Mendip trip 10/03/2018 to 11/03/2018 (and 07/04/2018)
Unless otherwise stated, camera, setups, edits and gallery effects by Tarquin. Modelling by Helen Stewart and George Linane. Lighting by Tarquin, Helen and George.
GB Cave and Rod's Pot were visited as part of regular trips. St. Cuthbert's Swallet was visited as part of a film crew for an upcoming Freem production. As a result, there are almost no pictures of this absolutely superb and incredibly complex cave.
Deep snow banks on the Charterhouse Lane. The melting snow had raised water levels in the caves, and had unfortunately sumped the route into the Great Chamber.
Upstream along The Gorge, the main passage of GB Cave, which climbs steeply up to a surface shakehole, which was once used as a dumping ground.
A car's gear lever in The Gorge, washed in by the 1968 floods.
Lighting by Tarquin
Car panels in The Gorge.
Lighting by Tarquin
A 1950s style bumper bar.
Lighting by Tarquin
At the top of a very muddy slope is the upstream choke, where the remains of cars can be seen squashed between the boulders. It sounds a lot more impressive than it is, and hopefully the picture will show that there is very little to actually see, just a thin layer of muddy metal.
Lighting by Tarquin
Downstream along The Gorge, a very large river passage, for Mendip.
The Bridge, a feature (with a matter-of-fact name) at the bottom end of The Gorge. The Bridge is used to ascend from the right bank to the left bank, to enter White Passage, whose entrance is in the top-right.
In silhouette, looking much more pretty.
Lighting by George and Helen
The second largest chamber in the cave that really deserves something more grand than "Main Chamber". But this is Mendip, and they tend to use very boring names. This chamber is the same size as the largest part of Daren Cilau's Time Machine.
The dramatic 12 metre waterfall at its lower end. The descent route crosses the waterfall itself shortly below the top, with it being possible to walk behind the spout seen on the right here.
Fossil shells at one end of Oxbow. Several of the beds here are full of these, and crinoid fossils.
Lighting by Tarquin
White Passage, with its admirable formations.
Modelling by George, lighting by Helen and George
Redissolved calcite in White Passage. It's called White Passage because it has white stuff in it. Do you see what they did there?
Lighting by Tarquin
Since we could not visit the Great Chamber, and Eastwater was a washout, we decided to spend some time in Rod's Pot. The entrance greets visitors with a crawl through oozing mud.
Modelling by George, lighting by Tarquin
The main chamber of Rod's Pot, unimaginatively also called "Main Chamber" (come on Mendip, you know you can do better).
Lighting by George and Helen
Purple Pot, the route to Bath Swallet. It can be free climbed with difficulty if needed, but someone had left a rope for us to use.
Modelling by George, lighting by Tarquin and George
Taking a bath at Bath Swallet to wash off the mud from Rod's Pot.
Modelling by Helen and George
Botryoids in St. Cuthbert's Swallet's Boulder Chamber. Sadly, these were not the cryostal I was hoping for, and the cave seems unlikely to have any, though it does have other signs of crogenic processes.
Lighting by Tarquin
More probably botryoidal beads in Upper Traverse.
Lighting by Tarquin
The film crew in Upper Traverse, St. Cuthbert's Swallet. There were three separate teams, two filming, and one lugging gear. A chance meetup during a break before each team went their separate ways, and normality was restored.
Modelling and lighting by various members of SWCC, BEC, UBSS
Kat sleeping between takes (the way cats do).
Modelling by UBSS, lighting by SWCC, UBSS and BEC
On a subsequent trip 5 weeks later, we found one of the casualties of the cave; a pike which had been washed in and died at the bottom of the Arête Pitch waterfall in the cave.
Modelling by a dead fish
Common toads are also regularly washed into the cave during the breeding season when they spend time in the surrounding streams (most of their life is spent on land). They fall down over 100 metres of waterfalls on their way through the cave, and many somehow manage to survive. This one was just above the Stalagmite Pitch.
Modelling by Toad #1
The end result is not so surprising. Trapped in the dark, they may manage to leave the water, but stand no chance of finding the surface, or an adequate supply of food.
Modelling by the remains of an unfortunate toad
Instead, they become food for transient mould. These two were in the entrance to the Dining Room - beside the Stalagmite Pitch - having hopped just a few metres away from the stream before dying.
Modelling by the Grim Ribbit
One of the most surreal pictures I have ever taken underground; just before Beehive Chamber, over 100 metres vertically and 300 metres horizontally underground, these two toads had somehow found each other, and were locked in amplexus - the frog equivalent of mating. He is hoping that somehow, she might find the situation arousing enough that she wishes to lay eggs so that he can fertilise them. A perfect place to abandon their young spawn.
Modelling by toads #4 and #5
As crazy as a box of frogs. I caried 10 of them from the depths (including the male from above, who had left his female as the dammed water level reached them). Another two - one probably the female - were rescued in someone else's helmet. While in the box, 5 males latched on to 5 females, and were chirping away merrily while I was trying to cave out with one hand disabled by the box. Occasionally bashing it into a wall by accident, or tipping it upside down as I tried to regain my balance on a climb. But nothing stopped them; it's the perfect time to spawn, come on, you know you want to. They were then released into a different stream just a few metres away in the same habitat, which does not flow into the cave. Natural selection cheated, their offspring might actually survive.
