Belfry Bulletin Number 246

- 102 BELFRY BULLETIN

ANNUAL DINNER

SEPTEMBER

IMPORTANT NOTICE ------

1968

Let Bob Bagshaw know your choice of meal before

Vol. 22 No.9 No. 246 21st September Bob’s address: - 699 Wells Rd. Knowle, Bristol 4 ________________________________________ SAVE MONEY!!

Discounts may be had at Bryants camping centre of 5% for personal gear.

Show your membership card. A 10% discount may be had for Sub-Aqua Products (Eastleigh) Ltd., 64 Twyford Road, Eastleigh, Hants. Send your order for wet suit material on Club notepaper. ________________________________________

CONTENTS: Club Notes

102

AUSTRIA 1968

103

Outdoors with Hedera

110

SUTHERLAND ‘68

111

Monthly Notes No. 17

114

ALFIE’S SPAELEODES… Work is progressing well. Alfie has made arrangements for the printing and Jock Orr is well underway with the cartoons – I’ve only seen a few but from what I have seen – they are superb!

Publication details later. ________________________________________ The long awaited Caving Report No. 5 is back in print. – HEADGEAR AND LIGHTING The only publication of its kind that covers all forms headgear and the many forms of lighting available. Completely revised by Geoff Bull – 72 pages – PRICE only 5/-.

These are obtainable from Bryan Ellis, Knockauns, Comwich, Nr, Bridgwtaer, Som. or Gordon Tilly at the Belfry.

----------------------------------------------------------------

Hon. Sec: A.R. Thomas Westhaven School, Uphill, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset

Editor: D.J. Irwin, 23 Campden Road, BRISTOL. 3.

BS3 1QA

Don’t forget 1/- p & p. ________________________________________ LATE NEWS: - Eddy Welch is retiring from the Committee. ________________________________________ Guardian reports (19/8/68)..

Seriously injured caver in Berger. Appeal to all potholers in Grenoble area to replace exhausted rescue parties. Injuries are spinal.

Club Headquarters: The Belfry, Wells Road Priddy, WELLS, Somerset, BA5 3AU

- 103 While still in Austria the following report of the BEC Expedition there has just been received from Alan Thomas…

AHNENSCHACHT 1968 A brief description of the Ahnenschacht and its situation appeared in my previous article (1) and I shall be describing it in greater detail later on. This was written whilst still in Austria is intended only to describe our activities and this year’s discoveries.

This year’s party consisted of Mike Luckwill, Dick Wickens and myself who had been there last year with the addition of Alan Thomas (junior), Martin Webster and Ian Daniels. We were accompanied to the Hochogelhutte by Val and Sally Luckwill.

Wise from our experience of last year we decided that it was largely unnecessary to sleep underground, as nothing saps ones moral fibre more efficiently, nor was it necessary to have an enormous carry which equally saps ones physical strength.

On 23 July, Dick, Martin and I carried up to the hole (1½ hours of fairly hard going with heavy packs) sufficient gear to ladder it to Schachthalle which is about 375 feet down. We spent an hour gardening the entrance pitch and the equally dangerous one beneath it. We then went ahead laddering six pitches in all which took us about five hours. We found that these upper pitches were very much wetter than last year, probably because there was snow two days before we started and then rain. It took us about half an hour to get out from the farthest point reached.

The next day all six of us carried to the hole and all except Mike went down. We were able with some difficulty and very wet (we all had waterproofs on) to ladder as far as the Schuppenstufe (650 ft. down).

This is only about 30ft. above the farthest point we reached last year and we got 150ft. more ladder down to this point. This was a seven hour trip but, as yesterday, it did not take very long to get out. When we surfaced it was pouring with rain and very misty. We removed our boiler suits and made our way back to the hut in a record 35 minutes.

We had a tent pitched near the hole which was handy both for the storage of gear and for emergency, had the weather ever been too bad to return to the hut.

