Adrian's Explorations (Adrian Paniwnyk)

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Pelobates No. 86 February 2007 Editorial (Abe Sent) Welcome to another eagerly awaited issue of Pelobates, again produced Croydon Caving Club's very own editorial team. We have a veritable feast of speleological articles for you including exciting new discoveries from Adrian Paniwnyk, rescue training, stories of China and a large helping of trip reports. Chris Crowley also bids a fond farewell to Dragon. Thank you to all who submitted material and we hope you all enjoy it. Club Diary 2007 Below are some dates for your diary. More will be added in the coming months so keep an eye on your email. Easter weekend 6 th to 9 th April Spring bank holiday 5 th to 7 th May Whitsun bank holiday 26 th to 28 th May NAMHO 15 th to 17 th June KOF 30 th June to 1 st July August bank holiday 25 th to 27 th August Hidden Earth TBA, September or October Bonfire weekend 3 rd to 4 th November Christmas dinner 1 st to 2 nd December Cottage News (Chris Crowley) The main news is that we have raised the cottage fees by 50p to £3.50 for guests and £2.50 for members, the first increase since foot and mouth. This is necessary to cover very large increases in oil, gas and electricity costs and is in line with what other clubs have had to do. This will apply from September 2006. Thanks to Jean Grange for giving us an antique brass fender for the fire and Neil & Annette for finding and transporting another fridge. Please avoid bringing large milk containers as these do not fit well, cause damage to the door and prevent others from getting their stuff in. Please put your food etc. on the shelves in the kitchen whenever possible as leaving them on the worktops makes cooking difficult and is sometimes a fire hazard. Also, please do not leave your wash kit in the kitchen as some people don’t like this; I will see if I can find space for another shelf in the wash room. Items wanted: set of stacking chairs, petrol rotary mower. Adrian's Explorations (Adrian Paniwnyk) The following article details digs and exploratory work that I have been involved with Tony Donovan and Roy Morgan over the past year. Crowbar Hole, NGR SN 9010 1464 I am quite sure that this cave on Pant Mawr would have disappeared into obscurity had it not Croydon Caving Club Page 4
Pelobates No. 86 February 2007 been for the efforts of Tony Donovan and Roy Morgan. When Chris Crowley, Trevor Pritchard and myself dug into this cave on 17 th November 1990, I subsequently wrote, “All in all, this cave is not a contender for a way into the Pant Mawr master system.” Well, as I write this in Autumn 2006, my initial pessimism may be proved wrong. A year or so ago, Tony unblocked the collapsed 8 metres deep entrance shaft and installed scaffolding. In 1990, I reported a further 8 metres of rift dropping down from the base of the shaft which was too tight to enter. Now, in 2006, Tony and Roy have after much effort enlarged the rift and at the bottom and broken into a short section of phreatic type passage trending in a westerly direction. This passage quickly ends with a small but perfectly formed aven heading back to the surface. From the base of the shaft, the passage appears to carry on in the other direction, i.e. to the South East. However, a boulder choke formed at the base of the entrance shaft blocks an easy entrance into this. As you can imagine, Tony and Roy are doing their utmost to engineer a route through this. On a positive note, this cave does possess a definite outward summer draught and it is hoped that even if the mythical Pant Mawr Master System is not found on this occasion, a reasonable bit of cave may be discovered. Stop press. On the 22 nd October 2006, the boulder choke was passed to gain a small passage beyond which takes a small stream and the draught. Further digging will probably be required to make progress along this. Rusty Horse Shoe Dig – Black Mountain This cave is situated approximately 500 metres to the north west of the cave Sink y Giedd, one of the main sinks for Dan yr Ogof. It can be seen that much effort has been put in here in the past. An oil drum entrance drops onto the top of a free-climbable 4 metre deep shaft, most of which looks as if it has been blasted. At the base of the shaft is a tight dog-leg passage, which then leads to a short section of horizontal passage with a fractured left hand wall and a boulder choked scaffolded right hand wall. This is the current dig terminus. Recent work in the cave in 2006 has involved digging in a bypass to the dog-leg passage. Prior to this, at least six men were required to bring spoil to the surface via the contortions of the dogleg passage. Now a reasonably straight pull from the dig face means that only four men are now required. As well as this, spoil is coming out with much greater ease. Subsequent to getting the dog-leg bypass, work has now begun to enlarge and shore a way Adrian Paniwnyk in a phreatic tube near the entrance of the new cave. Photo: Adrian Paniwnyk Croydon Caving Club Page 5
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Adrian's Explorations (Adrian Paniwnyk)

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