Water Icicle Close Cavern trip 22/05/2022
Unless otherwise stated, camera, setups, lighting, edits and gallery effects by Tarquin. Modelling and lighting at various points will be Gwenllian Tawy.
The name of this cave seems odd. Water Icicle is an old local name for stalactites, which are, incidentally, not icicles. To differentiate them from regular icicles, they add the word "water", because apparently regular icicles are not made from water, but stalactites are. As for why it has "close" in the name; go figure.
Despite only being about 1 km long, and us only having access to the first half of it, this is a very extensive gallery, as it is intended to aid research into the deposits within the cave.
View from Long Rake. Definitely not as dramatic as the rest of the Peak District caving areas, just rolling farmland. However, this area is a plateau with about 200 metres of relief, dropping off to the right of this photo. So it does have some depth potential.
Moles on a fence. While this could be the work of a perfectionist shrike, it is more likely to be an exterminator showing off their work to a landowner.
Modelling by the the army of the dead
The top of Cales Dale, a dry gorge that contains Lower Cales Dale Cave. The majority of the cave can only be visited in drought, and is a tough cave. At some point, it will probably be connected to Lathkill Head Cave.
Small copper butterfly, in it's characteristic pose, never fully relaxing, ready to fly off. For scale, those are blades of grass!
Modelling by Bart Simpson
View from Derby Lane (a footpath). The entrance is in front of the trees on the right. the deep valley ahead is the gorge of Lathkill Dale, with Ricklow Dale to the left. These are home to the Lathkill-Ricklow Cave system, and Critchlow Cave. At 2.6 km, this is the longest cave in the area, but due to its risk of flooding, we had avoided it, since the weather forecast had predicted heavy rain.
Modelling by Gwenllian and some white dots
The entrance is a 31 metre mine shaft bizarrely positioned in the middle of a field, with no obvious reason for having been dug there. As it turns out, the cave was found by mining on a vein, and this is the second entrance, dug as a winze (winching shaft) or air shaft. The original entrance is now filled in.
Modelling by Gwenllian
The shaft is just big enough to prusik comfortably.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Sol and Gwenllian
The bottom of the shaft intersects a natural aven, where there is a minor rope rub. The optional deviation causes a different rope rub. It lands suspiciously perfectly in the middle of a junction of three cave passages.
Lighting by Tarquin and Sol
Bones below the shaft. The descent was apparently not survivable.
Modelling by fluffy
An unusual spider for a cave, it appears to be a wolf spider (Pardosa). This is not a normal cave spider, and has likely fallen down the shaft, and is now trying to eek out a very uncomfortable existence down here. This one is male, and is carrying around two water droplets, probably unintentionally.
Modelling by Dustin
A beetle Gwenllian found, which turned out to be a type of ground beetle called a Black Cock (yes, trust Gwenllian to find one of those!). Specifically, this is a Pterostichus madidus concinnus.
Modelling by Calddu
The start of North Passage. The entrance shaft is above the camera.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Whenever you see a picture of Water Icicle Close Cavern, the passage is shaped like this, which might make you suspect that everyone takes their pictures in the same spot (like the tubular streamway in Peak Cavenm). But no, it is because this is what all passages in the cave seem to look like. North Passage starts out quite muddy.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Cunks of oddly sharp crystals of calcite in North Passage. We were not sure at first what these were, but determined that they are unlikely to be natural.
Calcited aven in North Passage.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Crystals underneath the aven. The way these were scattered looked like cryostal, but there is something about them that is not quite right.
The crystals are all very sharp, without any beads or curvy shapes normally seen with cryostal. We assume that these are artificially created by the miners robbing the cave of its calcite, and breaking it into manageable chunks. They are angular because they are shattered chunks of calcite.
Another calcited aven. The bottom of every curtain has been snapped off, and a large flow of calcite is missing from the wall. Quite sad, really, but this is a mine, and they were mining calcite.
Crushed crystals all over the base of the aven.
