Cave Abstracts

United Kingdom

Lancaster Hole and Easegill Caverns. The Transactions of the Cave Research Group of Great Britain, Vol. IX, No. 2, pages 61 to 123. 15 photographs, 2 maps, 25/- to non-members; by J. Eyre and P. Ashmead. March 1967.

The C.R.G. is to be congratulated on this really excellent production. When one considers the complexity of the whole Easegill system, comprising more than 10 miles of passage, much of it still actively undergoing change, it is not surprising that over 20 years elapsed between the discovery of Lancaster Hole in 1946 and the publication in 1967 of the results of exploration and survey. The description makes interesting reading throughout, not an easy achievement when writing about so vast a succession of passages, chambers, rifts, potholes and sinks.

The report finishes with an account of the geology of the area and of the origin and development of the caverns. The gridded map on a scale of 133 feet to the inch gives a very good picture of the extent of the caverns; it is evident that much still remains to be done. It is a shameful factor that in describing the many beautiful formations it has been necessary on several occasions to mention irreparable losses due to the carelessness of some cavers and in certain cases to outright vandalism.

Eastwater, near Priddy, Somerset. The Daily Telegraph for 23rd August, 1967, describes how aerial photographs led students from Bridgwater Technical College, led by J. Cornwell of the Wessex Cave Club, to the discovery of an important new cave at Eastwater on a site known as Sludge Pit Hole. They had three days’ hard digging before they got into a fissure opening into a series of chambers and rifts linked by passages which now are already known to extend to 2,500 feet.

Cave Psychology and All That. R. D. Leaky in the Autumn 1967 number of The Speleologist, tries to explain why we pothole. In an amusing 4,000 word essay he does not really succeed in bringing us very much nearer to the answer, except perhaps that women go potholing largely in pursuit of men, but that it does not take long for the more sensible ones to realise that of all sports potholing shows them in the worst light—in more senses than one.

British Caving Expedition to Morocco, 1966. J. A. Cunningham, Bulletin No. 75, July 1967, of the British Speleological Association, gives an account of the work of this expedition whose object was to connect two large cave systems, the Chikker and the Friquato near Taza. This was as nearly achieved as was possible without extensive digging and blasting through a boulder choke estimated as being 1,200 feet long.

Keeping in Step—Away from It All. Professor J. N. Mills, New Scientist, 9th February, 1967, tries to use the prolonged sojourn, alone, in caves, of various people in recent years to draw conclusions about the circadian rhythm, or “biological clock” in man. He only quotes the results obtained in one case, that of Lafferty, and the results are by no means conclusive. To potholers the main interest of the article is the list of persons who have submitted themselves to this peculiar form of masochism.

M. Siffre	1962	62 days	Scarasson, Italy.
G. Workman	1963	105 days	Stump Cross, England.
T. Senni	1964/65	125 days	Ardon, Jura, France.
D. Lafferty	1966	127 days	Boulder Cavern, Cheddar, England.
J. Mairetet	1966	153 days	Montagne de l’Audibergue, Grasse, France.

Swinsto Hole, Kingsdale. In November 1965 a member of the Leeds University Union Speleological Society removed a few rocks from where the stream sinks in the terminal chamber of Swinsto and gained access to a small stream passage. This was not then pushed to its limit, but in June 1966 a Leeds University party went on and discovered the New Kings-dale Master Cave. Since then passages in the new system have been penetrated to a total length of nearly two miles and cave divers have joined Rowten Pot and Yordas Cave to the system. Undoubtedly the finest find in North Yorkshire this decade. Tatham Wife Hole, Chapel-le-Dale. Brandon, Lyon and Hoofe, in the Summer, 1967, edition of The Speleologist, describe the discovery and exploration by members of the Earby Pothole Club and Club y Ddraig Goch of an extensive new hole on Tatham Wife Moss above the old Ingleton granite quarries. Much excavation was necessary to effect an entrance from the original shake-hole; the main passage length is now about 2,000 feet. The end is a sump where prospects for diving seem good.

South Wales Caving Club’s 21st Anniversary. To celebrate its coming of age this Club has produced a fine 260-page Volume describing some of its more important activities since its formation in 1946. There is a detailed account of the work done in Ogof Ffynnon Ddu, including sensational digs in unstable boulder chokes, not without narrow escapes from serious trouble. A section on the discovery and exploration of Dan-yr-Ogof quotes at length from Ernest Roberts’ article in Y.R.C. J., Vol. VII, No. 23, 1938, and carries right on to the discovery of Dan-yr Ogof III and “The Far North” in 1967. There is an interesting description of the Early and Middle Bronze Age finds in Tooth Cave, Gower.

The last 150 pages are devoted to the Club’s 1964 and 1966 expeditions to Balinka Pit, near Plaski in Croatia, 75 Km. south of Karlovac. An immense amount of engineering work was necessary to bottom this 720 foot pot; the members of the expeditions have made lively and entertaining contributions to the story of the difficulties met and successfully overcome. There is a valuable report on the biospeleological work. By no means the least important result was the deep friendship formed between the Club and the members of the Croation Speleological Club.