The 25th July was a rest day. Mike, Alan, Martin and I carried the remaining 880ft. of ladder and 1,000ft. of rope up to the hole. Dick and Ian went down to Ebensee for supplies. The altitude of the hut, by the way, is greater than Ben Nevis and the hole is situated at 6,100ft.

The next day was extremely wet and it was with great difficulty that we got some of the gear part the way down from Sintertemasse to Schuppenstufe, 170ft. below.

The 26th July was Saturday. Helmuth Planer, his wife and sister in law, Wolfgang Heumer and his fiancé (they were to be married next Saturday) arrived. It was a very wet day. We could not go caving but in the afternoon we all walked over to the Ischler Hut to see Frau Kratke. We were somewhat encouraged to be told that better weather was on its way from Italy.

Sunday morning’s weather was about the same but Dick, Helmuth and I went down the hole early as Helmuth had to be out by mid-day and the others joined us later. Between us we succeed in getting the five bags of gear down to Schuppenstufe.

The next day was occupied in getting gear from Schuppenstufe to Sickerungsstufe (only about 30ft.) and laddering the next pitch which was about 250ft. We rigged a telephone from Sinterterrasse to Sicherungsstufe and used radios from Sicherungsstufe to the bottom of the 250ft.pitch which is known as Schachtgabel. The next day I went down to that point and saw the so-called big shaft for the first time and threw a few stones down. We got 700ft. of tackle down to here.

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The first of August was the day we bottomed what the Austrians describe as the Big shaft. We gave it the name Joseph Shaft after Joseph Kogler our host at the hut. It will be appreciated that we were an extremely small team to be attempting such a hole – about three times deep as Gaping Gill, otherwise very similar to a Yorkshire Pot. It was, therefore, very necessary to spend all these preliminary days getting gear into the cave in preparation for the descent. The upper pitches were 70o slopes and the bags kept snagging. For the first week the weather was very much against us; it improved for the second and the hole became drier but the lower reaches were never very dry.

- 105 We entered the cave at 10am and having nothing to carry we quickly reached Sinterrasse where we left Ian to lifeline us back up the 170ft. pitch. As things turned out he had to stay there on his own for ten hours.

Mike stayed at Sicherungsstufe for nine hours whilst the rest of us proceeded to Schachtgabel. It was not easy to ladder the big shaft; it’s a loose scree slope, though there is solid rock at the lower end round which we are able to tether the ladder. A short way down the pitch a ‘doorway’ gave access to a chamber beneath the scree slope. The first fifty feet was a series of steps, after which the ladder was against the rock for another fifty feet and tended to snag every few feet. Even when it was clear of rock our troubles were not over because I had hardly gone down 150ft. before I came to a great tangle of ladder all depending from one rung. It was easy enough to kick free but the sensation it caused as it hurtled down and the ultimate ‘boing’, rather like a guitar, as it reached the destination and the rest of the ladder took the shock was remarkable.

This happened twice. It proved to be about 300ft. down to a circular ledge about 20ft. across. Going off to the west and then meandering partly south of west was an upstream passage which I followed for about sixty feet before it became too tight. The floor was a distinct vadose trench.

The shaft continued on the east side of the ledge which needed extensive gardening before continuing (as it was one of the ladders was damaged by falling rocks). The next pitch was about 20ft., then a scramble over boulders led to a further pitch, east again, of 15ft. and the bottom of the Joseph Shaft. This last pitch had a very definitive stream pouring down it which I took to be the accumulative drainage for the entire hole.

From here I was able to climb up over some boulders and gain access to a high passable rift passage meandering in an easterly direction which was about 250ft. long before it began to narrow. The floor was a vadose trench which had a stream flowing in it. There was mud on the ledges and signs that the passage took a great deal of water at times. There was abundant botryoidal stal. on the sides as well as an erratic in a form resembling bract fungi of which there were many examples and which I could not remember seeing before.

