Cussey Pot
During Lockdown 2020 a new hole was spotted to draught bigger and stronger than any cave in the Peak. We dug it open and this is what happened....
Full description of the trip can be viewed here.
The current survey can be downloaded from here.
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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We met at Cussey for 6pm, another early start. Joe, Rob and I (Team Neoprene) ready to venture to the Stoney Middleton Master Cave.
We’d faffed enough trying to lower the upstream sump in Race Against Time; syphoning, rock removal of varying varieties, more than you “shek a stick at!” Now the time had come… As Rob had said last week just as we were about to exit the cave, “people are just gonna have to MAN TF UP!” i.e. free-dive the sump – gulp.
My free-diving sump days never really started. I’d done Lake Bassenthwaite in Torca la Vaca (Matienzo) which is a pretty intimidating free-dive but this was way back in my caving career when I used to have psyche! The only other free-dive I’d done (about a million times) is the duck/sump in Gautries Hole, having said that I’ve not free-dived owt in years so it’s safe to say the intimidation was present.
It’d been on my mind most the week building up to the trip, various breath holding exercises and deep breathing which was quickly forgotten about come crunch time. I’d made special effort to repair my holey wetsuit and even bought a 2.5mm neoprene vest to wear under it to keep me warm. The only thing that was going to stop me getting through that sump now was me.
Joe and Rob supped pre-beers whilst I supped water, I was in that deep! We made quick progress through the cave and I remarked on how warm I felt in Vulgarious with the extra layer of neoprene. The sump was most definitely up but luckily the mysterious inlet above the sump had stopped flowing which meant the level was about as low as it could be without un-roofing. Rob gave me his diving mask which I'd specifically asked to borrow, not to see where I was going but to stop water getting up my nose. I faffed somewhat getting it to seal around my face whilst Rob made the plunge through to the large airbell beyond.
I was to dive next…
I got myself in to the sump pool and tried to adjust my body to the temperature of the cold water. My main problem is I’m positively the most “NESH” person I’ve ever met, so once the water was up to my shoulders I could barely take another breath whilst hyperventilating which doesn’t bode well for free-diving. The mask was now making me feel claustrophobic so I hastily chucked it back to Joe and did a couple of under water line pulling exercises from the lip of the sump back to the bolt (mainly to get my head under the water). I think I confused Joe at this point but he assured me it’d be fine. I was getting very close to calling it a day here and Joe had to talk me down once again off the ledge. I asked if he’d be ok going through just to tell Rob I was faffing as the vocal connection is very shit through the inlet but also I could gain a true account of how the sump was as Rob’s very vague when it comes to describing stuff like this. Joe went straight through with no hesitation which made me feel even more inferior. I could hear them chatting on the other side then Joe suddenly reappeared. He clarified how easy it was, about 2 meters length and a quickly rising airspace on the opposite side. With plenty of reassurance I got back in to the sump pool. A few deep breaths and down I went… “THWACKKK!” I cracked my head on the lip of the roof – not a great start. I realigned took a few more breaths and went for it again. Within seconds I felt my helmet rise out of the water and saw a blurry Rob jumping for joy elated that I’d cracked it!
I stumbled off my knees and on to my feet simultaneously high fiving Rob feeling super proud. I think we both couldn’t believe I’d finally done it, Joe appeared behind us and that was it – lets go photo the SHIT out of this master cave.
Winking Passage is the continuation of Race Against Time which eventually hits The Stoney Middleton Master Cave (SMMC) at a t-junction with upstream on your right, downstream on you left, roughly a third of the way up from the downstream sump. I was shocked by the size of Winking Passage and its lovely shape, clean washed walls and vibrant colours. We stomped along while the echo increased and began to boom! I was over the moon to finally be here after months of patiently waiting and digging this was a true moment to cherish. I can only compare the experience to the pioneers who undertook the first exploration trips in Peak Cavern. I’m literally the 6th person to visit SMMC, Rob and Joe having dived through once previously with diving gear for a very brief tour While Rob Middleton, Jack Dewison and Mike Butcher have concentrated all their efforts on doing what they do best – pushing sumps. This humongous piece of cave is literally there for the taking and did I mention it’s in Stoney!
Joe Buck traversing the stream pots, by RobE
We headed upstream first inspecting one of the various leads; a clean washed, choked aven which looked very inviting and from there on I struggled not to trip over my jaw which was hanging somewhere down nearby my feet. Even though the streamway was barely flowing, it’s like someone has copied and pasted a large section of the Peak Cavern Streamway or something from the Dales, definitely not something that should be found in Stoney. its got everything a good streamway should have in all the right places. One of the first things I said to the lads was, “Well John (Beck) got it right – somewhere beyond must lie a large vadose passage heading NW towards the swallets.” I find it hard to put in to words the size/beauty/grandeur of the place and I’m sure in time there’ll be plenty of photos circulating from various different perspectives but yeah - wow!