The crystals do not have any of the hallmarks of cryostal.
Flowstone covered rocks in North Passage.
Redissolving calcite showing the internal crystal structure.
Redissolving calcite.
Examining the deposits in North Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Nearing the end of North Passage, where it becomes a muddy crawl.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Aven near the end of the passage, with some chaotic scaffolding. The passage continues a little beyond it, as a muddy dig. We decided there were better places to be.
Heading from the base of the shaft into Northwest passage, a passage that initially heads southwest, then turns to head west. After being given the name, it was then extended significantly, and the extension does actually head northwest, so maybe the name was a prediction.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A dry stone wall in the early part of Northwest Passage. This might be deads, or might be digging spoil. It's hard to know.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Flowstone in white and dark. The dark parts may be manganese.
Former grotto in Northwest Passage. The damage in this grotto is extreme, with the calcite hacked from the walls in many places.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A large missing patch of flowstone on the chamber floor. The layers of the calcite can be clearly seen.
Angular calcite crystals.
Detail of the calcite shards. Some of them still have textures from when they were growing in a crystal pool.
Large chunks of calcite that seem to have been harvested and prepared, but not exported from the mine.
A small piece of surviving calcite.
Hidden under the wall is some flowstone, which has actually survived intact! This gives a nice idea of what the cave would have looked like originally.
After the grotto. Again, a lot of stal has been destroyed.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A large section of calcite has been removed. The layers look interesting, but it is still very sad to see all this damage.
Once again, there is a pile of calcite shards, looking like cryostal.
Another missing section of stal.
The pick marks are clearly visible, with crystal pieces in them exactly matching the powder.
The powdered pieces are clearly made by the pick-axe.
Returning to the classic passage style.
Another very obviously removed section of calcite. The pick-axe hole is filled with crystals.
The floor is liberally covered in powdered crystals from the mining.
An undamaged alcove. And it looks like she had fun.
Flowstone with purple streaks. This is largely untouched. Presumably the miners found the purple stain ugly or undesirable, but it is actually an interesting colour. Manganese, perhaps.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Edge of a dried crystal pool, showing on the walls. The miners did not seem interested, and left this alone.
A patch of probable cryostal on the floor.
Modelling by Gwenllian's legs, lighting by Tarquin and the rest of Gwenllian
This patch has some pieces made from beads, characteristic of cryostal. There are also certain crystal pool formations that can make these shapes, but cryostal is the most likely explanation. Some pieces of cryostal were recovered from this area by the research team, for testing.
Possible cryostal pieces.
Aven above the cryostal. In some caves, it has been found in higher concentrations below avens, but this is not something seen so far in South Wales.
Still an arch shaped passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Distinctively grey flowstone. Once again, this has survived.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Black and white chunks, probably calcite and manganese.
Flowstone-filled rift. Several stalactites have been snapped off, and some large chunks are missing, probably stalagmites.
A deep pit on one side of the passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Grotto in the pit.
The pit drops down a steep chute.
Fossils in the pit.
Fossils in the pit.
The bottom is a mud filled rift. A very strange little development, with no obvious reason for existence.
Remains of a rusted bucket (we think). This looks very old, and probably belonged to the miners, rather than cavers.
Obliterated remains of a stalagmite boss. The stalagmite tops are all missing.
Flowstone cascade. The left side has been completely removed, but it presumably looked lovely, like the remaining right side.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Start of the extensive walls of deads in Northwest Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The walls seem to go on forever. This might be deads left by the miners, but the next piece of passage is a choke that was dug through by cavers, and presumably some of the deads were therefore made by the diggers.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Switch, probably old mining equipment.
Northwest Passage ends at Northwest Choke, a very tall choke made from massive boulders.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Climbing the ladder. The ladder on the top is not in use (thankfully).
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The passage at the top is gated, and uses a special key, not the normal Derbyshire key. The gate is there to protect the sediment deposits and cryostal deposits in the passages beyond.
