This trip was a bit of a obscure one, as in looking into something
of the beaten track but relatively close to the entrance. At the end of the
crosscut between Wellgill and Guddhamgill Cross Veins (on the GXV side), there
is a rise and a sump. The sump is blocked some 2-3m down, but the rise goes up
into workings above. If you are good at climbing, great, but if your not that
good then you need assistance - a good excuse to take the maypole out for a
spin. Armed with 9m, we headed for the rise and proceeded to
assemble.
Karli being the best climber, started to climb up the rise and
as he got higher more and more pieces of the maypole were added, until the
whole lot was assembled - only one problem - it was too short. He came up with
the solution of getting into the stope and then using part of the maypole to
rest diagonally across the rise in a little pocket half way up, this worked
perfectly and once roped up we could all climb up with a safety line. It took a
while for all of use to get up, so myself and Karli had quick scout around
whilst waiting for the others. We headed southwards through a low passage that
had pack walling on one side. Eventually we reached a junction to the left.
Further on the level dropped away and the way on was via a traverse and climb.
We returned to the junction and waited for the others. By this time Pete has
come to the junction and he went down the left passage. This entered into a
narrow and very high stope. He came back and then the others arrived, it was
decided that this would make a good spot for lunch.
After lunch, myself,
Ian and Pete when into the stope, whereas Karli and Sal went towards the
traverse. Whilst crawling through the little crosscut into the stope my eyes
fell upon a tobacco bowl from a clay pipe, an excellent little find. Looking
among the deads I tried looking for the stem, but no luck. The bowl was very
ornate, with a ships anchor on one side and a crown on the other. Once in the
stope we had a look around, southwards there were two workings, one reached a
forehead and the other was a tight squeeze. Heading northwards we had to climb
up a little and then we reached what looked to be a wet rise, the bottom of
which had a cone of fine rubble. It was possible to pass over it and back down
into the continuation of the stope. Past the rise the stope went on, becoming
more narrow and above us we could see deads in the roof. We came to what looked
like a hopper and on the other side the way on was blocked. Returning back to
the wet rise, we noticed a ledge going of some 4m above. Pete had a go a
climbing up and managed it. The ledge gained access to another level in the
stope and carried on with a little warren of workings. By this time Karli and
Sal had come back, and Karli joined Pete up in the higher level. They did not
find anything of note, but there was a crosscut to the west which looked like
it linked into the level that we had come up into originally. Meanwhile Sal
mentioned that they had squeezed into a cavity / crosscut, which she thought
must link in with the tight squeeze we had seen from this side of the stope as
she could hear our voices. When Karli and Pete came back down from the higher
level we left the stope and attempted the traverse, well when I say we, it was
Karli, Ian and Pete.
Since the others were going to be busy for a while
we returned to the top of the rise and I had a look northwards. The level
reached a forehead after 35m or so. With nothing remarkable to report other
than a short rise connecting to the crosscut Pete and Karli had seen, an old
scraper and some very long stemmed mushrooms growing on a wooden rail sleeper.
Returning to the rise once more I waited with Sal for the others to come back.
Upon their return, they mentioned that level carried on for a while and then
dropped into another stope over a ledge which had some nice stalactites under
it. They also found a manway, which must connect to the horse level and some
more workings.
One by one we came down, derigged and made our way out -
a sensible time out this time round, followed by a clean up in the Nent
river. |
