Chippings
Rescue Organisation.—The Wardens twice had serious calls during 1936. First, a lady was killed on the spot in Alum Pot by a stone thrown over, and second, a man fell in Marble Steps at a pitch below the ” hole in the floor ” approaching the big pitch. The latter was at such a bad place that a general call was anticipated and begun with 20 men from the Craven Pot-hole Club, who responded nobly by turning up until 9 p.m. on a week-day. Fortunately Mr. Hainsworth got the victim to make a ladder climb, and he was on the surface before eight.
Another accident without a call also took place, but none during 1937. Perhaps the Caving Code drawn up by the Wardens, and issued as a leaflet may have had some effect. Certain is it that the burden they have to shoulder is a heavy one, and a call on a week-day is a serious matter for all concerned.
The Deepest Gulfs.—Since we gave in 1932 a list of the five deepest pot-holes in the world, all in Italy, two more have come in, the Antro della Carchia or Tana d’Eole and the Tonion Schacht. The order of the seven is :-
Spluga della Preta (1927), 17 miles N. of Verona, 637 m. deep = 2,090 ft.
Antro della Carchia or Tana d’Eole (1934), Apuan Alps, 541 m. = 1,775 ft.
Abisso di Verco (1928), N. of Gorizia, now 536 m. = 1,758 ft.
Abisso del Montenero (1926), S. of Idria, about 480 m. = i,575 ft.
Tonion Schacht (1928), Steiermark, about 470 m. = 1,542 ft.
Grotta Bertarelli (1925), 20 miles S.E. of Trieste, 450 m. = 1,476 ft.
Abisso di Clana or Frederigo Prez Abisso, 7 miles N. of Fiume, 420 m. = 1,378 ft.
In France the four deepest caverns were given as Morey, Rabanel, Armand, and Paradis. There have been revisions and new discoveries. Morey has not the 250 m. attributed to it (Géze, La Montague). Using the information which appears in Spelunca and La Montagne (October 1936), the list appears to be now :—
Gouffre Martel (Ariége), 303 m. (Nov. 1935) = 994 ft. deep (La Mont.), (another 40 m. will join this to Grotte de la Cigalére, total 482 m. = 1,581 ft.).
Trou de Heyle (Basses Pyrenees), 270 m. = 886 ft. (?) (La Mont.).
Grotte des Eaux Chaudes (Ossau, Pyrenees), 234 m. ascent = 768 ft. (Spel.).
Grotte de la Luire (Drome), 213 m. deep = 699 ft. (Spel. VII).
Aven de Hures (Lozére), 205 m. =672 ft.
Grotte-Gouffre du Paradis (Doubs), 204 m. = 669 ft. (Spel. VII).
Chourum Martin (Hautes Alpes), 199 m. = 653 ft. (Spel. V).
Aven Armand (Hérault), 196 m. = 643 ft.
Aven Rabanel (Hérault), 195 m. = 640 ft.
Gaping Gill.—Now that the pot-holes are getting well known, and some of them even hackneyed, the era of mass excursions seems to have set in. We hear of forty people reaching the Vestry in Lost Johns’, and of fifty going down Swildon’s Hole. At the British Speleological Society’s meet at Gaping Gill, Whitsun Week, 1937, 356 people were sent down and there was folk-dancing, etc. in the Main Chamber. On good authority we learn there were 70 at the bottom at one time. A wooden ladder gave them access to the East Passage. The volunteer crew of the Craven Pot-holers at the winch worked down 253 in the week-end. The charges were, 7s. 6d. members, 10s. od. non-members booked, 15s. not booked. A very large profit must have been made.
The great event was the amazing feat of Mr. E. Hensler who crawled, alone, a quarter of a mile through the worst of unrelenting low bedding-planes (off the Booth-Parsons Crawl) into a new series of passages, and returned after five hours. Only those who have followed him in can realise the determination and hardihood implied. We take off our hats to Hensler.
It is claimed in Caves and Caving, No. I, that our old friend the East Slope Chamber was not entered between 1908 and 1937. This is a curious error, see Y.R.C.J., Vol. V, pp. 226-7. Four parties at least and a good dozen Ramblers had been down, the last, Davis Burrow and Jack Buckley in 1927 (B.A. visit). I should have thought that the discovery and descent of the Boulder Chamber Pot in the same year was worth mentioning as the only notable addition between 1909 and 1935.
South Australia’s Mystery Cave.—One of the excellent Australian illustrated papers is Walkabout, a geographic magazine. A short article, October 1936, gives some information on the above, the author having apparently been inside.
Four miles down from the town of Swan Reach, Murray River, S.A., is a natural arch, 25 feet high, with a large chamber inside and a smaller tunnel beyond. Round two bends are found several tree trunks, ” how they got there must ever remain a mystery, as the bends are right angles and it would be impossible to negotiate them with a trunk one-third the length of these 30 ft. giants.” ” The most peculiar feature is a track moulded clearly in the rock—the track of a cloven hoof—known as the Devil’s Hoof Mark.” Kind of rock not stated.
No cloven-footed animal is known to have existed in Australia. Men are said to have been in 12 miles… Applying the usual factor of safety one may suppose the cavern 2½ miles long.
The Howgill Fells.—Crawford’s article in No. 22 lays emphasis on the steepness and distinctiveness of the group. On thinking over this summer’s visit I am convinced that the Howgill Fells belong to the Lakeland Hills and not to the Pennines, geographicaUy as well as geologically. To take the Shap Fell road as part of the boundary.of the great mass is natural, but Whinfell and Grayrigg Forest to the east of it are characteristic Lakeland fells and form an ” isthmus ” connecting with the Howgills, but for the grand and abrupt gap cut by the Lune.
