Cave Exploration

New Discoveries

Ireland Co. Fermanagh—Y.R.C. Meet, May, 1959.

Killesher—Monastir Sink.—
1.   Cave 50 ft. from top of Monastir Sink, in north east corner. The entry passage runs northwards for 80 ft. sloping down at an angle of 40 degrees, then a 20 ft. pitch sloping at 80 degrees. The passage continues running north—south, the south branch leading back towards the cliff face is choked by a boulder fall after 20 ft. The north branch goes down through a small chamber to a 22 ft. pitch ending in a still deep pool about 10 ft. wide and 25 ft. long from which there is no visible exit. Water level about 80 ft. below the entrance.

2.  The stream running into the west opening at the base of the cliff was followed to the siphon which had stopped previous parties. A climb 20 ft. up a crack on the right hand side of the passage leads to a pressure hole which goes down into the passage on the other side of the siphon. This runs for 12 ft. due north then turns north-east to a pool 2 ft. deep with only 6 inches air space; beyond this pool a 12 ft crawl leads into a small chamber 20 ft. high, 20 ft. long and 10 ft. wide with a pool going down from a beach to a depth of about 6 ft. A passage 2 ft. 6 ins. wide, with the roof about 18 ins. under water leads out of this pool. Two men swam this underwater for about 8 ft. and found a passage 18 ins. wide filled with very deep water and about 10 ft. of air space, which could be seen to go on for some 20 ft. to a sand bar

Killesher—Pollbwee. Main section as described in Y.R.C Journal. Vol. 3, No. 9.  Extension to system.—The lake at the bottom of the pitch was swum and a passage was found running off in a northerly direction for 180 ft. finishing in a sump.

Killesher—New Pot. 180 ft. due north of Cat Pot. First pitch 20 ft. very tight, one wall solid rock, the other jammed boulders, leads to a boulder slope about 30 ft. long at an angle of 45 degrees. Halfway down is an old stream passage to the south ending in a round block after 30 ft. The main stream passage runs south to north. The stream can be followed southwards for 15 ft. to a boulder block. To the north the passage runs for 250 ft. to a siphon. At 150 ft. a passage on the west side of the main stream passage turns north after a few feet and can also be followed for about 250 ft. until roof meets water.

Florence Court—Pollnagollum. From the farthest point reached by previous expeditions a passage 1 ft. 6 ins. wide with deep water and a high roof was followed, in exposure suits, for 12 ft., at which point a screen came down to within 9 ins. of the water. The passage goes on beyond the screen for 25 ft. and opens out into a pear-shaped chamber 30 ft. long, the end of which is blocked by an impassable boulder jam.
Killesher—Pollasumera. The lake was found to be dry. To the west of the lake a wide low passage was followed for 170 yds., it then turns due south and after 7 yds. is nearly blocked by a large calcite formation; a second calcite formation 12 yds. further is impassable, but the passage can be seen to slope down sharply beyond this point. Twenty yards back a small hole leads into another passage which after about 20 yds., and including 2 S-bends, leads to a high rift passage and a climb of 16 ft. over jammed boulders. Seven yards beyond this there is a very tight pitch of 30 ft., at the top of which there are jammed boulders which are not very secure. At the bottom of this pitch the passage runs north, descending down steep mud slopes about 100 ft. to a stream passage running north and south which was not explored.

Killesher—Marble Arch. A swim of 44 yds. in the ” final” pool of Skreen Hill Passage led to a rock curtain coming down to within 18 ins. of the water. On the other side of this screen the passage continued for 10 yds. to a vertical wall. A fissure 2 ft. 6 ins. wide in the left-hand corner branched after 6 ft. into two passages. The right hand one, going in the same direction as the stream, runs for 23 yds., when the roof comes down to within 4 ins. of the water.
The left hand passage turns and runs in the opposite direction to the main lake passage; after 13 yds. it is blocked by a series of rock curtains.
Gortntaconnel—New Hole. A mile east of Ratthng Hole on a small hilltop. Descent hi north east corner of a sink with 3 fluted holes. There are two 20 ft. pitches with a steep 12 ft. boulder slope between them. The bottom is closed by a boulder jam.