The route through the choke is heavily shored. About 500 metres of passage lies beyond this choke, about half of the total cave, including a deep pitch. We did not have a key, so we went no further in this part of the cave.
Start of South Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Deads in South Passage. These appear to be from mining, since there does not appear to be a choked passage anywhere nearby.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Guess what shape South Passage is.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Calcited aven in South Passage.
Calcite shards below the aven. These appear to be from mining.
Aven near Batty Farber Passage. The top has a short passage with no prospects, as its draught seems to come from Great Rift.
The hole into Batty Farber Passage (the name seems to relate to a radio host), which we made the mistake of visiting. It was not worth it.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Heading into Batty Farber Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The passage drops into a blind pit.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A crawl tucked above the pit provides a very muddy way on. The mud is thick and incredibly sticky, rapidly drying like cement on clothing. This passage is absolutely not worth visiting. It also has the potential for poor air, but it should be pointed out that passages like this exist in many caves, and we would not think twice about visiting them there. It is only because this is a mined cave that some visitors carry carbon dioxide monitors (something very important in many mines), and that causes them to notice the poor air that cavers would typically not notice.
South Passage then reaches a section filled with deads, which appear to be cavers digging through after the passage was blocked.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The passage breaks out into Great Rift, a tall but narrow rift, formed on a lead vein. There was originally a mine entrance somewhere up there, and that is how the miners originally found the cave, by following the vein downwards after it was located on the surface.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The mining was not successful, as the lead vein opened out into a rift instead, without any significant payout. The miners started mining the calcite instead, locating the position of the cave passages, and digging a second shaft - that explains how they hit the middle of a junction so perfectly. The cave draughts fairly well, even though the original shaft is capped, so presumably the second shaft was a winze, not an air shaft.
Cavers then spotted a place to dig on the other side of the Great Rift, and found their way into a continuation of South Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The start of Volcanic Bug Pusher. The passage, unlike everything before it, had never been touched by the miners. The sediment is preserved in its original state, and there are many interesting deposits. Sadly, this part of the cave does not have much calcite, so there is nothing to make up for what the miners removed elsewhere.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Angular pebbles.
Fluffy/bobbly mud, created by cryogenic processes (ice age freeze-thaw action).
Drip pockets in the mud. The footprints are from the original exploration, before the taped route had been developed.
The large passage section at the junction with Donkey Kong Aven.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Red ceiling, which looks like a thin shale layer.
Drip pockets at the junction.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Calcite blocks at the junction, which have naturally fallen out of Donkey Kong Aven.
Detail of the calcite blocks.
Detail of the calcite blocks.
Donkey Kong Aven.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Donkey Kong Aven has no way on at the top.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Crystals at Donkey Kong Aven. This time, they are natural, which makes you wonder how many of the earlier ones were a mix of natural and mining debris.
Crystals at Donkey Kong Aven.
Squared off passage beyond Donkey Kong Aven. This often happens with frost shattering (ice ages again), but very little of the cave shows that effect, so this might just be a particularly weak bedding.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Partially redissolved calcite crust.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Narrow drip pockets.
Wide drip pockets.
Enlarged rift.
Continuing arch shaped passage in Volcanic Bug Pusher.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Angular chippings at the junction of the rift and arch. These do not appear to be cryogenic.
Tiny hoodoos around a mud drip formation.
Crusted mud formations. The crust is likely to be calcite, and appears to either be depositional (formed by drip splashes leaving calcite behind), or wicking (evaporation drawing dissolved calcite to the surface).
Crusted mud formations.
Elaborate calcite crust.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Crystal growth in the calcite crust.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Pile of fallen calcite blocks. These look very similar to the calcite blocks seen in the mined part of the cave, but this area was never found by the miners, so these chunks of broken calcite formed naturally. The most likely cause is frost shattering. (The powder on the left is likely to be a wicking crust, and did not look cryogenic.)
A small deposit of cryostal flakes in the fluffy/bobbly mud.
Cryostal in the mud.
