Trip Logs

Went with Alicia the first time (06) we had no topo or anything, just location from a random website, the cave was in someone's garden, so we asked them and they permitted us to explore. we went in and found many broken pots and archaeological remains, we made our way down a scree pile slowly before getting to the end, there me and Alicia turned back.

Delphine and I returned a week later, where we went further, turning right at the end of the initial slope, the passage continued for another 20 meters with 1 right junction, that passage lead another 10 metres into a tight squeeze, seeing as we didn't have a topo we decided to turn back.

Delphine and I dounf the Topo of the cave in the local caving book, seeing as their where no pitches we decided to go for it! We entered, going through the first west passgae to have a look, then went though a tight squeeze to continue west, we kept going west until we felt like we had explored enough of the passages, and also it got really tight. we turned back and went towards Laminoir, a passage that went south. after scramblijng over some boulders we began the squezze towards the south, but delphine taught it was to tight, so we made a u turn and made our way towards the exit.

I went with Gabe, Kevin Kelly, and 3 Lads from the Wessex caving club. They brought us down a quick trip to one of the Sumps, they led us quickly through the cave, unfortunately, a bit too quickly for me, travelling from Ireland that day I had 3 hours of sleep, so as I saw them going down a rift, I decided to stay put, I put on a waterproof jacket for warmth and waited for them to return, then we made our way back to the exit.

Went with Gabe, Kevin Kelly and Alex. We went over to CHECC in the Mendips. We wanted to make it to the lake chamber. Gabe Rigged the entrance pitch, and I descended first. I Led through the cave as Gabe kept an eye on everyone from behind. We navigated past the Canyon then Flat Roof Chamber and Straubrey Boulder. After Frome Dig we took the tighter squeeze to the north before going up the rift leading to Puke Rift. As the passage got tighter we finally made it to Boots and Buttocks, at this point, some of our members weren't feeling too well, so at the 90-degree turn at Boots and buttocks, I made the decision to turn back. We turned around and made our way to the exit.

The SCSP Ales (Ales caving group) organised a trip to the Grotte D'emeraude. I went with Delphine Masri. At the car park, I was made fun of for wearing an undersuit, turns out SRT in French Cave = to overheat easily. On the way down I was put in charge of a member of SCSP who hadn't done srt in around 20 years. so I brought her through the basics and then went down before her, making sure to stay within earshot incase anything happened. thankfully she understood all my instructions and made it down the 3 pitches. we had a scramble around, going up the 2 prefixed ropes in the cave, finding some helictites and really cool and big formations. The Cave had been only explored a month before, so seeing this place was a really cool privilege.

For the G spot (le point G in French), I was led in by the Ales caving group, (SCSP Ales) and with Delphine Masri. We went down to meet up with the expedition group led by Joseline, a member of the French Caving School. In the cave we explored many passages, including the newly discovered friendship lake, (if I remember the name correctly) being the first group up to this lake was a special feeling. its the lake used in the cover picture above.

Paddy, Jorge, Kevin and I went into a section of Saint Kevin's Mine to spend the night! We wanted to challenge ourselves and see what we needed to do and take to spend a night in an underground passage. We packed breakfast, lunch and dinner to keep us fed and happy! For the sleeping arrangements, we found the one, and only, the dry passage in the cave, and set up a changing area with a tarp. After the changing area, we had another tarp with our sleeping bags and cooking equipment. We spent the day exploring the mine and setting up the camp area, the mine was mostly flooded so keeping the items dry was a difficult but fun challenge. Then we got changed into dry clothes, set up the sleeping area, and had some food. In the morning we tidied up and got back into our wet gear. we packed our stuff and headed out of the mine after a successful night.

Delphine and I met up with a Swiss caver that Delphine had met through the local club in Lausanne. He brought us to the cave, where we entered through the tourist entrance, a man-dug tunnel that leads into the main lake chamber called "lac du Cairn" where after following the tourist path we branched off behind the light show into another chamber. The chamber split into two directions, a large passage to the right, leading to the sumps, and a rift down to the left that led to a continuation of the river orbe, which disappeared into the rock.

Same day and people as Vallorbe, we went and stuck our heads into the "fairy cave", a massive cave system that goes under the French - swiss border, and they are trying to find a way up to link the cave system to the neighbouring county!   we only went as far as the locked door approximately 100 meters into the cave, just to take a look!

Kerry and I led the cave, Kerry rigged and I kept an eye on the navigation, This was our third cave attempt of the day, the first was gassed up, the second we couldn't find and this was the third. We knew we were in the right spot when a group of kids with an instructor came out of the cave entrance as we approached. I inspected the Topo and Kerry started to rig, the entrance, we made our way down till the second pitch. As we headed further east we came into another gas issue, Our Meter was indicating very low oxygen, so we made the decision to turn back. My phone had fallen on the last pitch, so I had to go back down and grab it, luckily it had survived and we all made it out without a scratch.

