Caving & Exploration (1954-2021)
Swildon's Hole: Ian and Adele (January 2019). This place holds a lot of nostalgic memories for me, going back to my first visit back in 1979! On a visit a few years back with Leif in tow, I managed to get down to sump 9 and with Adele making good progress with the BSAC training, …
Ian and Adele 28/06/2018 The aim of this dive was to get through the narrow rift after sump 1 to check the status of the belay at pitch 2 - hoping to find some nut cracks to avoid hauling bolting gear through.....but the best-laid plans..... A scorching day in Buckden ruled against walking in …
Continue reading "Redmire 2 – The Underwater Beach by Ian Cummins"
Redmire Pot - Ian and Adele (4/6/18) After last year’s one-day effort with my daughter Beth ended in finding sump 1 to be choked with sand, I decided to return with a bit more gear this year. With two trips in to deposit two 3L cylinders and other diving gear, the obstacles down to the sump were …
We have spent a lot of time in here - the bulk of the work was done by Chris and John, with a fair bit of help from me, Phil, Steve, Simon, Hucky, Dave Milner and others. Quick progress in 2010 led us to the sump and we just as quickly stopped in our tracks. …
Caving to me is about rock and water – it’s either got an active streamway or I’m not interested. Pitches are spectacular, but once versed in the techniques, going up and down ropes is not particularly exciting – give me a climb up a cascade any day and the modern trend for water avoidance in …
Continue reading "Free-diving Yorkshire sumps – Langstroth Pot and others by Ian Cummins"
Adventures in Swildon’s sumps. 1980 - I must have been supping an orange juice and playing Space Invaders or Asteroids in the Union Bar, such was the wildness of my youth, when Mark Madden, one of my regular caving partners at the time, suggested an evening trip through Swildon’s sumps 1 – 4. Being quietly …
Continue reading "Free-diving adventures Part 1 by Ian Cummins"
I first hear the word Redmire discussed by Ian and Simon - it seemed like hard work at the time it was way above my level of competence. Not being able to help myself from doing a bit of research on the place excellent account from Julian Griffiths was found. Not a lot else seemed …
Continue reading "Redmire Pot: How to wish you were smaller by Adele"
A couple of reports from 2009 – a trip that became a repeat solo, having a nice combination of caving and diving, with a bizarre animal encounter too! Acknowledgements to Simon who accompanied me on the first trip and loaned gear for the second. Winshaw Gill Pot – Ribblehead (31st May 2009) Winshaw Gill is …
Langstroth Pot: Simon Beck, Ian Cummins (Spring 2016). The photos below were taken over the course of two trips during the spring of 2016. The first of these, a trip to photograph the beautifully well decorated inlet leading to straw chamber was undertaken rather impulsively one evening during very dry conditions. The inlet leading to …
Otter’s Cave: Ian Cummins (March, 2010]. My comments below were made upon my initial posting of this on the club website in 2011, when I had been caving and diving largely solo for a year or 2. I have not been back since - how time flies, although I plan to. The bad vis …
Continue reading "Diving in the Northern Dales by Ian Cummins"
Hagg Gill II: Ian Cummins, Martyn Soliman (30 April & 8 May 2011). Inspired by Martyn Soliman's writings in the WRPC 2001 journal, I'd put this meet on the list, aiming to get down to the second downstream sump at the bottom of the pitch. I was hoping to get through with Martyn to take some photos …
Continue reading "Diving with Martyn Soliman by Ian Cummins"
White Keld: Martyn Soliman and Graham Huck (1997-2001). Recently for their 250th edition Descent published an article by Emma Wharton about the recent attempts being made to push White Keld towards Mossdale Caverns and Langcliffe Pot. The first divers to enter and push White Keld were White Rose members Martyn Soliman and Graham Huck. Here …
Continue reading "White Keld: The Beginning by Martyn Soliman"
Redmire Pot: Ian Cummins, Beth Cummins (Spring 2017). Compared with the well-travelled caves of other areas, those of Wharfedale may as well be on the dark side of the moon and Redmire Pot on a distant planet. It’s 10 years since I got my hands on a volume of Northern Caves 1, when I eagerly …
Kingsdale Master Cave, Upstream Rowten Series (Frakes' Series): Ian, Simon (5th October 2014). Unsupported cave dives that begin well inside a system afford an arduous, yet very satisfying day out – one carries all the kit in and out, which is extremely hard work, since there is only so much one can carry in a tackle …