Joe Buck looking up into an un-entered inlet, by RobE
Jon Pemberton in the main rift passage, by RobE
We continued upstream negotiating a large choke just after a very enticing aven. More stomping and boulder hopping follows before eventually reaching the final chamber with the upstream sump. The lead above the sump didn’t look as enticing to me as it once did looking at a survey but it's certainly an easy climb for when we get around to it. We dropped through the choke and Rob quickly got excited thinking the upstream sump was almost passable. His excitement was short lived as it turns out, the sump had completely silted up leaving only a dive line heading off into a silty floor – meaning we’d need a big flow of water for the sump to re-open. We started our return trip back to the junction, now with Rob leading camera in hand. We stopped at various places along the way whilst he made quick work of snapping glamour shots for Joe's portfolio. Once back at the junction Rob dumped his camera and we headed downstream. We were all pretty chilly at this point (mainly thanks to me) so we legged it down the passage in a bid to warm ourselves up. The downstream section felt like a completely different cave to what we’d just been in. The water flows here at a lower, impenetrable level leaving the upper section feel like a much older part of the cave. We reached a chamber where Rob spotted a roof tube and with a bit of fuckwhittery we managed to post Rob head first in to the entrance. He pushed the body size tube for some way and started to retreat but with the return being much harder than the push he shouted for us to go look at the downstream sump whilst he attempted to exit on his own accord. Joe and I ran down the passage to the sump, the passage had changed once again but for the worse; a gloopy quagmire. We got to 30m from the start of the dive line which showed how much the water has dropped over the summer. We headed back to Rob who was still stuck in the crawl and struggling. Eventually after much faff we finally saw his feet pop out some 3m above us and managed to safely guide them back to the floor. The roof tube was still going but needed some dedicated pushing as it is only just Rob size.
Joe Buck with some scallops, by RobE
Jon Pemberton nearing the upstream sump, by RobE
We made our way back to the sump where Rob briefed me on not faffing as we were all cold. I didn’t hesitate this time and within seconds I was back through feeling safe and somewhat closer to home in RAT. Once all back through the sump we started our return journey to surface an were greeted by a lovely warm night, the only let-down was a certain someone forgetting his post beer so I gratefully shared.
Another cracking trip which I won't be forgetting any time soon.
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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Just Rob and I tonight (TAP) and you know what that means? – Cool shit normally happens.
Well tonight was cursed!
We met early (6pm) expecting the sump to be open and a good stomp around the Master Cave. The first problem was warm beers, closely followed by problem 2 – unable to get wetsuits on! This was really problematic and I managed to nearly de-glove my fingers trying to stretch the neoprene over my sweaty carcass. Temperatures eased once we made our descent, almost a little too cold. We dumped SRT gear at Inglorious and headed for Vulgarious. The pool enroute in The Wet West felt ice cold and it made me wonder how cool the duck would be. We progressed along Vulgarious and popped out in RAT. When I hit the T-junction I felt no extreme draught which seemed a worrying sign and Rob soon hollered up that it was definitely still sumped – Joy! For whatever reason the tube heading over the sump which creates a vocal connection to the airbell upstream was pissing out water! This has never really flown before so quite why it has decided to start in the middle of an extremely dry period is baffling. The only other thing that seems to flow at the moment is For Buck’s Sake and this never seems to change. (Note The Master Cave was barely flowing!)
So with that dampening our horizons we started off drilling the large 16m x 500mm hole for Rob’s tablet. Rob was excited (literally) and with only 30mm to go he had a quick breather to note how hot the drill had got. He continued with his hole and in seconds pulled the drill back out with half the drill bit missing – bugger! He hastily slammed the drill down in front of me and threatened to drown himself in Sump 2. After talking him down off the ledge we didn’t have many more options left for this evening’s trips and it was only 8:15pm. Rob, now angry with the world decided he was going to free dive through sump 2a and rig a hard line for the free dive. He made it look easy, tied to a rope with the drill halfway along said rope – I worried for what seemed like a few minutes but in hindsight was probably 10 seconds. We made vocal contact through the pissing inlet tube but could audibly hear nowt! Next I heard drilling and all seemed ok. Rob soon arrived back with me in RAT declaring it was the best free-dive in Derbyshire. I asked how sump 2b was and he declared that he’d forgotten to look so off he went back through the sump. He ran all the way along Winking Passage to the Junction with the Master Cave just to check it was still there (hence noting the flow in there).