J. Lovett.

Leek Fell—Lost Johns’ Cave.  Extension to Master Cave. After the dry summer of 1959 a Y.R.C. party was able to swim under the roof barrier which was hitherto considered the end of the Master Cave. They reached shallow water in a fine rock passage which they followed for 1,000 ft. to a large mud bar. Beyond this a further lake continued for 100 ft. ending in a small pear-shaped sump.

S. W. Stembridge.

Belgium.
Grotte de Hotton-Hampteau, 1958. Discovered iii 1958 in a working quarry and first explored by the Spéléo Club de Belgique. Partly surveyed. Length of known part 1,370 m., depth 600 m. Two series of passages, upper and lower, run parallel and are connected at 3 points.

Grottes de Han, 1959. Members of the Brussels cave-diving group have penetrated a 15 m. siphon and discovered two new sets of passages and chambers with fine formations. A second and more difficult siphon remains to be attacked.

Ahime de Nettive, 1959. Rediscovered by University of Brussels, signs of earlier penetration. Length 60 m. Depth 27 m. Closed by lakes. Surveyed.

France.
Le Gros Aven, Verdon, Var, 1958. Exploration by strong Belgian party, 1st-15th August, 1958. Survey and photographs.

Italy.
Alpi Marittime. Upega. Grotte Caracas, 1957.  The speleolo­gical Club of Paris descended 19 pitches to a total depth of 346 m., with object of finding a possible link-up with Piagga Bella on the other side of Monte Marguaries. The system goes on, but the exploration had to be abandoned owing to shortage of equipment. A member of the Y.R.C. took part in the expedition.

H. G. Watts.

Kettlewell—Dow Cave and Providence Pot—July 8th, 1960. In view of the growing notoriety of this system due to numerous calls on the Cave Rescue Organisation, I enclose the following notes. I recently completed the through route in a party of three, one of whom knew part of the route quite well, and we took 7½ hours, hard going all the way.

Entering Dow Cave the first section was easy; we carried our potholing gear and clothes and wore as little as possible to avoid getting wet through at ” the Duck.” In normal weather only head and shoulders can pass through above water into the main Dowber Gill Passage. However, due to the drought it was only waist-deep. The passage narrowed immediately, and we dressed in a confined space.

The passage follows the stream and varies in height between 20 and 40 ft. It is vital to keep as far above the water as possible. If in doubt about the route, keep up! Never go down to the stream as it is deep and impossible to follow the whole way through.

Now we began to traverse and the next 5½ hours were spent bridging an interminable greasy fissure with few or no holds. With our backs to one wall and feet on the other we shuffled along. The water rushed 10 to 20 ft. below, and we knew that a slip would be disastrous; it would be impossible to climb out of the stream or from a jammed position. Occasionally a large boulder jam would cause a climbing problem, and an element of teamwork was necessary.

The ” Gypsum Traverse,” as this section is called, continues into the ” Terrible Traverse ” which lives up to its name. Here the passage was sometimes so wide that we were at full stretch to bridge it; at other times the gap was so narrow that the length of a boot jammed in it, and occasionally the passage was so tight that helmets had to be removed to squeeze through. Any bag of any sort would have been a hopeless handicap. I carried all my carbide, food, candles, matches, etc. in tobacco tins in my pockets. The rock on either side of the passage was either smooth and slippery, or rotten and crumbly, and there was an alarming amount of loose rock about.

After about 4 hours underground we began to feel very tired from continued traversing. There were few rest places, and every time we stopped moving we began to slide towards the stream, and it was a tremendous effort to ” chimney ” back up again. By this time we expected to be near the half-way mark, “800 yds. Chamber”, but we were not toknowthat itwould take us another 2 hours’ traversing to reach this point.

After an eternity we came across ” 800 yds.Chamber “, feeling very leg weary, but knowing that the worst was over. The second half was considerably easier. “Bridge cavern” was passed quickly, followed by ” the Crawl” a long and very tight section which took us away from the stream, and into Providence Pot itself. Several little climbs tested the remainder of out-strength but by helping each other we were quickly out.

It should be noted that the first half in distance took roughly four times as long as the second half, due to the long and arduous traverses, in constant danger throughout both from loose rocks above, and the possibility of falling into the fissure below.

D. W. Stembridge.