It is the Rawthey, not the Lune, which ends the S.E. arm of Lakeland, cutting off the Howgill Fells from the very different Pennines. From Fell Head and the Calf on a glorious day the whole of the Pennines from Crossfell to Wildber and Penygent stood out quite distinctly from the
Howgills which appeared quite definitely linked up with the Lakes. Geologically the Howgills are Ordovician with Silurian above, and bear a remarkably close resemblance to the Grassmoor Fells.
I would add that the best way to reach Black Foss is to use Crawford’s early train and rickety bridge at Low Gill, then after passing Fair Mile Farm continue N. with a touch of E. over Far White Stones, to the left bank of Carlin Beck. Keep high above the stream until you meet a large tributary, then descend into Carlin Beck near the junction, whence it is an amusing scramble up the main beck to Black Foss, and so by various routes over the tops to Sedbergh.—J. D. Ellis.
Dalness Forest and Ardgoil.—The National Trust for Scotland acquired of late the Clachaig end of Glencoe running up to the top of Bidean. To this has now been added the far larger area of the Dalness Forest, stretching over the Buchailles and down to Loch Etive. The Scottish Mountaineering Club having secured an option, and raised itself £5,000 with a promise of £3,000 from the Pilgrim Trust, the President appealed last April to the kindred clubs for support. £1,800 was promised in a week or so, and the purchase made. The Y.R.C. contributed £25, besides individual subscriptions.
The Council of the National Trust will not let the forest, but will give free access all the year round. Except oddly enough in some urban districts no common rights exist in Scotland. It is a great thought that the iron ring of private proprietorship in the Highlands is broken and that there are some hills on which one can wander as of right. I had written ” for the first time,” but in S.M.C.J., Vol. XII, p. 323, is recorded that the first National Park already exists—in the Highlands ! It is the Ardgoil Estate, from 1905 the property of the Glasgow Corporation, stretching over the whole peninsula from the skyline S. of Glen Croe, and by a strip from the top of Ben Ime over Rest and Be Thankful. It is extraordinary that I have never heard or read any other mention of it, even when staying at Arrochar or in discussions on National Parks. Botterill tells me that Loch Goil is the most wooded and most beautiful of the Clyde Lochs.
Friends of the Lake District.—Usefurwork has been done in 1937. Buttermere Hause is irretrievably damaged, but a proposal of villa development on Ullswater Was met by valuation of the land and a public spirited purchase of most of it by Mr. Francis Scott.
The Lake District Farm Estates Co. has been formed to buy farms. The Americans have created National Parks by private effort and purchase, see review of Appalachia, and it is only on these lines that anything will ever be done. It is unduly sanguine to expect a Treasury grant, other than in the final stages.
A move is being made to induce the Forestry Commission to plant in the dreary country to the west, instead of further large scale planting which interferes with access to the high fells.
The Westmorland Supply Co. is an Up-to-date body which has laid underground five miles of the Ullswater line to the mines, but it is an atrocity that the Central Electricity Board should state officially that they can only consider mere convenience.
The Mid Cumberland Electricity Co. also is still in the dark ages of industrialism, and the local R.D.C. is incompetent to grapple with it. For the Borrowdale line the consulting engineers, County Council and Society, could not accept their figures. The underground line along the roads would have cost little more than the estimate for defacing the fellsides.
Flight over Everest.—The Pilots’ Book of Everest, published 1936, is very much more interesting than the first book. The two pilots, Clydesdale and MTntyre, give intelligible accounts of the courses of the planes near the peak. On the first flight the down draught forced them to pass between Makalu and Everest, MTntyre having a very narrow escape from touching. On the second flight Mclntyre just went over the peak in a frightful side drift, but Clydesdale could not quite reach Everest, having to turn away off the south face.
My previous impression was that of photos of Everest there were practically none resulting, but this book shows that some have been discovered. There is one opposite p. 154 which shows apparently the top 700 feet of the N. face, and which suggests there is a longish ridge behind the summit.
The book is well worth reading, giving one a much clearer idea of the ill luck of the expedition as regards weather (if it is ever better), and of the real dangers. Clydesdale criticizes severely the film as released ; having seen it I can appreciate the view that the best things had been cut out.
Legends.—We weary of reading fancies and legends about King Arthur. Historically his existence depends on a 24 line passage in Nennius’ History of the Britons. “Then it was that the magnanimous Arthur, with all the kings and military force of Britain, fought against the Saxons. And although there were many more noble than himself, yet he was twelve times chosen their commander, and was as often conqueror.” The rest of the passage gives the names of the twelve battles, of which only Dubglas in the region Linuis, Cat Coit Celidon, and Cair Lion can lead to anything but wild guesses.
Arthur is expanded into a world conqueror in the fabulous history of Geoffrey of Monmouth, but the legend of Stonehenge contained in that work seems unknown to any but historians. It is, Aurelius, an earlier king, desiring to set up a war memorial at Ambrius near Salisbury, was advised by Merlin to use the Devil’s Dance, a monument of stones in Ireland. Uther was sent over with an army, fought the Irish, dug up the stones and they were duly erected at Ambrius, which can only be Stonehenge.
Compass Variation.—See Y.R.C.J., Vol. VI, p. 346. Besides the Admiralty Chart 3,775 for the Atlantic Hemisphere, complete information is now available for this country through the publication of the results of the last magnetic survey. The lines are placed on a physical map to the scale of one millionth (16 miles to one inch), and the date is the middle of 1933.
In 1938 the variation on Ingleborough will be very close to 12½°, and in 1940,12° 10′, as Gowing calculated. Remember these are minus. Decrease in the North of almost eleven minutes annually. South Welsh caves exactly the same.