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.
- Details
- Written by: Jon Pemberton
- Hits: 3051
Just Rob and I (TAP) on this evening's escapade back in Cussey after a few weeks break in IDM, I was keen to get back and see how the boys had progressed with the Shattered Dreams dig. Lurking in the far Western extensions some 5 mins from the entrance. After a couple of pre-beers we made our way through to the dig. Rob described it as, "we need to cap the shit out of the floor!" So once there Rob set himself up at the base of the pot with me perched a metre above amongst the boulders. Luckily the draught was small tonight compared to what the lads have normally expressed which meant I wouldn't get too cold sat about.
Rob started capping and within minutes had the bar stuck! This seemed to be the theme for the next 30min as everything he did seemed to bugger up. I told him to increase the dose and things soon started to go his way albeit after hilariously lobbing a hammer down the unexplored hole below never to be seen again. Shortly after the removal of two large boulders Rob deemed the squeeze passable and passed everything back up and placed a bolt to secure a ladder just in case, then attempted the squeeze. He spent approx 1 min trying to turn his head through the squeeze it being just about helmet sized and suddenly he just popped through.
FIRST BREAKTHROUGH OF 2021!!!
Rob was through... standing in a funnel of boulders at the head of a short pitch leading down to some chocked boulders. He dug out the squeeze from below which was much easier and then we de-rigged the ladder to use below, luckily I found an extra through-bolt in my oversuit pocket as Rob had only brought the one. I squeezed through to join him beyond with the ladder. He guided me down so I didn't fall down the pitch as he whooped away super excited convinced we'd accomplished a goal we set out to achieve years ago, if not we'd discovered something pretty significant in Stoney, again. We had a quick look around this upper chamber which was superbly decorated with some large straws and beehive slopes but got carried away and sacked off the lead heading west for the big space below, worried we might not be able to reach the floor.
Jon in the breakthrough chamber
Happy Jon
We gingerly climbed down to the chocked boulder platform and could see a boulder floor at least 10m below us. Rob sparingly placed our last bolt albeit a little too high as we were still some 5m from the floor at the bottom but luckily it was easily climbable. The walls were smothered in calcite down here and in front of us heading east was a large boulder slope which seemed very out of character as it was a little too clean for the place. We decided to head west as west is the place to be in this place. A further climb down a boulder slope amongst a huge fallen beehive formation led to an enticing black hole below. I went for a quick look see and after cobbing a rock from above the whole floor dropped from where I was stood. Rob seemed keen and pushed down through the hole to a not so nice void below but a promising looking dig in the floor which was draughting on a night with little draught - Impending Doom!
We both safely exited this area and headed west at this level to a pretty chamber with large straw formations and a dig in a small tube heavily blocked with stal which we aptly named The Pearly Gates due to its resemblance to the dig in Eyam Dale House Cave, this was draughting inwards. We went a short way back and climbed up and over on some delicately balanced calcited rocks which felt flimsy. A short bridge over a deep hole gave access to a further boulder slope up to a higher level chamber. Here a boulder blockage and a low muddy slope stopped us progressing any further west.
Jon climbing back up to the bottom of the ladder
Back East at the bottom of the pitch we climbed the clean washed boulder slope to a large boulder lined floor section. Here a couple of inlets led in from above and a couple of dodgy ways led off through the boulder floor. Rob pushed the first one and after a few minutes and a jump completed the first and only round trip in this extension which led back to an aven in Impending Doom. I pushed the second hole thinking I'd hit it big. I could see a cross rift below me which was wide open and what I thought was a pick axe resting on a boulder (it was only a rock). After moving a few boulders and scaring myself Rob inserted himself and with brut strength moved a large boulder just enough for it to be out of the way and hopefully not block us in the new extension. Rob pushed down into the rift and I quickly followed him and then passed him, a climb over a boulder led to a short free-climbable pitch. From here we traversed the tight awkward rift over a further pitch which we could down climb from beyond to a draughting muddy dig in the floor amongst a large fin of rock.
It was now getting late so we started to make our way out, it was only meant to be a 2hr trip which had now doubled. It was now 10pm when we reached surface, super excited with over 100m found and 3 enticing leads.
Rob returned on 7th December and surveyed the place, plus also confirmed that both the Impending Doom and Pearly Gates leads were draughting out really well. The former is now seemingly only 10m away from known passage!
Click on image for PDF
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 2038
Friday 4th Dec – Rob & Jeff
Another Lockdown duo to continue down Shattered Dreams. The end of last trip was starting to look really good so we excitedly (and unfortunately very optimistically) took a short rope and SRT kits to the dig. A breakthrough however did not happen as all we really managed to do was move a bit of stuff out and then collapse two huge boulders back into the dig. Need to return with lots of caps!
Friday 11th Dec – Rob & Jeff
The duo returned with lots of caps, a bigger bucket, and no SRT gear! Roughly 20 holes later and lots of fighting with large boulder pieces we had cleared the “pitch head” and boy the draught is big now, even with the entrance lid shut (which we do now to try to keep us warmer!). However the pitch is through/down a narrow slot that is currently too small to get through.
Before - During - After
It does look good beyond though, definitely bigger, and at least 5m of pitch, maybe 10. Get the feeling that Doom is not far away now!