Large blocks of calcite, naturally fractured, and covered in cryostal.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Cryostal on the blocks.
Cryostal on the blocks.
The cryostal has a very different texture from what I have seen in South Wales. The vast majority is angular little shards, like individual calcite crystals. There are hardly any beads or rounded lumps, and virtually no flakes. It is more like dessicated coconut.
Nearing the end of Volcanic Bug Pusher.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Small stalagmites.
Crystal covered rocks, presumably a former crystal pool.
Last set of drip pockets.
Calcited alcove near the end. This has a missing section, like the ones seen in the mine, but this time it has to be natural. And this begs the question of exactly how much of the mined cave's damage is natural too. It has been so heavily damaged by the miners, it is hard to tell.
Dry stone walls signal the impending "Oh No" Choke (that is its name, including the quotes). The dry stone walls are all cave digging spoil, from the attempts to pass the choke.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Massive cryostal deposit near the dry stone walls.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Cryostal on a boulder. Some of the chunks are huge, several centimetres across. Almost all are angular, but some have an angular core and curvy growths growing from them.
Cryostal detail. Again, most are angular, but some are the normal bead clusters.
Cryostal detail.
Cryostal detail.
"Oh No" Choke then reaches the extensive dig, where a sign invites you to please walk in. There is even a ventillation fan, though the air seemed very fresh here. The dig is muddy, and 20 metres long, so we left it alone.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Calcited alcove at the dig.
Beneath the calcited aven is a narrow crawl, which is the way into Olympic Stroll. We gained some mud here (which Batty Farber Passage then surpassed many times over), which promptly set like concrete. All of the mud has a strong red tint compared with most other caves.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The narrow crawl then becomes a wide bedding, but never a comfortable height. A shame, because Olympic Stroll looks so wide and inviting on the survey. There were a few notes about poor air in this passage, and although we never noticed the air being bad, we most definitely noticed that the air in Volcanic Bug Pusher felt much fresher on our return to that passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A scattering of tiny cryostal rafts in the fluffy/bobbly mud, in the Olympic Stroll bedding.
Calcited rift in the ceiling of Olympic Stroll.
Nearing the end of Olympic Stroll, which turns into a flat out crawl over wet mud just before the end.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
View from Long Rake. Definitely not as dramatic as the rest of the Peak District caving areas, just rolling farmland. However, this area is a plateau with about 200 metres of relief, dropping off to the right of this photo. So it does have some depth potential.
Moles on a fence. While this could be the work of a perfectionist shrike, it is more likely to be an exterminator showing off their work to a landowner.
Modelling by the the army of the dead
The top of Cales Dale, a dry gorge that contains Lower Cales Dale Cave. The majority of the cave can only be visited in drought, and is a tough cave. At some point, it will probably be connected to Lathkill Head Cave.
Small copper butterfly, in it's characteristic pose, never fully relaxing, ready to fly off. For scale, those are blades of grass!
Modelling by Bart Simpson
View from Derby Lane (a footpath). The entrance is in front of the trees on the right. the deep valley ahead is the gorge of Lathkill Dale, with Ricklow Dale to the left. These are home to the Lathkill-Ricklow Cave system, and Critchlow Cave. At 2.6 km, this is the longest cave in the area, but due to its risk of flooding, we had avoided it, since the weather forecast had predicted heavy rain.
Modelling by Gwenllian and some white dots
The entrance is a 31 metre mine shaft bizarrely positioned in the middle of a field, with no obvious reason for having been dug there. As it turns out, the cave was found by mining on a vein, and this is the second entrance, dug as a winze (winching shaft) or air shaft. The original entrance is now filled in.
Modelling by Gwenllian
The shaft is just big enough to prusik comfortably.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Sol and Gwenllian
The bottom of the shaft intersects a natural aven, where there is a minor rope rub. The optional deviation causes a different rope rub. It lands suspiciously perfectly in the middle of a junction of three cave passages.