The passage then narrowed but I did not follow it further as I had spent 2½ hours at the bottom of the Joseph Shaft and it was midnight before we were out of the cave.

At this point some explanation is needed of what happened next. The day before descending Joseph Shaft I had received an insect bite on the wrist which had greatly swollen and turned septic by the day after which was a rest day. The others set out on August 3rd to begin de-tackling. The ladder would not pull up Joseph Shaft (Shades of G.G.! – Ed.) immediately and Martin descended a hundred feet in order to free it. He therefore saw the ‘doorway’ which I had observed when I had been down and decided to have a look through it. He soon confirmed this to connect with the other shaft and he called Mike to come down. Mike entered a tiny passage on the right of the dome-shaped chamber to which the ‘doorway‘gave access and this led into a large rift running at right angles. The rift was heavily decorated – more so than anything we have on Mendip – there were formations coated with formations! This rift was 50yds. Long and gave access to a large passage and further hours of exploration made it abundantly clear that a big system existed. It was decided that it would be necessary to spend an extra day exploring and surveying and therefore the tackle that was not required for this was taken up the 250ft. pitch.

The further exploration of the lateral development took place on Sunday night. An exploring/surveying party consisting of Alan, Martin and Dick were taken down the cave by the support party, consisting of Mike and Ian who came out after they had life lined them down the 250ft. pitch. They entered the cave at 4pm.

The support party was out of the cave by 8.00pm. At 5am the support party left the hut and arrived ay the head of the 250ft. pitch only 15 minutes before the exploring party arrived to be life lined back up the pitch.

All were extremely tired and much of Monday was spent in sleep, but the amount of work they had done was formidable. They were partly enabled to do this by the extremely dry nature of the extensions and partly by the fact that took the trouble to wait until they returned to Sinterrasse which was our usual soup kitchen.

About 15 photographs were taken and 2,600ft. of passage were surveyed using a hand held compass read to the nearest 50 and distances to the nearest yard. Some three large new shafts were discovered, and several smaller ones, of course, not descended. All the large ones took at least 5 seconds for the stones to fall; the deepest took 9 seconds before the last bounce.

- 106 -

- 107 The heavily decorated rift passage first entered continued for about 150ft. and gave way gradually to an undecorated wider ascending passage emerging in a large boulder chamber – also ascending The passage continued at the top (after a few awkward climbs over boulders) about 25ft. high by 10ft. wide for about 60ft. when it dropped into a stream passage. This was about 40ft. high. It was followed upstream, a ten foot waterfall was climbed and the passage followed for a further 50ft. to a fork. The right hand passage at the fork was followed up a 20ft. mud slope into a passage 15ft. high by 20ft. wide with a mud floor. The passage dimension slowly diminished until it emerged into a large chamber the roof of which could not be seen. A mud slope led down to a 30ft. diameter shaft with a falling time of 5 secs. clear or 9 secs. to the last bounce. The shaft was skirted through large boulders on a mud slope and on the other side a climb a 20ft. climb up a mud slope led into another large shaft with a falling time of 5 secs. At the bottom of the mud slope a descending passage 10ft. x 15ft. was followed to a fork after 200ft. It was a rift passage 20ft. high b y 6ft. wide with several potholes in the floor with passages leading off. None of these were followed. The main rift was well decorated with dying stal. but was not followed to its end.

Returning to the fork inn the stream passage the left hand branch was then followed. It was an ascending passage 400ft. long with several potholes in then generally boulder strewn floor. A stream entered from the left at the bottom of a large shaft and apparently flowed back down the passage but could not be heard anywhere in the passage. Here the explorers had a brew up. At about 400ft. the passage changed after a short phreatic section to a descending passage. The general shape of the passage was low and wide – 6ft. high by 30ft. wide. It continued for about a hundred feet to another fork with the left side continuing downwards and the smaller right hand passage ascending. From the ascending passage a strong draught issued. This was followed for about 400ft. until it emerged in a small chamber and continued at the bottom of a rift too difficult to ascend without tackle and about 25ft. deep. Throughout the passage the draught was pronounced.

