Waterfall Hole
This drains to SMMC, so definitely worth a look....
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- Written by: Joe Buck
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From the other side of the world in New Zealand, I had been closely monitoring the stellar work of the rest of the gang back home in Waterfall Hole. The huge clean-washed passages and glow worms of NZ can’t compare to the squalid misery of a good Stoney dig. I was jealous.
The dig face was described as being right up my street: flat-out capping laying on one side, with very little room to work, and virtually no stacking space. After we’d made our way through the lovely new sump bypass, we negotiated the way to Westy’s bit, all the while Jon moaned incessantly about the size of my tackle bag. Rob was going to head off and tick off another lead Chris has spotted the week before, while Jon and I headed towards the main dig. The boys were gracious enough to let me have a go first as I had yet to see it.
At the dig face, I was initially confronted with a jumble of rocks where Rob had previously broken up the large boulder blocking the way on. A quick tickle with a crowbar and I managed to bring the lower blocks further towards me and get the others to collapse on my arms and head… I could now begin one-handed capping them into smaller chunks so they could slot neatly into our limited stacking space.
After a few hours of repeatedly shuffling around in the tight rift and launching and kicking rocks back at Jon, I managed to clear enough space above the boulder to squeeze into a narrow perpendicular rift. This made capping a lot more pleasant as I was now able to swing a hammer properly and not have my face right next to the capping bar.
The way on appeared to be down a narrow slot on the far side of the boulder/bedding with a reasonable cold draft hitting me in the face. I could just about see some space beyond through a small hole, but there was a lot more rock in the way and the capping now required me to go headfirst down the small hole and round a slight bend. This therefore involved disassembling the capping rod so I could get in, drill a hole, and then put the rod back in the hole in pieces and reassemble every time. At least I could just lob rocks further down now though.
JP in the squeezy bit into the chamber
After about an hour of sweating and swearing, I was tantalisingly close to be able to squeeze through into the space beyond, but the others began to complain of cold, with their faith in my positivity waning. I just couldn’t get this one jammed rock shifted. Growing increasingly frustrated, I threw a small handful of caps in the rock for one final effort, and with a satisfying crack and rumble of rocks into the space below I could finally wriggle through!
I dropped into a small chamber and immediately called Rob and Jon in. Jon, who was in front of Rob in the crawl, was sceptical to come through as he didn’t think we’d all fit and figured my threshold for impressive chambers was pretty low. Rob however, like a dog with two capping rods, was scrabbling to get in and have a look. There’s an obvious clean-washed channel down to the right as you enter, which is the obvious way on as it’s still heading in the right direction, and black space can be seen further ahead. This still requires capping and is currently underneath a huge and terrifying cantilevered boulder. Some climbs at the back of the chamber led up to more Waterfall Hole-esque jumbled boulders but with no obvious way on.
Happy boys
Plenty of piss-taking ensued as I was crowned chief GGW for leaving for three months only to return after all the hard work was complete and bag this find. It was getting late so we made a run for the pub. I am looking forward to heading back here - good prospects, sociable, and plenty of stacking space. Winner.
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- Written by: Rob Eavis
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SR...What? (JP)
This was the first time in ages that I hadn’t been staring at the forecast in the days before the trip, trying to work out if the entrance was going to be sumped. The completion of the sump bypass last week now gives all-weather access to the rest of the cave, although that now means we have no excuse to not get digging.
With just the three core diggers again this week, and with quite a few “setting up” jobs to get on with, we decided to split into two teams. Chris n Jon stayed at the entrance pitch to look at putting some staples in to avoid the need of a ladder or SRT, similar to what we did in Madame Guillotine in Baggers. I left them to it and went ahead towards Westy’s Bit (admittedly with a bit of guidance from Jon as I had no idea which way to turn!).
Shortly after the pitch is a very technical squeeze over a tight rift which is not easy and Chris fell victim to on his return last time. So I spent a bit of time this trip with a length of 3x2 and a 2 foot long wood saw and ended up with a relatively poorly positioned stemple which will hopefully be of some use. After that I continued on to the end where I could begin forging a route ahead. It had been over 2 months since I was here last (https://www.eldonpotholeclub.org.uk/homepage/current-uk-projects/waterfall-swallets/702-500-a-goer-04-12-2026), not due to lack of trying, so I was super excited to finally be laid out with drill in hand ready to start smashing the place up. And the draught today was steady and very encouraging.
Crap stemple better than none?
