A fun-packed weekend based at the Orpheus Caving Club cottage in Monyash, with a selection of caves and mines, SRT and ladder pitches, crystals, geodes and calcite formations and a hearty mix of wet and dry caving adventure.
While some members arriving early enjoyed the scenery of the Peak District National Park with a cycle ride, others put on their SRT kits for an exchange trip within the infamous gaping chasm of Eldon Hole. Two descents were rigged, the North Gully and East Wall, and both teams met at the bottom before heading to Main Chamber for the ascent into Miller’s Chamber and Damocles Rift. This interesting side rift reaches almost back up to the surface and passes through some very sparkly formations along the way. This was rigged by hoisting up a rope up from below, then after fully exploring the wonders above, the teams swapped routes for the journey back up the main shaft.
The ever-popular Giant’s Hole was the destination on Saturday, taking in the delights of the round trip plus a bonus excursion to Geology Pot. This fine stream cave has a variety of different cave scenery, from the easy walking stream passage of the Giant’s Highway to the aptly named Crabwalk and the wet crawls of the Giant’s Windpipe, plus a collection of formations, cascades, crawls, climbs and pitches in between. We rigged Garland’s Pot with a ladder, the Geology Pot pitches with SRT, and the descent back down to the Crabwalk as an SRT pull-through. The day was rounded off with an evening meal and local beers at The Bull’s Head in Monyash before heading back to the open fire at the Orpheus cottage.
A more unusual subterranean adventure took place on Sunday with a through trip from Gentlewoman’s Shaft to Youd’s Level. This linear journey starts from high on Masson Hill and exits near the River Derwent in the popular tourist destination of Matlock Bath below. Though predominately mined, there are also sections of natural passage and a grand array of interesting geology along the way. The trip started with an SRT descent of the Gentlewoman’s climbing shaft, which was rather akin to travelling down the inside of an elephant’s trunk. This was followed by a journey downhill through Old Jant Mine, with a collection of climbs and traverses mixed in with easy walking and some excellent spar crystal formations. Then a section of wet crawls leads through to Youd’s Level, where a short detour was taken to Deep Shaft, an 81m calcite-coated engine shaft. The remainder of the trip was through hand-picked coffin level passages, which were striking to behold and an impressive feat of human effort. The water is followed to where it passes beneath the exit hatch, emerging right next to the public conveniences in the car park where we’d parked our cars. Very convenient indeed! All agreed that was an excellent trip and a fitting end to a very enjoyable weekend.