The larger descending passage, left hand at the fork was followed for about 500ft. It was tunnel like 15ft. in diameter. After about 250ft. a large chamber about 40ft. high and 40ft. in diameter was entered at the far end of which a steeply descending squeeze about 109ft long gave access to a low steeply descending bedding plane with a sandy floor, wet in places. This closed down after 100ft. and a vertical squeeze led into a similar descending passage which was followed for 150ft. until several shallow pots in the floor prevented further progress. At this stage the passage forked. One side contained the pots already mentioned and the other side of the fork emerged in the bottom of a large shaft and no way on found. (The explorers had no maypole – about 600ft. would be desirable). It say much for the stamina of the party that when their relief arrived they de-tackled the top of Joseph Shaft and sent three bags of gear up the 250ft. pitch.

The next day (Tuesday) a party consisting of Dick, Alan (Jnr.), Martin and Ian de-tackled the cave as far back as Schachthalle. This took them about 10 hours. The following day it took Mike, Dick and Ian about 7 hours to get all the gear from the cave. On Thursday (about 2am) Mike, cunningly persuaded a member of cheerful Austrians to accompany them on that days carrying. The result of this was that in fact the carrying was completed in one trip.

The entrance of the Ahnenschact is at 1890m. The main horizontal development has therefore been found at approximately 1590m and although we did not realise it until afterwards this is exactly what we should have expected. The entrance of the Raucher is only 3km away and the altitude of its entrance is 1570m. It is more than likely that the geological conditions which appertained to cause the formation of one would have applied to the other. It is possible that they are connected. The Raucher entrance lies roughly SSW of the Ahnenschacht and each cave has ¼km of passage in the direction of each other. Another interesting feature is that the lateral development from Schachtgabel leads off in the direction of the Feuertal where we have seen many possible shafts, some plugged with snow. The discovery of an easy entrance in the valley would be a boon to the further exploration of the cave. The possibility of such and entrance existing is supported by the fact that a bat was seen in the horizontal passages leading from Schachtgabel.

Once again having safely got everybody and everything not only out of the cave but back to the hut without mishap we are already labouring under the delusion that we had an enjoyable holiday. I was perhaps lucky in developing an extremely painful carbuncle at the critical point of the expedition.

- 108 -

- 109 -

References: ‘The Ahnenschacht’ – A. Thomas B.B. No. 237 (Dec. 67) ‘The Ahnenschacht’ – R. Stenner B.B. No. 239 (Feb. 68) Osterreichs langste und tierfste Hohlen – H. Trimmel, Wien 1966 (pp. 46-47) Die Tiefenvorstosse 1958 in den Ahnenschacht (Totes Gebirge) Die Hohle 10, 1, Wien 1959. (pp. 5-8) Ed. apologies. The correct name for the Joseph Shaft is JOSEF SHAFT “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

- 110 For me the Great Interaction proved to be the most stimulating recent event. Even Sell dropped everything to join the pilgrimage to see the effect of Outdoors on Swildons. Quite a privilege to be there really. There before your very eyes Instant Cave Development!

OUTDOORS with

Outdoors got a little confused with Indoors and kept tripping over ‘Wig’ rushing HEDERA Outdoors all over Mendip on his two flat feet pausing only to light another gasper and with Shining eyes and waving arms to elucidate the latest marvel. Well it was marvellous. From the obvious ones like the Forty, and the vertigo inducing shaft at Manor Farm, to the ones which had to be deduced like the depth of flash rivers in the valleys – it was marvellous. A walk done which was of absorbing interest was from the top of Velvet Bottom to Cheddar. Interesting to see how the water sank and re-appeared a few hundred yards later and to consider that the mass flow of water which burst from the narrowed Velvet Bottom were it joins the Cheddar Road was probably less than higher up Velvet Bottom. It seems to me that most of the water from the upper catchment area sunk in the broader parts before it reached the Longwood intersection and that the water emerging at Cheddar Road came from the Longwood Valley and local catchment. And I’ll show you where the lot sunk! (and resurged? –Ed).

