Ogof Draenen The Score trip 08/03/2020

Unless otherwise stated, camera, setups, lighting, edits and gallery effects by Tarquin. Modelling and lighting at various points will be Pete Bolt.

This section of the cave is named because its discovery brought the total length of the cave to 20 (a score) km. It was surveyed on 2 January 1995, less than three months since the cave's breakthrough on 6 October 1994. This earned the cave the title "Britain's fastest growing cave".

1. Not long after the start of White Arch Passage (from Tea Junction), a wide bedding at roof height leads off to the right, but it closes down after just 80 m. This unassuming passage was once the major conduit for the northerly flowing phase of Ogof Draenen's development, draining Player's Tunnel, Far Agent Blorenge, Big Country and Dollimore Series northwards, from Crystal Mole via The Score to White Arch, where it then continued northwards via Gilwern Passage. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
2. Shortly before that bedding, a smaller rift on the right is Back Passage, the usual way into The Score. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
3. Back Passage earns its name by quickly lowering to a flat out crawl. It is also the second (back) way into the series. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
4. 70 metres of flat out crawling. Never particularly tight, but also not anyone's favourite place to be. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
5. Gypsum in the crawl.
6. End of Back Passage, where it suddenly lifts into a larger passage. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
7. A tiny side passage leads through a squeeze. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
8. The squeeze enters a wide passage, with a visual connection to the bedding passage from White Arch Passage. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
9. Small oxbow rejoining the main passage.
10. The main large passage is Crystal Cruncher, whose name should be very obvious. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
11. Most of Crystal Cruncher is low enough to force crawling, but it is a very comfortable crawl. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
12. Sheets of gypsum crystals in Crystal cruncher.
13. Crystal covered floor. The taped route follows the parts with the fewest crystals.
14. Cracked sand floor, most of it completely untouched. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
15. Crystal covered rocks.
16. Walking passage! Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
17. More floor crystals.
18. Molehill of crystals, exactly the same things as can be seen in Crystal Mole, the disconnected southern part of the same conduit.
19. Crystal Cruncher's typical style, covered in crystals. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
20. Short side stub, which could be the mud-filled end of The Score.
21. Crystal covered rocks.
22. Rocks with powdered crystals.
23. Coconut shavings. Or gypsum crystals. One of those.
24. Sculpted passage. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
25. Sculpted passage. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
26. Large gypsum flakes in an alcove.
27. Layers of gypsum.
28. Start of crystal crawl, about 40 m long.
29. A second passage, of similar length, starts almost exactly the same, even with an identical tiny eyehole on the left. The two passages almost connect, and are almost certainly just an oxbow.
30. Large gypsum flakes.
31. The passage lowers to reach a wide junction. Though it seems uninspiring at this point, this is the start of The Score (the passage, rather than the series). Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
32. Gypsum flakes in the ceiling.
33. Heading back northwards, The Score looks very promising. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
34. Fossil tree trunk in a rock.
35. Mud dribbles.
36. Mud dribbles.
37. Layered mud, which spells the end of the northern part of The Score, as it fills the passage completely.
38. The southern part of The Score starts much lower, and less inspiring. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
39. Suddenly, the passage enlarges to a much more impressive size. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
40. The rocks remain covered in gypsum dust.
41. The first side passage on the right is Oo Crawl, the original way into the series, via a climb into a roof passage above Beyond A Choke Streamway. The passage is taped off, not to ban access, but as a request that cavers avoid using it as a round trip. The gypsum crystals in the passage are in very vulnerable positions, and would not survive regular visits. There are very similar formations in the main passage, which can be seen without putting them at risk.
42. Crystals under the climb.
43. Crystals under the climb.
44. These crystals cover the wall where you climb up into The Score, and it requires care to climb without brushing them. They have only survived because of the distinct lack of visitors to this passage.
45. The formations have a very distinct character, starting as a dusty growth which then gets lifted off the wall by cleaner crystals behind.
46. Gypsum pyrmids.
47. Pyramid closeup.
