Andy Brown - Dave Gosdend - Duncan Hooper - Richard Nicholson - Simon Moth - Steve Sharp - Leo Roche (Sat & Sun) - Martin Rhys (Walking)
The weekend comprised of a trip to Giant's Hole on the Friday, Maskhill Mine on the Saturday and Jackpot on the Sunday
Giant's Hole
Fridays caving party (Andy, Dave G, Richard, Simon, Steve and Duncan), to meet at Giants Hole at 12 noon.This is located in Peakshill Farm, North of the Sparrowpit to Castleton Road.
We all arrived, changed and walked over to the Cave entrance.
After a short walk in to the cave, we came to Garland's pot, the pot has a stream cascading down the centre, we descended the pot using SRT.
After this we walked along the Crabwalk an interesting water worn winding passage, you have to constantly walk sideways hence the name, We stopped to look at the survey and decided to attempt the round trip our only major obstacle would be the Devil's Windpipe a 20 m sump passage which sometimes fills to the roof, luckily we made our way through with only a partially wet face towards the end, the passage eventually linked back up with the Crabwalk.
We arrived back at Garlands pot, kitted back up and made our way back up the pitch and back out
Our next destination would be Pindale Farm our Accommodation for the weekend.
Andy had booked the engine house this was the heart of the site when the disused mine was in full operation.
Simon opted to camp outside for some peace and quiet (This was not to be the case)
Once we had settled in we all showered and made our way to The Woodroffe Arms in Hope where we all enjoyed a good meal, unfortunately The Woodroffe Arms had ran out of Ale so we changed locations later in the evening.
Later that evening we packed the bags for the next day's trip.
We all woke in the morning to be greeted by a Rainbow across the Castleton fields
Sat - Maskhill Mine
We all had breakfast and mad our way up to Maskhill Mine part of the Oxlow Cavern complex, we parked at the side of the road and Andy used his GPS to find the exact location.
We climbed up the hill and changed into our SRT kit.
Richard was the first down the entrance shaft
The entrance to Maskhill mine is a mined shaft and is muddy in various places with plenty of loose rocks.
Richard, Andy and Simon were the main riggers of the trip
We slowly made our way down the various pitches
Here is our Schedule
Maskhill Mine Castleton Grid ref: SK 1224 8215
Route: Entrance Pitch
Jumbles
Murmuring Churn
Balcony
Waterfall Chamber (Direct)
Pool Chamber
Kit Requirements:
EP:- 65m rope, 9 maillions, 2 crabs, 2 slings
J:- 55m rope, 9 maillions, 1 crab, 1 sling
MC:-38m rope, 3 maillons, 1 sling, 1 crab.
B:- 47m rope 8 maillons.
WC:-40m rope, 3 maillons.
PC:-5m rope.
Cave Summary: A multi-pitch descent in an old mine joining at the bottom with Oxlow cavern. Contains loose debris, care must be taken to avoid dislodging rocks onto those below.
Call out time:- 8:00pm
We eventually arrived at waterfall chamber our last point during our exploration of Oxlow cavern and descended a small we pitch down to Pool chamber an almost waist deep pool with a small chamber at the end.
This was to be the end of our decent.
We made our way back up the pitches and myself and Dave did some de-rigging (Slowly)
Once back on the surface we changed and headed back to Pindale Farm where we met Martin who had spent the day walking.
That evening we went to Cheshire Cheese for some fine food and Ale.
Sun Jackpot
P8 Jackpot, Castleton
Grid ref: SK 10784 81792
Route: to Mud hall and back, Gour passage
1st pitch: 15m rope, 3 maillons
2ndt pitch: 13m rope, 2 maillons
Cave Summary: Small classic wet Peak cave trip, sporting in wet weather. (Wet)
Call out time: 5:00pm
This trip only required two rope bags.
We made our way over the valley to the Cave entrance
The Cave has a stream tumbling down the entrance so a wet suit was required; the start of the entrance series was similar to Swildons Hole.
Jackpot has some interesting pitches and some tricky traverses.
Duncan posed for a photo
Once we had descended our final pitch we gathered together and took a walk down to the sump
Richard and Simon de rigged the traverse and set up a new route back out of the main chamber.
Jackpot is an interesting cave with lots of variation a recommended trip.
Back on the surface the team had a rest and gathered the ropes together and headed for the stream in Castleton
Wet trousers were to follow
A fantastic weekend organized by Andy Brown with military precision.
To see the complete set of photo's visit - http://www.flickr.com/photos/steve-sharp/sets/72157606181943926/