Another outstanding consequence of the Awash was ones ability to walk up and down Cheddar Gorge in pleasant quiet traffic free conditions and to climb there with feeling antisocial. Let’s start by demanding that at least the Upper Gorge be closed to self defeating traffic. Common sense must prevail in the end. Cheddar Gorge cannot be seen from the motor car the presence of which is destructive to appreciation.

Just after the Mendip Awash two Outdoor Men took a two seater canoe down the Brecon and Monmouthshire Canal. Fifteen miles in about six hours in sunshine passing through what must be the most beautiful countryside in the world and giving unique views of the Brecon beacons, the Black Mountains and Llangattock. A car was left by the canal; a mile or so outside of Gilwern and then the other was driven to the viaduct near Brecon and the towing canoe put in the water a discrete distance from the lock keepers cottage.

Possibly the biggest laugh was the Talybont Tunnel which was entered to ecclesiastical tunes, there was a pause for a ceremonial beer drinking ceremony halfway and then the rest of the tunnel was treated to secular singing. The blushes came when a male member of a family party picnicking near the exit remarked dryly, “we enjoyed your singing!”

Meanwhile in the vertical plane bob Sell, Roy Marshall, Pete Sutton with a couple of characters called Bob and Rory have had what must have been a pretty satisfying holiday in North Wales. They’ve scrambled on Meshag, on Brant, Slape, Sabre Cut, Grim Wall, The Brothers, Mallories Rib, Skylon, The Wrinkle, Yellow Groove and Main Wall. Interesting to hear that the Main Wall in spite of its relatively low grading was thought good. Bob Sell also joined Terry Taylor on Red Wall, an HVS, on the way up to Cryn Las. Now that’s something that I like to hear about in more detail because a more horrifying cliff I have yet to see.

Three hundred feet of impeding slime, perpetually wet and apparently smooth. I just can’t imagine climbing it. Ah well, pervertion is what the other fellow does.

Our ranks have been increased. Eddy Welch has recruited a walker, Ruth, by marrying her. The end justifies the means. Thank you Eddy. “”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””” UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL - Department of extra-mural studies.

Autumn Courses of interest to cavers: ------Geology – 30 weekly meetings (Tuesdays). 8pm. Commencing on 1st October 1968.

Limestone geomorphology – Sat. Nov. 23rd and Filed expedition on Sun. Nov. 24th.

Other courses include ‘Pollen Analysis’, Rocks and Quarrying, Fundamental of Soil Mechanics’.

- 111 In the blur of early morning on Saturday 7th August a party of BEC members SUTHERLAND ‘68 comprising Tony Meaden, Phil Coles, Mike Palmer and Colin Priddle set out to explore the caving area of Sutherland in N.W. Scotland.

by Mike Palmer A pre-arranged stop was made in Edinburgh, where we enjoyed the hospitality of ‘Manch’ and the local pub.

The G.S.G. party were to have travelled from Edinburgh in a jeep, but this refused to function satisfactorily and on Sunday morning when the BEC party set out for Sutherland they were still trying to mesmerize the engine into life. Apart from stops to purchase provisions and to take the odd photograph, the journey was uneventful and the GSG hut was reached by early evening. After moving in operations were completed and cooking a meal had been vetoed, an expedition began to find the nearest public house (which happen to be called hotels).