A few caps just back from the end gave me a bit more room to work and I could finally take a good look at the boulder stood up and blocking the way. At over a metre tall it’s much bigger than the passage (somehow!) and whilst I could just about wobble the rock it was clear it needed to be broken into a lot of pieces to be moved out of the way. This was quite a tricky challenge because with each cap the pieces got smaller but still kind of balanced on each other, until they didn’t and instead rolled down onto my head. At least they were free and I could then shuttle each of them back about 2 body lengths to where the tiny bit of stacking space is. Slow work, but I was loving it.
The end boulder in pieces
After an hour Jon n Chris arrived and whilst I continued digging they spent 30 minutes or so widening a squeeze I had passed which to be fair was pretty tricky. Jon’s capping was yet again off form, however this time it was seemingly due to him using ‘little Rob’s little party poppers’ instead of proper caps, so after lots of swearing he came and stole a load of Chris’s big ones off me.
Jon in the newly widened squeeze
Come 21:45 they had finished widening the squeeze and I’d made a proper mess of the end so we called “pub”. On the way out we all enjoyed using the new stemple, although thankfully it’s still a very technical piece of cave not dissimilar to Coconut Airways in Cussey. At the pitch I was keen to see their staples, until they admitted they’d spent most of the time scratching their heads (and Chris doing an emergency dye testing experiment using some of his own toxic excretions) to then agree that no staples are needed and just a traverse line will be fine.
Nice to finally have a proper trip, we all were pretty knackered and the beer tasted oh so good. Can’t wait to get back digging the end.
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- Written by: Fabian Ehlers
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“Who is this stranger… It’s been bloody ages since I’ve last seen you” exclaimed Chris as I entered his car to meet the crew for pre-session drinks.
“Thanks mate… Been busy, with like work and family stuff”… but it has been ages, hasn’t it? Little Waterfall Swallet was the last project I’ve helped out on. Since then, I kind of fizzled into the background risking the humiliating removal of your rights to call yourself a member of Team Awesome!
Having followed the reports over the last few months I knew that tonight would be a very special night and it was only right to be part of this and grab some glory.
After a little catch up we got dressed and headed to the entrance, only Rob sporting a wetsuit this time round as he was aiming to cap away from the far sump side whilst Chris and I would stay on the dry side.
This being my first time into Waterfall Hole I wasn’t sure what to expect, the entrance is something which was never discussed, but the low flat our crawl was actually quiet cool… Completely smooth and easy to manoeuvre through. Within less than a minute we reached the junction where the wet meets the dry and Rob didn’t bother hanging around before going headfirst into the sump, as soon as his face touched the water, he realised this was a stupid idea. But Rob being Rob, he went off and it was rather eerie hearing him literally 5m away through the rock.
Chris and I focused on the dry side and started capping our way towards the anticipated right tun whilst Rob and Jon came the other direction.
One thing I realised that Rob’s earmuffs attached to his helmet although looking absolutely manic would have actually come in very handy. Capping microwave sized boulders inches from your head with no ear protection adds another level of awesomeness… or stupidity?
A little bit of stuck capping rods, change of drills and especially replacing the little toy hammer Jon used on his side with a proper piece of metal to finally allow him to join the club of cappers.
Whilst Chris was at the dig face and me supporting at the rear by stacking broken boulders into every possible gap to ensure we have an easy access/egress, I frequently looked down into the sump pool and was toying with the idea of just going for a push through and meet the other guys to say Hi.
But then I heard Rob shout “Are you coming through then?”, wait what? They’ve done it?
I quickly abandoned the idea of going for a drunk and raced towards the dig face only to see Chris’s legs peeking around the corner and the rest of his body being contorted into some weird exorcist pose in order to make the dogleg bend. A few kicks against the wall and he managed to get himself to the other side. Cheering was heard echoing through the cave as if England has just won the World Cup (you wish!).
Shortly after I was beckoned through the section to join the team, on your left, bend yourself in half, kick the wall and push like a madman. And you are through! Entering the slightly bigger chamber I was impressed at how quickly the rocks changed from what I’ve seen so far, this area was very clean washed, a lot of water must go through here.
And then I felt it… this feeling of euphoria, that you’ve been part of achieving something amazing. Not everyone may appreciate the impact this has on further explorations in this cave by achieving a dry route and bypassing the sump. Now digs can happen every week despite the sump being closed.
That feeling of being a selfish glory grabbing wanker… Especially when you turn up on breakthrough night, can’t get any better than that!
I was quickly shown the way on into the deeper cave whilst the rest were packing up and started to head out. I followed through the amazing new dry section (having completely forgot the idea of the sump) and we exited into a lovely white coating of snow making this an extra special night.
Post-beers were enjoyed at the pub by the team, but I instead opted to make the long journey home, grinning to myself of what I have been part of… whilst still hearing the ringing in my ears and the smell of gun powder from the caps…
I shall update you on the next breakthrough in this cave when some glory is to be grabbed.