Photography in Caves. In the Spring, 1967, issue of The Speleologist J. M. Woolley gives a description of the work done by the 22-man photographic unit which accompanied the British 1964 Expedition to the Gouffre Berger. Dr. Woolley was in charge of still photography; he outlines the many difficult problems, most of them caused by water vapour in various forms, and how they were tackled. There are some excellent examples of his photographs.

Northern Biospeleological Research Station. Newsletter No. 9 of the Pengelly Cave Studies Association announces the installation of this research station in an old mine level near Skipton. More information can be obtained by those interested by getting in touch with D. T. Richardson, 5 Carleton Terrace, Skipton.

Gaping Gill. The Daily Telegraph for 5th June, 1968, reports the discovery by seven members of the Bradford Pothole Club of a mile long passage in Gaping Gill. It was found by chiselling through a wall and crawling through liquid mud with only six inches of air space.

Belgium

Rabies. Bulletin No. 30 of the Equipe Spéléo de Bruxelles quotes a French journal as stating that certain caves in America, Yugoslavia and Turkey have been closed to cavers who have not been vaccinated against rabies on account of the possibility of being bitten by the Pipistrelle bat, a newly discovered carrier of this disease. New Scientist, 13th June, 1968, asks whether it is likely that the belfries, barns and bat caves of Britain will become radiation centres. The reply from Dr. Radovanovic, Regional Officer for Communicable Diseases of the World Health Organisation, was “Certainly not—at the moment”.

A New Peg. A description is given in No. 33 of the same Bulletin of the “Spit-roc” peg for cave walls where natural belays are not to be found. This is a cylindrical peg with serrated teeth which is first used with a mandrel to make a hole; the peg is then withdrawn, removed from the mandrel and replaced in the hole with a cone inserted into the forward end. When this is again hammered into the hole the cone makes the teeth expand and grip the rock. An eye or a plate can be screwed into the outer end of the peg to hold a ladder or etrier.

Switzerland

Das Holloch (The Hell Hole), von 1961 bis 1967. Die Alpen, 3rd Quarter, 1967, page 139, 5 photographs and plan, by Dr. Alfred Bogli.

This cave is situated in the Muotatal, Canton Schwyz. Exploration and survey were started in 1949 by Hugo Nihilist of the Pilatus Section of the S.A.C.; by 1959 it was thought that major discoveries in the cave had come to an end, there were about 70 Km. of known passages and the overall depth was about 400 metres. Since 1960 exploration has been carried on under the leadership of Dr. A. Bogli. Work can only be done in winter because the cave has a tendency to flood during the warmer months of the year; even in winter a careful watch has to be kept on the meteorological reports.

By the end of the 1964/65 season the total length of passages had risen to 80,927 metres and the depth to 450 metres; in the following season the depth, at 565 metres had surpassed by 61 metres that.of the hitherto deepest Swiss cave, the Gouffre de Chevrier, near Leysin, and had placed the Holloch among the 15 deepest holes in the world. By mid-March 1967 measured passages had reached a total of 93,336 metres and the difference in level inside the cave 577 metres, thus placing it 13th in the world order of depth. Innumerable problems remain still to be solved; little is known of the fauna of the cave, though 38 species have been counted, two of which are peculiar to the Holloch.

The Karst Region of Mayen-Famelon. In Stalactite, the Journal of the Sociètè Suisse de Spèlèologie, for September 1966, Maurice Audetat gives a general review of this region which is near Leystin in the Canton of Vaud. A list is given of the known caves under 7 distinct zones, one of which, Combe de Bryon, contains the Gouffre Chevrier, now the second deepest pothole in Switzerland. There is still much to be done in this region.

Longest and Deepest. Stalactite, September 1966, publishes a list, prepared by the Union Internationale de Speleologie, of the longest and deepest caves in the world; a shorter list, bringing the information up to date as far as possible and giving in addition lists of the longest vertical drops and of the highest caves, in altitude, is given in the December 1967 issue of the same journal. The longest is the Hölloch, 93,336 metres (58 miles) and the deepest is Gouffre de la Pierre St. Martin in the Pyrenees, 1152 metres. The longest vertical drop, 326 metres, is in the Sotano de Las Golondrinas (Sierra Madre), Mexico, and the highest cave is at 6660 metres on Nanga Parbat. The only British caves mentioned are Agen Allwedd, 14,400 metres and Easegill Caverns, 14,100 metres, which occupy 19th and 20th places in the length table.

Conventional Signs for Use by Speleologists. The December 1966 issue of Stalactite is devoted entirely to the Conventional Signs agreed at the IVth International Congress of Speleology held at Ljubljana, Yugoslavia in September 1965. A full list of the signs is given, divided into three groups: —

(1) Signs for surface use.
(2) Signs for large systems on a small scale.
(3) Signs for small cavities on a larger scale.

Exceptionally, reproduction in full of this issue is permitted by the Editors of Stalactite. There are copies in the Y.R.C. Library.