Lighting by Tarquin and Sol
Bones below the shaft. The descent was apparently not survivable.
Modelling by fluffy
An unusual spider for a cave, it appears to be a wolf spider (Pardosa). This is not a normal cave spider, and has likely fallen down the shaft, and is now trying to eek out a very uncomfortable existence down here. This one is male, and is carrying around two water droplets, probably unintentionally.
Modelling by Dustin
A beetle Gwenllian found, which turned out to be a type of ground beetle called a Black Cock (yes, trust Gwenllian to find one of those!). Specifically, this is a Pterostichus madidus concinnus.
Modelling by Calddu
The start of North Passage. The entrance shaft is above the camera.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Whenever you see a picture of Water Icicle Close Cavern, the passage is shaped like this, which might make you suspect that everyone takes their pictures in the same spot (like the tubular streamway in Peak Cavenm). But no, it is because this is what all passages in the cave seem to look like. North Passage starts out quite muddy.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Cunks of oddly sharp crystals of calcite in North Passage. We were not sure at first what these were, but determined that they are unlikely to be natural.
Calcited aven in North Passage.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Crystals underneath the aven. The way these were scattered looked like cryostal, but there is something about them that is not quite right.
The crystals are all very sharp, without any beads or curvy shapes normally seen with cryostal. We assume that these are artificially created by the miners robbing the cave of its calcite, and breaking it into manageable chunks. They are angular because they are shattered chunks of calcite.
Another calcited aven. The bottom of every curtain has been snapped off, and a large flow of calcite is missing from the wall. Quite sad, really, but this is a mine, and they were mining calcite.
Crushed crystals all over the base of the aven.
The crystals do not have any of the hallmarks of cryostal.
Flowstone covered rocks in North Passage.
Redissolving calcite showing the internal crystal structure.
Redissolving calcite.
Examining the deposits in North Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Nearing the end of North Passage, where it becomes a muddy crawl.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Aven near the end of the passage, with some chaotic scaffolding. The passage continues a little beyond it, as a muddy dig. We decided there were better places to be.
Heading from the base of the shaft into Northwest passage, a passage that initially heads southwest, then turns to head west. After being given the name, it was then extended significantly, and the extension does actually head northwest, so maybe the name was a prediction.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A dry stone wall in the early part of Northwest Passage. This might be deads, or might be digging spoil. It's hard to know.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Flowstone in white and dark. The dark parts may be manganese.
Former grotto in Northwest Passage. The damage in this grotto is extreme, with the calcite hacked from the walls in many places.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A large missing patch of flowstone on the chamber floor. The layers of the calcite can be clearly seen.
Angular calcite crystals.
Detail of the calcite shards. Some of them still have textures from when they were growing in a crystal pool.
Large chunks of calcite that seem to have been harvested and prepared, but not exported from the mine.
A small piece of surviving calcite.
Hidden under the wall is some flowstone, which has actually survived intact! This gives a nice idea of what the cave would have looked like originally.
After the grotto. Again, a lot of stal has been destroyed.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A large section of calcite has been removed. The layers look interesting, but it is still very sad to see all this damage.
Once again, there is a pile of calcite shards, looking like cryostal.
Another missing section of stal.
The pick marks are clearly visible, with crystal pieces in them exactly matching the powder.
The powdered pieces are clearly made by the pick-axe.
Returning to the classic passage style.
Another very obviously removed section of calcite. The pick-axe hole is filled with crystals.
The floor is liberally covered in powdered crystals from the mining.
An undamaged alcove. And it looks like she had fun.
Flowstone with purple streaks. This is largely untouched. Presumably the miners found the purple stain ugly or undesirable, but it is actually an interesting colour. Manganese, perhaps.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Edge of a dried crystal pool, showing on the walls. The miners did not seem interested, and left this alone.
A patch of probable cryostal on the floor.