Kerry, Paddy, Hugh, Ronan, Alicia and I went to Barbette, I led the way as I was there previously, Leading them down the Western passage until Hugh and Ronan could not fit anymore. then we pushed further south than my previous attempt, but as I pushed through a squeeze the gas meter started blaring, reaching super-low oxygen levels in a matter of seconds. this really tight passage meant that it took time to manoeuvre, but the others got the message and moved back, I took my time as I knew panicking would mean I would breathe more and be more at risk, in the end, we all made it out without any symptoms.

Ronan, Hugh, Kerry, Alicia, Kevin, Paddy and I went down into Emeraude, I rigged and led the cave as I had been there before. once making it past the initial 4 pitches, we stayed within the designated preservation lines, we split into 2 groups, Kerry led one, and I led the other. In Emeraude, two pitches go up after the initial entry pitches, a 30-meter pitch that goes across via traverse to a chamber filled with helictites, and other speleotherms, and another 20-meter pitch that leads into a flowstone slide that has a few tight passages surrounded by beautiful formations. We each went up one of the sides and then swapped over once both groups were back. after that, we headed back to the entrance while Kerry de-rigged.

We meet up with Stephan from the SCSP Ales, he hadn't been caving much recently but wanted to visit the cave so he tagged along, and another member of the SCSP whose name I have forgotten. From our group, there was, Alicia, Kerry, Ronan, Tomas and I. I navigated the cave once below. There is much room for error, but I brought the group up the pre-fixed ropes that are in the cave, they were set the first time I went into the G spot a few months prior! We went to the lake, and then back down into the main passage. after Kerry, Stephan and I went up the rope at the end of the passage, it was a tight SRT squeeze, but the final passage was really cool and worth it. 

A big group of us went and met the leader of the SCSP there as it was a cave that needed a key to enter, Tim, Thomas, Delphine, Ronan Alicia, Paddy and I entered the cave with the SCSP President. He brought us through the cave, explaining its history, and showing us some cool formations such as the mantis helictites, the entire trip maybe lasted 2 hours, but it was one of the most beautiful caves without SRT.

This was a decent-sized group of us: Patrick Meath, Peter Ward, Cormac Britton, Lylian Martinez, Eoin McNamee, Nepomuk Maier and Caoimhín Mac Cárthaigh. I lead the group through the winding passages to the left of the upper entrance. We did a tight crawl, and some of us went through the boulder chokes by rickety passage. I taught them the importance of self-risk assessment, AKA doesn't do anything you have doubts about, the way the chances of it happening, then the way the consequences of it if it goes wrong. 

Went with Phillip from DCU and at time current SUI Student Liaison, and Lucia from TUDCC. I brought Leader bag and descended first down Tagha, once all arrived down we attempted to find the downhill climb to the Chert canal, but after around 2 hours of crawling and searching, we decided to turn back as we didn't know how long the through trip would take. We learned that sheep are smelly while decomposing and they are squishy if u step on them.

Went with Phillip from DCU and at the time current SUI Student Liaison, Lucia from TUDCC, Emma from DCU and Jorge from TUDCC. I brought a Leader bag and descended first down Tagha, once all arrived down we attempted to find the downhill climb to the Chert canal just like the last day, this time Jorge found the way through. Philip led the way and I stayed behind the group with the bag to make sure no one got left behind.

We were meant to meet another group coming from Prughlisk but they had taken a wrong turn and turned back, we met their last members as we made it to the bottom of the Prughlisk pitch.

I learned the importance of working as a team and encouraging your peers, carrying the bag would have been a lot harder if I didn't ask for help.

Went with Patrick Meath from TUDCC, Lucia from TUDCC and Peter from QUBCC. We quickly moved our way through the cave and made our way past the car wash, into the Trench Hall and all the way to the start of the tight narrow passage before the boulder chamber. Peter had been there once a couple of years ago but didn't remember the way, so armed with the survey I led the way. the unfamiliar passages slowed us down but we crawled our way through to the boulder chamber, then we took our time to get to the start of the pitch past the mud chamber, there we had a few cave snacks and chatted. then we started our way back through the cave towards the waterfall chamber.

We found a glob of white-reddish organic-looking thing on the way back, it was in the middle of a well-crawled area, after the junction past the Trench hall on the way back towards the waterfall chamber. We took a mental photo and left. I asked my sister (a geoscientist what it could be and she said it may be precipitated silica, but she can't know without more info.

Patrick de-rigged the cave, unfortunately, no one had grabbed his blue bag from the muck pit past the waterfall chamber, so we have to return soon to that cave to get it :)