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 1888
19th Nov - Rob & Jeff
Pre-beers made the lightweight Frenchy fumble his way to the dig very ungracefully, but his poor performance was balanced out by me forgetting the hammer like a proper idiot. Capping away at the large boulders in the floor proved very hard work. One really big boulder seems to be holding one whole wall up but there’s not really enough space to work down the side of it.
Nearing the end of the trip we had a bit of rethink and decided that it was make or break time for the dig, so I started to have a go at the northern wall to see how unstable it was. Turns out it was very unstable and not only did it mostly bury my legs but the sound of rocks falling away in the distance below was very very encouraging.
26th Nov - Rob & Jeff
Easy plan this week, no pre-beer for Jeff, especially after giving blood an hour previous!
On the way in we installed two wooden stemples in Coconut Airways which have made that climb at least a little bit easier for my unfit lockdown body. After the collapse last week the first hour or so was very easy work, the only hard bit was for Jeff finding space for all the spoil. Thankfully that shouldn’t be a problem for much longer as a hole has opened up into the top of a rift. Access is still restricted by a few big boulders but rocks rattle away for quite a long way, with quite echoey sounds suggesting it gets at least a little bigger down there. Such a big draught coming out, it’s hard to stay warm. I tried capping the boulders but one was proving very troublesome so we need to return to have another go.
We only heard from the others once we got home, sounds like they also had a successful time down IDM (http://www.eldonpotholeclub.org.uk/homepage/current-uk-projects/intake-dale-mine/425-freedom-26-11-2020). Me thinks there’s gunna be fight what we do next week….
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 2060
Rob and Jeff
Now that lockdown 2.0 has restricted our Teams to a maximum of two, the others did their own things whilst me n Jeff started afresh in Cussey. Back when we initially broke through we had two teams working, one at the Eastern front and one at the Western front. The Eastern dig went quickly and became “the way on” and the other dig (Shattered Dreams) was put on hold. Now that most of the leads in the lower stuff have dried up we decided to go have another poke at Shattered Dreams. This is the closest point to Doom, sitting 30m above and 16m horizontally to the south of a large rift cavern found back in 2012. Mostly importantly the draught in the far section of Cussey is the strongest in any part of the cave, so a connection must be close, right?
There’s a few different ways on in Shattered Dreams but the decision was made to continue sinking a shaft in the floor in a small cross rift. Here hopefully the location just slightly away from the main rift should keep us clear of the worst of the big scary boulders. The going was pretty slow as the conditions are restricted and the mud and rocks are pretty jammed in, but nevertheless Jeff pulled a good 90 minute shift whilst I worked out where to put all the spoil.
Jeff having too much fun shifting mud
I then took over and instantly caused much of it to collapse, which at least made conditions a bit easier! Soon we unfortunately unearthed a large boulder right in the way which needed capping. This was slightly disheartening. However once removed the clean-washed openness below with a huge draught coming up reinvigorated us both and the scene is now nicely set for the next trip. Breakthrough doesn’t look imminent, but it’s still making the right sounds at least…
- Details
- Written by: Rob Eavis
- Hits: 2095
Rob, Jon, Luke, Jeff
Last trip before lockdown so we had to make it count. Quick, socially distant beers in the car park then straight to it. I went on ahead to push a lead left from last time in Walsernice, whilst Jon used the other two monkeys to get a photo looking down NCA Pitch.
Jeff on NCA Pitch, by Jon
The lead is a tight rift down in the floor, hidden underneath some loose boulders which had scared Luke last week. I cleared them all away and slipped down to the end that Jon had got to. Here the main rift is choked with boulders but a tight window through into cross rift looks like it might be open beyond. I used my bolting hammer to widen the window very slightly then posted myself through and down. The far end of the cross rift got too small, but back under the climb down it was just wide enough to get back into the main rift and carry on down. Tight and loose, this went down for another 5m before it got really tight with solid bedrock either side. The rift did seem to widen another 5m down but didn’t look very enticing and had no noticeable draught.
Meanwhile the boys had finished photoing and I asked Jeff to head down the Black Rift. We could hear each other very clearly through the boulders in front, but had no light connection. The survey proves that I was about level with Jeff so the rift below is the lowest in the area. I started surveying out, whilst Jeff headed over to the Movie Room. When I got up to near the cross rift we had a light connection and sounded very close, but it was far too tight for either of us to progress slower.
By the time I got all the way out (after getting partially stuck for a while) the others had popped off to the far end of Walsernice and were poking about in the roof at a dig I’d written off on the day we found all this. Therefore I bumbled off on my own to find some new cave and better company. I headed back to a draughting gap between boulders in the Rocky Horror choke which we’d found on 8th October. 5 minutes digging and I was through into new territory. A couple small boulder chambers (but smaller than that word makes them sound) and then a solid wall which seems to be the far side of the choke. Up to the left was a too tight narrow rift through which I could clearly hear the others on their way back across the Black Rift traverse (their dig had presumably crapped out). I asked them to join me and bring the survey gear and kept poking about. Far up in the roof of the rift I could see through a tight gap into a larger section with what looks like a solid roof. However the draught seems to be coming out of the floor but unfortunately all ways down look like proper projects. This area is directly above the draughting end of the Gloomy Passage below where there was evidence of miners, so there’s a strong chance that a way off into the main mine level exists somewhere near here.
Now all totally covered in mud and Jon getting cold we made our way out. Partial optimism about the US election results upon surfacing balanced out the sad feelings of lockdown starting in 1 hours’ time. Strictly teams of two or less for a month…