Connection Choke Collapsing

The boulder choke at the bottom of the fixed ladders in JH, leading through to the boulder piles has seen significant movement. A large area of roof now looks very unstable, and there has been a lot of rock fall into the passage. The scaffold frame looks to have bent and shifted. The floor is now highly unstable, with a constant flow of small rocks with the water, and larger stuff moving if stood on. We cleared the passage below, but there was too much loose stuff for us to tackle today and it is still on the move.

UPDATE 25/04/2010:

Nigel Ball and Dave Shearsmith were at Boulder Piles today and witnessed a boulder approximately 0.5 cubic metre fall from the choke while they were below it in the main passage. They had not been through the choke so it must have been dislodged buy the JH stream which flows down through it. BEWARE!

UPDATE 01/05/2010:

A closer investigation reveals that the diverted water from J.H. has found a new route down through the choke eroding out smaller bits of debris causing some of the bigger stuff to run in. It looks to have stabilised its self but the stream continues to work on it so caution is advised.

Exploration Update.

The total length discovered to date in the Eldon extensions is 283m. A mud sump was found at the bottom of the very tight Nun's chuff pot, the sump at the end (the worst dive base in Derbyshire) is still being dived. Poundland at the very end has a good outward draught but again is very tight with very restricted stacking space. The trip to the end is fun although it has got to be one of the grottiest trips in Derbyshire! A dry by-pass (Turtle Bypass) has been created to ensure no one gets stuck beyond the low arch in the Pool Chamber Sump. A number of leads still exist in the Eldon extensions and work continues.

Vandalism.

Daryl Godfrey reported on 6th. April that there had been serious and deliberate vandalism in Giants Hole - the affected area is the terminal chamber of Wet Inlets. This is an area which is not particularly easy to access since it involves a climb and squeezes and so is probably beyond the scope of punters with a head torch.

The vandals have apparently used a rock to break off metre-long sections of stal, which have smashed on hitting the floor. Other formations from the same chamber have been snapped off and removed, leaving a scene of destruction in what was once a hidden gem. Daryl comments that the chamber floor is a scene of calcite genocide. Giants Hole is an SSSI, and so protected by law, and is also one of the caves being monitored by cavers on behalf of Natural England. Some of the stal. in Giants has been dated and is being specifically monitored and NE are anxious to establish whether the damage affects any of these crucial areas.

We are appealing to all cavers to help us catch the culprits so we need to know, if possible, on what date the damage was done.

Thanks for your help.

Jenny Potts, Hon. Sec. Derbyshire Caving Association