Modelling by The Accidental Cavers
Deep snow banks on the Charterhouse Lane. The melting snow had raised water levels in the caves, and had unfortunately sumped the route into the Great Chamber.
Upstream along The Gorge, the main passage of GB Cave, which climbs steeply up to a surface shakehole, which was once used as a dumping ground.
A car's gear lever in The Gorge, washed in by the 1968 floods.
Lighting by Tarquin
Car panels in The Gorge.
Lighting by Tarquin
A 1950s style bumper bar.
Lighting by Tarquin
At the top of a very muddy slope is the upstream choke, where the remains of cars can be seen squashed between the boulders. It sounds a lot more impressive than it is, and hopefully the picture will show that there is very little to actually see, just a thin layer of muddy metal.
Lighting by Tarquin
Downstream along The Gorge, a very large river passage, for Mendip.
The Bridge, a feature (with a matter-of-fact name) at the bottom end of The Gorge. The Bridge is used to ascend from the right bank to the left bank, to enter White Passage, whose entrance is in the top-right.
In silhouette, looking much more pretty.
Lighting by George and Helen
The second largest chamber in the cave that really deserves something more grand than "Main Chamber". But this is Mendip, and they tend to use very boring names. This chamber is the same size as the largest part of Daren Cilau's Time Machine.
The dramatic 12 metre waterfall at its lower end. The descent route crosses the waterfall itself shortly below the top, with it being possible to walk behind the spout seen on the right here.
Fossil shells at one end of Oxbow. Several of the beds here are full of these, and crinoid fossils.
Lighting by Tarquin
White Passage, with its admirable formations.
Modelling by George, lighting by Helen and George
Redissolved calcite in White Passage. It's called White Passage because it has white stuff in it. Do you see what they did there?
Lighting by Tarquin
Since we could not visit the Great Chamber, and Eastwater was a washout, we decided to spend some time in Rod's Pot. The entrance greets visitors with a crawl through oozing mud.
Modelling by George, lighting by Tarquin
The main chamber of Rod's Pot, unimaginatively also called "Main Chamber" (come on Mendip, you know you can do better).
Lighting by George and Helen
Purple Pot, the route to Bath Swallet. It can be free climbed with difficulty if needed, but someone had left a rope for us to use.
Modelling by George, lighting by Tarquin and George
Taking a bath at Bath Swallet to wash off the mud from Rod's Pot.
Modelling by Helen and George
Botryoids in St. Cuthbert's Swallet's Boulder Chamber. Sadly, these were not the cryostal I was hoping for, and the cave seems unlikely to have any, though it does have other signs of crogenic processes.
Lighting by Tarquin
More probably botryoidal beads in Upper Traverse.
Lighting by Tarquin
The film crew in Upper Traverse, St. Cuthbert's Swallet. There were three separate teams, two filming, and one lugging gear. A chance meetup during a break before each team went their separate ways, and normality was restored.
Modelling and lighting by various members of SWCC, BEC, UBSS
Kat sleeping between takes (the way cats do).
Modelling by UBSS, lighting by SWCC, UBSS and BEC
On a subsequent trip 5 weeks later, we found one of the casualties of the cave; a pike which had been washed in and died at the bottom of the Arête Pitch waterfall in the cave.
Modelling by a dead fish
Common toads are also regularly washed into the cave during the breeding season when they spend time in the surrounding streams (most of their life is spent on land). They fall down over 100 metres of waterfalls on their way through the cave, and many somehow manage to survive. This one was just above the Stalagmite Pitch.
Modelling by Toad #1
The end result is not so surprising. Trapped in the dark, they may manage to leave the water, but stand no chance of finding the surface, or an adequate supply of food.
Modelling by the remains of an unfortunate toad
Instead, they become food for transient mould. These two were in the entrance to the Dining Room - beside the Stalagmite Pitch - having hopped just a few metres away from the stream before dying.
Modelling by the Grim Ribbit
One of the most surreal pictures I have ever taken underground; just before Beehive Chamber, over 100 metres vertically and 300 metres horizontally underground, these two toads had somehow found each other, and were locked in amplexus - the frog equivalent of mating. He is hoping that somehow, she might find the situation arousing enough that she wishes to lay eggs so that he can fertilise them. A perfect place to abandon their young spawn.
Modelling by toads #4 and #5
As crazy as a box of frogs. I caried 10 of them from the depths (including the male from above, who had left his female as the dammed water level reached them). Another two - one probably the female - were rescued in someone else's helmet. While in the box, 5 males latched on to 5 females, and were chirping away merrily while I was trying to cave out with one hand disabled by the box. Occasionally bashing it into a wall by accident, or tipping it upside down as I tried to regain my balance on a climb. But nothing stopped them; it's the perfect time to spawn, come on, you know you want to. They were then released into a different stream just a few metres away in the same habitat, which does not flow into the cave. Natural selection cheated, their offspring might actually survive.
Modelling by The Accidental Cavers