Maskhill Mine

Karen wanted to have a bit of SRT rigging practice and I suggested Maskhill Mine as we had to be in the Castleton area in the morning. I was going to meet Tony Seddon of StarlessRiver.com at the TSG hut to buy a new furry suit.
After our visit to see Tony, we returned up the Winnats Pass to park at Oxlow Farm again for the third time in as many weeks and got changed into caving gear.
We met Jo and her companion at the layby leading to the caves and had already met them earlier at the TSG hut as they were also meeting Tony about caving gear,
Jo and the other caver were heading for Oxlow Cavern and we left them en route to take the steep uphill route to the entrance shaft of Maskhill Mine.
As we only wanted to carry a single tackle bag of rope each, we had enough rope to reach the top of the vertical section called Murmuring Churn as Karen set off down the entrance shaft.
I followed after hearing her shout up “Rope free” after she had passed the first rebelay and I was glad to get into the shaft out of the cold wind which was blowing on the surface.
There were a couple of awkward places where the resined in bolts made it obvious you were supposed to tie the rope to them but it wasn't always obvious which was the best way and I rearranged a couple of the belay points.
Karen dropped down the final section of rope above Murmuring Churn and I followed and was just at the final rebelay when Karen shouted up she had run out of rope and was ready to start coming up again so I also started up again ahead of Karen as she followed de-rigging the ropes as she went.
We were back on the surface after around three and a half hours at 16:00 and were soon back at the farm and changed out of caving gear.

A quick return to the Orpheus hut to wash and put the ropes away and then home.

A Short Walk

Since I had to visit Hitch 'n' Hike near Bamford to get a replacement Petzl SRT harness which I ordered last week plus the forecast was for a very wet afternoon, we decided on a short walk.
After leaving the car at the top of Padley Gorge we crossed the road to enter a gate leading to Longshaw Lodge. Tempted by the National Trust café, we were planning to have a quick brew and snack but found it was very busy so we continued on our way.

We left the Lodge by the drive to the Sheffield road and left the drive to follow a path by the brook bringing us back to the top of Padley Gorge.

Oxlow Cavern

Last week, Boyd had told us he was arranging a trip down Oxlow Cavern with Jack who is a new prospective member. We decided to join them as although we had been in Oxlow Cavern last week with Keith (who was staying at home this weekend), a trip in Oxlow Cavern or nearby Maskhill Mine is always enjoyable.

Karen and I had the usual start at the café in Monyash for breakfast and then headed for the Orpheus cottage. Boyd and Jack hadn't yet arrived so we got the appropriate ropes and tackle bags out of the store and packed the ropes in the bags.

Boyd and Jack arrived and we spent a little time setting up Jack's brand new cowstails and footloop/safety link in the comfort of the cottage rather on the side of the hill by the cave entrance.

We drove to Oxlow Farm where I parked off the road in front of the barn while Boyd parked on the verge across the road. We sorted out our courtesy payments to access the cave via private farmland and while Boyd and Jack started getting changed in Boyd's van, Karen and I made use of the barn as usual. It was a welcome shelter while getting changed as there was a strong and cold wind blowing.

As we were getting changed, another car arrived and parked next to mine. Jess and Ann (two other caver we know) got out and joined us in the barn to get their caving gear on. They were planning on a trip down Maskhill Mine to practice SRT rigging.

We were all ready at the same time and as Jess and Ann walked down the road to the stile access point to the caves, we followed behind and parted as they started up the steep slope towards Maskhill while we continued on the lower route to Oxlow.

I took up rigging duty as Keith wasn't around and set off down the entrance shaft first. Jack was coping well with the SRT technical bits (he had some previous practice and shorter trips).

I was rigging the wide “Y hang” at the top if the last pitch to bring us towards the impressive West Chamber and couldn't understand why a thin stream of cold water was running down my left leg and into my welly as I wasn't standing under any water or drips until I realised that water was running down the rope above the pitch and then dropping of my descender and then into the crotch section of my oversuit! As I held onto the rope while clipping in the deviation sling at the top of the pitch, now the water ran down my arm, round my lower back and down my leg, again into my welly!

Soon we were all at the foot of the last pitch (we weren't planning on dropping down the last pitch of Maskhill Mine to the sump where Oxlow Cavern and Maskhill Mine connect.

We had a look at the very wet vertical section above the Maskhill Mine sump from the small tube from Oxlow Cavern and then sat on some boulders in the West Chamber and munched on Mars bars.

We headed back to the surface in the reverse order with my taking up the rear de-rigging the ropes as we went.

Back on the surface it was beginning to get dark as it was nearly four in the afternoon.

After getting changed from caving gear, we returned to the club cottage to wash the ropes and tackle bags and return them to the tackle store.

