Oxford University Cave Club

'Chris and I went looking at the small, strongly drafting hole in Orange Rock valley. Chris levered out some rocks with his wonderbar before it started thundering. Between hail storms and lightening strikes, I managed to insert myself in the hole and kick more rocks out of the way with my feet. It now goes! 20m+ pitch? Entrance is a bit tight.I'm going back tomorrow, stuff 1/5!!!'
From Pip Crosby's log book entry, 13/8/01

A new find this year, this very vertical cave gets larger the deeper you go. With black space at the bottom, it is a tempting lead for the summer of 2002.

Location

GPS UTM Zone 30T / WGS 84 datum E:0344536 N:4789725 altitude 1540m.

A 30cm by 40cm hole in the grass, with a bearing of 020 to the orange rock, and 323 to the goat shelter

Description

Survey

The entrance, 'The Manhole,' is a 1.5m vertical tight squeeze. I recommend removing your helmet for this one to avoid choking on the chinstrap.

This drops into a very steeply slanting muddy rift pitch, with several large jammed boulders, and lots of loose crud. The passage opens up at the head of the next pitch (30m), with a ledge and bolt rebelay halfway down, landing in the floor of the rift. Follow this down a 2m climb and through the catchy 'Velcro Squeeze' to the next pitch head. It's possible to climb over the pitch head to a 4x5m chamber with a boulder choked floor, which has been probed to some depth. In fact, one of the walls of the pitch is made entirely of jammed large scary-looking boulders, with an un-entered gap half-way down, possibly connecting with the chamber above?

The pitch lands in the floor of a sloping rift and the next pitch follows straight away (20m), with a small ledge about 8m down, littered with rocks. This lands on yet another sloping boulder-filled rift floor, with 2m wide walls. This leads down to a large black hole, the limit of exploration for this year. Stones thrown down the pitch drop for 2.5 seconds.

Tackle