The hut is situated about 14 miles from Ullapool on the A835 just inside Sutherland border and on the outskirts of the village of Elphin, which is more generally known as the Knockan area. From the hut, though the village of Elphin, the road can be followed to a tee junction with the A837 at Ledmore. The nearest hotel from there is to the right and only a short distance down the road, but it proved to be hopeless since it didn’t stock drought beer; however a few bottles were consumed since closing time was near.

Early Monday morning John Manchip arrived in a Reliant Car with a young lad from GSG named Andrew. This arrival interrupted Tony Meaden’s attempt to frighten Phil Coles with tales of ghosts and how they particularly haunt old crofter’s cottages occupied by cavers!

From the hut a very fine view of the surrounding mountains (hills?) is obtained, one in particular being very prominent, Cul Mor. This is a twin peaked mountain of a mere 2,786ft. the shape of which appealed to the erotic instinct of the of the party and during the safety of breakfast we decided it would be a worthwhile walk.

Three hours later, four of us had reached the highest summit of the two peaks, while the other two, Phil and Colin had taken the other route to the slightly lower peak.

Needless to say Tony had only flexed his muscles a trifle, while the rest of us were absolutely ‘shattered’; the view however was magnificent and a fit reward for our efforts.

The evening found everyone very much in need of suitable refreshment and joined by another member of the G.S.G., Robin (desperate) Duncan, who hitched up from Edinburgh, we turned left at the tee junction and ended up at the other hotel at a place called Inchnadaugh. No doubt by now some of the exploits of our party was common knowledge at the hotel, so suffice to say that the beer and barmaids were excellent and the hotel is highly recommended.

Because of the very fine weather a lot of the time was spent locating beaches where we could laze in the sun. One of the best we found – and spent most of our time – was the Bay of Claichtoll, which is approached by following the B869 that branches off the A837 north of Lochinver.

Sad to say on Wednesday we all decided to end the misery of idling our time away on the beach and went caving! The cave that we chose to explore is situated in the Traligill Valley and was easily found by following a tracked marked on the O.S. map from behind the Inchadamph Hotel. By careful driving it is possible to navigate a car to a point close to a cottage near the end of the track, which proved to be useful changing place. Following the general direction of the track, which is well worn, the Cnoc-nan-Uamh System is soon reached (NG. 276206) the distance being about a mile. The entrance is easily recognisable since it is a large open bedding plane with a sizeable stream running from the left across the visible bottom and disappearing to the right.

Laden with diving gear the party followed the stream to the right, down a spectacular bedding plane, until a short crawl at the bottom ended abruptly in a sump. Quite impressed by the size of the sump and the amount of water being consumed, Colin was soon prepared for a short exploratory dive.

- 112 -

After 20ft. he returned to explain that the sump followed the line of the cave and was quite large – the water was very clear. A second dive resulted in a penetration of approximately 50ft., at which Colin decided it was unwise to continue without diving support. On this occasion he reported that he was nearly able to provide us with a supper of trout, which he saw swimming near the sump.

Next, the upstream passages of the system were explores. The party was soon halted by a loud sucking noise, which at first was rather alarming until it was discovered that it was caused by a small whirlpool of water where the stream sank in the bed and reappeared in a small pot below.

- 113 Several ducks had to be negotiated, which entailed immersion up to the neck, but they were very sporting and good experience. This brought us to Landslip Chamber and a large pool approximately 20ft. x 20ft. which appeared to be quite deep. The stream clearly flowed from this pool and it thought that the pool hides a large sump; because of the size of the pool Colin decided that it would be dangerous to dive by himself.

Also the diving gear was too far away.

Traversing round the pool, a large passage was easily followed after a short crawl. This appeared to be of phreatic nature and towards its end it began to dip towards another sump which looked black and evil. It could be that the passage (like P.R. in Swildons) might rejoin the stream way at a higher level beyond the sump, which showed clear evidence of resurging in times of flood or even normal wet weather.

After Mike has wallowed around in the sump for a short time and only proved that it went deeper and could not be passed at this time, the party returned top the entrance and sunshine.