Modelling by Gwenllian's legs, lighting by Tarquin and the rest of Gwenllian
This patch has some pieces made from beads, characteristic of cryostal. There are also certain crystal pool formations that can make these shapes, but cryostal is the most likely explanation. Some pieces of cryostal were recovered from this area by the research team, for testing.
Possible cryostal pieces.
Aven above the cryostal. In some caves, it has been found in higher concentrations below avens, but this is not something seen so far in South Wales.
Still an arch shaped passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Distinctively grey flowstone. Once again, this has survived.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Black and white chunks, probably calcite and manganese.
Flowstone-filled rift. Several stalactites have been snapped off, and some large chunks are missing, probably stalagmites.
A deep pit on one side of the passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Grotto in the pit.
The pit drops down a steep chute.
Fossils in the pit.
Fossils in the pit.
The bottom is a mud filled rift. A very strange little development, with no obvious reason for existence.
Remains of a rusted bucket (we think). This looks very old, and probably belonged to the miners, rather than cavers.
Obliterated remains of a stalagmite boss. The stalagmite tops are all missing.
Flowstone cascade. The left side has been completely removed, but it presumably looked lovely, like the remaining right side.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Start of the extensive walls of deads in Northwest Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The walls seem to go on forever. This might be deads left by the miners, but the next piece of passage is a choke that was dug through by cavers, and presumably some of the deads were therefore made by the diggers.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Switch, probably old mining equipment.
Northwest Passage ends at Northwest Choke, a very tall choke made from massive boulders.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Climbing the ladder. The ladder on the top is not in use (thankfully).
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The passage at the top is gated, and uses a special key, not the normal Derbyshire key. The gate is there to protect the sediment deposits and cryostal deposits in the passages beyond.
The route through the choke is heavily shored. About 500 metres of passage lies beyond this choke, about half of the total cave, including a deep pitch. We did not have a key, so we went no further in this part of the cave.
Start of South Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Deads in South Passage. These appear to be from mining, since there does not appear to be a choked passage anywhere nearby.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Guess what shape South Passage is.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Calcited aven in South Passage.
Calcite shards below the aven. These appear to be from mining.
Aven near Batty Farber Passage. The top has a short passage with no prospects, as its draught seems to come from Great Rift.
The hole into Batty Farber Passage (the name seems to relate to a radio host), which we made the mistake of visiting. It was not worth it.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Heading into Batty Farber Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The passage drops into a blind pit.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A crawl tucked above the pit provides a very muddy way on. The mud is thick and incredibly sticky, rapidly drying like cement on clothing. This passage is absolutely not worth visiting. It also has the potential for poor air, but it should be pointed out that passages like this exist in many caves, and we would not think twice about visiting them there. It is only because this is a mined cave that some visitors carry carbon dioxide monitors (something very important in many mines), and that causes them to notice the poor air that cavers would typically not notice.
South Passage then reaches a section filled with deads, which appear to be cavers digging through after the passage was blocked.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The passage breaks out into Great Rift, a tall but narrow rift, formed on a lead vein. There was originally a mine entrance somewhere up there, and that is how the miners originally found the cave, by following the vein downwards after it was located on the surface.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The mining was not successful, as the lead vein opened out into a rift instead, without any significant payout. The miners started mining the calcite instead, locating the position of the cave passages, and digging a second shaft - that explains how they hit the middle of a junction so perfectly. The cave draughts fairly well, even though the original shaft is capped, so presumably the second shaft was a winze, not an air shaft.
Cavers then spotted a place to dig on the other side of the Great Rift, and found their way into a continuation of South Passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The start of Volcanic Bug Pusher. The passage, unlike everything before it, had never been touched by the miners. The sediment is preserved in its original state, and there are many interesting deposits. Sadly, this part of the cave does not have much calcite, so there is nothing to make up for what the miners removed elsewhere.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Angular pebbles.
Fluffy/bobbly mud, created by cryogenic processes (ice age freeze-thaw action).
Drip pockets in the mud. The footprints are from the original exploration, before the taped route had been developed.
