests OVERSEAS NEWS Keith ("Ben") Bentham is searching for volunteers/herces who wish to become internationally famous by helping him push Critchlow Cave (Lathkill Dale). le describes the place as "the hardest cave in Derbyshire - makes the connection look like the Mersey Tunnel". Most of the digging/blasting is been done mid-week during the day. The ideal applicant should be undernourished, unemployed, have their own transport, have no dependants and be at least a couple of cans short of @ six-pack. Ben can be contacted on Buxton (0298) 70202. Whilst on the subject of Ben's digs, his (in)famous dig in P& is now in a dangerous state (if you pull on the rope, a load of rocks drop out of the roof) and should be treated with extreme caution! FX4 BATTERY You will need 4n old Oldham Caplamp 4 £ type nicad cells 3 male Lucar tabs (screw down type) dba brass screws and nuts 4ba tinned brass ring crimp terminal 2m of 0.5mm insulated multistrand wire 2 female lucar crimp tags + boots 1x 1* brass 2ba screw 1 x 2ba wing nut 0.5 Litre fibre glass resin USEFUL TIPS FOR CAVERS No 7 (Marken) To obtain the best results when taking photographs down the Gouffre Berger it is necessary to put a film in your camera. PROD RR ROR R RRR 1) Measure and cut the battery case with a hacksaw about 5" from the top; beware of acid. and remove the old cells. and then water. new cells will fit inside the case. the top. Undo the nuts from the top of the case Wash out the case with bicarbonate of soda solution Dry, then cut out the centre cell separator until all the four Drill 3 holes to take 4ba brass screws in 2) Wire the 4 cells as in fig II leaving long enough leads to reach the top of the case. +B, -A and +A and assemble the nut and lucar tabs as in fig III. Crimp and solder the ring crimp terminals onto the three long wires Solder the ring FX4 BATTERY (Continued) 3) Check all the wiring, observing is WEL aod wen whi 9G polarities and solder joints. Push the cells into place. us oe 4) Snap off the screw holder on the battery lid retainer (fig Iv). This is quite tricky and comecme requires a little ws muscle. If you can't do this, ask your big brother or daddy ~—to ‘4 help). Screw the : 2ba brass screws cial ae ace into the battery : : lid from the ? 7 inside. ig I (Battery Case) 5) Crimp and solder the female crimp tags onto the wire (not forgetting the insulating boots). 6) Change the main and pilot bulbs to 2.4V,1A and 2.5V,0.3A respectively. Clip on the female crimp to the male lucar, black (or blue) wire to -A and red (or brown) to +A and switch on. The lamp may light. If it does, leave it to discharge. If not (or when discharged) take the red wire to +B and repeat. Fig III (Battery Terminals) Fig Il (Wiring) 7) Charge both sets of batteries at 0.875A for 5 minutes and repeat step 6. Both sets should now light. If not, check the wiringand if you can't find a fault, seek advice. If all is well, charge each set of batteries for 12 hours and note the discharge time on main beam. It should be at least 7 hours. 8) Seal the base and holes in the front, mix and pour in the resin from the top, By changing the bulbs, the following durations can be expected. 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