Bagshawe Cavern

Upstream Sump 1 Dig (Sam's Dig)
For information contact Sam Townsend.

Introduction by Jules Barrett - 10/05/2007
Time continues to be put in by a number of Eldon members at the EPC's Sump 1 dig in Bagshawe Cavern. The dig is located in the upstream sumps between the old Sump 1 (which is no longer a sump in the summer season) and Sump 2. A very slippery, muddy passage leads uphill and eventually breaks into a small aven where a large amount of stabilisation work has been done over the last three years. See photo on left. The far end of the aven is currently a boulder choke with some sizeable boulders. See photo on right. The only possible route on would seem to be through this boulder choke.

Update by Sam Townsend - 01/08/2008
On July 31st 2008, after 4 years of digging, Sam Townsend and Bog Bergmann, accompanied by Dave Cowley, John Taylor, Jules Barrett, Sam Pemberton and Jon Pemberton pushed up through the choke at the end of the small aven into a large rift chamber. Named "Paternity's Fault" after the fact that nearly all the diggers have had children during the course of the dig, which has been a bit of a hindrance. Sam and Jules free climbed an estimated 50 metres up the rift (a bit like the West Swirl Passage in Oxlow, but steeper). Unbelievably - the rift looks to be blind at the top. There looks to be a floor level continuation that draughts but it's going to require some serious digging. Since the discovery work has been done to stabilise the choke which was in danger of running in. Anchors and fixed ropes have been installed to the top of the aven and the next job is to survey the new find.

Glory Hole Underwater Dig
For information contact John Taylor.

Introduction by John Taylor - May 2007
John Taylor (EPC), Simon Brookes (OCC) and Simon Cornhill (CDG) are pushing the upstream end of the Glory Hole in Bagshawe Cavern. Three dives were made during March 2007 to strengthen the scaffold frame that had been built by Simon Brookes some years ago. Visibility is particularly bad here and work will continue during the summer.