Report by Jase Rider
Cavers: Jase Rider (EPC),
Bob Toogood (EPC), Dunka (EPC),
Dave Gledhill, Bernie Maddison, Jon Jones (DyO leader), Mike McCombe
(DyO
leader)
Dunka
and myself set off for a wet and windy South Wales on Friday evening
and arrived
in the remote village of Ystradfellte sometime after 10pm. We were soon
joined
in the New Inn by Bob, Dave and Bernie who had been caving in Daren
Cilau during
the afternoon. As Dunka pointed out, this pub won't win “pub of the
year”,
although it did sell beer so it can't be that bad!
Saturday morning, Dan
Yr Ogof show cave. We were
greeted by Jon and Mike who are leaders for the system. Whether we
would be able
to do the trip or not hung in the balance due to the unsettled weather.
At the
end of the show cave (Bridge Chamber) Jon checked the water levels -
they were
high - but it was deemed just about okay to do the trip (although the
decision
was made to do a round trip rather than attempt to get to the far end
of the
cave which was our original intent).
Bernie on the
Crystal Pool Traverse
Straw columns in
Flabbergasm Oxbow
Green Canal
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Water
levels were up and the first few lakes were deep much to Dunka’s
displeasure (he was carrying a heavy chain we'd been asked to carry to
the further reaches of the cave which will be used to construct a new
ladder). At Lake 4 we turned off right away from the
river. Larger passageway gradually gave way to hands and knees and so
on to the beginning of Long Crawl. This is a mixture of hands and knees
and flat out crawling in a small round phreatic tube which leads to the
head of a pitch with a fixed ladder down in to Gerrard Platten Hall.
Beyond Gerrard Platten Hall the cave really starts to get exciting with
large phreatic passageway - much of it very well decorated. We soon
came to Crystal Pool which we traversed on a fixed line to take a
detour up Flabbergasm Oxbow - excellent formations including straw
columns.
Retracing our
steps back to Crystal Pool we carried on up Grand Canyon and passed the
interesting Candle Wax formations (see photo below). After a short bit
of easy caving we reached Cloud Chamber (huge collections of long straw
stal appear like clouds in the roof of the cavern). A slightly tricky
climb then leads to the Green Canal which is long and deep (and cold!).
By now I was carrying the chain. I stuck a couple of empty plastic
bottles in the tackle bag and tied the whole lot to a conveniently left
rubber inner tube to float it through the canal. After the canal we
followed Go Slower Passage eventually leading to Bat Chamber which is
where we left the ladder chain. From here we retraced our steps, but
not quite as far as the Green Canal. From here we turned right and soon
the passage fell away into the depths of a large chamber - "The Abyss".
The climb down into the chasm is part handline, part ladder (recently
installed by Jon and Mike – very nice job). We were now in the lower
series of the system and the awkward 'Camels Back' was followed by some
fine phreatic tubes, large and clean washed, some with more recent
vadosing in the floor. Parts of this section can flood to the roof as
fresh foam on the roof testified. After a nice bit of caving we were
back at Gerrard Platten Hall, and we carried on out the way we had come
in, via Long Crawl and eventually out through the lakes (fortunately
they hadn’t got any deeper while we had been in the cave). This had
been an excellent trip in an outstanding cave – I would highly
recommend it to anyone who hasn’t done this trip yet.
After a pint and
a chat with Mike and Jon, we went back to Ystradfellte and walked down
river to have a look at the impressive entrance to Porth Yr Ogof (see
photographs below). We finished the evening by having a few pints in
the New Inn (which luckily was a bit more 'happening' than the night
before!).
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Click on the
images above to enlarge.
1. Jase Rider
and candle wax formations
in the Grand Canyon.
2. Bob, Dave and Bernie at Porth
Yr Ogof.
3. Porth Yr Ogof Resurgence Cave.
4. Porth Yr Ogof entrance chamber.
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