Fabian
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- Written by: Jon Pemberton
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Just Chris and I this week for some more rock removal fun! It had pissed it down with rain up until the event which left us cowering in the van until the very last second!
After a hasty pre beer we donned oversuits and walked down into the shake hole. The water was backed up as expected. As long as it wasn't flowing into the entrance, we would be ok.
Chris sorted gear above WW's whilst I took a look at the end and removed the rocks from the previous week. Chris made for the first shift, working at the face for about an hour before I took over. I started by removing a constriction slightly further back in the crawl to make dragging a bit easier. By this point the capping bar had zero extensions and the whole procedure was getting a little scary as I was becoming more and more deaf! After some time, I made work on the face and could visibly see the connection to the otherside.
Chris had another quick go but my little kitten arms had just about given up the goose with all the smashing, so we retreated to the Mechanics for posties after a quick swim under the waterfall.
Note to team: there may be a few larger rocks in WW's. (Thanks Chris!)
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- Written by: Chris Hibberts
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Team: Chris H & Rob E
Driving to pick up Rob the snow on the A515 was making me glad I’d had the foresight to don my furry suit before I’d set out, saving the uncomfortable change at the Waterfall car park. I had mentioned earlier in the week about putting a ladder in just in case the sump was open, in my rush leaving I had totally forgotten to pick it up. Anyway, with the rain we’d had I was sure that Ward Wins Crawl would be sumped.
Rob collected we head to the carpark, and the snow had now stopped, still, I was glad I didn’t have to strip off to get my furry on and used the time to sort out the drill and batteries we also had Rob’s butter knife (longest crowbar in Derbyshire) to aid in tickling around. On the way down to the hole I decided to wager a pint on the sump being up, not sure whether Rob took the bet or not. Through the entrance crawl (hopefully only once this week) Rob reached the top of Ward Wins and I heard him shout up that the sump was open. I laughed thinking he was just after a free pint but no, it was open. It really is such a strange sump.
With no ladder our only option was to continue with the bypass but with the sump open it was a great opportunity to see if we could get some kind of voice connection on the other side. I set off with the drill to the dig face and Rob went through Ward wins. After a couple of minutes I was at the dig face and was sure I could hear Rob rustling around so gave him a shout sure enough we could hear each other however Rob though he could just hear me through the Sump. I wasn’t convinced as my body was blocking the way back to the sump and could clearly hear Rob from both the small right hand rift and less so in front.
After a bit of drilling and a bit more shouting Rob had figured out that there was a small tube/crack directly above the sump which must have connected to the small rift on my right but also a slightly larger crack on the same wall further up that gave connection to my straight ahead rift. We switched places and both confirmed the 2 different connections.
It was now obvious that we had a really feasible bypass and that capping could be done from both sides so with the sump being open, and only one set of gear, we opted to dig the other side and see how far we could get. Rob collected the capping gear and brought it all through and within a matter of minutes we were off. We started by taking off a large flake to make more room in the small rift which was obliterated with one lot of caps. Then after a mixture of capping the side walls, chiselling off flakes, prying out boulders and removing spoil the crack seemed to open a little more up ahead.
Chris putting in the first cap of many
Great success!
There was a large flake on the left had wall that if removed would give access into the more open rift but it would have been more advisable to remove some more of the left had wall to get it out. It got the better of me and Rob’s glory grabbing traits were rubbing off. So I capped it and yes as suspected it flew forward and blocked the way on. At this point I thought it was a good idea to swap with Rob and advised that some of the left had side needed taking out to get the huge flake out. Cheers Rob.
With the way on clear and with a bit more space created it was now possible to get in another body length. With time ticking on we thought it would be a good idea for one of us to head back round and see how good the voice connection was, so back through Ward Wins I went. Reaching the other side I could clearly hear Rob straight on not only that I was sure I could see his light. I switch my lamp off and a couple of seconds later, through the small rift, I could see Rob had taken his helmet off, put it on the ground and could now clearly see his light. There was around 1.5 - 2m between where we stopped capping and Robs light.
Both excited now knowing we were heading in the right direction and the previous trips were all worthwhile we couldn't wait to get back to the pub to tell the others who were there for the monthly meet.
In the pub and suitably refreshed, we discussed the previous weeks guess on where the bypass would come out and both Mark and Jon P were wrong, here’s a little diagram to set things straight…
WWC By-pass Predictions - Chris H
We reckon with a team on both sides (provided the sump is open) a few more trips should see the by-pass complete which guarantees access and allows the other projects in Waterfall Swallet to commence.
We’ll keep you posted over the next few weeks.
The dig after one session, great progress!