Once Rob was safely on my side of the sump we headed back along Vulgarious and Rob managed to twist my arm and drag me up the Wet West Caverns for a look at the sump at the end and the Ireby Sump Buster. The sump was pretty low but not open. After inspecting the equipment and declaring it doomed I had a quick look at the cross rift which spent a few trips on way back when and noted it looked a lot more enticing than from our previous trip at the back end of last year. Rob noted a draught going up it which he said changes everything (read that as you may).
The return trip was rancid and definitely warranted miner’s knee pads. We retreated for a well deserved pint in The Moon – early night for us, wasn’t the planned trip but could’ve been worse!
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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Just Rob, Sam and I this evening for a potential SMMC trip. Pre beers were essential with the weather and the entrance was blowing a hooley! We quickly made our way down Cussey and along Vulgarious. I was at the sharp end and raced to the upstream sump anticipating it to be draughting with a little bit of airspace but as always this wasn’t meant to be and was greeted with a definite sump! The tiny hole at head height at the entrance to sump was draughting inwards massively which was nice to see as it means the sump's open beyond the airbell.
Plan B – Sam and Rob headed off to survey Rat Roof whilst I made a valiant attempt to remove the dam wall creating the sump. Before Sam and Rob returned I had capped 5-6 times and made very little progress due to the exceptionally hard bedrock which forms the floor of the passage. Rob arrived back and had a go for himself and made a smidge more damage – Ho Hum!
We retreated as we were due an early night (monthly meet). On the way out Rob surveyed Black Draught so we could tie in the BD – Rat Roof debate and headed to The Mechanic’s for refreshments and the Eldon's monthly meet..
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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With the recent realisation of The Doom discovery being nigh on 10 years old followed by a meagre two Pemberton brother riding solo, rather than do anything productive Sammy P and I went for a tour of Doom to mark this awesome milestone!
Armed with only wetsuits (due to the change of plan, Sam didn’t even have Wellingtons or knee pads!) we headed straight for top level Doom. This is found at the end of Loper Lust and is the original entry point to the discovery. I told Sam the fantastic tales of how we thought we were just going to drop in this top level when we found (but not dropped) Inglorious Bastards pitch – oh how we laughed!
We checked out one lead which does indeed require bolting up to but doesn’t look good, then shot off down the ladder to the main line. After a brief pause and photo stop at Static Passage we headed to the end of the pipe caverns to where Rob nearly jumped to his death then retraced our steps for a look at The Black Lagoon. A brief visit to the lower passage with small trickle of water emitting from Elastic Passage we turned around at 10pm and was back to the car for 10:40pm ready for some post cave beverages.
Crazy place! These workings are so extensive its hard to get your head around on a trip like this with many side leads. Needs a good survey really – Rob?
Above and below: Sam in the upper level of Doom
Sam in the Static Passage Squeeze
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- Written by: Joe Buck
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Team: Rob, Jon and Joe
Rob and I had spent the whole week with bated breath patiently waiting to see the destruction from last trips efforts. The possibility of Sump 2 being open again, and therefore allowing non-diver access into SMMC, had also coerced Jon and Luke into joining us so they can have a wonder round the new streamway. I had arrived a little late and so Jon and Rob were pre-beered by the time I arrived, and with no sign of Luke we quickly changed and headed in.
We slithered along the passage approaching RAT excited to see what levels of devastation we’d created. Rob approached first in stunned silence. My hopes began to rise. As it transpired, he was stunned because everything looked exactly as we’d left it - failure. To add insult to injury there was no draft through the sump into SMMC, and further investigation confirmed the water had risen a few more inches and sumped the duck into the airbell. Jon set about starting the siphon back up so potentially it would be lower for the following week. Meanwhile, not wishing to let it get us down too much, Rob and I began to form a better strategy and see if we could be a little less greedy. We formed a plan and set about the lengthy task of drilling. Being already laden with gear, Rob had only packed one battery which promptly ran out just as the last hole was drilled.
Jon had managed to get the siphon trickling and had then set about breaking the wall holding the perched pool in place and had made some progress. It felt a bit ridiculous that so far the most progress had been made by chipping away at it with a crowbar!
With our very short and easy digging trip complete, we made a hasty retreat, all the while Jon was singing Venga Boys “Boom, boom, boom, boom!” with alarming lyrical accuracy, and recalling Eldon stomps of times gone by. We capitalised on an early finish and headed to the Mechanics again to top up our electrolytes and discuss tactics.