On Friday we went caving again (apart from JM who stayed in bed) and almost wished we hadn’t bothered. Apart from the cave, called Elphin Hole (NG. 20870956) being uninteresting, we were nearly massacred by the Scottish midges en-route to the cave entrance – they are really ferocious and draw blood.

That just about wrapped up our active holiday band we were forced to go back to the beach and laze in the sun. To end on a serious note, the potential for caving is good and for those who enjoy walking there is plenty of it and we are sure that the BEC will be welcome to stay at the GSG hut. _______________________________________________________________________________________ LETTER TO THE EDITOR 90 Elsden Road, Wellingborough, Northants.

22 Aug. 1968 I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who were involved in my extraction from Nine Barrows Swallet on 12 May ’68.

My injuries consist of a broken leg and ankle which I am glad to say are progressing satisfactory. I expect to have the plaster removed on September 11th which means that it will probably be mid-October before I can treat you to a pint in the Hunters.

Yours, John Benham.

Ed. Note: - Details of this rescue appeared in B.B. 143 p.88. _______________________________________________________________________________________ ADDRESS CHANGES: Viv. Brown, 3 Cross Street, Kinswood, BRISTOL. Keith Franklin, 213 Cheltenham Road, Cotham, BRISTOL 6.

Phil Coles, 213 Cheltenham Road, Cotham, BRISTOL 6. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Time for carbide – Empty coffee tins, marvel tins etc, are required by the club to enable the carbide, held on the Belfry site, to be broken down into suitable weights for sale.

- 114 NEXT MONTH IN THE B.B. – articles include BEC climbing meet in the Otztaler Alpen and the Bernina, Address list of club members and a look back to Mendip caving in 1947 in an article entitled ‘So What’ by ‘Senex’. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sheffield University Spel. Soc. Journal Vol. 1 No.2. This edition contains such articles as ‘The Development of an Inexpensive Flowmeter’ by B. Dobson, ‘Field Telephone Systems’ by S.J. Thompson, and there is also a record of the SUSS visit to Ireland in 1967. Contents also include descriptions of Bossen Hole, Middleton Dale, Derbyshire and October Aven in Giants Hole complete with surveys.

FROM OTHER CLUBS by Gordon Tilly

MENDIP CAVER VOL. 4 No.4 contains results of Phase 3 Water Tracing results by Dave Drew (see June B.B.) and notes from Devon and various cave digs. Vol.4 No.5 includes a report on the flood damage on Mendip and strangely enough it bears the title ‘Mendip Awash’ which sounds familiar!

WSG Bulletin Vol. 5 No. 10. This issue deals mainly with club caving log but also has an article on ‘Charging of Nife Cells and the Preparation of Electrolyte’ by Dave Everett.

MONTHY NOTES No. 17 by ‘Wig’

News in brief: French cavers reported to have challenged Pearce (of the Berger) by stating that he only went down 3,696ft. and they have reached 3,749ft. Pearce replied to Guardian reporter, “You don’t leave footprints on rock”.

St. Cuthbert’s Sump…July flood blocked sump. Divers and cavers now digging to left of the sump itself.

By digging here it is hoped to bypass the constriction that was met by the divers last year.

G.B. Since the flood reports have been coming in stating that there are several unstable areas in the cave. It is known that the Ladder Dig Extension ruckle moved during the flood and is now in a more dicey state than it was before. Also the entrance passage, scoured out by the flood water, is still unstable and beyond the Devil’s Elbow is also another point to watch out for. It has been suggested that the cave is no longer suitable for novices – perhaps it will be best to go and have a look for yourselves in that respect.

CHRISTMAS BB. All material should be in the hands of the Editor Dave Irwin (Wig) by early November.

Surveys. A new series of cave surveys is being prepared by club members. The first will appear in December or January 1968 B.B. All will be to CRG. 6c-d and also maintaining the requirements of the MSC.