Ashford Black Marble Mine

Another short trip underground today, this time a wander around Ashford Black Marble Mine near Ahford in the Water. It has a locked gate on the entrance but it is possible to arrange trips to see the mine.
This is an interesting small mine (I suppose it's technically and underground quarry as it was the rock which was being extracted for itself rather than as an ore for metal or mineral) and was used to supply a black marble.
From Wikipedia “Ashford Black Marble is the name given to a dark limestone, quarried from mines near Ashford-in-the-Water, in Derbyshire, England. Once cut, turned and polished, its shiny black surface is highly decorative. Ashford Black Marble is a very fine-grained sedimentary rock, and is not a true marble in the geological sense. It can be cut and inlaid with other decorative stones and minerals, using a technique known as pietra dura. Derby Museum has a diagram of Ecton Hill made from Ashford Black Marble and other minerals”.
Some parts were marked with read and white plastic tape to warn of dangerous sections but most of the mine was accessible and except for a few feet as you entered through the locked gate into the mine, it was all easy walking with more than enough head room.There were a few places where some calcite formations had grown which were impressive and an area where there was a lot of graffiti, some from the 19^th Century.

Oxlow Cavern

Again, the Orpheus Caving Club Christmas Dinner weekend rolls around. Last year we had a pre-dinner trip down Oxlow Cavern so this year we did the same!
As we were changing into our caving gear in the shelter of the barn at Oxlow Farm, another group of cavers stopped by to get permission and pay the courtesy fee of £2 each and one of them told us they were de-rigging Maskhill Mine and Oxlow Cavern after they had been left rigged for the Council of Higher Education Caving Clubs event a fortnight ago in the Peak District. They kindly offered us to use the ropes in Oxlow Cavern, and as we were planning on a relatively short trip to the East Chamber we only had to take a single rope for the drop down from the col between West Swirl Passage and the East Chamber, which wouldn't have been rigged.
We passed the rest of the group, including the caving instructor Simon Mee, getting into their caving gear at the roadside by the style used to access the caves and made our way to the shaft entrance.
It was of course a rapid trip to the East Chamber following mostly the ropes already rigged and as we were having a look around the chamber and the dig in the floor, we could see and hear some of the others as they dropped down to the col above and disappeared down West Swirl Passage.
We had a Mars bar or Snickers bar and then I set off back to the surface followed by Karen and Keith.
I arrived back at the surface after an hour and a half underground soon followed by the others.
After changing out of caving gear and a trip to Hitch 'n' Hike so that Keith could buy a tackle bag, we stopped at Outside in Hathersage for a small meal for lunch.

Later in the evening Karen drove us to Biggin where we attended the club Christmas Dinner in the Waterloo Inn.

Water Icicle Close Cavern

Keith wanted to do a bit of work in the dig at the bottom of the Elevator and also we needed to sort out the lock on the gate which I hadn't been able to unlock on my last trip due to dirt and grit in the lock.
We drove to the end of Derby Lane where the farmer had blocked the field gate with large boulders probably to stop the off-roaders getting through.
Soon we had changed into caving gear and following Keith down the entrance shaft and onwards to the gate in North West Passage.
Luckily Keith was able to get the lock open after a generous application of spray oil and we made our way to Three Way Aven. We picked up a few small slabby pieces of rock and placed them on a particularly muddy section of the taped-off route as we made our way to the top of The Elevator pitch down to the current dig site.
It was impressive the work Keith and Pete had done in a few trips. They have made their way down around 10 meters into the blocked shaft at the bottom of the very shattered rift chamber.
After Keith had split a couple of boulders and move them out of the way, we started back up again but each waited out of the firing line until the person ahead was completely off the rope and back in Urchin Passage due to the large quantity of loose rock around this pitch.
We made our way to the bottom of the 30 metre entrance shaft and prusiked back to a day which had started as sunny but had turned cloudy.

A return visit back to the café beckoned.

Eldon Hole

After the usual pre-caving breakfast in Monyash café, Karen, Keith and I stopped off at the Orpheus cottage to collect some ropes and tackle bags for a trip down Eldon Hole. As it was a sunny but cold day this was a good choice because you actually spend quite a lot of time exposed to the weather while descending this large open pothole.
We were soon all at the bottom of the open pot and dropping down the small constriction into the large underground main chamber. Keith arranged the the “pull-up” using the fixed cord to allow he and Karen to prusik up to Miller's Chamber.
I waited in the Main Chamber having a look at the various digs searching for the suspected continuation of the cave beneath as I had been up in Miller's Chamber several times before.

Soon the two of them had abseiled back down ans I started on the way out and back up the open pothole back to the surface where I sat in the sunshine looking at the views into the distance until the other two arrived.