The large passage section at the junction with Donkey Kong Aven.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Red ceiling, which looks like a thin shale layer.
Drip pockets at the junction.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Calcite blocks at the junction, which have naturally fallen out of Donkey Kong Aven.
Detail of the calcite blocks.
Detail of the calcite blocks.
Donkey Kong Aven.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Donkey Kong Aven has no way on at the top.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Crystals at Donkey Kong Aven. This time, they are natural, which makes you wonder how many of the earlier ones were a mix of natural and mining debris.
Crystals at Donkey Kong Aven.
Squared off passage beyond Donkey Kong Aven. This often happens with frost shattering (ice ages again), but very little of the cave shows that effect, so this might just be a particularly weak bedding.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Partially redissolved calcite crust.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Narrow drip pockets.
Wide drip pockets.
Enlarged rift.
Continuing arch shaped passage in Volcanic Bug Pusher.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Angular chippings at the junction of the rift and arch. These do not appear to be cryogenic.
Tiny hoodoos around a mud drip formation.
Crusted mud formations. The crust is likely to be calcite, and appears to either be depositional (formed by drip splashes leaving calcite behind), or wicking (evaporation drawing dissolved calcite to the surface).
Crusted mud formations.
Elaborate calcite crust.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Crystal growth in the calcite crust.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Pile of fallen calcite blocks. These look very similar to the calcite blocks seen in the mined part of the cave, but this area was never found by the miners, so these chunks of broken calcite formed naturally. The most likely cause is frost shattering. (The powder on the left is likely to be a wicking crust, and did not look cryogenic.)
A small deposit of cryostal flakes in the fluffy/bobbly mud.
Cryostal in the mud.
Large blocks of calcite, naturally fractured, and covered in cryostal.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Cryostal on the blocks.
Cryostal on the blocks.
The cryostal has a very different texture from what I have seen in South Wales. The vast majority is angular little shards, like individual calcite crystals. There are hardly any beads or rounded lumps, and virtually no flakes. It is more like dessicated coconut.
Nearing the end of Volcanic Bug Pusher.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Small stalagmites.
Crystal covered rocks, presumably a former crystal pool.
Last set of drip pockets.
Calcited alcove near the end. This has a missing section, like the ones seen in the mine, but this time it has to be natural. And this begs the question of exactly how much of the mined cave's damage is natural too. It has been so heavily damaged by the miners, it is hard to tell.
Dry stone walls signal the impending "Oh No" Choke (that is its name, including the quotes). The dry stone walls are all cave digging spoil, from the attempts to pass the choke.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Massive cryostal deposit near the dry stone walls.
Lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Cryostal on a boulder. Some of the chunks are huge, several centimetres across. Almost all are angular, but some have an angular core and curvy growths growing from them.
Cryostal detail. Again, most are angular, but some are the normal bead clusters.
Cryostal detail.
Cryostal detail.
"Oh No" Choke then reaches the extensive dig, where a sign invites you to please walk in. There is even a ventillation fan, though the air seemed very fresh here. The dig is muddy, and 20 metres long, so we left it alone.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
Calcited alcove at the dig.
Beneath the calcited aven is a narrow crawl, which is the way into Olympic Stroll. We gained some mud here (which Batty Farber Passage then surpassed many times over), which promptly set like concrete. All of the mud has a strong red tint compared with most other caves.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
The narrow crawl then becomes a wide bedding, but never a comfortable height. A shame, because Olympic Stroll looks so wide and inviting on the survey. There were a few notes about poor air in this passage, and although we never noticed the air being bad, we most definitely noticed that the air in Volcanic Bug Pusher felt much fresher on our return to that passage.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian
A scattering of tiny cryostal rafts in the fluffy/bobbly mud, in the Olympic Stroll bedding.
Calcited rift in the ceiling of Olympic Stroll.
Nearing the end of Olympic Stroll, which turns into a flat out crawl over wet mud just before the end.
Modelling by Gwenllian, lighting by Tarquin and Gwenllian