48. Showing the size of the gypsum growths, which are much larger than ones found elsewhere in the cave. This also shows how difficult it is to view them, since you must carefully shuffle along at floor level, without touching anything by accident. Photographing them was also very difficult due to the cramped conditions. Modelling by Pete
49. The original explorers (Ali Garman and Huw Jones) referred to these as palm trees, and they really do look like layered palm fronds.
50. The upper part of the passage is ringed with bands of gypsum.
51. Gypsum filled alcove.
52. Gypsum covered walls.
53. Gypsum covered walls.
54. Gypsum covered walls.
55. A last patch of gypsum before the passage becomed plain.
56. Oo Crawl continues crawling sized for a while, before becoming a squeeze, ending at the large passage of Over The Top, above Beyond A Choke Streamway. Once the cave's flow switched back to southwards, the stream forged new little routes from The Score into the Beyond A Choke Streamway. Oo Crawl represents the first known shortcut.
57. The Score increases in size as it passes the side passages. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
58. Gypsum crusted boulders.
59. Gypsum on the boulders.
60. Bit On The Side, a 40 m small side passage on the wrong side of The Score. Once you start thinking about "The Score" as a euphemism, the names of the side passages fall into the same pattern.
61. Small gypsum crystals in The Score.
62. Entrance to Extramarital (Sex), the longest of the dead-end side passages, and the next former shortcut to the streamway.
63. Passing the toppled pillar obstacle in Extramarital. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
64. An oddly neat clump of guano in Extramarital.
65. Extramarital gets smaller, eventually passing through a couple of squeezes. The second is supposed to be quite fearsome, so we left it alone.
66. Looking towards the largest part of The Score. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
67. Gypsum on boulders.
68. Gypsum pyramids in The Score, just like those in Oo Crawl.
69. Gypsum palm trees in The Score, smaller than those in Oo Crawl.
70. Crystals on the boulders.
71. Crystals in the mud.
72. Spikes of crystals on the walls. Like most of the gypsum formations in The Score, they seem to have a dusty sheen on the outside. Lighting by Pete
73. Gypsum palm tree. Lighting by Pete
74. Shards of crystals. Lighting by Pete
75. Longer crystals.
76. The Score has been big for a while, but this is the end of this size. The passages ahead and left are both blind, with the one ahead appearing to be a mud-filled oxbow. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
77. Cleaner crystals, without the dusty sheen.
78. Jagged crystals.
79. Last of the palm tree style gypsum.
80. A complete change in character, the passage switches to phreatic style and shrinks dramatically at a former sump. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
81. When it enlarges again, a passage to the right was originally recorded as Shit Hole (given the theme of the previous side passages, this is an interesting choice), but is usually referred to in Welsh; Twll Baw.
82. To the left is a blind side passage, while ahead is a climb up into a much smaller continuation. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
83. The passage's size got lost in this bedding underneath the smaller continuation, visible from the other side. The fluffy/bobbly mud here is cryogenic in origin (created by ice ages), and is as perfect as on the day it was found; nobody has ever been along this bedding, since it is just an oxbow. Lighting by Tarquin and Pete
84. Chamber beyond the small section. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
85. Crystals in the chamber. Lighting by Pete
86. Crystals in the chamber. Lighting by Pete
87. Crystals in the chamber. Lighting by Pete
88. What appears to be ochre, peeling from the ceiling.
89. Ochre stained floor below.
90. Gypsum pyramids on the ceiling.
91. Beautiful translucent starfish-shaped gypsum on the wall. This appears to be a palm tree formation, before the crystal growth behind it has lifted it away from the wall.
92. Bare patches on the wall appear to be what happens when the crystal growth causes them to fall off the wall instead of lifting into a palm tree.
93. A hole hidden out of sight on one side is another bedding oxbow, choked at its far end.
94. With the size lost to the bedding, the way ahead becomes small again, this time quite awkward. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
95. A second chamber, with the bedding choking below rocks in its floor. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
96. Tall gypsum pyramids on the wall.
97. This chamber has a distinctly different character, with mud formations everywhere, created by formerly damp conditions.
98. The passage lowers to a crawl. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete
99. On the left is a dig; the end of The Score. Although it draughts, there is not much point in digging here; it would only connect to Crystal Mole, after nearly 100 m of mud digs.
100. Remains of a bat whose life ended here. There was also a live bat here, oblivious to the demise of the passage's former occupant.
101. A final gypsum palm tree.
102. To the right is the last side passage, One Night Stand. This gets smaller and passes through a squeeze to reach The White Wormery formation, but we decided to leave that for another trip. Modelling by Pete, lighting by Tarquin and Pete